ordered to go to Korea and obtain redress. He reached the mouth of the Han
River, and sent a message to the King, asking an explanation of the matter.
He had to retire, owing to weather conditions, before the reply arrived.
The Korean reply, when eventually delivered, was in effect a plea of
justification. The Americans, however, determined to inflict punishment,
and a fleet was sent to destroy the forts on the Han River.

The American ships, the _Monacacy_ and the _Palos_ bombarded the forts. The
Korean brass guns, of one and one-half inch bore, and their thirty
pounders, could do nothing against the American howitzers, throwing eight
and ten inch shells. The American Marines and sailors landed, and in
capturing a hill fort, had a short, hot hand-to-hand battle with the
defenders. The Koreans fought desperately, picking up handfuls of dust to
fling in the eyes of the Americans when they had nothing else to fight
with. Refusing to surrender they were wiped out. Having destroyed the forts
and killed a number of the soldiers, there was nothing for the Americans to
do but to retire. The "gobs" were the first to admit the real courage of
the Korean soldiers.

Japan, which herself after considerable internal trouble, had accepted the
coming of the Westerner as inevitable, tried on several occasions to renew
relations with Korea. At first she was repulsed. In 1876 a Japanese ship,
approaching the Korean coast, was fired on, as the Japanese a generation
before had fired on foreign ships approaching their shore. There was a
furious demand all over the country for revenge. Ito and other leaders with
cool heads resisted the demand, but took such steps that Korea was
compelled to conclude a treaty opening several ports to Japanese trade and
giving Japan the right to send a minister to Seoul, the capital. The first
clause of the first article of the treaty was in itself a warning of future
trouble. "Chosen (Korea) being an independent state enjoys the same