Office of the Historian

Mr. Allen to Mr. Sherman.

Legation of the United States,
Seoul, Korea, February 12, 1898.
No. 72. Diplomatic]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 38, of January 5, last.

While calling upon the new Korean minister for foreign affairs, yesterday, I was asked as to the action of my Government in regard to the matter of the Imperial title assumed by His Majesty.

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I had just received your No. 38, of January 5, last, confirming my telegram of the 1st of January, relative to the action of the Governments of Russia and Japan in regard to this matter, and I had received the Department’s approval in your No. 25, November 30, of my action on the occasion of the audience granted to the foreign representatives at the time of the assumption of the title of Emperor; which approval seemed to indicate that you had no objection to the recognition of this title, but that you wished to be informed as to the action of other powers in the matter. The last paragraph of the above cited No. 25, is as follows: “Should any other Government take official cognizance of the change in His Majesty’s title, and reaccredit their envoys accordingly, you will at once report the fact to the Department and await further instructions.”

No Government has reaccredited its envoy; the only notice taken so far has been that the representatives of Russia and Japan were instructed to congratulate His Majesty upon his new rank. I therefore took it for granted that your approval of my course meant that you had no objection to the title, and I replied to the minister that my Government had approved of my course at the time of the audience and left me to infer that they were perfectly willing to recognize His Majesty’s title of Emperor, and had not thought it necessary to add anything to the remarks I made at the time, but that, when they had learned that other Governments had formally congratulated His Majesty, I might be given instructions in the same sense. That in the meantime I would content myself with this verbal communication of my Government’s willingness to recognize His Majesty as Emperor of Tai Han.

I have, etc.,

Horace N. Allen.