C4

in Japan but after annexation the Japanese set about destroying
these books so that Koreans should not be able to learn them. This
"Burning of the Books and i.urder oi' the Literati" was for the pur¬
pose of debasing the Koreans and robbiUij them of their ancient cul¬
ture.

OTdZn  OPPiiLi-SiOH.

The countless other foims of oppreaaion and mal-administration
which have distinguished Japan's rule in Korea are fully Imown to
all foreign consular officials and to the missionaries who live in Korea.

How can our race avoid extermination? Even if the government
pf Japan wefe benevolent how could the Japanese understand the aches
pnd pains of another race of people? TTith her evil government can
there be anything but racial extermination for ua?

In Hivine pity heaven ordained the end of the European War and
His Excellency President Wilson in supjort of the principle ordained
by Heaven has declared that rc-oos of people have the right to self-
determination. Hence we Koreans appeal to you to place our present
miserable condition before the peace conference that we may be able
to enjoy the blessings of liberty and national sovereijity.

A PJttOCLiv.:-uiTIOK

.iie proclaim herewith, .^orea an i^idependent state and her people
free. We announce it to the nations of the world, and so make known
the great truth of the equality of all humanity. We also make it
known to our posterity for ten thousand generations that they may
hold this right as a free people for all time, rath the authority
and dignity of 5000 years of history and the devotion and loyalty
of 20,000,000 of people back of us we make this proolEuaation.  Thus
we take this responsibility on behalf of the eternal freedom of our
people.

In order that we may move in accora with the opportune for¬
tunes of a new era, when the conscenoience of humanity has become
awakened, we so act.  It is the evident command of God. The trend of
the age in which we live, the natural step in accord with the right
of all people to live and move together. There is nothing in all
the world that should prevent or 6>tand iu its way.

Victims of the iuiieritaaoe of an ancient age of plunder
and brute force, we have come ior the first time in our history of
thousands of years, to taste for a decade the bitter experioiioe of
oppression by an alien race. How great a loss to the right of exis¬
tence, what a hinderanoe to the development of the mind; what damage
to the honor of our people; v/hat a lack of opportunity, by any origin¬
ality of our own, to contribute to, or aid in the onward march of
civilization.

If we would rid ourselves of resentment over the past; if 'e
7/ould be free from the agony of the present; if we escape violance
for the future; if we would avfaken again the ooasoienoe of ov.r peop¬
le, now oppressed, or rouse the fallen state to a true endeavor; if
we would rightly develop character in every man; if wo would not
pass on to our imfortunate children a»i inheritance of shame and dis¬
tress; if future generations for all time would enjoy the perfections
of blsssin^^s, we must, first and foremost, secure complete i^^dependenoe
, for our psoT)ie.

Let every soul theu of our twenty millione of people, in this
day when human nature and the conscience of the times, as soldiers
of right and defenders of humanity, aid ua, ^o  forth with sword in
heart.  If we do so we can break do'//n all opi)osing forces
and pushing forward obtain the object of our desire.

We do not wish to find fault with Japan, who made so favorable
a treaty with us in 1876 for her insincerity in breaking, time and
again, this and that provision of that same solemn agreement; nor to