Report From Underwood To Ellinwood (19001221)

편지 목록으로 돌아가기

언더우드가 엘린우드에게 보낸 보고서 (1901년 12월 21일)
식별자	R19011221UTOE
한글명칭	언더우드가 엘린우드에게 보낸 편지(1901년 12월 21일)
영문명칭	Horace G. Underwood's Report To Frank F. Ellinwood(Dec 121, 1901)
발신자	Underwood, Horace G.(원두우)
수신자	Ellinwood, Frank F.
작성연도	1901년
작성월일	12월 21일
작성공간	서울
자료소장처	연세대학교 중앙도서관
번역문출처	김인수,『언더우드 목사의 선교편지』, 장로회신학대학교출판부, 2002.

Dr. Horace G. Underwood 30 Vesey St., New York	호러스 그랜트 언더우드인물 뉴욕, 156, 5번가
Dec. 21, 1901	1901년 12월 21일
Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D.D. 156 Fifth Ave., New York City	존경하는 엘린우드 박사님께
Dear Dr. Ellinwood,
In regard to Dr. Brown's report of his visit to Korea, I have a few suggestions to make, some of which are of minor importance, but some are quite serious. I will take them, not in the order of importance, but will follow page by page.
On page 3, near the bottom, he says-the nickel is stamped ¼yen but there is no yen piece. This is not of much importance, but there is a yen piece in silver, which, however, has become very rare, as not very many of them were coined and they are hard to obtain. Perhaps there is no need to correct this, but it is a fact of which some of the readers might be cognizant.	.
On page 15, in regard to the statement concerning Dr. McLeavy Brown's alleged trouble with the Korean soldiers. I think that our Secretary, Dr. Brown, has been mis-informed, and that the chances are that lack of knowledge perhaps of the Korean language on the part of either Dr. Brown or his informants has led to the mis-statements. I am not prepared to say that no such scene as is there depicted occurred but had such been so, I feel confident that I would have heard something about it, and in addition to the same, I know McLeavy Brown so well that I cannot imagine it to be possible for him to use "cane and boot" in the manner herein depicted. I certainly think that it would be a lowering to his dignity to do so, and hardly imagine that he would care to have such a statement made.	.
On page 18, Secretary Brown says- "What we desire in Korea is not the dethroning of the Emperor or the degradation of any official, or the interference with any proper law or custom."	.
I think that the above sentence is unfortunate. If this report were simply for private circulation only and a few written copies were to be prepared, even then I think the above remarks would be unfortunate, but as I believe this is to be printed, and you never know where such a report may go, I think to make even a suggestion that we do not want the “dethroning of the Emperor" is hazardous, for it shows that such a suggestion has occurred to someone, and I think that a handle might be made of such a printed statement by those opposed to us and our work.	.
On page 19, in regard to the legal status, with Missionaries, I think that Dr. Brown contradicts himself, when he states further on that "the most favored of the nation clause" in our treaty gives us certain legal rights which we could not have otherwise, and the status of these rights has been passed upon in more than one case that has come up before the foreign office.	.
On Dae 22, I find the words "soon afterwards one of them, the notorious Kim Yung Chun offended the Emperor's favorite concubine, and was hanged March 18th."
While the above may be a fact, as far as we are able to decide, according to the laws of Korea, Kim Yung Chun was arrested and charged with misdemeaner in office and was tried by a Korean Court and was sentenced to be hanged, and I doubt advisability of putting in a document of this kind a statement as worded above, which makes it that the Emperor of Korea allowed a man to be hanged because he had offended the favorite concubine. Much as we may feel that the laws of the land are not carried out and that justice cannot be obtained in the Kingdom of Korea, I doubt the advisability of dwelling too much on this phase in such a document as Dr. Brown' and especially, when we Missionaries have received so many favors at the hands of the Emperor, I hardly think it wise for this paper to practically charge him with injustice.
On page 23, I find also "the desire of the Japanese to have some excuse for further interference may lead them to secretly foment trouble in the South at almost any time."
I think this statement is rather unwise. It looks as though the Japanese might come into power there, and if so, this published statement would materially effect our work. We certainly, in Korea, will be better off if Japan does come into power then if she does not and we do not want to do anything that might in any way hinder her getting more power there. Personally, I believe that Russia has not hesitated to foment trouble in Korea and I think that Russia and Japan would both be willing to see trouble there if it would tend towards the increase of their own power, and therefore, the singling out of one of the contending powers and asserting that one might be led "to secretly foment trouble in the South" is hardly wise. I would suggest that the clause read "and the desire of the contending power to have some excuse for further interference may lead them to secretly foment trouble in the land at almost any time," - or- "and the desire of the contending powers to have some excuse for further interference might secretly lead them to foment trouble in the land at almost any time."
On page 26, at the bottom of the page, Dr. Brown refers to the number of baptized converts in the land, and if you will refer to page 78, you will see that his statistics for 1900 gives 3,935 communicants in the Presbyterian Church. The figures they have on page 26 must be for 1900 and I think that a note should go either right in at that place, or, at the bottom of the page, stating, that these figures are for 1900; this, I think will be the only way of making the paper of permanent value.
On page 37, in regard to the status of the Korean Christian, my suggestion is not so much that a change to be made in the paper, but rather an expression of surprise at the statement made in the first paragraph on that page. He says- "Korean Christians are baptized and given the Lord's Supper, but save in two places of the Mission, they are not church members in the ecclesiastical sense." I do not know exactly what has been the policy of all the Missionaries in Korea, but in the sections of the country where I have worked, and those in the neighborhood of Chang Yang district, have all been baptized into the Church of Chang Yun which has an Elder who is Elder for all the churches for the new local groups in that section, and who has been chosen by those local groups, and all the church members for that section are notified when an election of officers is to take place. Our Church in that section assumes very much the aspect of the Collegiate Church in New York; it has one church with a large number of meeting places governed by one Church Session, and all our church records are made out in this same way. The Session from the City of Chang Yun travels around from group to group to administer the sacrament and discipline. I do not therefore quite understand what Dr. Brown means when he says- they are not church members in the ecclesiastical sense of the word. I think he must mean that they are not members of the local church where the: worship, for there is no such local church, but certainly in the Chang Yun section where we have Elders, they are church members in the ecclesiastical of the term. My knowledge of Presbyterian law of course may not be as good as that of Dr. Brown, but I fail to see anything in the Korean work that would make it that those at least in connection with the churches where I have been working are not Church members. The church at Chang Yun has a wide jurisdiction and has a large number of groups under its care and the Church Session of Chang Yun receives members into its Church, and as such they are Church members. Of course, if we consider simply the method of Church membership as followed in so many of our local churches here, the word might hold, but I think a study of the method as followed in the Collegiate Churches both that of New York and of Harlem, will show that the Koreans are Church members in the ecclesiastical sense of the word, or rather it should be stated that the groups are not fully organized churches. Our reports from year to year have shown this, and our desire to go slow in the ordination of Elders has led us to follow this plan.Just as soon as the people are ready to be ordained in any other group then certain members from the Churches will be set aside to form these other churches in the same way. In connection with Chong Dong, where we have a Session Committee, the Elders-elect of the other local groups have been united with the Chong Dong Church.
Page 49, I agree with Dr. Brown that the time does seem now ripe to perhaps move a little faster in the organization of our churches, but the first step would be rather the ordination of Elders over some more of the local groups, but they would not then be able to administer the ordinances which requires - according to Presbyterian rule and practice, at least, that it shall be "Preaching Elders" who shall administer the sacraments. I do not know that we are yet ready to ordain native preaching Elders or Ministers of the Gospel. I think that our Mission has been, if anything, too timid in its branching out and in its advancement. This has worked well thus far, but we must now push out a little more and push our native leaders forward a little further in the matter of self-government.
There is much else that I might say in regard to the report, but it was simply in regard to these matters that I was asked to speak, and I return the report to you herewith.
Sincerely yours,	안녕히 계십시오.
H. G. Underwood	호러스 그랜트 언더우드인물 올림.