Russians arrive in Korea in 1885

Members of the Korean foreign office in the winter of 1883/84 Robert Neff Collection

By Robert Neff

The Russian cruiser Razboinik, with its crew of eight officers and 105 sailors, steamed into the harbor of Jemulpo (modern Incheon) on Oct. 3, 1885. The harbor was quite crowded with Chinese, Japanese, British and American warships ― many of them having just arrived ― and an English steamship whose crew was busily engaged in unloading the Joseon government's newly purchased mint.

Like many of the recently arrived warships, the Russian cruiser's purpose was to transport a passenger to Korea. The Russian warship's passenger was Carl von Waeber, the newly appointed Russian charge d'affaires. His arrival had been anticipated and, to a degree, feared. About six weeks earlier, the American acting charge d'affaires, naval officer George C. Foulk, had reported to the U.S. State Department that the Russian representative would arrive with an escort of several warships and would build the most imposing legation in Seoul.

Although Waeber did not arrive with a large escort of Russian warships, his arrival in Seoul did cause some unease. There was concern Russia was attempting to dispatch Russian military officers as instructors for the Korean army and, even more alarming, make Korea its protectorate. However, Waeber had been instructed by his superiors not to discuss these two issues and instead to concentrate on ratifying the Russian-Korean Treaty of Amity and Commerce ― Horace N. Allen (an American missionary and later the American minister to Korea) claimed the ratification was exchanged on Oct. 14 but Foulk (in his report) stated it was done on the 16th.

Also on the latter date, a flag staff was raised on the site of the Russian Legation and a large dinner was given at the foreign office to celebrate the treaty ratification. Waeber remained in Korea until Oct. 21, when he sailed back to Shanghai with promises that he would soon return. It isn't clear when he returned ― Foulk doesn't mention him again until January 1886 ― but we do know that in mid-January Waeber's wife, Eugenie, at least one of his sons (probably the youngest, six-year-old Eugen) traveled between Shanghai, Nagasaki and Jemulpo together with 47-year-old Marie Antoinette Sontag.

There is no question that Waeber was a very influential diplomat, not only in Seoul but also Japan and China, but he is not the true subject of this article ― it is Sontag. She has often been described as one of his distant relatives ― a very tenuous claim.

The Russian cruiser Razboinik, circa 1880-90s Public Domain ― Wikipedia

Sontag was born on Oct. 1, 1838, in Aubure, a small village in France that, as of 1905, had a population of 300 inhabitants and two churches ― one Protestant and the other Catholic. She was the first child in her family ― her 23-year-old father was an elementary school teacher and her 18-year-old mother stayed home. Life was not easy. In 1847, Sontag's mother passed away as did her father in the following year, orphaning Sontag and her four younger siblings. How they fared until adulthood is unclear, although according to Dr. Sylvia Braesel, Sontag was especially close to her younger sister Marie Pauline (born in 1842).

When Marie Pauline married Alexander Theodor Karlowitsch Maack (from a well-known Baltic German family in Arensburg) it was, declared Braesel, "a stroke of good luck for the siblings."

The two young ladies learned to speak Russian and became accustomed to Russian life. Sontag also became quite close to her brother-in-law's family ― especially his younger sister Eugenie. Eugenie eventually married Carl von Waeber and accompanied him to his posts in Japan (Hakodate 1871-73, Yokohama 1874-75). Apparently, when Waeber was assigned to a new post in China in 1876, Sontag accompanied them as the "'right hand' in the private sphere" of their family. She also accompanied them to Korea in late 1885 or January 1886.

Very little is known about the Waeber family's daily life at the Russian legation in Seoul ― especially in the 1880s. Eugenie apparently did not get along very well with the German representative in Seoul and allegedly spread rumors to the American missionaries about him and his staff having orgies in the German Legation. This allegations and the subsequent diplomatic protests by the German representative are entertaining and one of the very few times Eugenie is mentioned until the mid-1890s.

As for Sontag, there is almost nothing. She seems to have stayed quietly in the Russian Legation managing the household and caring for her many pet birds. Her birds provided her not only with comfort but also excitement.

During winter 1886, she "opened her window to feed her pet pigeons one morning, and saw a big spotted cat outside [a leopard]. It showed its teeth, made a spring over the wall and disappeared." The leopard escaped that day, but, judging from later accounts, its luck eventually ran out and it was killed by an English hunter.

In addition to her birds, she also found enjoyment in collecting stamps. She seems to have spent a fair amount of money obtaining stamps from around the world and it doesn't stretch the imagination to assume she steamed off a fair number of stamps from envelopes arriving in the Russian Legation.

Gyeongbok Palace circa early 1900s Robert Neff Collection

While she wasn't mentioned in the correspondences of the American missionaries or in early issues of the Korea Repository (an English-language magazine published in Seoul), she was well-known to the Korean royal family. On Sept. 20, 1895, she was invited to a reception at the palace along with Eugenie (Mrs. Waeber), Elizabeth Greathouse (the mother of an American employed as the legal adviser to the Joseon government) and Fannie Allen (the wife of the secretary of the American Legation). The only known account of this reception comes from Greathouse:

"We were met by a court lady and in a little while tea and crackers [were] brought in and then we all had an hour maybe or more to do our chatting and Mrs. Waeber took a walk in the grounds as we were in the garden grounds this time, [they] don't always have the Audiences at the same Palace rooms each time. Then we were told their Majesties were ready for us, so we walked on to see them, the King, Queen, and Crown Prince, so a talk was carried on through an interpreter."

Each of the ladies was asked about her health and life ― unfortunately, Greathouse did not record the conversations the queen had with Waeber or Sontag. Much of what follows is Greathouse's very opinionated description of the entertainment:

"[We] were told by the Queen that a repast would be ready in a little while and we all took our seats in the adjoining room and had our chat with each other again. Then too they had geisha girls to come out on the nice front yard all covered with straw matting and was very pretty, they go through some very graceful posing, not dancing, can't well describe the motions and music, such as they have here, not good at all but I am sure they don't know it is not good but go on posing all the same till I know they must be very tired for we were tired seeing the same thing for so long, then large [bouquet] of red flowers were brought in…and the posing went on again, this time boys were dressed as girls, looking for all the world just like females and all sorts of changes were made except in the music, bad all the same to us foreigners who know what good music is."

While Greathouse was less than pleased with the entertainment, she was happy with the food.

"At 8 o'clock we were ushered into the dining room, it was beautifully lighted up with unique lamps, large and small, and the repast was simply delicious, hot soup first and changes followed just as America have, no Corean food at all, only fruits grown here, the best of the season, then came the desserts, mince of several kind, last was champagne. Just in the next room the King & Queen were looking at us through crevices, glass window panes, which I could see them when they opened them a little. I recognized the royal family, she recognized me and we had several smiles together, then she grew bolder and pushed the glass open for 2 or 3 inches and bowed again, then I raised my glass or champagne and touched my lips, she recognized it with a smile again."

It is a shame that Greathouse, who was quite pleased with the attention she was apparently receiving from the queen, did not bother to record the impressions of her fellow guests ― especially Sontag's. For Greathouse, it was an exciting night and in her diary she wrote: "I came home at 11 o'clock, not tired."

It was a night that she remembered for a long time ― in fact, it was a night they all remembered as it was one of the last receptions the queen gave. On October 8, 1895, the Korean queen was assassinated in her own palace. Her death was the start of Sontag's career in the Korean court, as we shall see in the next article.

I would like to thank Dr. Sylvia Braesel for her invaluable assistance and I look forward to reading her book ― now being translated into Korean and expected to be published very soon ― about Carl von Waeber and his family. The English title of the book is: "Photos of a diplomatic life between Europe and East Asia: Carl von Waeber (1841-1910)."

Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.