Welsh Journals

activities and this led him, briefly, to resign from the Society and move to Chefoo where he undertook employment as a Customs Officer when he was again able to act as an interpreter and to enhance his mastery of Chinese. In this he followed the example of Robert Morrison who had been employed as a translator in Canton at an East India Company factory when he first arrived in China. Thomas was encouraged in his stand by the son of the great missionary who was the British Consul at Chefoo. This and similar excursions and travels confirm Thomas's mother's judgement of him as 'a wandering star'. On 7 Decemeber, 1864 he tendered his resignation to the LMS before accepting the secular post the following day. There was severe criticism of Thomas for his resignation, followed by bewilderment at a request he made for re-acceptance within one and a half months. The LMS in London, knowing of the difficulties then of corresponding at a great distance, must have been confused. Undoubtedly he showed the hasty side of his character but his request was warmly supported by missionary friends. He spent the first nine months of 1865 at Beijing which was the capital of China the vital heart of the empire. It was seen as the centre of politics, economics and culture. China held suzerainty over surrounding nations and it was therefore more open to official visits and exchanges; many foreign representatives would frequent the city. This further widened Thomas's horizons and he quickly befriended Russians and Mongols and other nationalities including Koreans. He wrote to the LMS: 'The annual Corean Embassy has just departed. It has been my lot to mix more intimately with its members than any other foreigner in Peking. Some knowledge of their language and country procured me a ready admission to their residence'. In September 1865 he visited Korea for the first time. He was to enter that country through the influence of Alexander Williamson who became his firm friend in Beijing. He was the secretary of the National Bible Society of Scotland and it was under its aegis for his expenses only that Thomas made the journey, although he remained affiliated to the LMS. It was understood by him and everybody else that Korea was a closed country for westerners: they were deeply suspicious of trade but also of Christianity which they had experienced for some centuries in its Roman Catholic form. It had been described as being 'The closed, hermit nation' at this juncture for they were apprehensive of political interference by foreign religions and they could not distinguish easily between Protestants and Catholics anyway. All the great powers of the day were eager to make contact with the country but after Beijing was occupied by Franco-British forces the Koreans became seriously concerned and they passed laws that forbade foreigners from entering their territory and surrounding waters. What the Koreans feared most, of course, was that Western ideas, including Christianity, would be introduced. So Thomas knew that he was challenging that prohibition but he was confident in making the journey since he had