The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-09 00:00:00

EFFECTS OF COURT MOURNING.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Srll,—Now that the Queen Dowager is said to be .out
of danger, I beg to point your attention to the injurious
effects which general- mournings have upon certain
branches of trade, and particularly upon the fancy silk
trade. •

A month ago, the trade, partaking of the general de-
pression,
" Like a wounded snake dragged its slow length along,"
sluggishly enough, certainly ; but when the report of the
alarming illness of the Queen Dowager came out •it
seemed absolutely to clap an extinguisher upon it alto-
gether ; and although she appears to be getting better,
yet the very fear that she may, in a short time, have a
relapse and die will prevent nine ladies out of ten from
purchasing any fancy article of dress ; the consequence
of which will be, that nearly all the fancy articles pre-
pared by the manufacturers, and purchased by the whole-
sale men and shopkeepers, for the autumn trade, will be
left on hand at the end of the season, and have to bo,
jobbed off at half price next year.
And the evil will not end here ; for who among those
who may escape the crippling process which is now going
on will be hardy enough to prepare, or purchase, a lot
of fancy articles for the next spring trade, when, per-
haps, in March or April, the Queen Dowager, should
she get abouinain now, may be taken ill again, and
spoil the trade of another season ?
The general mournings, having been so curtailed of late
years, do very little good even to' the black trade ; for
people in general de not think it worth while to go to the
expence of purchasing new materials for their dresses,
but merely have their old ones re-dyed for the occasion.
Indeed, so eager and anxious are the English ladies at
this time to testify their respect for their good and vir-
tuous Queen Dowager, that, in anticipation of her death,
one rag-dyer alone informs me he has received as many
as 250 old coloured silk dresses to be dyed black, in rea-
diness for the event whenever it may take place. In
fact, the only time that a general mourning benefits even
the black trade is when the Royal personage dies sud-
denly—in which case those who may happen to have
black goods by them generally turn them to good ac-
count. But I
think it is not desirable or decent that
any class,of persons should have a direct interest in pray-
ing for the sudden death of the members of the Royal
Family.
Last year the autumn trade was spoiled by the death
of the Princess Augusta. I had prepared a lot of fancy
goods, which, in consequence of her death, I had to
keep a month over the proper time, and then to job
them off at a considerable sacrifice. And who is there
connected with the fancy trade but must remember the
disastrous results which attended the illness and death
of William IV., and before him, of George IV., results
which no prudence, no foresight, no skill can provide
against.
I ask, Mr. Editor, how much longer this nuisance is to
be tolerated by the trade ? How much longer will the
public tolerate this remnant of feudal vassalage ? How
many more times are we.to be " ordered " to put our-
selves into decent mourning upon the death of every scion
of noble stock ? And—if the custom is continued—l
think we may very reasonably look forward to many
such " orders' during the next few years. Suppose, for
instance, that his Highness, of Hanover should die next
March or April, we shall, no doubt, be " ordered" to put
ourselves into decent mourning for him. Now, apart
from the serious amount of evil the order would inflict,
upon a large and already sufficiently suffering class of
tradesmen, is it possible to imagine anything more hypo-
critical or absurd ? Why not confine the order to the
dependants of the Court, and leave the rest of the com-
munity to exercise their own taste and feeling upon the
subject—which, by the by, is the way they manage these
matters in France ?
It is no consolation to be told that public mournings
formerly lasted for a whole year ; they are a great and
most intolerable nuisance, and ought to be abolished
altogether. Royalty is expensive enough, God knows ;
it is hard enough, in these bad times, to be taxed to pay
thirty thousand a year to one, fifty thousand a year to
another, and a hundred thousand a year to a third ; but
I think the least the recipients of our money can do, is
not to stand as stumbling-blocks in the way of our trade
not to persist in a custom which frequently inflicts posi
Live ruin and misery upon many, and great loss and in
convenience upon thousands.—Your obedient servant,
A SILK MANUFACTURER.
Fort-street, Spitalfields, Nov. 30, 1841.