The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-01-24
COURT MOURNING.
How Different Nations Observe the Deai
of SOVEREIGN.

of a Sovereign.
When the Emperor Alexander III. OF
Russia died lately the courts of Europe
went into mourning for periods varying
slightly, according to their formal Gus
tom. The mourning" of the British
court, which represents the general
usage, lasted for q period of four weeks;
for that is the time in which the court
expresses in various outward ways its
purely formal grief in the case of for
eign potentate who holds the rank of
an emperor or empress, a king or
queen.
The usage of the British court is this:
Upon the death of a reigning or prince
ly person, within the range of the
courts mourning. the Court Circular
a sort of daily official bulletin of the
proceedings of the royal court-forth
with contains notice commanding
certain period of mourning. The noti-
fication, which is prepared under the
immediate direction of the queen, pre-
scribes the period of the mourning and
what shall be worn on formal occa-
sions.
Gentlemen are to wear Grape on the
arm or other prescribed mourning;
ladies are to wear black or purple to
certain prescribed extent. The Motif
cation informs the court that it is to
wear full mourning" until certain
date, and after that half mourning;"
and, finally, that on certain date
these signs are to cease altogether.
For a reigning foreign potentate, or
who hoe ,.airr,nl fba IF
mourning is four weeks. During that
time festivities are suspended, and only
the most ordinary and necessary 'func-
tions" and formalities observed, at all
of which the persons connected with or
invited to the court appear in the pre-
scribed mourning.
For the heir to a throne, and to GER
tain other princes, two weeks of
mourning are deemed sufficient, and in
the case of an ordinary prince, belong
! ing to a reigning house, a weeks
mourning is commonly prescribed.
All this mourning is, of course, on
the surface only; but it has this char
acteristic in common with all other
mere public mourning such as we see
in our own country in the half-masting
of flags and the draping of buildings.
All this, though formal and prescribed,
is fitting and proper.
1t is worthy of note that the British
court went into mourning for the
death of President Garfield, CHASING
him as ''reigning sovereign" out of
compliment to our republic. 1t is not
likely that any of the court ladies who
a. II, &c
felt any personal grief for the death
of our chief magistrate, but their garb
contributed, in small degree at least,
to welcome national observance.
1t seems a peculiar fact that the
mourning of the other European courts
| for the late emperor of Russia, lasted
! longer than that of the Russian court
itself. But this was due, not, certain
ly, to the fact that the mourning of
the Russian court at the death of its
| late master was less lasting than that
of other courts, but to the circum-
stance that the new czar's marriage
was necessary at this time for reasons
of state and church, and that the
gorgeous ceremonial of an imperial
Russian marriage could not properly
be marked with the trappings of grief
To considerable extent the court
mourning of Europe is a family affair.
| The royal houses of Great Britain,
Prussia. Russia, Denmark, Greece and
several German states are closely re-
lated, and so are those of Austria, Bel
GUM, Italy, Bavaria, Spain and Portu-
gal, according to the religious belief
their members profess
These martial alliances follow the
lines of religious faith, except in the
particular that intermarriages between
princes and princesses of the Greek and
| Protestant faiths are common; but the
| political alliances, which really bind
the countries much more closely at
this age of the world than royal mar
riages do. are quite regardless of re-
ligious faith.
Much court mourning, SO far as it is
distinctively the mourning of the
court, has the sincerity of personal at
tachment behind it.-Youth's Com
| paniOn.