OUR LONDON LETTER by M. Ellsworth Olsen

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 30, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 31.

OUR LONDON LETTER.

By M. Ellsworth Olsen

Coronation Disappointment.

The keen disappointment of the average Englishman owing to the coronation postponement can not be imagined by Americans. The place which the coronation has occupied in the public mind during the last three months is nothing less than remarkable. Especially during the month previous to June 26th, business was largely at a standstill. Everybody's mind was pre-occupied with the great event which was impending.

King Edward's well-known predilection for ceremonial pomp and display is reciprocated by his people. Even the poorest subject was planning to celebrate, and the more wealthy ones were making most lavish arrangements for expressing their loyalty to the king and the throne. As long as the South African war lasted, it was something of a damper to the national enthusiasm; but when that had ended, and peace was established throughout the British dominions, the people gave free vent to their feelings, and between the time of the peace announcement and up to the very day of the coronation, London as well as other parts of Great Britain was in gala dress.

Coronation week was one never to be forgotten in London. Business was out of the question. The streets were thronged with people. The railways were daily bringing crowds from the country and provincial towns. The regular thoroughfares were filled by brakes, char-a-bancs, and all manner of vehicles carrying crowds of sight-seers. The public houses were reaping a harvest, as also the restaurants, cafes, etc. Other business was very slow, with the one exception of the firms dealing in decorations and illuminations of all kinds, and they were truly busy.

The weather, which was the one thing people were a little doubtful about, took a favorable turn the early part of the week, and with clear skies and warm sunny days, the sale of seats to view the procession took a new impetus. For favorable places most exorbitant prices were charged. For instance, a solicitor's office with one window overlooking the route was rented for the sum of six hundred pounds sterling. The price for a reasonably good seat was six guineas, tho seats could be had also for two guineas, which was about the lowest. A coronation in Britain is a thing not liable to happen more than once in a lifetime, and many people by no means wealthy came to London to view the great event.

Prospects were in every respect the brightest, and expectation was at its highest when the announcement suddenly appeared that the king was critically ill, and was undergoing an operation, and that the ceremony would have to be indefinitely postponed. It was like a thunder clap out of a clear sky. People were dumbfounded. The shock was so great that it was some time before they could recover their bearings. When they did awake to the sad fact that all their joyful preparations were in vain, and their expectations doomed to bitter disappointment, then it must be said in all justice that they bore it without murmuring. No doubt the critical condition of the king, for whom an operation for appendicitis was involved in considerable danger to life, contributed to offset the disappointment incident to postponing the coronation by fixing the sympathy of the people upon the royal sufferer and the queen and royal family.

The attachment of the British people to their king is not to be questioned. It was touching to note the gloom which pervaded London the latter part of coronation week. In the life insurance offices the premium of the king's life was fifty per cent. In other words, it was regarded as even chances whether he would survive the operation or not. Anxious crowds stood guard about the royal residence, Buckingham Palace, day and night, testifying most eloquently to their real concern for the sufferer. The bulletins, posted in various parts of the city, were eagerly scanned, and the newspapers had an enormous sale.

The guests made their preparations and left the city quietly. The visitors from the country went back, and now London is trying to get to work again. The latest bulletins regarding the king's condition are favorable, and there is some talk at present of having the ceremony come off in August, but it will be on a limited scale. The grand display projected for the 26th of June will never take place. The expenses of the coronation, estimated at millions of pounds, can not be repeated, and it is to be feared that business will suffer for some time to come as a result of the heavy losses all around.

No doubt different lessons will be drawn from the disappointment. It surely ought to direct attention to the importance of caring for one's health. The story here is generally current that the king's unfortunate illness was brought on by an unusually hearty dinner, and if that is true, this is not the first time that a dietetic digression has affected national events in a disastrous manner.

The spending of vast sums of money in such a mere display is certainly unbecoming the Christian, and the outcome has shown how utterly vain are all the most elaborate preparations of men when it concerns life and health. M. ELLSWORTH OLSEN.

London, July 2.