“A Satire on Election Proceedings” was given to the public in pictorial guise on the occasion of the appeal to the constituencies in May, 1741; the specific part of this squib was aimed at Walpole’s unpopular taxes and similar enactments, and the whole was dedicated to “Mayors and Corporations in general.” A dying elector--who, from the evidence of a paper inscribed “£50,” and seen in his pocket, has sold himself to party--is in the hands of a ministerial candidate and the personage of Evil; who are, between them, dragging the moribund and venal voter towards a precipice, “the Brink of Despotism, poverty, and destruction, inevitable if such courses are continued.” The candidate or agent is apparently heedless of the precipice at his feet; he is waving his hat in exultation, and shouting, “A vote, a vote, a dead vote for us!” The devil, who is the deepest of the party, is asserting with plausibility, “I’ll have the Majority, I warrant you!” His pocket contains the measures which had destroyed Walpole’s popularity and at that time foreshadowed his fall--fancifully supposed to have had their suggestion in the brain of the arch-fiend himself: “Standing Army,” “Lotteries,” “Cyder” (tax), “Stamp Act,” “Bribes,” and “Address.” The demon is expelling “False reports against the City of London--all wind”--patriotism having at that era its head-quarters in the corporation; his hoof has trampled upon the shield of Britannia, crushed down by “Press-warrants,” “Council of Satan,” and the ministerial policy--“Neglect the seamen till the moment they are wanted, lest my beloved press-warrants should be forgot--my friends shall boldly call them lawful.” Walpole, whose tenure of office notoriously depended on the results of the elections in progress when this violent squib was launched, is further indicated in “The Foundation _we_ go upon;” “_we_” being by implication the prime minister and the devil; the foot of the latter rests upon these “Ways and means--Public Money, Promises, Titles, Contracts, Pensions, Preferments, Places--and by threatening to displace,” etc., besides current coin for corruption. A further instance of Walpole’s disfavour is embodied in a paper concerning the army: “My Majority shall vote for a numerous Land Force in time of Peace; to be established with a double proportion of officers!--the best proof of my influence:”--the source of that vaunted influence is shown in a bag of money, marked “Sinking Fund,” from whence pours the stream of corruption--in the shape of broad pieces--upon which the prime minister placed a reliance he did not attempt to disguise, but, on the contrary, of which he cynically boasted.