English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 2 (of 2)Ashton, John
History
English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 2 (of 2)
Ashton, John
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Caricatures and cartoons
Napoleon’s power was rapidly drawing to an end, and the crushing
defeat he received at Leipsic on October 16, 17, 18, 19, gave it its
death-blow. The news was promulgated throughout England by a ‘London
Gazette Extraordinary’ of November 3. The ‘Times’ of the same date had
hinted of reverses sustained by Napoleon, and on November 4 broke into
jubilation thus: ‘“Justice demands the sacrifice of the Tyrant,”[30]
such was the sentiment which concluded our last article,--a sentiment
not dictated by any feeling of transient growth, but adopted after long
and serious reflection on what is due to the moral interests, which are
the best and surest interests of nations. The French people will now
determine between the sacrifice of their Tyrant, and sacrifices of a
very different description, sacrifices of their lives, their children,
their treasure, their honour.
‘We had already communicated to our readers the private information
which we had received, stating that he had sustained “dreadful
reverses” in a “series of actions,” which had caused him “not only
a great diminution in the numbers of his men, but also a serious
loss of artillery”; and that he had himself “escaped with the utmost
difficulty to a place of comparative, and but comparative, safety.”
Such were the accounts which we believed “would be found to contain a
very moderate statement of the Tyrant’s losses”; but we own our most
sanguine hopes have been exceeded by the Official Statements received
yesterday by Government, and made public; first, in a brief form, by
a letter from Lord CASTLEREAGH to the LORD MAYOR, and a Bulletin from
the Foreign Office; and, afterwards, in most gratifying detail, by an
_Extraordinary Gazette_.’
The ‘Morning Post’ of the same date heads the intelligence as ‘The most
Glorious and Important News ever received;’ and the Prince Regent, who
opened Parliament on November 4, alluded to it in his speech in these
terms: ‘The annals of Europe afford no examples of victories more
splendid, and decisive, than those which have been recently achieved in
Saxony.’ London was brilliantly illuminated, and joy reigned throughout
the kingdom.
One of the first caricatures on the subject is the ‘Execution of two
celebrated Enemies of Old England, and their Dying Speeches, 5 Nov.
1813,’ which was by Rowlandson (published November 27, 1813), and is
stated to be a representation of a ‘Bonfire at Thorpe Hall near Louth,
Lincolnshire, on 5 Nov. 1813, given by the Rev. W. C. to the boys
belonging to the Seminary at Louth, in consequence of the arrival of
news of the Decisive Defeat of Napoleon Buonaparte, by the Allies, at
11 o’clock on y^e 4th, & Louth Bells ringing all night.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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