English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century.: How they Illustrated and Interpreted their Times.Everitt, Graham
History
English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century.: How they Illustrated and Interpreted their Times.
Everitt, Graham
Caricature -- Great Britain; Illustration of books -- Great Britain -- 19th century
side, shows that he has no intention of permitting him to enjoy a _pas_
all to himself. O'Connell of course shows himself complete master of the
figure which he had danced so frequently; one of the most shifty,
unstable men of his day, he can scarcely be called a politician, for
like all agitators, the person he really sought to serve was himself
alone. He chopped and changed just as it suited his purpose, and is
properly introduced by the artist amongst the most adroit and vigorous
of the political double shufflers.
The Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel find themselves _vis-a-vis_,
in allusion to their conduct with reference to Catholic Emancipation.
Both had originally been consistent opposers of the measure, which was
at last carried by the influence of the very men who before had been its
most persistent adversaries.
But, if any one had "turned about and wheeled about," it was Sir Francis
Burdett, and accordingly the artist introduces him as indulging in a
very flourishing _pas seul_; he wears a self-satisfied smirk, and
carries his thumbs in his waistcoat, in allusion to his own contention
that he had been always consistent. Yet this self-satisfied
aristocratic-looking personage not many years before had distinguished
himself as the most prominent of radical malcontents, and had been drawn
by his enthusiastic dupes through the city of Westminster in a triumphal
car, decorated with the symbols of liberty, and preceded by a banner
bearing the inscription, "Westminster's Pride and England's Glory."
The queer figure in the cocked hat is Sir de Lacy Evans, who figures as
one of the dancers in allusion to his practice as compared with his
professions. In 1833 he obtained a seat for Westminster, triumphing over
his opponent Sir J. C. Hobhouse, who for fifteen years had represented
that constituency, both candidates professing to be zealous advocates
for the abolition of flogging in the army. Sir de Lacy nevertheless,
when commanding the British Legion at St. Sebastian, "jumped Jim Crow"
by flogging his soldiers without mercy. Lord John Russell once sneered
at every project of Reform, but his Lordship, as we have seen, "jumped
Jim Crow" by repeatedly introducing the Reform Bill into the House of
Commons, which was mainly passed by his persistent exertions; very
properly, therefore, Lord John figures in HB's clever sketch among the
most prominent of "Jim Crow" double shufflers.
FOOTNOTES:
[108] These political changes, as we shall presently see, are by no
means uncommon. William Cobbett, for instance, in 1801 supported the
principles of Pitt, but in 1805, from a "Church and King" man, he
became and continued an ardent liberal.
[109] "English Graphic Satire," by R. W. Buss.
[110] _Westminster Review_, June, 1840.
[111] Greville's "Memoirs," ii. p. 303.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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