Mr. Punch's History of Modern England, Vol. 4 (of 4).—1892-1914Graves, Charles L. (Charles Larcom)
History
Mr. Punch's History of Modern England, Vol. 4 (of 4).—1892-1914
Graves, Charles L. (Charles Larcom)
Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901 -- Humor
The Anglophobe feeling was much more vocal in France, and _Punch_ gives
a curious account of the Transvaal section of the Paris Exhibition in
October, where signatures were invited and freely appended to addresses
to the two Presidents, the bust of Krüger was crowned with palm
branches, poetic eulogies were circulated, and the walls covered with
"_Mort aux Anglais_," "Chamberlain _est un vache_," etc. Meanwhile,
Mafeking had been relieved, and _Punch_ had defended the "loud extremes
of passionate joy" which added the now well-nigh forgotten verb "to
Maffick" to our current vocabulary. Lord Roberts's uninterrupted
advance to Pretoria had moved _Punch_, with many others, to declare
very prematurely on June 6th that the war was practically over, though
it lasted nearly two years longer, and the slow progress of "rounding
up" the Boers actually prompted the suggestion from a leading paper
that Lord Kitchener should be recalled and Lord Roberts sent out again.
President Krüger's flitting is illustrated in a cartoon in which "Oom
Paul" is seen in a small boat, with two millions of treasure, quitting
the sinking ship _Transvaal_; while in a set of verses, written after
reading of his triumphal progress through France, _Punch_ prophesies
for him a green old age in Grosvenor Square. The C.I.V.'s returned
in the autumn and were welcomed by the City of London; and shortly
afterwards "a Mr. Williams offered respectful apologies to Satan for
mentioning him in the same breath with Lord Kitchener." _Punch_, even
in his most Chauvinistic mood, never indulged in such abuse of the Boer
generals, and at the end of 1900 paid a well-deserved compliment to the
elusive De Wet in his cartoon of "De Wet o' de Wisp."
[Sidenote: _China and Australia_]
Before dealing with the subsequent progress of the "guerrilla war,"
we may turn aside for a moment to other developments overseas. In an
epigram on "The Millennium" in August, 1900, _Punch_ writes:--
In some problematic day
Strife and wrath shall fade away,
Crews no longer blessing pouring
On the coxes who have cox'd,
When the Boers shall cease from boring
And the Boxers shall be boxed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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