Raemaekers' Cartoons: With Accompanying Notes by Well-known English WritersRaemaekers, Louis
History
Raemaekers' Cartoons: With Accompanying Notes by Well-known English Writers
Raemaekers, Louis
Raemaekers, Louis, 1869-1956; World War, 1914-1918 -- Caricatures and cartoons
Our wonderment is all the greater when we remember how the Kaiser and
his murderous hordes have made no secret of their methods. They may in
the end seek to deny them, to repudiate the deeds of blood and of unholy
sacrilege and violence which in the early days of war were avowed
concomitants of their policy, but such disavowal is not yet.
Beneath the Kaiser's heel in bloody reality lie at the present time
Belgium and unprotected Luxemburg every whit as much as is shown by the
powerful pencil of the artist.
The reign of lust, cruelty, and destruction is not yet done, though the
signs and portents of the end are not now a-wanting. The blood of men,
women, and little children shall not cease to cry aloud for vengeance
until the Prussian eagle is humbled in the dust, and its power for evil
is utterly destroyed. This is a good cartoon to bear in mind and look
upon should "War weariness" ever overtake one. It will be a good one to
have upon one's wall when peace talk is head in the land.
Thomas Moore may be said to have composed an epitaph for Prussianism
three-quarters of a century ago when he wrote the lines:
"Accursed is the march of that glory
Which treads o'er the hearts of the free."
A great statesman has declared "the Allies will not sheathe the sword
until Justice is vindicated." Let us add "and until reparation is
exacted to the uttermost farthing from these responsible for this bloody
conflict and its diabolical crimes, whether the perpetrators be high or
low."
CLIVE HOLLAND.
[Illustration: How I deal with the small fry.]
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THE TWO EAGLES
A double-edged satire on both political birds. Neither is a true eagle.
They have talons but nothing of the noble air proper to the king of
birds. The German bird is not an eagle but a vulture; and he is in a
sorry plight, with torn and ruffled feathers, dishevelled, dripping
blood. He is disappointed, angry, soured, and unhappy. Yet he is
straightforward about it. He makes no attempt to disguise his feelings,
but glares at the other with the indignation of one who has been
deceived written on his face and vibrating in his voice.
And his reproach gets home. The American bird, who is bigger and stands
on a bigger rock, is sleek enough except about the head which is a bit
ruffled. But he is more of a raven than an eagle in his sable plumes of
professional cut, and he is obviously not at ease. He does not look the
other in the face. He stares straight in front of him at nothing with a
forced, hard and fixed smile, obviously assumed because he has no reply
to make.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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