Rowlandson the Caricaturist; a Selection from His Works. Vol. 2Grego, Joseph
History
Rowlandson the Caricaturist; a Selection from His Works. Vol. 2
Grego, Joseph
English wit and humor, Pictorial; Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827
_November 25, 1813._ _A Long Pull, a Strong Pull, and a Pull All
together._ Published by T. Tegg (233).--The end of 1813 promised to
witness the downfall of the great 'little Boney;' one misfortune
followed another; ally after ally abandoned the conqueror, who in the
hour of victory had behaved magnanimously to the subjugated States,
and they in return deserted their new friend when disasters were
pressing on him--a sure proof of the danger of confiding in alliances
extracted at the point of the sword or made in bad faith on grounds
of desperate expediency. As we have seen, the blow came from the
North: the treachery of Bernadotte, King of Sweden, a man who owed
his elevation to the Emperor, pointed the way to prostrate Europe to
free herself from the ambitious thraldom of Napoleon; the Russian Bear
broke his false slumbers, the Austrian and Prussian Eagles escaped
from their chains, Spain was cleared of the invaders, and lastly the
Kingdom of Holland revolted in the rear of the disabled Corsican. The
king, Napoleon's brother, Louis, whom he had imposed on this kingdom,
had voluntarily abdicated the crown in favour of his son, a minor, in
1810. The subject is treated allegorically by Rowlandson. _The Sun of
Tyranny_ is setting on the deep; the fleets of the allies are riding on
the seas, which are once more free, and the Dutch are helping to push
off the Texel fleet to join the common cause. As the Allies marched
against France after Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig, a combined force
was sent against Holland, which had been incorporated with the French
Empire in 1810, and placed under the constitution of Jan. 1, 1811, the
seventeen provinces of the Netherlands being united under the dominion
of France. The Prussian and Russian forces, under General Bülow, were
joined by a detachment from England under General Graham; the old
Orange party once more came into activity, and on November 30, 1813,
the hereditary Stadtholder arrived at the Hague. The caricaturist has
simplified his view of the situation by ignoring the change of affairs
that had intervened since 1810, when the Duke of Piacenza became the
Emperor's representative in Amsterdam until 1811, when the State was
merged into the French Empire. The artist has assumed that the kingdom
had remained as administered at the resignation of Louis, July 1, 1810;
and accordingly the abdicated monarch, without his crown, is pictured
dancing about in a distracted state on the soil of Holland, deploring:
'Oh! Brother Nap, Brother Nap, we shan't be left with half a crown
a-piece!' Napoleon is represented, according to the usual fashion of
the satirists, flying about in an ungovernable frenzy as he views the
receding fleet and recognises the revolt of the Netherlanders: 'Oh!
Brother Joe, I'm all fire; my passion eats me up! Such unlooked-for
storms of ills fall on me! It beats down all my cunning; I cannot
bear it! My ears are filled with noise, my eyes grow dim, and feeble
shakings seize every limb!'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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