print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.4388
- Title
- Object: The Triumph of America
- Description
-
Satire on the ineffectiveness of William Pitt's administration in late 1766 in regard to American policy. Pitt, now Lord Chatham, is shown driving a triumphal chariot bearing the figure of America, the progress of which is impeded by a bale beneath its wheel; Britannia has fallen over a cliff in front of the procession. The six horses are identified in the text below as the factious members of the administration appointed to to their positions between May and August 1766: the Duke of Grafton (Royal Oak), First Lord of the Treasury; Lord Shelburne (Crafty), Secretary of State for the South; Charles Townshend (Weathercock), Chancellor of the Exchequer, who it is said, "strays Northwards, and may be found grazing about Looton Hoe, the Lord of the Manor [i.e., Lord Bute] always gives him up to his Owner ..." ; Lord Northington (Surly), Lord President of the Council; Henry Seymour Conway (Prudence), Secretary of State for the North whose brother, Lord Hertford, recently appointed Lord Chamberlain is referred to in the text as "the noted Parsimony who has started for all and won most of the King's Plates this last Year" ; Lord Camden (Prerogative), Lord Chancellor. Pitt compains about the postillion, shown as a native American, who reminds him that "in case of necessity the ki[ng] has a dispensing power". 1766
Etching and drypoint
- Production date
- 1766 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 190 millimetres (trimmed?)
-
Width: 253 millimetres (trimmed?)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- John Brooke (History of Parliament) sums up this period as follows: "Pitt was at last given a chance to form an Administration, united under his lead and backed by the full confidence of the Crown; and a sad mess he made of it. He set out ‘to dissolve all factions and to see the best of all parties in Administration’, and he succeeded only in ranging all the political groups against him and in driving faction to its highest pitch."
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.4388