print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.5625
- Title
- Object: Consolidation of Duties, addressed to John Bull
- Description
-
John Bull, grotesquely stout, is pressed downwards by a large rolled document which rests on his head inscribed 'Revision 3000 Resolutions Simplefication'. This roll is pressed down by three persons who rest their hands on it, their legs in the air, as if jumping to increase the pressure which has already so much compressed John Bull, concertina-fashion, that his arms reach the ground, and his contour is quasi-rectangular. The central figure is Pitt, saying, "Come, boys, since they say we have well begun, Let's bear hard till the whole's comprest in one". The other two are probably Rose and Steele, the Treasury Secretaries. The words 'Stamps' and 'Incidents' are inscribed on John Bull's shoulders, 'Custom' and 'Excise' (crossing each other) on his body. 27 February 1787
Etching
- Production date
- 1787
- Dimensions
-
Height: 190 millimetres
-
Width: 119 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VI, 1938)
The 'simplification of the public accounts in the various branches of the revenue' was mentioned in the King's Speech 23 Jan., and moved by Pitt on 26 Feb. 1787. By the consolidation of duties the various customs, excise, and stamp duties were to be combined in a single tax on each article. The reform was unopposed. 'Ann. Reg.', 1787, pp. 105 ff. Cf. BMSat 6914, &c.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.5625
