drawing;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.6356
- Title
- Object: The progress of the campaign. 1784. (June)
- Description
-
Francis II and Mack drive rapidly uphill and to the left in a car drawn by four horses (left). A signpost in the foreground points (left) 'To Vienna' and (right) 'To ye Rhine'. They are pursued by two horsemen, the foremost being Cornwallis, galloping on the extreme right. Cannon and tents on a hill above them indicate a camp.
In the foreground lies a Habsburg eagle; one head and tail-feathers have been shot off; beside it (right) lies a fallen standard. The Emperor holds up both arms, a feathered crown falls from his head; he says: "O Mack, Mack is this the triumph you promised me! Why my imperial diadem is off - infamy & ruin - Vienna itself may be Jacobinised." To his pursuers he cries: "No, no, you dont get us to stop yet depend upon it indeed, indeed we dont want to go to Paris." Mack says to the postilion: "Drive on, drive on, we must be safe, before I can chalk out another road to Paris." Cornwallis shouts, with outstretched arm: "Hola! stop, stop, We are friends - you may hear of something to your advantage - my name is Corn--w--ll--s, Zounds I have follow'd you till I'm tired to death." A 'Subsidy' projects from his pocket. His companion says: "My Lord give up the business, you'l never get at them - every thing they hear, even the cracking of their whips sounds like a French Army". Beneath the title: 'The imperial visit to the Rhine. The Indian Hero in pursuit of the Knight of the Black eagle.' June 1794
Pen and brown ink
- Production date
- 1794
- Dimensions
-
Height: 154 millimetres
-
Width: 184 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VII, 1942)
On 23 May Mack, disgusted (after Turcoing, see BMSat 8458) with the failure of his elaborate plans for a march on Paris, resigned his post as Chief of Staff, declaring his opinion that the re-conquest of Belgium was hopeless. On 24 May the Austrians defeated the French right wing, and the Prussians had a victory on the same day. The first payment of the Prussian subsidy was at last sanctioned by Grenville. Cornwallis was sent to Prussian head-quarters to concert operations, with orders to consult the Emperor and Duke of York on his way. On 29 May the Emperor declared his intention of returning to Vienna, actually determined to quell the Polish rebellion and to abandon the Austrian Netherlands (see BMSat 8477), but declaring that his object was to hasten recruiting. The consequent discouragement and apathy of the Austrian army led to the defeat of Fleurus (25 June), after which the Austrians evacuated Belgium. Fortescue, 'Hist. of the British Army', iv. 273 ff.; 'Camb. Hist. of Foreign Policy', i. 246-7; Rose, 'Pitt and the Great War', pp. 208-9. See BMSat 8496, &c. Cf. BMSat 8791.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.6356
