- Museum number
- 1868,0808.7821
- Title
- Object: The tree of corruption - every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen down
- Description
-
Three men (left) with axes prepare to hew down a decayed tree, whose trunk is partly covered by rotten bark, and is propped up by a log inscribed Morning Post, Three others, placemen and pensioners, shelter under the more robust branches of the tree (right) which are covered with (rotten) fruit which drips on to them. Burdett wields an axe with a spiked shaft, whose blade is inscribed Voice of ye People; he exclaims fiercely: Down with the Tree of Corruption, Down with it. Wardle stands under a falling branch inscribed Y—k Influence; its leaves are inscribed O'Mera [see No. 11258], Carter [see No. 11223], Sando[n], Clav[ering] [see No. 11247]. He says: How Rotten!!! why it partley fell off it's self; his axe, a less deadly weapon than Burdett's, is inscribed Mrs Clarke, Whitbread stands on the extreme left, in the shirt-sleeves and apron of a drayman. His axe is inscribed justice. Beside him stands a huge tankard of Whitbreds Intire—But Beer. In the background Sheridan and Grenville stand in consultation holding axes; on Sheridan's is the outline of a bottle. The fruit of the tree is inscribed: Honor of a P——e [completely rotten, see No. 11269], George Farquhar [see No. 11228], Intrest great Intrest; and, on the right, Places, Taxs Taxs, East India Intrest, Pensions, West India Intrest, Livings, Church Preferment &c &c &c, Placemen, Pensiond Serv[ice], Influance &c &c. Of the three beneath this fruit, one with his back to the tree wears a judge's wig round his neck and huge spectacles which indicate Perceval; he says: "Long live the Tree of Corruption.
April 1809
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1809
- Dimensions
-
Height: 247 millimetres
-
Width: 351 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VIII, 1947)
The attack on the Duke of York, see No. 11216, &c, produced a sequence of violent attacks against corruption, especially where Ministers might be incriminated, cf. No. 11297, &c. A committee on abuses in East India Patronage had been sitting; its report was ordered to be printed on 23 Mar. On 17 Apr. Folkestone moved for a committee to inquire into the existence of any corrupt practices in the disposal of offices in any department of State, and relative to the sale of commissions in the Army; only 30 left-wing Whigs voted for this sweeping motion; Whitbread, Burdett, Folkestone (see No. 11300), and Wardle were leaders of the group. See M. Roberts, The Whig Party, 1807-1812, 1939, pp. 197 ff. Jerdan strongly supported the Duke of York in the Morning Post without influencing the public and causing a great fall in its circulation. See his Autob., 1852, i. 111 f. Cf. No. 11328, &c. For 'the Tree of Corruption', Horne Tooke's phrase in 1796, cf. No. 8817.
(Supplementary information)
The imprint is heavily covered with ink and almost obliterated.
For earlier examples of related compositions, see BM Satires 4006.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.7821