- Museum number
- 1868,0808.8784
- Title
- Object: The effects of the new administration-or-civil and religious liberties in danger!!!-
- Description
-
Two sides are almost equally matched in a tug-of-war for Power, a long piece of drapery: a bishop, supported by John Bull (left) tugs against the Pope, much burlesqued, and Canning to whose back a demon clings. George IV, a fine figure of a man, in field-marshal's uniform, with cocked hat and boots, stands between them, pulling the Pope's long drink-blotched nose, and threatening him with his baton; he says: I'll put up with no nonsense from any of you, my goodnature shall not be imposed upon; if you advance an other inch I'll knock out your wicked brains, I swear by St George!! The Pope has one cloven hoof and one bare sandalled foot, which he raises, shouting, Oh! lord you have hurt my great toe! by our Lady I'll excommunicate you. let my nose alone, can't you ? O! Oh!!! I'd give my eye, to have had my nose prepared with Windsor-Soap. He wears tiara and robes; huge keys and a cross dangle round his person. The fat pompous bishop, probably the Archbishop, wears mitre and lawn sleeves. He says: I protest that the Coronation Oath does prvent his Majesty emancipating the Papists. John Bull, a sturdy 'cit', with rolled-up shirt-sleeves, shouts: We,ll have no purging or fasting here. Then pull away! pull away, jolly boys! don't be down-hearted yoe ho! Behind him is a bale of goods addressed to J. Bull London. Canning, who wears a court-suit and bag-wig, says: Confound that letter sent to me April 10th 1818, however I'll work away in spite of every thing. From his pocket hangs a large purse: Treasury. A bystander (? Westmacott) says: See "The Age of May 13th 1827—for above letter. The demon on his back, a scaly creature with wings, breathes fire and the words: Then lustily pull away Devils Keep up the ball | Never mind whats to pay, | The public pay's for all. Rum te bum bay! bum te bum te bay!
Appropriate papers, &c, lie at the feet of the five principals: by John Bull: Address to the King; by the bishop and the King: Petitions (three) and a crosier. The King puts his foot on the Pope's triple cross. By the latter are: Bulls, The Book of Martyrs, Bloodshed, Civil Wars, The Popes Curse, Vice, Plots, Preistcraft, Ignorance, Superstition. By Canning: Intrigue, Superstition, Spies, Torture, Corruption, Mother Hunn's Amours a little Reddish, The Life of an Actress, Infamy. Below the demon: Perdition. Behind the King and the two chief combatants soldiers are drawn up at attention with fixed bayonets; behind John Bull are the masts of ships. There are also three subsidiary scenes: [1] The head of the Duke of York in profile to the right, ringed with clouds, looks down to say: Dear George, you must be decided and maintain with manly firmness the prerogative of the Crown, if the Pope puts his foot in your Dominions, the consequences, in the struggle for power, will be dreadful, Remember me—Adieu. [2] In the upper right corner five of the resigning Ministers are grouped in clouds with a sixth, Liverpool, seated in a chair and covering his face with his hand. Wellington, in uniform, folds his arms, saying, I must be either more or less then man, if I could suffer my character to be villify'd in the manner it has been by the press without coming down to this house to explain my reasons for not joining the present Administration. The next is not characterized. The third is Eldon, incorrectly wearing a Garter ribbon and star; he says: I am persuaded, that if the Roman Catholic question is carried; there will be an end to the civil and religious liberties of the country, for Ecclesiastical tyrany, must produce civil tyranny. The fourth, in profile to the left, is Westmorland. Peel sits pen in hand against a pedestal inscribed Public Opinion; under his elbow is a large paper: Letter to the King on forming a No Popery Administration. At his feet are papers inscribed Mr Peel and The Prisoners Friend. Liverpool, on the extreme right, says: As I was always a True Protestant so I always advocated the cause of Peace. [3] Four Jesuits dance hand in hand before three naked martyrs, one a woman, burning at the stake. They are presided over by a Grand Inquisitor, also a Jesuit, on a raised chair. Below: The Holy Inquisition at work [cf. BM Satires 13009]. May 1827
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1827
- Dimensions
-
Height: 275 millimetres
-
Width: 380 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', X, 1952)
A No-Popery print justifying the 'Protestant' resignations on Canning's appointment, see No. 15371, &c., characteristic of the mid-May reaction. In a long speech on 2 May (published), Wellington defended his resignation, which he justified by 'the manner in which I have been treated by the corrupt press, in the pay of the Government'. Parl. Deb., N.S. xvii. 455. Eldon's words in the same debate are also paraphrased. Peel was blamed for his resignation only after he himself carried Emancipation; he was, as Wellington said on 2 May, 'universally acquitted'; for his reforms at the Home Office see No. 15391 [6]. His letter on his resignation was to Canning, not the King (Wellington, Dispatches, N.s. iii. 644 f.). For George III and emancipation see No. 10709, &c.; for George IV, No. 15388. The 'letter' to which Canning refers is an anonymous pamphlet of 16 pp. violently attacking Canning, from the Radical standpoint, as a mountebank, and comparing him to Caligula, &c. It was reprinted in full in The Age with Canning's answer, &c.: Canning is attacked for his inconsistency in having friendly relations with Burdett, the patron of Hobhouse, the reputed (and actual) author of the pamphlet. Scurrilous attacks on Canning in connexion with his mother had been common in lampoons, see No. 13617; her second husband was Redditch, her third Hunn. Grey said at this time that the son of an actress was disqualified from being premier of England; Londonderry wrote of him to Wellington (13 Apr.) as 'Mother Hunn's offspring'. Aspinall, Formation of Canning's Ministry, pp. xlix, 72. The impetus to this plate was perhaps R. C.'s association with Westmacott (editor of the Age), see No. 14922, &c.; cf. No. 15403, also by R. C.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.8784
