Now, since this was written, further inquiries have been made upon the subject, and two theories present themselves for consideration. The first of them in its general outline supports Mr. Spielmann’s account, and maintains that the picture was bought direct from Keene himself by the late Mr. Agnew (not Mr. Bradbury), as a solatium on account of its not being used, and that the reason for suppressing it was the anti-Jewish feeling by which it was inspired.
In support of this view it should be remembered that Keene all along refused to accept a fixed salary for his Punch work, and was always paid by the piece. Considering, too, that the subject of the weekly cartoons was (and still is) a matter of general discussion at the Wednesday Punch dinners, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the {130} subject was embarked upon with the authority of the editor, and that other counsels only prevailed after the drawing had reached the stage at which it now appears.[24] This being so, it seems not unlikely that a generous employer would feel himself in some degree answerable for the futile labour to which the artist had been put, and would offer to buy the picture as it stood rather than that the artist should in any way be prejudiced. If this were the case (which does not sound improbable) it throws an interesting and edifying side-light upon the relations existing between the artists and publishers of our great comic paper.
[24] Of course Sir John Tenniel was cartoonist in chief, but sometimes the cartoon was duplicated, and on very rare occasions Sir John took a holiday.
Against this theory, however, I have the opinion of Sir John Tenniel and Mr. Linley Sambourne that the drawing was done on Keene’s own initiative by way of frontispiece to one of the Punch pocket-books. But this view of the matter I am, with submission, not myself inclined to accept, and for two reasons. First and foremost, the drawing differs in shape from the pocket-book folding frontispieces; and secondly, it was the {131} practice in these yearly productions rather to satirise some social folly or fashion of the period than to deal with matters political or international. In addition to which it does tally in shape with the double-page cartoons of Punch itself, and, as a matter of fact, Keene’s few cartoons were mostly done during the years 1875, 1876, and 1877, when the matter of the Suez Canal was making a new departure in politics—a fact which, as will appear, has some bearing upon the matter before us.
So much for the circumstances connected with the production and proposed destination of the picture. Let us now consider its subject and the probable reason of its suppression.
And, if we take down our volume of collected Punch cartoons and turn to those dealing with Disraeli, we shall be disinclined to think that it was out of any consideration for “Benjamin Bombastes” himself that this splendid drawing was withheld from publication. But thinly disguised contempt is the attitude almost invariably maintained towards him, whilst but thinly disguised personal admiration for his great rival discounts even the bitterest political taunts {132} flung at that devoted head. No! I am inclined to think that events at this time, to which this cartoon referred, were wringing unwilling approbation even from “The Asiatic Mystery’s” most bitter enemies, and that Bouverie Street could not but acknowledge that here at least “Ben-Dizzy” deserved well of his country. For surely the cartoon has reference to nothing less than that crowning act of wisdom, the purchase of nearly half the shares in the Suez Canal for four millions sterling. Here we have Disraeli with his umbrella pointing the way, not across the Red Sea as Mr. Spielmann imagines, but up the Canal towards the Red Sea. He calls out, “Don’t be afraid! it’s getting shallower,” thus possibly referring to the original notion (afterwards disproved) that the level of the Mediterranean was 30 feet below that of the Red Sea. On the right-hand, and Egyptian, side of the water, if we look carefully, we discover the shadowy outline of the Sphinx and the Pyramids, which latter rise dimly to the margin of the drawing. On the bank indistinct forms of the Liberal “Opposition” wave their arms, hurl stones and shout “Yah” at the {133} wading financiers. Such was the hardly congratulatory attitude assumed towards this masterly move by Charles Keene.
But when we turn to the cartoons dealing with this subject by Sir John Tenniel,[25] which did appear, what do we find? The first is “Mosé in Egitto”!!! published on December 11, 1875, to which, in the collected cartoons, the following note is appended:—“Mr. Disraeli extorted the admiration of the country by purchasing for £4,000,000, on behalf of the Government, the shares in the Suez Canal held by the Khedive of Egypt.” The second is entitled “The Lion’s Share—Gare à qui la touche,” on February 26, 1896, to which the note appended runs: “The acquisition of the Suez Canal shares was accepted by the country as securing the safety of ‘The Key to India.’” These, as will be seen, frankly recognise the wisdom of the purchase. Hence it is not surprising if the feeling against the suggestion contained in Keene’s cartoon—that the financiers of the day were being put into a {134} ridiculous position by the Conservative Leader—was strong enough to result in its rejection. Its inclusion would have gone far to stultify the effect of the congratulatory attitude taken up by Punch’s chartered cartoonist. At any rate, this view of the case appears to be most reasonable, and I give it for what it is worth.
[25] It may be mentioned as an interesting fact that no engraved cartoon after Sir John Tenniel has ever failed to find its place in the number for which it was designed.
The drawing is a fine example of Keene’s power of endowing his models with the qualities requisite to his design. Not a man of these seventeen financiers suggests a model posing, and yet all, for this was Keene’s invariable custom, were drawn from the life. Not one of them but is balanced as though he were wading in water up to his knees; and yet not one of them, we may be sure, was wading against a stream when, probably unconsciously, he was forced into the service of the artist’s pencil. The pose of one and all is as inevitable as is the expression on the face of each. I would ask all my readers who are seekers after consummate draughtsmanship to give more particular attention to this beautiful drawing than its mere subject would demand, remembering that Keene’s achievements in black-and-white are {135} unsurpassed, and, I am inclined to think, unsurpassable.
We will now turn to the consideration of the other suppressed Keene drawing. This, we shall find, owed its rejection not to political but to social considerations. And it is of peculiar interest, not only as showing the scrupulous care taken by the then editor of Punch to avoid the risk of offending the susceptibilities of his readers, but also as an example of the extensive collaboration which existed between Keene and the late Mr. Joseph Crawhall in the supply of “socials” to that paper week by week.