The new parliament only sat from June 14, 1831, to December 3, 1832. Towards the close of the session (November 22, 1832) it was hinted that ministers were not altogether too happy, and they had flown to stimulants to promote a fictitious confidence. “Ministers and (in) their Cups!” is the title; each has a presentation gold cup in his hand, and a punch-bowl is in the centre of the table. The Ministers are half-seas-over; Grey is singing “Here’s Comfort when we Fret;” Russell is joining in the chorus. Althorp declares, “I am quite overpowered;” and Brougham, who has further been presented with a gold toddy-ladle, is crying, “Ah, this is now the greatest consolation we have left. I wish some one would give poor Palmy a cup!”
CHAPTER XIV.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ELECTIONEERING, 1833 TO 1857.
John Doyle, as a Tory satirist, was eagerly anticipating indications of change in the popular sentiments. His warnings on the Reform Bill had fallen unheeded, and the Whig party was still strong in power. HB ventured on the hint that the Tories were only temporarily in disfavour, and that they had but to adapt themselves to the times and resume office. The “Waits” (January, 1833) gives an ingenious and novel view of political matters. John Bull, in dressing-gown and double night-cap, is leaning out of his first-floor window in critical contemplation of the minstrels’ efforts to please his ear. The Duke of Wellington, with the smallest of fiddles, has the leadership of “the waits.” Lord Ellenborough (trombone), Sir Robert Peel (flute), and Lord Aberdeen (’cello) are the midnight harmonists. The awakened householder, Mr. Bull, is requesting a more piquant programme: “I’m tired of your eternal ‘God save the King’ and ‘Rule Britannia,’—give us something French—‘The Marseillaise’ or ‘The Parisienne.’” Wellington, touching his hat, replies, “Please your Honour, we don’t play them ’ere tunes.”
“Sindbad the Sailor and the Old Man of the Sea!” (vide fifth voyage, June 8, 1833) was published after the dissolution. William IV. is, of course, the marvellous traveller, and the incubus he has submitted to get settled on his shoulders is the reforming premier, Lord Grey.
That parliamentary reform, though commenced, was by the extreme party considered but an imperfect measure, is pictorially illustrated in various designs by HB; for instance, the elusive “Time” is shown running away with the great Whig Reform Bill, and Lord Althorp is seen tearing after the vanishing roll, crying, “Stop thief!” He has the Times in his pocket, presumably the organ by which John Bull’s course was piloted, and is vainly trying to come up with the departing thief and his measure, one tiny corner Lord Althorp has torn off, “Schedule A,” and that promises to be all he can save from the abduction.
SINDBAD THE SAILOR AND THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA. JUNE 8, 1833. BY J. DOYLE (HB).
Another version, also by Doyle, embodies in graphic form the views of the root-and-branch reformers; a grand trio of Sir Francis Burdett, then a prominent Radical; Joseph Hume, who was all for economic reform, in which important branch he has left no true successor; and Daniel O’Connell, a most important factor in his time, whose covert designs were nothing less than “Repeal.” These gentlemen, who were among the most conspicuous politicians of their day, are linked arm-in-arm as the “Three Great Pillars of Government; or, A Walk from White Conduit House to St. Stephen’s” (July 23, 1834); published under the same auspices of Thomas McLean, at the Haymarket Gallery, as the other examples of Doyle’s satirical ability reproduced in this summary. Sir Francis Burdett is with much spirit advocating “Equal Representation and Annual Parliaments—and that (a snap of the fingers) for the Borough-mongers.” Hume is applauding this resolute front: “Bravo! and Cheap Government;” to which Daniel O’Connell is adding, “And Universal Suffrage, and Vote by Ballot, eh?” with, as a supplement, in a very small whisper, “A Repeal of the Union.”
When another general election occurred, the situation of honest John Bull was figured as that of a stout gentleman wishing to be carried on his road, but distracted as to the conveyance he must choose. The Tory ’bus stands contrasted with the new reform steam vehicle, which is crowded with experimentalists. “The Opposition ‘Busses” is the title of this version, also due to HB. The Duke of Wellington is trying to secure John Bull for his old coach, which does not seem much patronized.
“Don’t trust ’em, Sir, and their new-fangled machinery. Can’t get on at all without being kept in constant hot water, and sure to blow up in the end; with us you’ll be much more safe and comfortable,—careful driver, steady train’d horses, and rate of going much faster than formerly.”