Mr. Punch's History of Modern England. Volume 3 of 4.—1874-1892. Graves Charles Larcom

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СКАЧАТЬ sight to stir the bigot; but the wise

      Regard with cheerful and complacent eyes

      This pleasantest of meetings.

      And so on with praise of the Good Queen and Holy Father, Punch, as a "true freeman unfettered by servile fear or hate's poor purblind heat," being free to celebrate them both.

      It was also the Centenary year of the United States, welcomed by Punch in John Bull's song on Miss Columbia's Hundredth birthday to the air of "I'm getting a big boy now." Mr. Gladstone was invited to the celebrations but did not cross the Atlantic. John Bull abounds in professions of good-will, but there is a slight sting in the last chorus: —

      You are getting a great girl now,

      May you prosper, and keep out of row;

      Shun Bunkum and bawl

      All that's shoddy and small,

      For you're getting a great girl now.

      The Salisbury Cabinet was strengthened by the inclusion of Mr. Goschen as Chancellor of the Exchequer – Mr. Goschen whom Lord Randolph "forgot," and whom Punch styled the "Emergency man," a phrase now also forgotten, but then applied to the volunteers who assisted boycotted farmers and loyalists in Ireland. Mr. Balfour was at the Irish Office, the scene of his greatest administrative successes, and the Crimes Act and the Land Act were the two principal measures of the Session. In those days The Times was the great champion of the Unionist policy, and in the summer of 1887 is shown prodding on Lord Salisbury and Mr. Balfour, armed with Crimes Act blunderbusses, in their attack on the Land League wild boar. The Land League was "proclaimed" in August; and already the controversy had begun between Mr. Parnell and The Times over the former's alleged participation in the responsibility for the Phoenix Park murders. The question was raised in a series of articles on "Parnellism and Crime"; but the charges were not made specific until the following year. John Bright's secession from the Gladstonian Liberals had been a serious blow, and his contributions to the Unionist armoury were so vigorous and pointed, that it is rather strange to find Punch assailing him in March, 1887, for his pacificist tendencies: —

      The white flag, John, may bid all battle cease,

      Not the white feather! In defence of right,

      Despite your dogmas, men perforce must fight

      With swords as well as words: be it their care

      With either, to heed honour, and fight fair.

      You would "speak daggers" only; be it so;

      But a word-stab may be a felon blow.

      John Bright certainly spoke daggers against those who, in his own phrase, kept the rebellion pot always on the boil.

      Germany's Momentous Year

      The Earl of Iddesleigh, better known as Sir Stafford Northcote, died in January. There is an unmistakable reference to Lord Randolph Churchill's treatment of his one-time leader in the verses in which Punch paid homage to a statesman "worn yet selfless, disparaged and dispraised," yet a "pattern of proud but gentle chivalry": —

      So the arena's coarser heroes mocked

      This antique fighter. And his place was rather

      Where Arthur's knights in generous tourney shocked

      Than where swashbucklers meet or histrions gather:

      Yet – yet his death has touched the land with gloom;

      All England honours Chivalry – at his tomb.

      Here the reference to Lord Randolph is inferential though unmistakable. But an opportunity for having a dig at him is never missed. When the Bulgarian throne was offered to Prince Ferdinand, and his cautious and diplomatic tactics resulted in long delays, Punch in pure malice suggested that the crown should be offered to Lord Randolph. He may be forgiven, however, in view of the remarkably accurate estimate which he formed of the slyness, timidity and meanness of "Ferdinand the Fox," and the alternations of servility and insolence in his attitude towards Russia. Bismarck again comes in for honorific notice this year in the guise of Sintram, accompanied and menaced by Socialism (the Little Master), but confidently riding along on his steed Majority. But 1888 was a momentous year for Germany – the year in which two Kaisers died and a third succeeded to the heritage of the Hohenzollerns. The old Emperor Wilhelm, the "Greise Kaiser," died on March 9; within a hundred days his son, the "Weise Kaiser," had fallen to the fatal malady which had sapped his splendid physique, to be succeeded in turn by the "Reise Kaiser," the nickname bestowed on Wilhelm II for his passion for movement and travel. At the moment of his accession Punch was not inclined to be critical. The cartoon of "The Vigil" in June of that year expresses no misgivings, but only sympathy for one called to bear so heavy a burden. And this view is amplified in the verses in which the lessons of the past are used to fortify the hopes of the future: —

THE VIGIL

      "Verse-moi dans le cœur, du fond de ce tombeau

      Quelque chose de grand, de sublime et de beau!"

Hernani, Act iv, Scene 2.

      The prayer of Charles, that rose amidst the gloom

      Of the dead Charlemagne's majestic tomb,

      Might fitly find an echo on the lips

      Of the young Prince, whose pathway death's eclipse

      Hath twice enshadowed in so brief a space.

      Grandsire and Sire! Stout slip of a strong race,

      Valiant old age and vigorous manhood fail,

      And leave youth, high with hope, with anguish pale,

      In vigil at their tomb! Watch on, and kneel,

      Those clenched hands crossed upon the sheathèd steel.

      Not lightly such inheritance should fall.

      Hear you not through the gloom the glorious call

      Of Valour, Duty, Freedom?

      … And youth must face

      What snowy age and stalwart manhood found

      A weight of sorrow, though with splendour crowned.

      Young Hohenzollern, soldierly of soul,

      Heaven fix your heart on a yet nobler goal

      Than sword may hew its way to. Those you mourn

      Heroes of the Great War when France was torn

      With Teuton shot, knew that the sword alone

      May rear, but shall not long support a throne.

      William has passed, bowing his silver crest,

      Like an old Sea King going to his rest;

      Frederick, in fullest prime, with failing breath,

      But an heroic heart, has stooped to death:

      Here, at their tomb, another Emperor keeps

      His vigil, whilst Germania bows and weeps.

      Heaven hold that sword unsheathed in that young hand,

      And crown with power and peace the Fatherland!

      Only a fortnight before the death of the old Emperor, Bismarck's Army Bill had awakened Punch's misgivings. He reluctantly admired the strength of the lion combined with the shrewdness of the fox; and put into Bismarck's mouth the sonorous couplet: —

      I speak of Peace, while covert enmity

      Under the smile of safety wounds the world.

      (Founded on the first part of an old Fable of Dædalus and Icarus, the Sequel of which Mr. Punch trusts may never apply.)

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