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

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СКАЧАТЬ by September it was the young Kaiser, not Bismarck, who invited "A Word in Season." The counsel was prompted by a speech in which he declared, "It is the pride of the Hohenzollerns to reign at once over the noblest, the most intellectual and most cultured of nations," a sentiment mild when compared with later utterances, yet sufficiently thrasonic to earn a rebuke for indulging in demagogic flattery, coupled with the advice to read Lord Wolseley's article in the Fortnightly on Marlborough, Wellington and Napoleon, and to emulate the reticence of Moltke. In less than a month the inevitable cleavage between the Kaiser and his Chancellor is foreshadowed in the splendid cartoon reproduced, where Bismarck as Dædalus warns Wilhelm as Icarus, in a paraphrase of Ovid: —

      My son, observe the middle path to fly,

      And fear to sink too low, or rise too high.

      Here the sun melts, there vapours damp your force,

      Between the two extremes direct your course.

      Nor on the Bear, nor on Boötes gaze,

      Nor on sword-arm'd Orion's dangerous rays;

      But follow me, thy guide, with watchful sight,

      And as I steer, direct thy cautious flight.

Metamorphoses, Book VIII, Fable iii.

      For the establishment of the Triple Alliance Punch held Bismarck responsible. The three high contracting Powers become the "Sisters Three," Italy as Atropos, Austria as Lachesis, and Germany as Clotho. The policy is expounded in "a Bismarckian version of an old classical myth." Bismarck claims to be working for peace so long as he is the cloud compeller. While he is in power it will be all well with Germany. Of Austria he is less certain, owing to the precariousness of her crown, but he counts confidently on Italy, and ends on an optimistic note, dwelling on the pacific aims of this new political pact. It is hard to tell whether this is irony on the part of Punch or a genuine approval of the Triple Alliance. But there is no doubt of his mistrust of Germany's ulterior motives in undertaking to co-operate with England in suppressing the Slave Trade in Africa – a mistrust expressed in the quatrain: —

      When Fox with Lion hunts,

      One would be sorry

      To say who gains, until

      They've shared the quarry.

      Boulanger's Bid for Dictatorship

      The sequel justified the suspicion, and less than a year later Punch published a companion cartoon in which the Lion, coming round the corner, finds the Fox has pulled down the notice "Down with Slavery" and is about to put up a Proclamation in which "Up" takes the place of "Down."

      Bismarck's hostility to the Empress Frederick was notorious. In her husband's brief reign there was a question of their daughter, Princess Victoria, marrying Prince Alexander, ex-sovereign of Bulgaria. Punch represented Bismarck forbidding the banns, and putting an extinguisher labelled "Policy" on Cupid. It was stated that Bismarck threatened to resign if the marriage plan were proceeded with; Punch, the sentimentalist, believed that love would find out a way, and it did, but in a different direction. The Prince married, but the lady was not of royal or even noble birth, and as Count Hartenau he remained in obscurity and died while still a young man.

      France also had her troubles in 1888, for this was the year of Boulanger, the brav' Général, who captivated the mob for a while, seemed at one moment to be within an ace of overthrowing the Republic and establishing a stratocracy, but collapsed ignobly in the testing hour. Punch recognized the danger in his cartoon of France ruefully balancing the Cap of Liberty on her finger. But even in L'Audace, where Boulanger is shown climbing up a steep cliff, with "Deputy" at the bottom, "President" and "Dictator" at the top, and the Imperial Eagle peering over the summit – we are made to feel that the climber is not equal to the task. The conditions are exactly reproduced in the companion picture, "Many a Slip," only that Boulanger is shown rolling down the precipice.

      New South Wales celebrated her Centenary on January 26, 1888, and Punch added his tribute in a happily-worded greeting under the familiar heading, "Advance, Australia!": —

      A hundred years! At Time's old pace

      The merest day's march, little changing;

      But now the measure's new, the race

      Fares even faster, forward ranging.

      What cycle of Cathay e'er saw

      Your Century's wondrous transformation?

      From wandering waifs to wards of Law!

      From nomads to a mighty nation!

      Belated dreamers moan and wail;

      What scenes for croakers of that kidney,

      Since first the Sirius furled her sail

      Where now is Sydney!

      A hundred years! Let Fancy fly —

      She has a flight that nothing hinders,

      Not e'en reaction's raven cry —

      Back to the days of Matthew Flinders,

      Stout slip of Anglo-Saxon stock

      Who gave the new-found land its nomen.

      Faith, memory-fired, may proudly mock

      At dismal doubt, at owlish omen.

      Five sister-colonies spread now

      Where then the wandering black-fellow

      Alone enjoyed day's golden glow,

      Night's moonlight mellow.

      "The Island-Continent! Hooray!"

      Punch drinks your health in honest liquor

      On this your great Centennial day,

      Whose advent makes his blood flow quicker.

      We know what you can do, dear boys

      In City-founding – and in Cricket.

      A fig for flattery! – it cloys;

      Frank truth, true friendship – that's the ticket!

      Land of rare climate, stalwart men,

      And pretty girls, and queer mammalia,

      All England cries, through Punch's pen,

      "Advance, Australia!"

      The same year witnessed the starting of the Australian navy. "Naturally the biggest island in the world has the biggest coast-line, and so needs the biggest fleet." The lead was taken by Victoria. Punch saw nothing but healthy rivalry between the different colonies as the outcome of the movement, but looked to Federation as the true means to prevent the different Australian Colonies from being at "Southern Cross-purposes" when they all had their navies. The trouble in the Soudan prompts a warning from the Shade of Gordon: "If you mean to send help, do it thoroughly and do it at once," but anxiety was allayed by the success of General Grenfell at Suakin, an example of prompt action worthy of the attention of "long-halting statesmen."

      Parnell and "The Times"

      The most important measure of the Session at Westminster was the Local Government Bill establishing County Councils. Punch made considerable capital out of Mr. Chamberlain's rapprochement to the Tory interests. At a meeting of the National Society, Archbishop Benson had referred amid cheers to the words of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain at the opening of a School Board in Birmingham, and his acknowledgment of the fact that Voluntary Schools must have their place in the education of the people recognized. Mr. Chamberlain's views on the Liquor question had shown a similar concession to the demands of the brewing trade. So Punch represents the "Artful Joe" walking arm-in-arm with the Archbishop and "Bung," and observing, "What a lot of nice friends I'm making." Mr. Chamberlain is already acknowledged to be "incomparably the best debater in the House"; Punch rendered full justice СКАЧАТЬ