English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 1 (of 2)

‘The Corsican Locust’ (West, September 1803) shows him hovering over a picnic party, saying: ‘Bless me, how comfortably these People live.’ The party consists of an Englishman,...

‘A full and particular Account of the Trial of Napoleon Buonaparte before John Bull,’ drawn by Woodward, etched by Cruikshank (September 14, 1803), is a broadside not remarkable...

Come listen every Lord and Lady, ‘Squire, Gentleman, and Statesman, I’ve got a _little Song_ to sing, About a _very great Man_! And, if the Name of BONAPARTE Should mingle in my...

On June 10, 1803, Gillray published an extra-sized picture of ‘French Invasion--or Buonaparte Landing in Great Britain.’ The French fleet is nearing land, and boats, full of arm...

It is sad to take up the very first number of the ‘London Gazette’ for 1801, and find ‘A Proclamation for a general Fast,’ which was to be held on February 13, the reason wheref...

An unknown artist, probably Ansell, produced on October 26, 1801, a caricature of ‘The Child and Champion of Jacobinism new Christened (vide Pitt’s Speech).’ Bonaparte is bendin...

In 1798 the caricatures with regard to the relations between France and England became more numerous, and in this year the personal entity of Napoleon is confessed, and his like...

‘Harlequin Invasion’ is by West (August 12, 1803). Napoleon is a Harlequin, and points with his wooden sword ‘Invincible’ to Great Britain, which is surrounded by goodly ships o...

But this retreat became the subject of a dreadful accusation against Napoleon, which must have hit him hard at the time of his projected invasion in 1803--aye, quite as hard as...

In order to understand the next caricature, it is necessary to go back to January 16, 1749, when a famous hoax was played on the public. The ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ for that mont...

At this time much use was made of the phrase ‘Britons, strike home!’ which first appears in an adaptation of Beaumont and Fletcher’s play of ‘Bonduca,’ or Boadicea--which was se...

A most ghastly picture, which should not be called a caricature, yet is meant so to be, is by Gillray (July 26, 1803), and is called ‘Buonaparte forty-eight Hours after Landing!...

And when the great man came from Egypt, he used cunning, and force, to subject the people. The good, as well as the wicked, of the land trembled before him, because he had won t...

Now came the _ultimatums_ on both sides. The presentation of an _ultimatum_ is hardly a personal caricature of Napoleon, but it belongs to the history of the times. One picture...

It is sad to turn from this rollicking fun to the episode of Jaffa; but it cannot be dismissed, as it has afforded so much employment to the detractors of Napoleon, and to the E...

‘Bruin become mediator’ (artist unknown, June 1803) represents the Emperor of Russia as a bear, joining the hands of a Bull and a Monkey. The peacemaker thus addresses them, ‘I...

It was not till October 2 that a glimmer of the truth, through rather a roundabout channel, appeared in the papers; and later on that day appeared a ‘London Gazette extraordinar...

In June, Lord Whitworth was appointed ambassador extraordinary, and minister plenipotentiary, to the French Republic, and the state he then kept up was a striking contrast to th...

It is refreshing, and like going among green pastures and cool streams, to leave for a while political caricature, with its ambitions, and its carnage, and find a really funny s...

The foregoing was the sort of stuff given to our grandfathers for history; nothing could be bad enough for Boney, _the Corsican Ogre_--nay, they even tortured his name to suit p...

Gillray, when he drew the picture (on next page) of the abject, ragged, servile-looking Napoleon, could hardly have realised the fact that Napoleon was then over fifteen years o...

‘The Political Cocks’ (by Ansell, March 27, 1803) is very graphic. Napoleon, a game cock armed with terrific spurs, is calling across the Channel to Pitt, who, standing on the B...

There was very little caricature of Napoleon in the year 1800, for the best of reasons, that we had very little to do with him, as he was occupied till May in settling his Gover...

The new year opens with a somewhat curious print by I. Cruikshank, January 1, 1799, of the ‘Ghost of Buonaparte appearing to the Directory.’ The latter are in fearful dismay at...

Let us for a moment, as an antidote to the caricaturist’s pictures, see what was Josephine’s dress at this period.[26] ‘Here is Madame de Beauharnais, that excellent Josephine,...

Curiously enough, it has never been practically settled whence the ancestors of Napoleon Bonaparte came. He, himself, cared little for the pride of birth, and when, during his C...

Napoleon arrived in Paris at, for him, a happy moment, for the Directory was then as good as defunct. There was a feeling that a strong hand was needed to guide the affairs of t...

For the capture of Toulon, Bonaparte was speedily promoted; indeed, his superior officer, Dugommier, in his report, said, ‘Reward and advance this young man, otherwise he will f...

NAPOLEON DESPOILS ITALY OF HER WORKS OF ART--THE SIEGE OF MANTUA--WÜRMSER’S SURRENDER--EARLIEST ENGLISH CARICATURE OF NAPOLEON--INVASION OF ENGLAND--LANDING IN PEMBROKESHIRE--NE...

Napoleon had now got his foot fairly on the ladder, but it was he alone who was to mount it. At the first meeting of the Consuls, Sièyes asked, ‘Which of us is to preside?’ Duco...

We meet with a slight notice of Toussaint l’Ouverture, and the war in St. Domingo, in a broadside dwelling on the consequences of a successful invasion: ‘Here then there would b...

It is a singular thing, that, even in the very meagre accounts, of transactions in Egypt no mention of this should have got into the English newspapers; but I have searched, and...

After the entry into Alexandria, Napoleon, by several proclamations, imposed the strictest discipline upon his soldiers; and, although it is possible some irregularities may hav...

In after life, when Napoleon was successful, and had made a position, reports were spread that his real father was Count Marbœuf, who had been in Corsica, and in after life, or...

Napoleon now waxed great. Through Barras’ influence he was made Commander in Chief of the army of Italy, and bade adieu to his wife after the very brief period of conjugal life,...

I have omitted an episode which, to be chronologically correct, should have been introduced earlier; and here, as usual, we find a French authority for what might seem an Englis...

The two plots against Napoleon’s life which occurred in this year must not be forgotten. Let us have Combe’s version, which does not much exaggerate the facts of the cases:--

NAPOLEON DESPOILS ITALY OF HER WORKS OF ART--THE SIEGE OF MANTUA --WÜRMSER’S SURRENDER--EARLIEST ENGLISH CARICATURE OF NAPOLEON --INVASION OF ENGLAND--LANDING IN PEMBROKESHIRE--...