Introduction
John Wade (1788-1875) was active in British reform circles throughout the
1820s. This group included people such as James Mill (the father of J.S. MIll)
and other “Philosophical Radicals”. One of their key demands was to enlarge
the franchise to include better representation of the new cities which had
grown during the industrial revolution and to reduce the number of “rotten
boroughs” which were very small electorates in the countryside which were dominated
by the local landowners. The First Reform Act of 1832 increased the size of
the electorate by over 50%, enabling some 1/6 of the English population to
vote. One reason why reformers like John Wade wanted a larger electorate was
to enable them to protect themselves from the aristocratic and wealthy elites
who benefited from the large number of government pensions, subsidies, monopolies,
and other privileges which control of Parliament gave them. He chronicled these
abuses in several editions of The Extraordinary Black Book, or Corruption
Unmasked (1820-1835). The cartoon comes from the Appendix to the 1835 edition.
In France too, there was agitation to enlarge the franchise and to weaken
the power of the political elites from the aristocracy, the landowning and
commercial classes, and the church. With the restoration of the monarchy in
1815 after the fall of Napoleon, the Bourbons were restored to the monarchy
(Louis XVIII and then Charles X) and introduced a very limited franchise (barely
100,000 voters). Attempts by Charles X to limit freedom of speech and to compensate
nobles for the loss of their land during the Revolution led to a popular uprising
in July 1830 and the coming to power of a junior member of the Bourbon royal
family, Louis Philippe who ruled from 1830-1848. The political satirist and
republican Honoré Daumier (1808-1879) thought that very little would change
under Louis Philippe and so satirized the king (whom he often drew in the shape
of a pear) in many etchings such as “Gargantua” (1831) which shows the people
still having to pay for the privileges of the elite through their taxes. Daumier
spent 6 months in jail for this depiction of the king.
[See the Study Guide for these images PDF
800 KB - it contains a highlighted list of "Things to Note" in
the picture]
“The People and the Ruling Elite in Caricatures by John Wade
(1835) and Honoré Daumier (1831)”
|
|
|
|
|
Top: (Unknown artist), “John Bull as Gulliver”
(1835)
Bottom: Honoré Daumier, “Gargantua” (1831)
|
1. Top: (Unknown artist), “John Bull as Gulliver” (1835)
[A higher resolution of this image is available - 2517 x 1538
px 2.7
MB
]
Source
John Wade, The Black Book: An Exposition of Abuses in Church and State,
Courts of Law, Municipal Corporations, and Public Companies; with a Précis
of the House of Commons, Past, present, and to come. A New Edition, greatly
enlarged and corrected to the present time. By the Original Editor. With
an Appendix (London: Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange, 1835), p. xxxiv. /title/2355
Description and Things to Note
John Bull (i.e. the British people) has been captured and tied down (like
Gulliver in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726) by the Lilliputians,
who in this case are figures representing the army, the church, members of
parliament, and the judiciary. The Lilliputians taunt him and rifle his pockets
to steal his money.
[an image from the Study Guide PDF which highlights important "Things to
Note" in the image].
Online Resources
2. Bottom: Honoré Daumier, “Gargantua” (1831)
[A higher resolution of this image is available - 1400 x 1078 px 270
KB JPG]
Source
Appeared in the satirical journal La Caricature 15 December 1831.
Description and Things to Note
King Louis Philippe is portrayed as the giant Gargantua (from Rabelais’
novel Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532)). The taxpayers (to the right) are
loading baskets full of their tax money which are carried up a ramp into
the king’s open mouth. Some well dressed citizens gather around his feet
to collect the coins which fall to the ground. From the king’s commode fall
official documents which grant various privileges and honours to those waiting
below, before they rush off to the National Assembly.
[an image from the Study Guide PDF which highlights important "Things
to Note
"in the image].
Online Resources
|
