England under the house of Hanover : its history and condition during the reigns of the three Georges . the strongest terms the attempt totax the Americans, in which the king in his opening-speech had just recommended the house to expressed his personal regard for the members ofthe new administration, but declared his want of con-fidence in it as a ministry; and then burst into aneloquent attack upon the secret influence, which heintimated had paralyzed his own efforts in the serviceof the country, and had been the cause of all the mis- 430 THE GOUTY COLOSSUS. [1766. chief that ha
England under the house of Hanover : its history and condition during the reigns of the three Georges . the strongest terms the attempt totax the Americans, in which the king in his opening-speech had just recommended the house to expressed his personal regard for the members ofthe new administration, but declared his want of con-fidence in it as a ministry; and then burst into aneloquent attack upon the secret influence, which heintimated had paralyzed his own efforts in the serviceof the country, and had been the cause of all the mis- 430 THE GOUTY COLOSSUS. [1766. chief that had happened since. Ministers denied thesecret influence ; but the nation believed implicitly init, and Pitt became again the idol of the mob on thisside of the Atlantic, and of the dissatisfied and angrycolonists on the other. The attacks on the popularorator by the court-party now increased in the month of February appeared a poem, entitled The Demagogue, stated to be written by Theo-philus Thorn, in which Pitt is attacked as a merepretender to patriotism, and he is accused of stirring. THE COLOSSUS. up mischief in America with the mere object ofgaining the shouts of the mob. A caricature, pub-lished about the same period, under the title of TheColossus, represents the statesman raised on loftystilts, his gouty leg resting on the Royal Exchange,in the midst of London and Westminster, which aresurrounded by a cloud of bubbles, inscribed War, Peace, &c. ; this stilt is called Popularity. Theother stilt, called Sedition, he stretches over the seatowards New York (the town seen in the distance). 176G.] PITT AND TEMPLE. 431 fishing for popularity in tlie Atlantic. The long staffon which he rests, is entitled Pension. Above theorators head hangs the broad hat of the common-wealth, and raised in the air on one side, Lord Templeis occupied in blowing the bubbles which support the great commoners fame. Below are the lines :— Tell to me, if you are vitty,Whose wooden leg is
Size: 1750px × 1427px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookidenglandunder, bookyear1848
