The History of the Nineteenth Century in Caricature Part 16

One of those cartoons which are not to be forgotten in a day or a week or a month; one which stirs the blood and rouses the mind to a new patriotism even when seen years after the events which inspired it, is Victor Gillam's "Be Careful! It's Loaded!" which appeared a few weeks before the outbreak of the Spanish-American War and which we deem worthy of being ranked among the twenty-five or thirty great cartoons which the nineteenth century has produced. To realize to-day its full force and meaning one has to recall the peculiar tension under which the American people were laboring during the months of February, March, and April, 1898. The _Maine_ had been destroyed in Havana Harbor, and although, now that anger has died down, we can no longer cling implacably to the belief, which was then everywhere expressed, that it was an act emanating from the Spanish Government, at the time it was too much for our overwrought nerves; the condition of Cuba was growing every day more deplorable, and everyone felt that the inevitable conflict was hourly at hand. In the picture American patriotism is symbolized by a huge cannon. A diminutive Spaniard has climbed to the top of a mast of a Spanish vessel and monkey-like is shaking his fist down the muzzle. Uncle Sam, standing by the gun and realizing the Spaniard's imminent peril calls out, excitedly, "Be Careful! It's Loaded!" a warning to which the latter seems little inclined to pay any attention. In its very simplicity this cartoon differs greatly from most of those of the school of _Puck_ and _Judge_. There is none of that infinite variety of detail which makes an elaborate study necessary in order to arrive at a full comprehension of the meaning of a cartoon. "Be Careful! It's Loaded!"

like the most striking English and French cartoons, may be understood at a glance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Speaker Reed to McKinley--"You've got to bank the fire some way or other: I can't hold in this steam much longer."

_Minneapolis "Tribune."_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Latest War Bulletin.

_By Hamilton in "Judge."_]

A cartoon like Grant E. Hamilton's "The Latest War Bulletin" we find amusing at the present time. We did not find it so a little over five years ago. This latest war bulletin, printed in asbestos, is supposed to have been just received from the infernal regions. His Satanic majesty, with a sardonic grin upon his face, has just composed it to his own entire satisfaction. Marked up on the burning furnace of Hades it reads: "Only Spanish will be spoken here until further notice--P.S.

Guests will please leave their crowns and Spanish 4's in charge of the night clerk."

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Knife for the American Pigs.

PIRATICAL--(Spain accused an American s.h.i.+p of flying the Spanish flag in order to cut the cable)

The result of the war--defeats.

SAMPSON--"Where is Cervera's fleet?"

McKinley and England.

McKINLEY--"I wonder what he holds?"

The Minister of Revenue has a spoon for the war kettle.

Spanish Cartoons of the Spanish-american War.

_From "Don Quijote" (Madrid)._]

Another equally hideous cartoon by Hamilton is that ent.i.tled "The Spanish Brute Adds Mutilation to Murder." It shows a hideous ape-like monster representing Spain, one blood-dripping hand smearing the tombstones erected to the sailors of the _Maine_ and the other clutching a reeking knife. All about him under the tropical trees are the bodies of his mutilated victims. The expression of the monster's countenance is a lesson in national prejudice. It shows how far a well-balanced nation may go in moments of bitterness and anger.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Spanish Brute--Adds Mutilation to Murder.

_By Hamilton in "Judge."_]

One of the most striking and amusing of all the cartoons evoked by the results of the Spanish-American War appeared in _Punch_ at a time when our departure from our traditional policy began to cause comment in Europe. There are two figures, that of Dame Europa and that of Uncle Sam. Dame Europa is a lady of frigid aspect, with arms folded, and who has drawn herself up to full height as she gazes scornfully at the complacent and unruffled Uncle Sam. "To whom do I owe the honor of this intrusion?" she asks icily. "Marm, my name is Uncle Sam." "Any relation of the late Colonel Monroe?" is the scathing retort.

No less interesting than the American cartoons of the Spanish War are those contributed by Spain herself, although in the light of subsequent events they are chiefly amusing for their overweening confidence and braggadocio insolence. Among the more extravagant flights of Spanish imagination, which later news turned into absurdities, may be cited "Dewey's Situation," in which the victor of Manila is represented as a disconsolate rat, caught in the Philippine mouse-trap; "Cervera bottles up Schley," a situation which the sober facts of history afterwards reversed; and "McKinley's Condition," in which the President is represented as swathed in bandages, and suffering severely from apocryphal injuries received at Porto Rico and Cienfuegos. All of these cartoons appeared at different times in the Madrid _Don Quijote_, which did not always keep on this level of empty boasting, but occasionally produced some really clever caricature. A regular feature of the Spanish War cartoons was the American Hog as a symbol of the United States, and some of the applications of this idea in the _Don Quijote_ were distinctly amusing. For instance, in reference to Spain's accusation that an American s.h.i.+p flew the Spanish flag at Guantanamo in order to approach near enough to cut the cable, America is shown as a fat hog, triumphantly strutting along on its hind legs and ostentatiously waving the Spanish colors. Again, the Sampson-Schley controversy is. .h.i.t off in a picture showing Sampson surrounded by a number of naval "hogs," each armed with gigantic shears and bent upon obtaining the Admiral's scalp. Still another cartoon seeks to explain the "real purpose" in getting Cuba away from Spain. A drove of pigs have cl.u.s.tered around a huge barrel of Cuban mola.s.ses and are eagerly sucking the contents through tubes. Of a more dignified type are the caricatures representing Spain as a beautiful and haughty Senorita, boldly showing how she keeps beneath her garter "a knife for the American pigs"; or pointing to her shoe on which Cuba serves as a buckle, and arrogantly challenging a diminutive McKinley, "you can't unbuckle that shoe!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: "You can't unbuckle that shoe."

Cervera bottles up Schley.

McKinley's condition.

Dewey's situation.

After Sampson's scalp.

America's Real Desire.

Castelar writes a letter.

"This is for you if you don't behave."

Spanish Cartoons of the Spanish-American War.

_From the "Don Quijote" (Madrid)._]

CHAPTER x.x.xII

THE BOER WAR AND THE DREYFUS CASE

A cartoon which was a forerunner of the Transvaal War and the railway between Capetown and Cairo was that ent.i.tled "The Rhodes Colossus,"

which appeared in _Punch_ December 10, 1892. It was by the hand of Linley Sambourne. It shows a colossal figure of Cecil Rhodes standing on a map of Africa with one foot planted in Egypt and the other at the Cape. In his hands he holds a line suggesting the telegraph wire connecting the two places.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Rhodes Colossus.

_By Linley Sambourne._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Situation in South Africa.

_By Gillam in "Judge."_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The English World Kingdom, or b.l.o.o.d.y Cartography.

_From the "l.u.s.tige Blatter."_]

Although the German Government refused to interfere in the protracted struggle in the Transvaal, the sympathy of Germany with the Boers found expression in a host of cartoons, bitterly inveighing against British aggression. Thoroughly characteristic is one which appeared in the _l.u.s.tige Blatter_ ent.i.tled "English World-Kingdom; or, b.l.o.o.d.y Cartography." A grossly distorted caricature of Victoria is standing before a map of the world, and dipping her pen in a cup of blood, held for her by an army officer. Chamberlain, at her elbow, is explaining that "the lowest corner down yonder, must be painted red!" Another of the _l.u.s.tige Blatter's_ grim cartoons, alluding to the terrible price in human life that England paid for her ultimate victory in the Transvaal, depicts Britannia, as Lady Macbeth, vainly trying to wash the stain from her b.l.o.o.d.y hands. "Out, d.a.m.ned spot!" In lighter vein is the cartoon which is here reproduced from the _Wiener Humoristische Blatter_ showing "Oom Paul at His Favorite Sport." Kruger, rakishly arrayed in tennis garb, is extracting infinite enjoyment from the congenial exercise of volleying English soldiers, dressed up as shuttlec.o.c.ks, over the "Transvaal net" into the watery ditch beyond.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Britannia as Lady Macbeth trying to wash away the Stains of the Boer War.

_From the "l.u.s.tige Blatter."_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Flying Dutchman.

_Minneapolis "Journal."_]

Judged by the manner it was mirrored in the caricature of Europe and America, the Dreyfus Case a.s.sumed the magnitude of a great war or a crisis in national existence. During the last two or three years that the degraded Captain of Artillery was a prisoner at Devil's Island, when Zola was furiously accusing, and the General Staff was talking about "the Honor of the Army," and France was divided into two angry camps, one had only to glance at the current cartoons to realize that Dreyfus was, as the late G. W. Steevens called him, "the most famous man in the world." For a time the great personages of the earth were relegated to the background. The monarchs and statesmen of Europe were of interest and importance only so far as their careers affected that of the formerly obscure Jewish officer.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Oom Paul's Favorite Pastime.

_From the "Wiener Humoristische Blatter."_]