_Both_ (together): "Peep-bo! I see you!"]

The proposed "federalization" of the British Isles is burlesqued

in the figure of John Bull, looking very much ashamed of himself,

arrayed in top-boots, with a kilt, a shamrock-sprigged waistcoat, a

Welsh steeple-crowned hat, and a shillelagh. The "People's Budget" is

disparaged in a picture showing the general apathy of those whom it was

intended to benefit. And as for the threatened creation of 500 Liberal

Peers to outvote the recalcitrant "backwoodsmen," _Punch_ satirized the

plan as a mere piece of window-dressing. In "The Chance of a Lifetime"

Mr. Asquith is seen arraying his shop-front with 500 coronets "dirt

cheap," Mr. Lloyd George as his assistant handing up the hat-boxes with

the comment, "Bound to go like hot cakes."

[Sidenote: _Death of King Edward_]

Perhaps the shrewdest comment on international politics made by _Punch_

in this year is to be found in his "Charivaria" column for November 9:--

Sir Edward Grey declared at Darlington that he saw no need for war.

Unfortunately, however, this is a great age for luxuries.

Here _Punch_ added a gloss to a wise truism. A remark in the Isle of

Man _Weekly Times_ at the beginning of the year touched the nadir of

sordid parochialism. Discussing the "inevitableness" of a war with

Germany, the writer observed: "It would mean the ruination of the

Island. It would kill all chances of a successful season, upon which

the Island depends." _Punch_ "lifted" the quotation, but here the text

beggared any comment.

By the assassination of the King and Crown Prince of Portugal in the

autumn, monarchy was ended in the country of our "Oldest Ally." _Punch_

denounced murder whether as the maker or unmaker of kings; and on

this occasion added to his condolences with the survivors a caustic

reference to France, who is shown briefly congratulating Portugal on

becoming a Republic; but she is "too busy to talk, having just escaped

another revolution at home"--an allusion to the railway strike and its

suppression by the drastic measures of M. Briand's Ministry. The death

of King Edward in May, at the height of his popularity and prestige,

was happily unattended by violence or upheaval, and left the position

of the Crown unshaken. _Punch_ was not one of those who regarded

King Edward as the initiator of our foreign policy, but gratefully

acknowledged his services in smoothing the path of his Ministers:--

At midnight came the Majesty of Death--

Kings of the earth abide this King's decree--

Sudden, and kindlier so, to seal the breath

And set the spirit free.

And now the Peace he held most near his heart,

That Peace to which his country's steps he led--

So well for us he played his royal part--

Broods o'er him lying dead.

[Illustration: TOWARDS THE RAPPROCHEMENT

CROWN PRINCE OF GERMANY (in India, writing home): "Dear Papa,

I am doing myself proud. These English aren't half bad fellows when you

get to know them."]

[Sidenote: _The German Menace_]

Thus passes Britain's crown from King to King,

Yet leaves secure a nation's deathless love,

Dearer than Empire, yea, a precious thing

All earthly crowns above.

In the winter of 1910 the German Crown Prince visited India, and was

welcomed and fêted wherever he went. _Punch_ regarded the tour as

making for _rapprochement_ and represented the Prince as an amiable

young sportsman writing home to "dear Papa" to say that he was "doing

himself proud and finding the English not half such bad fellows when

you get to know them." A more critical view of Germany's intentions is

revealed in the cartoon "The Blind Side," in which a German officer

applauds a Dutchman for the resolve to fortify his sea-front against

England as a true economy. It might be costly, but "see what you save

on the Eastern Frontier where there's nobody but us." A similar element

of misgiving is betrayed in "the New Haroun Al Raschid"--a dream of

Baghdad, "Made in Germany"--with the Kaiser in Oriental costume seated

on the engine of a "non-stop" express to the Persian Gulf.

[Illustration: A LITTLE-NAVY EXHIBIT

Design for a figure of Britannia, as certain people would like to see

her. (See reports of debate on the proposal to reduce expenditure on

the Navy.)]

[Sidenote: _The War in Tripoli_]

In the spring of 1911 the proposed reduction of expenditure on the Navy

inspired _Punch's_ "Little-Navy Exhibit"--a design for a figure of

Britannia, "as certain people would like to see her, "with a pointless

trident, diminutive shield and helmet, in spectacles and elastic-sided

boots, leading a starveling lion with its tail between its legs.

Simultaneously Germany's idea of the _Pax Germanica_ is satirized in

a picture of the Teuton Dovecote, with cannons pointing from each

door, surmounted by the German Eagle warning the Arbitration bird: "No

foreign doves required; we hatch our own, thank you." Our relations

with the U.S.A. are symbolized in "Dis-armageddon," President Taft

and Sir Edward Grey shaking hands over a grave with the notice, "All

hatchets may be buried here." Hostility to the "Declaration of London"

had grown throughout the year. It had been described as "a sword for

the Unionist Party"; picture posters represented the destruction under

it of neutral ships carrying food to Great Britain, and _Punch_,

without going the lengths of the _Morning Post_, the Imperial Maritime

League, or Mr. T. Gibson Bowles, was far from enthusiastic over its

ratification. "I'm sure," his Britannia remarks, looking at herself in

the glass, "my costumiers want me to look my best. But I have a sort

of feeling that this thing may rather hamper my sea-legs." Germany's

complaints against the policy of "isolating" or "surrounding" her

were now frequently heard, and are unsympathetically treated in the

portrait of the German officer in full uniform, with his knuckles to

his eyes, dolorously protesting, "Nobody loves me--and they all want

to trample on me!" Nor was _Punch_ inclined to look more favourably

on Italy's policy of aggrandisement in North Africa. The inglorious

war with Turkey in Cyrenaica brought no credit to the combatants or

to the Concert of Europe. _Punch_ summed up the situation by showing

Dame Europa (of the Hague Academy for Young Gentlemen) looking sourly

with folded arms at two boys "scrapping" in a corner, and observing,

"I thoroughly disapprove of this, and as soon as ever it's over I

shall interfere to put a stop to it." The conduct of the war led to

ugly charges against the Italians, and in "The Euphemisms of Massacre"

Turkey, surveying a scene of carnage at Tripoli, sarcastically remarks:

"When _I_ was charged with this kind of thing in Bulgaria, nobody

excused _me_ on the ground of 'military exigencies'!"

The Anglo-Russian agreement in regard to Persia was defended by Sir

Edward Grey in November, 1911, as having ended friction between the

two Powers. _Punch_ thought otherwise, and in December he showed the

Bear cheerfully sitting on the tail of the Persian Cat while the

British Lion remarks: "If we hadn't such a thorough understanding

I might almost be tempted to ask what you're doing there with our

little play-fellow." Yet Sir Edward Grey's explanations satisfied the

Unionists better than the advanced Liberals and the Labour Party.

Already the Government were being attacked for seeing events through

French spectacles, and in a memorable cartoon _Punch_ recorded

the emergence of the demand for "The New Diplomacy." An "Advanced

Democrat," having made his way into a room with "Private. Members Only"

on the door, remarks to the Foreign Secretary: "Look here, we've

decided that this isn't to be a private room any more; and you're to

put your cards on the table and then we can all take a hand." Whereon

Sir Edward Grey replies: "What, and let my opponents see them too?" In

this context one may be permitted to recall a picture, published about

the same time, of a constable applying a familiar test to a belated

reveller protesting his sobriety:--

CONSTABLE: "Can you say 'British Constitution'?"

BELATED ONE (_with strongest "Die-Hard" convictions_): "There

ishn't one now!"

_Punch's_ Almanack for 1912 treats of current events in a light-hearted

spirit. There is one picture, however, with an ominous and prophetic

heading, "Period--The War of 1914," in which an irate M.F.H. abuses the

invaders--unmistakable Germans--for heading the fox. The artist, Mr. J.

L. C. Booth, a very gallant gentleman, fell in Gallipoli in 1915. But

there were other and more unmistakable omens at the opening of the New

Year, when M. Caillaux, before resigning, had attempted to reconstruct

his Cabinet with M. Delcassé as Foreign Minister--a situation typified

by _Punch_ in his cartoon of "The return of the scapegoat." M. Caillaux

resigned under a cloud; M. Delcassé failed to form a Government,

but remained on as Minister of Marine under M. Poincaré. For the

moment Germany's troubles at home diverted attention from her foreign

relations. The demands of the Socialists are illustrated in the

dialogue between the Kaiser on the summit of a rocky peak and a figure

climbing up to the summit. "What business have you here?" asks the

Kaiser, and the Socialist answers: "I, too, want 'a place in the sun.'"

[Illustration: THE NEW DIPLOMACY

ADVANCED DEMOCRAT (to Foreign Secretary): "Look here, we've

decided that this isn't to be a private room any more and you're to put

your cards on the table and then we can all take a hand." FOREIGN

SECRETARY: "What, and let my opponents see them too?"]

In March the Navy estimates issued by Mr. Churchill as First Lord were

expressly stated to be conditional upon the naval programmes of other

nations: _Punch_ accordingly showed him as the Plain Dealer hoisting

as his signal "England expects that every nation will do its duty--by

not increasing its armaments." The rival views on naval concentration

are shown a little later in the "Geography Lesson" given by "Dr."

Kitchener--Lord Kitchener had gone to Egypt as Agent-General in the

previous year--to Master Churchill and Master Asquith. "What do you

know about the Mediterranean?" he asks, and Master Churchill replies:

"Well, it looks a nice place for ships; but, to tell you the truth,

we've been concentrating our attention on the North Sea lately, haven't

we, Herbert?" and Master Asquith replies: "That is so."

The appointment of Baron Marschall von Bieberstein as German Ambassador

in London was well received. He was Germany's strongest diplomatist.

He had raised the prestige of his country to an unexampled pitch at

Constantinople without losing the respect of his British colleagues,

and was credited with the desire to promote a better understanding with

England. Unfortunately he died suddenly before _Punch's_ expectations

could be realized. Meanwhile Mr. Haldane at the War Office had "turned

turtle (dove)" to such an extent that in _Punch's_ view his occupation

was nearly gone. Yet the travesty of Dicksee's "Harmony," with the

Kaiser playing on a Krupp organ to a stout and adoring Germany, is

by no means reassuring. Consols were steadily "slumping," and the

organized resistance of Ulster was already regarded as serious.

_Punch's_ views in the course of the next few years underwent a good

deal of modification, but he was never sympathetic to Sir Edward

Carson. When the old cry, "Ulster will fight," was raised to discredit

the son of the statesman who had invented the phrase, _Punch_ called it

"a silly game. If Ulster fights against free speech, then Ulster will

be wrong." When the "Covenant" of Resistance to Home Rule was signed

by the Ulster Loyalists in September, 1912, _Punch_ satirized their

action under the heading "Ulster will write," with General Carson on

horseback, waving a pen and crying, "Up, nibs, and at 'em!"

[Illustration: THE BOILING POINT]

_Punch_, it is to be feared, did not credit the Balkan League with

exalted ideals in entering on the conflict with Turkey in 1912.

Bulgaria, in his cartoon of August 28, challenges Turkey, at grips with

Italy, to mortal combat, and Turkey replies: "Certainly," adding to

Italy, "I hope you won't think me discourteous if I cannot continue

to give you my undivided attention." Two months later we are shown

the Great Powers all sitting on the seething pot of "Balkan troubles"

but unable to keep the lid down. By November a "New Eagle" with four

heads--Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece--is seen approaching the

door of the Council of Europe. More acute in its reading of the signs

of the times is the picture of Turkey, a sinister figure, rubbing his

hands as he reads the placard: "Austria threatens Serbia. European

Crisis," and saying, "Good! If only all those other Christian nations

get at one another's throats, I may have a dog's chance yet"--a

situation realized by the launching of the Austrian ultimatum to Serbia

in July, 1914. Early in December an armistice was agreed to, and by

the middle of the month a conference of Balkan delegates assembled in

London. The deliberations of the Peace Conference continued till the

end of the year, but in the Christmas cartoon of "Prince Charming and

the Sleeping Beauty," Sir Edward Grey has not yet succeeded in inducing

Peace to wake up. As a matter of fact, the Conference was suspended on

January 6, 1913, on the 26th the Balkan delegates broke off further

negotiations with the Porte, and on February 3 war was resumed.

_Punch's_ comment on the threatened intervention of Roumania was

severe but not unmerited; the "Bayard of Bukharest" observes politely

to Bulgaria, "I am sure, dear old friend, you will wish to recompense

me for not stabbing you in the back from behind in the previous bout,

and I am therefore proposing to anticipate your kindness by making off

with your coat (Silistria)." Sir Edward Grey's hope, expressed in the

House of Commons in March, that Turkey would now confine its energies

to "consolidating" itself in Asia Minor, met with ironical approval

from _Punch_, who in the following month represented Turkey responding

to Europa's complacent assurance that the war was "practically over"

with the still more complacent comment: "My felicitations, Madam.

Everything seems to point to the outbreak of a sanguinary peace." And

unfortunately the cynical anticipation was only too well verified in

the sequel. King Nicholas's defiance marked the opening stages of the

new conflict--typified in the Montenegrin bantam blocking the road

for the great Powers, but getting out of the way at the last moment.

Skutari was occupied by troops of the Powers on May 14, and on May

30 the Treaty of Peace between the Allies and the Porte was signed

at St. James's Palace. But _Punch_, in his cartoon of "Peace comes

to Town," was not unfair in making Sir Edward Grey adjure the fair

damsel riding behind him to sit close and not slip off as on the last

occasion they fared that way together. So many outstanding questions

remained unsettled that a pacific solution was impossible; the Balkan

war was resumed on June 30. Bulgaria put up a great fight against the

Serbians and Greeks, but the advance of the fresh Roumanian army into

her territory rendered her position desperate. _Punch_ had already

shown Turkey offering its services as benevolent mediator to the Balkan

"allies." Before the end of the month the Turks had re-entered the

field and re-occupied Adrianople only three months after they had been

driven out. "Quite like old times, being back here," the Turk says to

Dame Europa in _Punch's_ cartoon, and when Europa replies, "Ah! but

you'll be kicked out, you know," he retorts calmly, "Well, that'll

be like old times too." An armistice was signed on July 31, and the

second Treaty of Peace was signed by Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro

and Serbia on August 10. Bulgaria, whose losses in the two wars had

been very heavy, was seriously penalized by the new adjustment of

boundaries and the consequent loss of territory. Roumania was cordially

congratulated by the Kaiser for her "wise and statesmanlike policy,"

and Greece, who gained a vast acquisition of territory around Salonika,

expressed through the mouth of King Constantine--King George had been

assassinated at Salonika in March--her indebtedness to Germany for

the war training of her officers. _Punch's_ comment was sardonic. In

"_Deutschland über Alles_" the King of the Hellenes observes to the

Kaiser, "Our success, as you know, was entirely due to you," and the

Kaiser replies: "Thanks, thanks," adding, aside, "I suppose he can't be

referring to our organization of the Turkish army."

[Sidenote: _The Balkan Cockpit_]

The attitude of the Concert of Powers over the question of Adrianople

is indicated in the cartoon in which Sir Edward Grey tells the Turk,

the man in possession, that he will have to go, but that the Powers

haven't decided who was to turn him out. European intervention proving

hopeless, the matter was left for direct negotiations between Bulgaria

and Turkey, with the result that the new frontier gave Turkey about one

hundred square miles more territory together with Adrianople. _Punch_,

on the eve of the signature of the treaty, anticipated the triumph of

Turkey, who is seen pasting up, on the door of the Hotel Adrianople,

a notice, "Under the same old management," over a previous notice,

"Under entirely new management," and expressing regret at being unable

to oblige Europa by retiring. Europa, with the Treaty of London in her

hand, saves her face by replying with dignity: "Not at all. You may

remember that at the very start I strongly insisted on the _status

quo_." The Powers had decided at the close of 1912 that Albania was

to receive autonomy, but the International Commission of Control was

unable to check guerrilla fighting between Serbians and Albanians.

Europa found it, in _Punch's_ phrase, a very difficult task to hush

the infant Albania; and Prince William of Wied, chosen by the Powers

as sovereign, or "Mpret" of Albania in November, 1913, excited more

ridicule than sympathy during his brief and troubled tenure of office.

The Balkan wars, which began in an organized attempt to liberate

Christians from the Turkish yoke, developed into an internecine

struggle for aggrandisement amongst the members of the League. The

Balkan Peninsula unhappily justified its description as "the cockpit of

Europe," or, to quote the words of a traveller who visited it between

the first and second wars: "one vast madhouse, where sanity seems

ridiculous and folly wisdom." The Treaty of Bukharest, so far from

allaying discord, only fomented the ambitions which precipitated the

world conflict.

[Sidenote: _Ulster Bars the Way_]

France's reversion to three years' service--applauded by _Punch_ in

his cartoon "_Pour la Patrie_"--had been countered by the German Army

Bill introduced by the new German Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, in a

somewhat ominous speech in April. _Punch_ had already symbolized the

acceleration of the armament race in his picture of Hans and Jacques,

each bowed down under a tremendous burden of warlike equipment,

exclaiming in rueful unison: "And I hear there's more to come."

Mr. Churchill's scheme of a naval holiday inspired hopes which were

partially shared by _Punch_, but damped by the German Chancellor's

speech on the ground that the idea had not been taken up as practical

in England either by Parliament or public opinion. The renewal of

Mr. Churchill's suggestion later in the year met with an even more

unfavourable reception. Admiral Tirpitz makes his _début_ in _Punch_ as

an apostle of German naval expansion; General Bernhardi had followed up

his notorious book on _Germany and the Next War_ with articles pointing

to Ireland as an ally of Germany in the enemy's camp; and the outrages

on Alsatian civilians by German officers at Zabern and Metz emphasized

the danger of militarism at home as well as abroad. The incident was

historic because it was the first notable example of the cleavage

between the army and the people in Germany, the Radicals and Socialists

having carried a vote of censure in the Reichstag against the Imperial

Chancellor. The war closed all ranks for a time; but Zabern was a straw

which showed how the wind was beginning to blow--the wind which became

a tempest in the autumn of 1918.

If Great Britain in 1913 was not exactly a cockpit or a madhouse, she

was not without her domestic troubles. One of the earliest cartoons

of the year exhibits the Home Rule Bill advancing under the shield of

the Parliament Act. The advance was barred by Ulster, for this was the

year of the formation of the Provisional Government, the enrolment of

the Ulster volunteers, proclamations against the importation of arms,

the emergence of "King Carson," and a general recrudescence of party

acrimony. _Punch_, in a laudable desire to see ourselves as others see

us, depicted in "A Nation of Fire-Eaters" a peaceful Teuton horrified

by a placard enumerating all the "armies" in Great Britain--the Ulster

Volunteer army, Miss Sylvia Pankhurst's army, Mr. Devlin's army,

etc. The spirit of the picture is ironical, but it throws a light on

Bernhardi's reading of the signs of the times in Ireland. In July Mr.

Asquith is seen endeavouring to cajole the Orange Girl, who looks

at him sullenly; and another picture in the same number shows Sir

Edward Carson arming "Loyal Ulster." In October the possibility of

a settlement on the basis of the exclusion of North-East Ulster is

indicated in "Second Thoughts"; Mr. John Redmond is shown driving four

pigs--Connaught, Munster, Leinster and S.W. Ulster--through the gate

of Home Rule. N.E. Ulster is heading in a contrary direction, and Mr.

Redmond wonders whether he should "lave this contrairy little divil

loose the way he'd come back by himself aftherwards." A month or so

later Mr. Birrell warns Carson not to tempt him or "on my honour and

conscience I shall have to put you through this." _This_ being the

"ever open door" of a prison with the inscription "All fear abandon ye

who enter here"--a reference to the speedy release of Mr. Jim Larkin,

the turbulent leader of the Dublin strike. Here the satire is aimed at

the futile leniency of the Chief Secretary to all disturbers of the

peace. Three weeks later, alluding to the prohibited importation of

arms into Ireland, _Punch_ ridicules the inconsistency of Sir Edward

Carson, who, armed himself to the teeth, is warning Customs Officer

Birrell to search Mr. Redmond, a harmless-looking passenger, carrying a

small dispatch-case: "That's just the sort of bag he'd have a couple of

howitzers concealed in." Mr. Bonar Law's support of Sir Edward Carson's

campaign is ingeniously shown in "The New Brunswicker"--after Millais'

well-known picture--deserting the Tariff Reform lady, "but only for a

time," in order to go to the Ulster Wars.

[Illustration: "OLIVER ASKS FOR" LESS

JOHN BULL (fed up): "Please, sir, need I have quite so many

good things?"

MR. LLOYD GEORGE: "Yes, you must; and there's more to come."]

The last cartoon of the year, "The Third Stage," exhibits the main

legislative preoccupations of the year in the form of a coach with

the three Bills--Home Rule, Welsh Disestablishment and Plural

Voting--seated abreast under the hood of the Parliament Act with 1914

as postilion. _Punch's_ view was that the electorate as a whole were

somewhat weary of the legislative activities of the Government. In 1912

he had represented John Bull as Oliver asking not for more but less;

in the summer of 1913 he showed John Bull disappointed with Mr. Lloyd

George's "rare and refreshing fruit" on the ground that it contained

"too many pips," _à propos_ of Mr. Asquith's promise to amend the

Insurance Act. The conscientious M.P., in the cartoon of a few weeks

later, who presents himself at the Pay Office expressing his fear

that he won't "really be earning his salary this year with no autumn

session," is bluntly told by Paymaster Bull, "sick with legislation,"

not to worry about that. "You go and take a nice long holiday; the

country needs it." There were other causes of weariness besides

excessive legislation. The Marconi scandal was an incubus which lay

heavily on the Government throughout the year. In the early stages of

the inquiry, _Punch_ showed Rumour presenting her season-ticket, and

disgusted at being denied admittance, as the Committee were about to

"get to business." The amount of space devoted to the question in the

Press is satirized by the announcement of the forthcoming publication

of "The Marconi Affair in a Nut-shell," by Messrs. Garvin and Maxse, in

968 pages. When the Report appeared, _Punch_ thought the whitewash had

been laid on too thick:

"More Whitewash!" said the Falconer,[2]

Doing the Party trick;

"Throw it about in bucketfuls;

Some of it's bound to stick."

"Very poor art!" the public cried;

"You've laid it on too thick!"

Even more hostile is the cartoon "Blameless Telegraphy," in which

John Bull addresses Mr. Lloyd George and Sir Rufus Isaacs, dressed as

telegraph boys with "Marconi, U.S.A.," on their caps: "My boys, you

leave the court without a stain--except, perhaps, for the whitewash."

There was no whitewash in Lord Robert Cecil's minority Report; and the

reverberations of the Marconi affair did not die down for many months,

nor did _Punch_ wish that they should--witness his ironic cartoon of

the Master of Elibank, luxuriating in a hammock in tropical Bogota, and

expressing his keen disappointment that the inquiry had been closed.

[Footnote 2: Mr. James Falconer, the Liberal Member for Forfarshire,

1909-1918.]

[Illustration: THE WINGS OF VICTORY

BRITANNIA: "These things seem all the rage in Paris and

Berlin; and I really can't afford to be out of it!"]

_A propos_ of the theft of the "Mona Lisa" portrait from the Louvre,

_Punch_ portrayed Mr. Asquith as "Il Giocondo" with an inscrutable and

enigmatic smile. The internal embarrassments of the Cabinet certainly

must have taxed the smiling capacities of the Premier to the utmost,

to say nothing of Ulster and the militant suffragists. Yet when Dame

Curzon is depicted tempting Master Asquith to take a joy-ride on a

donkey labelled "General Election," Master Asquith replies that he is

not taking any violent exercise this season, but thinks of waiting till

1915. There are not a few people who in the interests of the country

are very thankful that the Liberals were still in power and not in

opposition when the great decision had to be made a year later. There

is a touch of unconscious and complacent prophecy in the picture of

Britannia girding on "The Wings of Victory"--the new rage in Paris and

Berlin--"because she can't afford to be out of it." It took us four

years to make good the title, but it was done in the end.

The gap that separates us from pre-war years is illustrated in many

curious ways. For example, in March, 1913, _Punch_ has a picture of a

lady asking to have a cheque for £15 cashed all in gold "if you've got

it." In those golden days of peace such a question was simply a mark of

feminine ignorance; two years later it would have argued insanity.

[Sidenote: _England's Detachment_]

In the seven months that remained before the outbreak of the Great

War you may search the pages of _Punch_ in vain for evidences of

a provocative attitude towards Germany or of anything indicating

national preparedness for the conflict. _Punch_, as a mirror of

middle-class public opinion, faithfully reflected our domestic troubles

and preoccupations. International politics are conspicuously absent

from the Almanack of Christmas, 1913, except for a picture of Sir

Edward Grey producing doves from a hat labelled Balkan Crisis, and

portraits of Ferdinand of Bulgaria, the Sultan of Turkey and the

King of Montenegro, offering tickets of admission to the Concert of

Europe. Comment, criticism and satire are monopolized by Ulster,

labour troubles, Marconi and oil scandals, the dancing mania, social

extravagance and the spread of the cinema habit. The first cartoon of

the New Year of 1914 is devoted to Mr. Lloyd George's land campaign;

there is nothing aggressive in the picture of Mr. Churchill as a

sailor surrounded by a Tory chorus singing, "You've made me love you;

I didn't want to do it"--_à propos_ of the Navy Estimates; nothing

provocative in "The Price of Admiralty," where Britannia, outside a

door marked "Cabinet Council (Private and Controversial)," is seen

waiting to know whether she is to lay down the ships she wants, on

which _Mr. Punch_ adds "or lay down your trident." No serious misgiving

is aroused by Turkey's purchase of a _Dreadnought_, and _Punch's_

comment on General Leonard Wood's pessimistic report on the practically

unarmed condition of the U.S.A. army, if not exactly unsympathetic, is

light-hearted and detached.

Home Rule and the attitude of Ulster diverted the eyes of England

from the Continent. The Zabern incident did not escape _Punch's_ eye,

but his comment, which suggests an imaginary interchange of garrisons

between Germany and England, was too fantastic to be really pointed;

and the announcement that Sir Edward Grey would accompany the King

on his visit to Paris in April passes with a brief compliment to the

Foreign Minister on his well-earned little treat.

There is an excellent burlesque account of a Cabinet Council in

February, illustrating the temperaments of the different Ministers--the

imperturbable and irrepressible equanimity of Mr. Lloyd George; the

inarticulate disapproval of Lord Crewe; the egotism of Mr. Burns; the

bland ignorance of Mr. Birrell. But foreign politics are not once

mentioned: the Premier and his Cabinet are chiefly concerned with

discussing their detractors in the Press and the Ulster problem.

Incidentally Mr. Lloyd George scouts the proposal to revive the

Heptarchy because it was a Saxon, not a Celtic institution. This is

all irresponsible burlesque, but it was highly intelligent burlesque.

In Parliament, members were not worrying about the German menace.

They were more interested in Lord Murray's statement about the

Marconi business, the debate on contributions to the Party funds and

the distribution of honours; above all, in the Government's plan of

amending Home Rule so as to conciliate Ulster. _Punch_, still inclined

to be critical of the Northern loyalists, begs Miss Ulster not to turn

up her nose at the pretty bouquet of concessions offered her by the

Premier, but to have a good look at them first.

The Government certainly did not expect war, but whether by lucky

chance or in a moment of wise prevision, a momentous decision was taken

by the Admiralty in March:--

"The Admiralty has decided that, in the place of the grand

manoeuvres this year, there shall be a surprise mobilisation. Last

year's manoeuvres were, we believe, something of a fiasco, but to

ensure the success of the surprise mobilisation, five months' previous

notice is given."

_Punch's_ comment, at any rate, is free from any bellicose imputations.

He, at least, had no inkling of the larger surprise which was to be

sprung on us from another quarter. The Supplementary Naval Estimates,

raising the total to 48 millions, and providing for reserves of oil

fuel and the very modest new aircraft programme, were passed by a six

to one majority. Labour members registered a protest, but nothing

was said about Germany. Home Rule, Welsh Disestablishment and Plural

Voting still were the burning questions of the hour. As for Home Rule,

it is strange to read how, in the debate on the second reading in

March, Mr. William O'Brien referred to Ulster as "the new 'Orange'

Free State, which has just received official recognition." _Punch_

records the phrase; also the vote of censure brought against Mr. Lloyd

George "on grounds of repeated inaccuracy, particularly on account of

his ineradicable tendency to speak disrespectfully of dukes"--a vote

negatived by none too large a majority. Mr. Balfour meanwhile was

disporting himself at Nice, and his absence was much commented on:

it was not exactly a case of Nero fiddling while Rome was burning;

but _Punch_, under the heading of "Mr. Balfour's Mixed Double Life,"

made fair game of his giving up to lawn tennis what was meant for his

country. Another conspicuous absentee from England at this period of

storm and stress was Lord Northcliffe. A notice appeared in the _Daily

Mail_ in the following words:--

Lord Northcliffe rarely sees and never reads a letter, being mainly

nowadays engaged in golf and travel.

_Punch_ treated the announcement with a sad want of respect, as who

should say, "_O si sic semper!_" The most curious thing in _Punch's_

pages for March is the picture of the Recruiting Sergeant addressing a

rather loutish-looking youth: "Now I can tell character when I see it,

so mark my words. If you join now, you'll be a swankin' general in five

years." Thus not for the first time did _Punch_, writing as a jester,

prove an unconscious prophet.

[Sidenote: _An Unconscious Prophecy_]

[Illustration: "THERE'S MANY A SLIP ..."]

Credit is assigned to Mr. Churchill for "calling in a new element to

redress the balance of the old"--Neptune emerging from the deep to

gaze at his new allies, the aeroplane and airship. But attention was

abruptly switched off from the Admiralty to the War Office by the

troubles at the Curragh Camp, the threatened resignations of General

Gough and other officers as a protest against the coercion of Ulster,

and by the blunder and resignation of Mr. Seely. _Punch_ applauded the

spirit both of Ulster and the Army: in his cartoon, "Many a slip,"

he showed Mr. Asquith, while offering the cup to Mr. John Redmond,

confronted by a hand with a sword marked "Army Resignations." _Punch_

recognized the promptitude with which Mr. Asquith came to the rescue

by doubling the functions of Premier and War Minister, but was less

benevolent in his gloss on the comment of a faithful supporter who

declared that "the best we can do is to keep our eye on Mr. Asquith":--

BALLAD OF THE WATCHFUL EYE

O keep your eye on David,

The demigod of Wales,

Before whose furious onset

Dukes turn their timid tails;

Whom Merioneth mystics

Praise in delirious distichs

And, matched with whose statistics,

Munchausen's glory pales.

O keep your eye on Winston,

And mind you keep it tight,

For nearly every Saturday

You'll find he takes to flight;

Now eloquent and thrilling,

Now simply cheap or filling,

And now bent on distilling

The purest Party spite.

O keep your eye on Haldane,

Ex-Minister of War,

The sleek and supple-minded

And suave Lord Chancellor;

Whose brain, so keen and subtle,

Moves swifter than a shuttle,

Obscuring, like the cuttle,

Things that were plain before.

* * *

O keep your eye on Birrell,

So wholly free from guile,

Conspicuous by his absence

From Erin's peaceful isle;

Who wakes from floor to rafter

The House to heedless laughter,

Careless of what comes after

Can he but raise a smile.

O keep your eye on Masterman,

Dear David's henchman leal,

Whose piety and "uplift"

Makes ribald Tories squeal;

In every public function

Displaying the conjunction

Of perfect moral unction

With perfect Party zeal.

Last, keep your eye on Asquith

And he will bring you through,

No matter what his colleagues

May say or think or do;

For in the dirtiest weather,

He moulted not a feather

And safely kept together

His variegated crew.

_Mr. Punch_ certainly kept his eye on Lord Haldane to good

purpose--witness the stanzas "To the Cabinet (suggested by a recent

doctoring of Hansard)":--

The judgment of the People's "Yea" or "Nay"

Wherefore should virtuous men like _you_ shun?

You are--or so you confidently say--

Prepared for Dissolution.

Then snatch a hint from Haldane's little fake,

Who glanced with eye alert and beady at

His speech in proof, and, for appearance' sake

Added the word "_immediate_."

To persons with short memories it may be needful to recall the fact

that, when challenged in the House of Lords, Lord Haldane had said on

March 23:--

"No orders were issued, no orders are likely to be issued, and no

orders will be issued for the coercion of Ulster."

[Illustration: THE ULSTER KING-AT-ARMS]

But when his speech was printed in the weekly record, it was found that

the word "immediate" had been added before "coercion," thus showing

that self-protection is often the most dangerous and damaging policy.

[Sidenote: _Ulster and the "Plot"_]

_Punch_ had applauded the spirit of Ulster, but he did not approve of

the uncompromising policy of her leader. In "The Fight for the Banner,"

Mr. John Redmond and Sir Edward Carson are shown pulling the flag of

"Peace for Ireland" asunder, while John Bull remarks: "This tires

me. Why can't you carry it between you? Neither of you can carry it

alone." By way of contrast, one may note the cartoon "After Ten Years,"

with France and Britannia clasping hands in celebration of the solidity

and endurance of the _Entente_.

"For the third time in the course of three successive Sessions the

Home Rule Bill passes the second reading stage." So _Punch_ wrote of

the "business done" in Parliament on April 6. But the arbitrament of

the vote did not allay the suspicions of the Opposition. April and

May were given over to acrimonious discussions of the alleged "Plot"

by the Government to overawe Ulster by armed occupation. _Punch_

admired the imperturbability of Mr. Asquith, who is shown combining

in his own person the _rôles_ of prisoner, judge and jury. Mr. Austen

Chamberlain demanded a judicial inquiry into the "Plot," but was beaten

by eighty votes in a House of 608 members. Simultaneously _Punch_

depicted Sir Edward Carson as the Ulster King-at-Arms, armed and

defiant, and declared through the mouth of John Bull that "he was not

going to have Civil War to please either Radical Extremists or Tory

Die-Hards." Simultaneously, too, _Punch_ printed a most eulogistic

notice of Mr. Norman Angell's _Foundations of International Policy_,

in which the reviewer declared that if he were a politician he would

"move for a further supplementary Naval Estimate to expend the price

of a _Dreadnought_ in distributing this fighting pacificist's book to

all journalists, attachés, clergymen, bazaar-openers, club oracles,

professors, headmasters, and other obvious people in both Germany and

Britain."

Mr. Lloyd George's last Budget topped two hundred millions, but showed

a small surplus. _Punch_ portrayed the income-tax payer as an old cow

complaining that "it isn't milking, it's murder." The enhancement of

the death duties _Punch_ regarded as a raising of the fares to Styx,

which would cost the Plutocratic Shades more.

The debates on the Home Rule Bill suggested to _Punch_ a contrast

between 1906 and 1914, the efforts of the Liberals to improve the

situation having only resulted in turmoil, discontent and bitter

recrimination. The third reading was carried on May 25 by 351 votes to

274, Mr. William O'Brien having cheerfully remarked that the Bill,

if it became an Act, would be born with a rope round its neck. Heated

discussions took place over the refusal of the Government to disclose

the details of the Amending Bill. The Speaker had invited Mr. Asquith

to supply further particulars, as the Opposition had insistently

demanded, but, according to _Punch_, the Premier's luminous and

courteous response did not add a syllable to the information already

vouchsafed, whereupon Mr. Bonar Law had asked the Speaker to "let the

curtain be rung down on a contemptible farce." The third reading of the

Welsh Disestablishment Bill had been carried a week earlier; the Plural

Voters Bill passed the same stage three weeks later. For the rest, the

main topics which engaged attention in the House were gun-running,

Suffragist outrages, and the latest amendment of the much-amended

Insurance Act. "Scenes" were not infrequent, and _Punch_ deplores the

"pot-house manners" displayed by members on both sides. The emergence

of the National Volunteers, a counterblast to the force enrolled by

the Ulster Loyalists, added to the general disquiet, but there were no

public signs of any general awakening to the impending catastrophe. Sir

Percy Scott's letter on the submarine menace created a considerable

stir, but _Punch_, like the majority of his readers, refused to treat

it seriously. The efficiency of the Territorial Army as seen from the

inside is illustrated in the _cri de coeur_ ascribed to one of the

rank and file during the course of the manoeuvres: "Thank 'Evin we've

got a Nivy!" There is a jocular reference in mid-June to the toast

"Der Tag" in German war vessels, and an unconscious prophecy in the

warning of an old Lancashire lady to a young friend intending to go

by an excursion to London: "Doan't thee goà to London: thee stop in

owd England." On June 10, it may be added, a "Peace Centenary Costume

Ball" was held in the Albert Hall in honour of the 100th anniversary

of peace between Great Britain and the United States, and the lady who

represented Britannia carried a palm branch instead of the customary

trident.

[Sidenote: _Midsummer Madness_]

With the opening of July the London season was in full fling; the

pleasure-hunt had never been so unbridled; midsummer madness was at

its height. Society, bejewelled as never before, was given up to the

cult of the Russian Ballet and the worship of Chaliapine. _Punch's_

"Holiday Pages" make strange reading, emphasizing, as they do, the

passion for amusement, freak and fancy costumes, the cinema craze and

"full joy days." _Punch's_ staff did not escape the infection, and one

of them writes from a golfing resort:--

"_Carpe diem_"--yes, that's the motto.

"Work be jiggered!" and likewise "What ho!"

_I'm not going back till I've jolly well got to!_

Strauss's _Joseph_ had been produced in June by the Russian Ballet, and

lent point to "Blanche's" letter on the "Friendship Fête," an imaginary

entertainment organized "to celebrate our not having had any scraps

with any foreign country for some little time" by the performance of a

Kamschatkan opera-ballet. The satire is effective, but it is largely

unconscious or subconscious. The Smith-Carpentier fight made a greater

impression on the man in the street than the murder of the Crown Prince

Ferdinand at Sarajevo.

The death of Mr. Chamberlain, who, after long enforced absence from the

political arena, passed away on July 2, hushed political strife for a

moment. All sections were united in deploring the tragic eclipse of a

great fighter and a great man who, in _Punch's_ words, "loved his Party

well but loved his country more."

Turkey appears early in the month as unready to fight Greece before the

autumn, "when the ships come home." The cartoons until the last issue

in July deal with the Budget and Home Rule. Mr. Asquith on July 13

announced the winding up of business; there would be no autumn session,

but Parliament would reassemble early in the winter. On July 29 the

chief cartoon, "What of the Dawn?" deals with the anxieties of Ireland,

and the most important event chronicled in the "Essence of Parliament"

was the Premier's announcement that, on the initiative of the King,

a conference on the Ulster question between the British and Irish

parties had been arranged to meet at Buckingham Palace.

[Illustration: THE POWER BEHIND

AUSTRIA (at the ultimatum stage): "I don't quite like his

attitude. Somebody must be backing him."]

[Sidenote: _On the Eve_]

[Illustration: MUTUAL SERVICE

BRITANNIA (to Peace): "I've been doing my best for you in

Europe. Please do your best for me in Ireland."]

_Punch_ was not wholly blind to the peril of Serbia. In his second

cartoon, "The Power Behind," we see the Austrian Eagle threatening

the little Serbian bird and suspecting that someone must be backing

him--the someone being the Russian Bear hidden behind a rock. The

immediate situation was not misread, but _Punch_, in his own words,

was in an "irrepressible holiday mood," and little thought that on the

day on which his cartoon appeared Austria would declare war on Serbia.

Yet even this warning did not bring home to _Punch_ the imminence

of the "Grand Smash." The makers of wars have no consideration for

the producers of weekly papers. The issue, dated August 5, had gone

to press before Germany declared war on Russia and France, and was

published only a few hours before Great Britain was at war with

Germany. The cartoon of the week shows Britannia appealing to Peace

to do the best for her in _Ireland_, having done her best for Peace

in Europe.[3] The "Essence of Parliament" is more concerned with

gun-running at Clontarf than the prospect of a European convulsion,

and the verses on the "Logic of Ententes: composed on what looks like

the eve of a general European War," and intended to reflect the views

of an average British patriot, are governed by the feeling that the

whole thing is "an awful bore." Britons "never can be Slavs," and the

last couplet runs thus:--

"Well, if I must, I shall have to fight

For the love of a bounding Balkanite."

An even more detached and ironical note is sounded in the fantasy

headed "Armageddon"--a satire on Porkins, a blatant young golfing "nut"

who thinks that England needs a war to cure her of flabbiness. The

granting of his desire is traced to the cynical intervention of the

Gods of Olympus in promoting a little scrap over a love affair in an

obscure corner of the Balkans:--

And when a year later the hundred-thousandth English mother woke up to

read that her boy had been shot, I am afraid she shed foolish tears

and thought that the world had come to an end. Poor shortsighted

creature! She didn't realize that Porkins, who had marched round the

links in ninety-six the day before, was now thoroughly braced up.

[Footnote 3: The present writer was at Bayreuth in the week before the

War. After the declaration of war on Serbia by Austria and in view of

its inevitable consequences, the Germans, in conversation and in their

Press, were unanimous in "banking on" the neutrality of England on the

ground of her domestic embarrassments in Ulster and the friendliness of

the Liberal Government.]

These two utterances may show that _Punch_ had failed in reading the

signs of the times, and did not render justice to the youth of the

country. I prefer to regard them as proofs that _Punch_, like the vast

majority of his fellow-countrymen, neither expected nor desired war.

CAPITAL AND LABOUR

The fervid Radicalism of _Punch's_ earlier years had always been

tempered by a distrust of "agitators" and socialistic experiments. It

is impossible to deny that, in the period under review in this volume,

this distrust gained in force if not in vehemence. There is nothing

so bitter as the sketch of the delegate which appeared in the days of

Douglas Jerrold (see Vol. I, p. 50), but the general attitude of the

paper to the working man is decidedly less sympathetic. This change can

be illustrated negatively as well as positively; less space is devoted

to "the people," and more to "Society"--though in many cases it is

suburban society--and to the middle classes. The references to Labour

exhibit an increasing tendency to criticize and denounce trade union

tyranny, socialistic legislation, the improvidence and extravagance of

highly paid workmen, and "ergophobia" (as _Punch_ academically calls

work-shyness)--a habit which he describes as early as 1892 as "the new

employment of being 'unemployed.'" Yet if _Punch_ was increasingly

critical of Labour--organized Labour--he was very far from being a

thick-and-thin champion of Capital. Greedy employers and directors are

never spared. The agricultural depression in 1892 furnishes him with

the occasion for a vigorous onslaught on railway rates. Agriculture is

shown as a female figure, bound hand and foot by Foreign Competition,

lying prostrate on the track and about to be run down by an engine

labelled Railway Rates. In 1895 the verses and cartoon inspired by

lock-outs on the Clyde are equally severe on the employers. _Punch_

condemns the action of "crass and unpatriotic capital," and shows

Britannia rebuking the shipbuilders who are playing into Germany's

hands by assisting the growth of her navy. In 1896, under the heading

of "The Millions to the Millionaires," _Punch_ takes for his text

an actual appeal made by the working men of Walworth on the death

of Baron Hirsch, _à propos_ of his munificent bequests to _his_

countrymen, and holds up the example for imitation. The continuance

of the habit of "slumming," out of curiosity rather than good will,

prompts in 1897 a satirical inversion of the organized visits to the

East End. _Punch's_ "West End Exploration Agency, Ltd.," provided

"Night Tours through Belgravia and Lightest London" with the purpose

of proving "the depressing monotony and triviality of the existence to

which Fashion's merciless decree condemns her countless thousands of

white slaves."

The debate in the Commons in the same year over Lord Penrhyn's dispute

with his quarrymen found _Punch_ decidedly hostile to the young Tory

lions who supported that inflexible peer. When in 1900 the Coal Mining

Companies in Fife declared a dividend of 50 per cent., and the price of

coal was still rising, _Punch_ castigated the greed of the owners. In

1907 the miners are exempted from any share of the responsibility for

the high cost of coal. The triple Cerberus who dominates the situation

is made up of the colliery owner, the coal merchant and the railway

company. But as the price this joint monster exacted was only 30s. a

ton--exorbitant for the time, no doubt--it is hard for this generation

to share _Punch's_ sympathy for the consumer. As late as 1912, when the

coal crisis again became acute, _Punch_, though resenting the increased

resort to the strike weapon, represents the merchant profiteer as in

clover while Britannia is the victim of his avarice.

[Sidenote: _Underpaid Women Workers_]

On behalf of _unorganized_ labour, when it was unfairly exploited by

the employer, _Punch_ continued to lift up his voice in the old strain.

In 1893 the hard case of the shopgirls, slave-driven by exacting

masters, always standing, too tired at the end of the week to profit

by Sunday, prompts him to a plea for a true Day of Rest. The verses,

like the "Cry of the City Clerk," are vitiated by their sentimentality.

There is more vigour in the lines "'Arriet on Labour" in the same year,

which show that the new type of woman was not confined to the upper

classes. 'Arriet is a workgirl who works hard, loves her freedom and

nights off, has no respect for spouting Labour candidates, and no envy

of married drudges:--

Labour? Well, yus, the best of hus must work; yer carn't git quit

of it;

And you and me, Poll, like the rest, must do our little bit of it.

But oh, I loves my _freedom_, Poll, my hevenings hoff is 'eaven;

But wives and slavies ain't allowed even one day in seven.

Jigger the men! Sam spouts and shouts about the 'Onest Worker.

That always means a Man, of course--_he's a smart Man, the shirker.

But when a Man lives upon his wife, and skulks around his diggings,

Who is the "'Onest Worker" then? Yours truly,_

'ARRIET 'IGGINGS.

Another "hard case" exposed by _Punch_ in the following year was that

of the rural schoolmistress, contrasted unfavourably with Crabbe's

version. _Punch_ took his cue from a paper read by Dr. Macnamara at

a meeting of the N.U.T. and drew a lamentable picture of the weary,

overworked and miserably underpaid teacher, "passing _poor_ on £40 a

year." The picture was obviously drawn at second-hand, but the line in

which the schoolmistress is described as "a lonely, tired, certificated

slave" was an excellent summary of a real hardship. Women workers were

not only slave-driven by employers and underpaid by the State; they

were also handicapped by the competition of their sisters who only

worked for pocket-money. This, at least, was the burden of a complaint

made by an old-fashioned woman in the _Daily Chronicle_ in the autumn

of 1895:--

"In every branch of work we see well-to-do women crowding into the

ranks of competition, in consequence of which wages are lowered, and

women who really want work are left to starve."

This letter inspired _Punch_ to deliver a fierce homily in verse on

the wickedness of well-to-do women "playing at work," to the detriment

of their poor sisters. As a set-off, however, we may note that in 1897

_Punch_ condemns mistresses for exploiting "Lady servants," getting

them to do double the work for half the ordinary wages because of their

inability to stand up for themselves. Sweated women workers were still

to be found in the tailoring trade, and _Punch_ did well in 1896 to

retell in his columns the story of the tailoress, Mary Ould of Peckham,

as unfolded before the Lambeth County Court. She had to buy her own

materials and pay her fare for fetching and carrying work; she toiled

till 10 p.m. from Saturday till Thursday and, at 3/4d. per coat, earned

3s. The pillorying of these abuses did credit to _Punch's_ humanity,

but as they were nearly always chosen from unorganized trades, they

became increasingly difficult to reconcile with his increasing

hostility to trade union organization, and his distrust of legislation

expressly designed to satisfy the demands of Labour. Philanthropic

efforts to relieve the squalor of the home life of the poor were

another matter. To the appeals of the Children's Country Holiday Fund

_Punch_ always lent a ready ear, and when Canon Barnett arranged an

exhibition of Watts's pictures in Whitechapel, _Punch_ vigorously

applauded the scheme. Pictures were as good as sermons, and better than

many:--

Where Whitechapel's darkness the weary eyes of the dreary worker dims,

It may be found that Watts's pictures do better than Watts's hymns.

[Sidenote: _The Children's Champion_]

[Illustration: ART IN WHITECHAPEL

"Well, that's what I calls a himpossible persition to get yerself

into!"]

At the same time the Philistine attitude of the East End matron is not

overlooked in Phil May's picture. Much depended on the spirit in which

this campaign of enlightenment was conducted, and _Punch_ continued to

rebuke and satirize the lack of sympathy and comprehension shown by the

fashionable "slummer." He had "no use" for people like "Mrs. Slumley

Smirk," the District Visitor, who asked to be warned if any illness was

about, as then she wouldn't wish to come near; and he was even more

satirical at the expense of Socialism as conceived by certain members

of the aristocracy--_vide_ the imaginary interview with "Lady Yorick"

in 1905--who sought to have it both ways, and, as I notice elsewhere,

represented a new and inverted type of snobbery.

For the scandal of the insurance of poor children's lives he held not

the parents, but the "Bogus Insurance sneak," mainly responsible. He

is at least half in sympathy with the soliloquy in St. James's Park of

the Socialist loafer who deprecates the amount of food wasted on the

ducks and swans. He applauds the revival of Folk Dancing in 1903; in

1905 there is a long and charming sketch of an old Cambridge bedmaker

who had recently died at an advanced age; and in the following year

_Punch_ published a delightful imaginary description of a socialistic

experiment, by which poor children were sent on visits to "upper-class"

families, and treated as guests and equals, to the mutual profit of

both classes. The scheme is suggested as an improvement on bazaars

and similar activities. On the other hand, _Punch_ indulges in ironic

comment on the result of well-meant efforts to teach poor children to

"think imperially"--a subject on which he spoke with more than one

voice. In an Empire Day Essay a London school-child wrote in 1908:--

"There are a lot of Empires like Chinese Empire, Hackney Empire,

Stratford Empire, and Russian Empire. Hackney Empire is different to

ours because they sing there, and ours is places."

[Illustration: THE CAPTURE OF WINDSOR CASTLE

by the Boy Scouts.]

[Sidenote: _The Boy Scout Movement_]

The best-inspired and most fruitful of all movements for the uplifting

of the children of the people which belongs to this period was that

of the Boy Scouts. It was entirely independent of State or official

encouragement, and sprang from the ingenious brain of one man, General

Sir Robert Baden-Powell, and _Punch_, as an Individualist, was not

inclined to think worse of it on that account. As a matter of fact, he

greeted the Boy Scouts with the utmost cordiality from the very outset.

In 1909 his cartoon on "Our Youngest Line of Defence" shows the Boy

Scout reassuring Mrs. Britannia: "Fear not, Grandma; no danger can

befall you now. Remember _I_ am with you." Later on in 1911 came the

delightful cartoon of the Boy Scouts capturing Windsor Castle, and, on

the very eve of the war, in _Punch's_ Holiday Pages we encounter the

late Mr. F. H. Townsend's admirable picture of our "dear old friend the

foreign spy (cunningly disguised as a golfer) visiting our youngest

suburb on a Saturday afternoon in quest of further evidence of our

lethargy, general decadence and falling birth-rate." As a result of

observing the activity and numbers of the Boy Scouts, he gets a serious

shock, and at once telegraphs to his Commander-in-Chief "urging that

the conquest of the British Isles be undertaken before the present

generation is many years older." This oblique and imaginative tribute

was happily conceived and well deserved. The spirit of the Boy Scout

movement was at least a contributory factor in helping us to win the

War. What was even more important was the conversion of a great many

Pacificists from their mistrust of the alleged "militarism" of the

movement, and their recognition of its essential value as an instrument

in fostering self-respect, truthfulness, altruistic kindliness and

cleanliness of mind and body.

[Illustration: OUR DEAR OLD FRIEND THE FOREIGN SPY]

[Sidenote: _Strikes and Unemployment_]

This record--and it is by no means exhaustive--of _Punch's_

humanitarian activities must not blind us to the fact that throughout

these years the principal object of his sympathy and compassion was

not the working man but the middle-class tax-and rate-payer. In 1893

_Punch_ depicts him bound to a post and in danger of being drowned by

the rising tide of rates--L.C.C., Asylums, Libraries, Baths, Vestries.

_Punch_, as we have seen, did not acquit the coal owners and coal

merchants of rapacity, but he was not any more sympathetic to the

miners--witness the following dialogue printed in the same year:--

THE STRIKER'S VADE MECUM

_Question._ You think it is a good thing to strike?

_Answer._ Yes, when there is no other remedy.

_Q._ Is there ever any other remedy?

_A._ Never. At least, so say the secretaries.

_Q._ Then you stand by the opinions of the officials?

_A._ Why, of course; because they are paid to give them.

_Q._ But have not the employers any interests?

_A._ Lots, but they are not worthy the working man's consideration.

_Q._ But are not their interests yours?

_A._ Yes, and that is the way we guard over them.

_Q._ But surely it is the case of cutting off the nose to spite the

mouth?

_A._ And why not, if the mouth is too well fed.

_Q._ But are not arguments better than bludgeons?

_A._ No. And bludgeons are less effective than revolvers.

_Q._ But may not the use of revolvers produce the military?

_A._ Yes, but they can do nothing without a magistrate reading the

Riot Act.

_Q._ But, the Riot Act read, does not the work become serious?

_A._ Probably. But at any rate the work is lawful, because

unremunerative.

_Q._ But how are the wives and children of strikers to live if their

husbands and fathers earn no wages?

_A._ On strike money.

_Q._ But does all the strike money go to the maintenance of the hearth

and home?

_A._ Of course not, for a good share of it is wanted for the

baccy-shop and the public-house.

_Q._ But if strikes continue will not trade suffer?

_A._ Very likely, but trade represents the masters.

_Q._ And if trade is driven away from the country, will it come back?

_A._ Most likely not, but that is a matter for the future.

_Q._ But is not the future of equal importance to the present?

_A._ Not at all, for a day's thought is quite enough for a day's work.

_Q._ Then a strike represents either nothing or idleness?

_A._ Yes, bludgeons or beer.

_Q._ And what is the value of reason?

_A._ Why, something less than smoke.

Simultaneously _Punch_ published a cartoon (rather prematurely) in

which Mars, expressing his readiness to arbitrate, appeals to Vulcan to

do the same. Lord Rosebery's successful intervention as a mediator in

the coal strike in December, 1893, is handsomely acknowledged in the

cartoon in which he figures as the "G.O.M.'s handy boy." Lord Rosebery

was still at the height of his personal popularity; it was not until

1905 that _Punch_ described him as "unemployable." Unemployment had

reached formidable dimensions, and then, as now, proved serviceable

material to the political agitator. Mr. Asquith, as Home Secretary,

had allowed political meetings in Trafalgar Square "so long as the

proceedings were orderly," and _Punch_ represented the disappointment

of the extremists at having the ground cut from under their feet by

this condition. A year later _Punch_ depicted the Trafalgar Square of

the future, with anarchy rampant in every corner, and early in 1894

the verses "The Devil's Latest Walk (after Coleridge and Southey),"

fiercely attacking Socialist agitators as animated by sheer malice, are

accompanied by a picture of a fiendish figure with horns and tail.

[Illustration: THE UNEMPLOYABLE

(Dedicated to Lord R-s-b-ry)]

[Sidenote: _Gambling and Improvidence_]

It was about this time that, as we read in the _Annual Register_, "a

large body of the unemployed attended service at St. Paul's Cathedral

in response to an invitation from Canon Scott Holland, whose sermon

was frequently interrupted by the applause of those present." _Punch_,

in his then mood, would have probably explained this episode on the

principle of "the Devil was sick, the Devil a monk would be." _Punch_

was no admirer of the art of Mr. George Moore, but he had paid him

reluctant homage as a moralist in 1894, under the head of "All the

Winners":--

Boycotted or not boycotted, if _Esther Waters_ calls general and

effectual attention to the growth of gambling, which is the real

"curse of the country" in these days, it will do more good than all

the _Dodos_ and _Marcellas_ and _Barabbases_ and _Heavenly Twins_ in

all the Libraries in the land.

It was in the same spirit that a few years later _Punch_ applauded

the idea of establishing a Bureau of Common-sense to combat the

extravagance and improvidence of the working classes. The suggestion

was made by Judge Emden, the well-known County Court Judge, in dealing

with the case of a man who, on wages of from 25s. to 30s. a week,

committed himself to a twenty-five-guinea piano on the hire-purchase

system.

"Agricultural Depression" bulks largely in _Punch's_ pages in the

'nineties, but it is the farmer, not the farm labourer, who is singled

out for commiseration. In 1893 he is shown as Buridan's Ass between two

piles of sapless chaff--Tory and Liberal--overburdened by the triple

load of Rents, Rates and Foreign Competition:--

What choice between the chaff of arid Rad

And that of equally dry-and-dusty Tory?

Chaplin would feed you on preposterous fad,

And Gardner[4] on--postponement! The old story!

While the grass grows the horse may starve. Poor ass!

Party would bring you to a similar pass!

[Footnote 4: Mr. Herbert Gardner, President of the Board of

Agriculture, afterwards Lord Burghclere.]

In the summer of 1894 the verses "A Good Time Coming" foreshadow the

end of the agricultural depression, but a few weeks later the farmer

was bitterly disappointed. His crops had been plentiful, but the plenty

had brought down the price of wheat in some cases to 16s. and 19s. a

quarter. In short, there had been a golden harvest, but he couldn't

get gold for it. Let it be noted, in parenthesis, that if _Punch_

espoused the cause of the farmer, he was not wholly wedded to the

old rural _régime_ of the Squire and the Parson. In 1894 there is a

humorously ironic lament by a lover of the "Good Old Times" in the form

of a new version of "The Village Blacksmith," suggested by the actual

return of a blacksmith to one of the new parish councils at the head

of the poll. When the Conservatives came back to power in 1895, Lord

Salisbury, in a new fable of Hercules and the Farmer, is represented

as adroitly ascribing agricultural depression to Providence, and

exculpating the Government which had done its best; but the farmer is

unconvinced by this pious explanation. The remedy which the Government

sought to apply in the Agricultural Land Rating Bill of 1896 failed

to satisfy _Punch_. Mr. Chaplin is seen, in an adaptation of Æsop,

shifting the burden of rural rates from the horse (country) to the

ass (town). But the latter was _Punch's_ special _protégé_, and the

verses in May express accurately enough the cry of the poor townsman,

the rate-crushed cockney, protesting against Mr. Chaplin's remedy when

the income-tax was already 8d. in the pound! The income-tax payer this

time is the patient ass, hoping that some at least of the surplus of

six millions may be devoted to the relief of his gigantic burden.

To return to Agriculture, a sidelight is thrown on the shortage of

farm hands in 1901, in the picture of an elderly farmer rebuking a

very small boy for slacking, only to be met by the retort "Chaps is

scarce." The parallel to the Great War is obvious, but one would hardly

have thought that the Boer war was on a large enough scale to affect

the labour market in this way. In 1903 voluntary labour bureaus were

started, but the results were disappointing, and _Punch_ quotes an

account of an experiment in Wiltshire. Fifteen men had been sent down

from London; two returned in three days "because it rained"; and twelve

more were back in a fortnight. Our increasing reliance on imported food

had already prompted _Punch_ to indulge in a forecast of the Stores

of the Future, at which Tierra-del-Fuego Devonshire cream and similar

products are offered for sale because it had become impossible to get

any home-grown produce. The exodus from the land to the cities was

already in full swing, and we find _Punch_ as early as 1896 commending

a clergyman who had started dancing classes in his village near Stroud

as a counter-attraction to the lure of the towns. In this context it

is worthy of note that in 1900 _Punch_ suggested that, as a result of

socialistic legislation in Australia and elsewhere, and the growing

struggle for the good things of life, no one was willing "to do the

washing up." Yet prices and taxes were low enough to excite the envy of

the harassed post-war householder. Eggs were advertised at 16 for 1s.,

but even this did not satisfy Phil May's broken-down tragedian in 1900,

who exclaims as he reads the announcement in a shop-window: "Cheap!

Ha! Ha! Why, in my time they _threw_ them at us."

[Sidenote: _Town v. Country_]

[Illustration: JOE THE VENTRILOQUIST

PROFESSOR CH-MB-RL-N: "You see, ladies and gentlemen, he talks

just as well even when I go right away!"]

If all was not well with those who lived on or by the land, the town

exodus of week-enders and the demand for small country residences had

already created a cult of "rural felicity," the artificiality of which

did not escape _Punch_ when he satirized in 1904 the platitudinous

appreciation of Nature and country life distilled in the halfpenny

Press. At the same time the drastic legislation dealing with the

land problem introduced by the Liberals on their return to power in

1906 found little or no sympathy from _Punch_. The cross-currents

revealed in the Unionist Party by the great Tariff Reform controversy,

the resignation of Mr. Chamberlain, the secession of the Free Trade

Ministers, and the inability of the plain person to cope with the

transcendental fiscal dialectics of Mr. Balfour, had made it difficult

for _Punch_, born and bred in the principles of Free Trade, to accord

a whole-hearted support to the Unionist administration in its later

years. There was, however, no perplexity in his attitude towards

the land policy of their successors. At all their stages _Punch_

was hostile to the new "Lloyd Georgics." We may specially single

out the cartoon in August, 1910, presenting a "study of a free-born

Briton who, within the period usually allotted to his holidays,

is required under threat of a penalty of £50 to answer a mass of

obscure conundrums relating to land values, to facilitate his future

taxation." The miseries of this inquisitorial process are further

developed in an imaginary extract from a specimen return showing how

some of the questions in the historic "Form IV" were to be answered.

The sequel to this laborious and costly preliminary investigation

falls outside the scope of this volume. Nor is it necessary to dwell

at length on the movement, doubtless animated by a noble sympathy

with the rural population, initiated by the _Daily Mail_ in 1911 on

behalf of the revival of windmills and standard bread. The new-found

interest in the yokel is satirized in the song of the "Merry Hind"

(after Masefield's _Daffodil Fields_), and the cartoon "The Return

of the Golden Age" in February, 1913, where Mr. Lloyd George is seen

emptying a cornucopia of "rare and refreshing fruit" into the lap of

the ecstatic farm labourer. Hodge was at last fairly in the limelight,

for both parties had their land policy, and the opening of Mr. Lloyd

George's Land Campaign in October is symbolized by a picture of him as

an irresponsible music-hall comedian with "Songs Without Wurzels. No.

1, Land of Hope (as arranged by the Cabinet)" in his hand. Mr. Asquith

is seen as his accompanist, waiting for the "patter" to finish, and

observing, "This is the part that makes me nervous." But the _Pall Mall

Gazette_, then edited by the great Mr. Garvin, declared in December

that "whatever can be done to improve the lot of the agriculturist will

have the Opposition's cordial support," and, on the strength of this

assurance, the Premier's anxiety, in _Punch's_ view, was allayed. When

Scout George reports to his chief "the enemy is on our side, sir,"

Scoutmaster Asquith replies, "Then let the battle begin."

[Illustration: THE RETURN OF THE GOLDEN AGE

(Vide The Lloyd-Georgics--passim)]

[Sidenote: _Work, Wages, Pensions, and Doles_]

Farmers and farm labourers were regarded in _Punch's_ survey as

not much more than pawns in the game of party politics. The claims

of organized labour in the other great industries and the general

tendency of legislation in their interests found him a more vigilant

and a more hostile critic. Even so mild a measure as the Early Closing

Bill of 1896--with the principle of which he had been in agreement

in earlier years--excited his misgivings and prompted a forecast

of increasingly intimate interference with the private life of

householders: the outline of his "Household Regulations Act" contains

provisions for hours of rising, cleaning, meals, bills and rent. It

is a burlesque, but none the less indicates resentment of patriarchal

State interference. Yet _Punch's_ general individualism admitted of

exceptions. He noted the failure of the Voluntary Labour Bureau system,

and was frivolously critical of the amateur attempt of a vicar to start

Trust Houses to supersede Public Houses--a movement which later on came

to stay and to achieve solid results. Here, however, allowance must

be made for _Punch's_ inveterate distrust of temperance agitators.

State interference on behalf of minorities did not always meet with

_Punch's_ approval, and in 1898 we find him vehemently protesting

against the recognition of "Conscientious Objectors" to vaccination. In

a striking picture headed "The Triumph of De-Jenner-ation" he shows

a grisly skeleton waving as his banner the Vaccination Bill, which

_Punch_ calls "the Bill for the encouragement of Small Pox." But the

burden of his criticisms of Labour is concerned with the artificial

restriction of output, the conversion of the trade unions from an

industrial to a political organization, and the increasing tendency of

State intervention to encourage a reluctance either to work or save.

The picture of Hyde Park on "Labour Day" in 1898 with the grass strewn

with recumbent sleeping figures is, if I read it aright, designed less

in compassion for the unemployed than as a satire on the unemployable.

Wages were high in the bricklaying trade, but a shortage of labour

was complained of; as for the skill required, a surveyor had written

to the _Daily Telegraph_ stating that "any ordinary man could learn

bricklaying in a fortnight," and _Punch_ ironically foreshadows the

invasion of the trade by underpaid clerks, barristers, etc. Ruskin

College--opened at Oxford in 1899--is described as "a College for

Labour Leaders" by _Punch_, who rather unnecessarily prophesied that

it might become the scene of "strikes"; but the friction which arose

between those who conceived that the function of the college was purely

educational, and those who wished to make it a school of political

thought, went far to justify _Punch's_ misgivings. The plan of Old

Age Pensions had long been in the air. The committee which reported

in 1892 showed considerable divergence of opinion. Mr. Chamberlain,

the chairman, condemned Mr. Charles Booth's proposal of the general

endowment of old age as a gigantic system of outdoor relief for every

one, good and bad, thrifty and unthrifty. The majority of the Royal

Commission of 1893 were adverse to State pensions. The Rothschild

Committee in 1896 found themselves unable to devise any satisfactory

proposal. The Select Committee over which Mr. Chaplin presided put

forward a scheme substantially on Mr. Charles Booth's lines, but

in view of the cost and the hostility of the Government the matter

rested till the passing of the Act by the Liberals in 1908. _Punch_,

it may be noted, was no enthusiast for the scheme formulated by the

Chaplin Committee; his cartoon of "Old Gaffer" and "Little Chappelin"

(modelled on Southey's ballad) is undoubtedly hostile, and the

accompanying verses end up on a cynical note when the "Old Gaffer" asks

"Little Chappelin" what is the bag he is carrying, and is told:

"Only another dole," said he;

"It _is_ a famous Ministry."

The Trade Union Congress at Plymouth in the same year censured Lord

Mount Edgcumbe because, in throwing open his grounds to them, he

had reserved the privacy of his lawn for a garden party. _Punch_

accordingly indulged in some sarcastic verses, supposed to be written

by a Trade Unionist, and ironically applauding the action of Mr. Ben

Tillett, who had distinguished himself by his attack on Lord Mount

Edgcumbe. This was fair game enough, though to-day it would probably

have been passed over in silence. _Punch_ no doubt was thinking of the

saying that an Englishman's house is his castle; and hardly anticipated

the time when an Englishman's or an English nobleman's castle

would cease to be his home. To-day we read with an amused surprise

_Punch's_ comment in 1900 on the introduction of an eight-hours'

day for domestics in Australia, and his forecast of a similar state

of affairs in England under a new Patriarchal Statute. Nor is there

anything wildly extravagant in his ironical anticipation of the cook

of the future demanding £100 wages, though unable to guarantee more in

return than "chop one day and steak the next." The higher education of

servants, according to _Punch_, was tending to produce a type which

knew everything except the things which really mattered. He tells us in

1902 of a lady who was delighted to get a cook who could develop her

photographs, and gives us, in the same year, an excellent study (after

Gilbert) of the "Up-to-date Cook-General":--

I am the very pattern of an up-to-date cook-general,

I've information vegetable, animal and mineral;

I've passed the seventh standard, and I vary the monotony

Of flirting with the butcher's boy by writing books on botany.

I know the chemistry of zinc, tin, potash and ammonium;

I practise on the fiddle, flute, piano and harmonium;

I understand minutely the formation of an icicle,

And in the season round the Park I like to ride my bicycle.

I've studied Herbert Spencer and I've views on sociology,

And as a mere _parergon_ I have taken up conchology--

In short, in matters vegetable, animal and mineral,

I am the very model of an up-to-date cook-general.

In fact, when I have learnt to tell a turnip from an artichoke,

Or grill a steak that will not make my mistress's dinner-party choke;

When I can cook a mutton chop or any plain comestible

In such a way that it becomes not wholly indigestible;

When I can wash a cup without inevitably breaking it,

Or make a bed where folk can sleep at ease without remaking it;

In short, when I've an inkling of economy domestical,

You'll say, "Of all cook-generals this girl the very best I call."

For my culinary ignorance and all-round imbecility

Is only to be equalled by my housewifely futility--

But still, in learning vegetable, animal and mineral,

I am the very pattern of an up-to-date cook-general.

[Sidenote: _The Aristocrats of Labour_]

The plethora of processions in 1901 moved _Punch_ to make various

suggestions for the better conduct of such spectacles, mostly in the

shape of fantastic and satirical concessions to the greatest happiness

of the greatest number of sightseers. Warnings against the _panem

et circenses_ habit were legitimate enough, but _Punch_ took a more

aggressive line in his attack on the miners in 1901:--

A BLACK LOOK-OUT

(A paper picked up near the office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.)

Pity the sorrows of a poor collier, who, if a shilling export duty is

imposed upon coal, will have (possibly) to see--

1. His wife giving up her music and riding lessons.

2. His children not able to go to the seaside for a month or two.

3. His favourite licensed victualler unable to supply him with that

extra quart he enjoys so much after he has drunk the others.

4. His dogs unable to compete for prizes because their upkeep will be

too expensive.

5. His tailor sending in his account and respectfully requesting

immediate payment.

6. His wine merchant writing to ask him why he has given up ordering

champagne.

7. Worst (and, fortunately, most improbable) of all, himself having to

work four days a week instead of three.

In earlier years _Punch_ would have given chapter and verse for such

charges; the later method, though it makes easier reading, carries

less weight. _Punch_ did not, however, wholly abandon the practice of

"documenting" his criticism, and he turned it to excellent account in

a discussion of the much-abused German clerk in 1898, when he quoted

the following passage from the official Consular Report from Stettin,

issued by the Foreign Office:--

Much of the commercial knowledge of Germany has been supplied by young

Germans who have been employed as clerks in Great Britain, mostly

as foreign correspondents. British clerks cannot be used as foreign

correspondents, because not one in a thousand can correspond correctly

in any foreign language.

For the effective German competition which threatened to oust British

trade from the markets of the world, _Punch_ did not hold any one class

responsible. The fault was our national complacency, symbolized in 1901

by a lethargic John Bull priding himself on the superior excellence of

his goods, but declining to take the trouble to make foreign customers

understand it. The contrast between the German and the Briton in regard

to practical business capacity is brought out in the papers headed,

"Pashley's Opinions." "Efficiency" was the motto of the hour, yet

_Punch_ found it hard to reconcile the cry with the "Catchwords for

the Million," especially the "Equal Rights of Man" as interpreted by

trade union rules, especially those affecting bricklaying, which in his

view sterilized competition and ambition. Another side of the subject

is dealt with in the series of papers entitled, "How to get on," one

of which satirizes the almost hysterical worship of "efficiency"

by those who in the same breath declared that we were the greatest

race on earth and also the greatest slackers, but confined their own

energies to mere talk. The underlying principles, however, which

govern _Punch's_ contributions to the "Efficiency" controversy could

not be better summed up than in the dictum of Mr. J. M. Beck,[5] the

Solicitor-General of the United States: "The great evil of the world

to-day is the aversion to work."

[Footnote 5: "The Revolt against Authority." _Fortnightly Review_,

November, 1921.]

[Sidenote: _Sport and Crime_]

[Illustration: MR. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW AND THE PEOPLE

"Wot d'y' fink o' this 'ere G. B. S.?"

"Never tried it! I smokes V.B.D."]

What troubled _Punch_, to borrow an epigram from another American

anonymous writer, was "not so much the unemployment of the idle as

the idleness of the employed." He is increasingly concerned with the

popular pre-occupation with sport and criminal celebrities, combined

with a corresponding apathy on important questions. Foreign politics

were only brought home to the masses when they lent themselves to

sensational or spectacular treatment, and, in 1903, _Punch_ gibbets an

announcement in the _Scotsman_: "Scenes resulting from the Macedonian

Atrocities displayed by the Modern Marvel Cinematograph, at 3 and 8

(see Amusement Column)." The sentimental interest in criminals is

bluntly rebuked as a perversion of the philanthropic maxim that "to

know all is to forgive all"; the blame for this was attributed to the

journals which catered for the million, but the avidity with which

this pabulum was devoured, and the absence of any protest from those

affected, was a disquieting symptom; and _Punch_ was within his rights

in making game of the _Clarion_ when it scented class distinction in

the abortive movement to introduce knee-breeches for evening wear.

[Sidenote: _Liberals and Labour_]

In the Unionist defeat at the election of 1906, _Punch_ recognized not

merely the return to power of the Liberals, but the coming of the "New

Demos," the growing importance of the Labour Party, and the increasing

impetus lent to its demands. His "farewell to the beaten side" is

animated by no enthusiasm for the victors:--

You leave a record which shall bear the light

When History delves for Truth in after days,

Not as the sudden mob condemns at sight,

Or stints its grudging praise.

Meanwhile the heart of gratitude is cold;

A young new Demos, born of yester-eve,

Big-mouthed and blustering, overbears the old,

Waiting for no man's leave.

Every inhuman name that he can spell

He prints in red for all to know you by,

Citing his gods to prove he would not tell,

Nor yet believe, a lie.

He paints your lurid portraits on the polls:--

"Drivers of slaves that oust the white man's brood."

"Bigots that bind in chains our children's souls!"

"Filchers of poor folk's food!"

Had you been Czars to drain the people's blood,

Or sought to earn a country's dying curse,

Dragging her remnant honour through the mud,

He could have done no worse.

His hooligans are out with stones and dirt;

And in the darkness you must hide your head,

Nor look for Chivalry to salve the hurt,

For Demos reigns instead.

Not much it helps to know that those, ere long,

Who lent him aid and did a mutual deal,

Will find their henchman, grown a shade too strong,

Stamping them under heel.

Little it serves that they, your old-time foes,

Who found him useful for their present ends,

Must seek you soon and plaintively propose--

"Please save us from our friends!"

But let this solace keep your hearts resigned--

That, till a second lustre's course is through,

The noblest heritage you leave behind

Demos can scarce undo.

The prophecy that the Liberals would invoke the assistance of the

Unionists to "save them from their friends" was not fulfilled; the

course of legislation up to the war indicated in the main a desire

to consult the demands of Labour rather than to break away from the

alliance. The summary of reasons "Why I lost" from defeated candidates

furnishes a useful commentary on the verses quoted above. They include

Chinese Labour, the Big Loaf cry, the Education Bill of 1902, the Trade

Disputes Bill, Overbridge Trams, the Japanese Alliance and the _Entente

Cordiale_. The messages were not actually received by _Punch_, but they

are not an unfair interpretation of the issues which weighed with the

bulk of the electorate. A "spirited foreign policy" was out of favour,

and a cold fit had succeeded to the fervour of the "Khaki" election.

The Government lost no time in setting to work to redeem their pledge

about Trade Disputes. Early in April, C.-B. figures in the cartoon

"Hard to please" as a farmer soliloquizing over his dog (Labour),

"He's had two platefuls of biscuits and isn't satisfied. Looks as if

he wanted raw meat." The plates, labelled Workmen's Compensation and

Merchant Shipping Bill, are both empty. The third, the Trade Disputes

Bill, is full of biscuits as yet untouched. When the Attorney-General,

Sir J. Lawson Walton, introduced that measure, _Punch_, in his "Essence

of Parliament," speaks of it as a "ticklish Bill" conceding important

demands in regard to picketing and conspiracy, but "as to the immunity

of Trade Union funds from amercement consequent on civil actions,

the Bill does not go the full lengths of the demands of Labour." The

attitude of the Labour Party, who threatened to bring in their own

Bill and to insist on its substitution for the Government measure,

is symbolized in the cartoon showing Labour offering _his_ scales

to Justice in preference to her own, in which Capital and Labour

are equally balanced, with the comment, "I think you'll find _this_

pair works better--for me." The climbing down of the Government in

the autumn session is illustrated in a further cartoon representing

Labour as the predominant partner. The Liberal Party is seen on foot

being pushed on by a donkey (Labour) drawing a cart in which the Trade

Disputes Bill is sitting. "Yes," says the old lady, "I was wrong to

threaten him with a whip. The dear creature must be led, not driven.

Still--this isn't quite the way I meant to come." Comment in _Punch's_

"Essence of Parliament" on the progress of the Bill is curiously

meagre, but there is one illuminating paragraph on the Report Stage:

"The Attorney-General explained that when at the earlier stage he

argued against the immunity of Trade Unions from action at law, he did

not mean to debar himself from subsequently insisting upon the justice

of such immunity." The momentous and far-reaching consequences of a

measure which created a privileged class and set them above the law

were only dimly apprehended in _Punch_, who confined himself in his

further comments to the lack of spirit shown by the Opposition in the

Lords. Thus in "The Better Part of Valour" we see the Trade Disputes

Bill standing over the prostrate figure of the Education Bill, about to

batter its way into the Lords, while Lord Lansdowne remarks: "_I_ bar

your way? My dear fellow! Why, you've got a mandate." "Well, so had my

friend here," rejoins the T.D.B., on which Lord Lansdowne replies: "Ah!

but not such a big one!" The same idea is developed in the Epilogue,

where the Lords are charged by the representative of "The People's

Will" with having attacked and brutally ill-treated the Education Bill,

while they were too cowardly to tackle the Trade Disputes Bill.

[Sidenote: _The Revolt of the Middle Classes_]

The _Daily Mail_, which had anticipated a Unionist victory at the

polls, now espoused the cause of the "Middle-Class Serf," taxed

and rated and bled beyond endurance "in the interests of the most

pampered section of the community the labouring man," and rumours

of the formation of a new political body, with a view to obtaining

justice and recognition, impelled _Punch_ to indulge in a forecast,

half sympathetic, half sceptical, of "The Turning of the Middle-Class

Worm":--

England, be warned! The time for patience passes;

You are more near the eve

Of a revolt among the Middle Classes

Than you perhaps believe;

Worn to a thread by Labour's licensed plunder

Of what poor desultory pay they earn,

Can anybody reasonably wonder

These worms should turn?

In 1897 _Punch_ had resented Government interference with the

management of workhouses, and fell foul of the Local Government Board

when a Board of Guardians in Lincolnshire were asked to make a return

of the number of currants put into the children's puddings. Ten years

later the ground of this complaint had shifted; and the administrative

scandals which _Punch_ assails in 1907 are ascribed to the extravagance

of Labour Guardians. Poplar is described as "the Pauper's Paradise";

and the new Bumbledom is shown, in a perversion of the scene from

"Oliver Twist," "asking for more," while the miserable ratepayer ladles

out champagne-cup for its refreshment. The "latest excursion" is "A day

in Profuse Poplar," the lair of the "Gorgeous Guardians."

The Workmen's Compensation Act is treated as a set-off to the

Prevention of Corruption Act, aimed at the abuse of secret commissions,

and a butler is shown reassuring a cook and advising her how to get her

own back by a carefully contrived accident. The same spirit is revealed

in the picture of the workman whose innocence has been outraged by

someone who said he had seen him hurry: "I _never_ 'urry."

To this year belongs the farcical suggestion of a Society to Protect

Employers, for the special benefit of persons who were afraid of their

servants and had not the courage to dismiss them.

_Punch_ was nearer the mark in his illustrations of the popular

prejudice against the Army. A football enthusiast at a match

commiserates "silly people who mess about with a rifle on Saturday

afternoons"; and a "Spartan mother" standing at a barrack gate,

uplifts her voice in thankfulness that her Bill "isn't wasting his

time drilling," while Bill is shown in an inset engrossed in the

contemplation of a pot of beer.

[Illustration: HECKLING THOMAS: "D'yer mean ter say if yer 'ad

two 'osses yer'd give me one?"

SOCIALIST: "Cert'nly."

H. T.: "And if yer 'ad two cows, yer'd give me one?"

S.: "'Course I would!"

H. T.: "An' if yer 'ad two pigs?"

S.: "Wot yer talkin' about? I've _got_ two pigs!"]

_Punch_ distrusted Socialism because, in his view, it led in practice

to vicarious generosity. The Socialist would give half of everything,

so long as he didn't possess it himself. Yet in apportioning the

blame for the railway trouble in 1907, _Punch_ did not spare Capital.

Railway directors and trade unions were in his cartoon shown as equally

animated by a disregard for the interests of the public. Incidentally

we may note that the volunteer service rendered by the general public

in 1919 is anticipated in a humorous sketch of the experiences of an

amateur porter. _Punch_, even where he felt strongly, was alive to the

extravagances of the extremists on his own side, witness the verses

in 1908 which purport to express the perplexity of "an open-minded

beggar":--

[Sidenote: "_The Open-minded Beggar_"]

Reader, tell me, if you know,

What, on earth, is Socialism.

Is it--men have told me so--

Some preposterous abysm,

Into which we all may drop--

With the criminals on top?

Is the vehement _Express_

Justified in all it mentions;

And are Wells and G. B. S.

Worse than _Sikes_ in their intentions?

Do those Fabian beasts of prey

Wish to take my wife away?

Or--observe that I am quite

Open-minded, gentle reader--

Are they sometimes nearly right

In the shocking _Labour Leader_?

Will the coming Commune be

Paradise for you and me?

Do you think it can be true

That the death of competition

Guarantees for me and you

Sinless Edens--new edition?

Or was Stuart Mill correct--

Will there be some grave defect?

Shall we all be servile wrecks

With the brand of Marx imprinted

On our miserable necks,

As _The Referee_ has hinted?

Or--see _Justice_--shall we share

Perfect freedom with the air?

Will that entity, the State

Of Collectivist Utopia,

Actually operate

Something like a cornucopia?

Or will Hardie's fatted friends

Leave me only odds and ends?

In this monster maze of doubt

I am groping like a blind man.

Shall I boldly blossom out

As a follower of Hyndman?

Or continue to exist

As an Individualist?

So, dear reader, will you, please,

Tell a poor, distracted Briton

Whom, in troubled times like these,

He should put his little bit on?

And, philosopher and guide,

_Do_ pick out the winning side!

_Punch's_ comment on the Eight Hours Bill is influenced by the

objections of those who opposed it on the ground that it would affect

the cost of all the necessaries of life. King Coal observes, "This

means that I shall have to reduce my output," and Commerce rejoins,

"Then I shall have to reduce mine, too," and both agree in doubting

whether the Government had ever thought of this inevitable result.

Old Age Pensions are shown in 1908 as having already become a millstone

round the neck of the Government; and in that form Mr. Asquith is seen

tying them to the person of Mr. Lloyd George as a presentation to be

worn by all Chancellors of the Exchequer in perpetuity. "Several of our

contemporaries," _Punch_ observes, "are devoting their columns to an

explanation of the best way to obtain an Old Age Pension. _Mr. Punch's_

advice is: _Don't save_."

[Illustration: THE SLUMP IN MANNERS

MR. ASQUITH: "_He_ wouldn't have stood this kind of thing. I

wonder whether I ought."]

On the much-vexed question of Chinese Labour, _Punch_ sided

against its critics, and his cartoons in 1906 represent Sir Henry

Campbell-Bannerman forcing unwelcome freedom on the Chinese coolie.

Ignorance of Imperial questions on the part of the Labour Party is

a frequent theme of comment. In the same year we find an article

describing an imaginary tour in the Colonies by Mr. Keir Hardie and

Mr. Philip Snowden. Mr. Keir Hardie spent two months in India in

1907, and the reports of his speeches, which he declared to be gross

exaggerations and fabrications, led to vehement protests in the British

Press. His biographer states that "for a full fortnight Keir Hardie

was the most violently detested man throughout the English-speaking

world. Even _Punch_ joined in the vituperation with a cartoon by Linley

Sambourne, which showed Britannia gripping the agitator by the scruff

of the neck and apostrophizing him: 'Here, you'd better come home.

We know all about you there, and you'll do less harm.'" _Punch's_

adverse comments were not merely pictorial, and though Mr. Keir Hardie

laid himself open to criticism by his angularity, his vanity and such

remarks as "India to-day is governed by a huge military oligarchy," his

courage and sincerity passed unrecognized.

Strikes and trade depression furnish themes for comment in 1908. In one

cartoon Trade is shown as a lean and ill-favoured goose that has lost

confidence in herself; in another, an engineer going back to work after

seven months' stoppage, meets a cotton-spinning girl just coming out,

and is credited with the admission that his action has done no good to

himself or anyone else.

In 1909-1910 the conflict between Lords and Commons over the Budget

proposals overshadowed all other home issues. It even became a subject

of debate at preparatory schools, and _Punch_ quotes a _bonâ fide_

letter from a boy of nine: "We had two debates yesterday about the

Budget being rejected. I was against the Budget, but the ones who were

for it won, because just about half the ones who were against it had to

go away for their prayers." Mr. Lloyd George was now the champion and

hero of the democracy, for this was the year of the famous Limehouse

speech and its sequel at Newcastle, where he referred to the House of

Lords as "500 ordinary men, chosen accidentally from the unemployed."

Dukes were handled almost as roughly as by _Punch_ in the 'forties,

and "robber-barons" were held up to obloquy. _Punch_ resented this

wholesale vituperation, and indulged in some effective reprisals in his

criticism of trade union indiscipline, notably the growing tendency

towards unofficial and lightning strikes. Thus, in 1910, he published

a cartoon showing a trade union official lying prostrate in the road,

overthrown and left behind by a crowd marching under a banner inscribed

"Down with Authority." The comments on the payment of Members in the

same year imply that trade unions were hostile to a change which

impaired their control. The State might pay M.P.s, but the trade

unions must call the tune. Nor was _Punch_ favourably impressed by the

Government's scheme of Insurance against Unemployment, which, in his

forecast, would only encourage the existing reluctance to work.

[Illustration: CONSTITUENT (referring to M.P. speaking in

market-place): "It's the likes of hus that 'as to pay him £400 a

year. It makes me that wild to think as we could 'ave two first-class

'arf-backs for the same money."]

[Sidenote: _Claims for "Recognition"_]

Throughout 1911 and 1912 the claims of the new Trade Unionism met

with little sympathy. "Look here, my friend," says John Bull of the

"New Volunteer Police" to a Trade Union leader: "I've been hearing a

good deal of talk of 'recognition.' Well, I represent the public, and

it's about time _my_ interests were 'recognized.'" A month later, in

October, 1911, an "imported agitator" is shown talking to his comrade

as they watch the President of the Board of Trade (Mr. Sydney Buxton)

nailing up a notice of the new Government Conciliation Scheme, with

Sir George Askwith as chairman of the Industrial Council. "Don't be

down-hearted," he observes. "Let's hope we shall be able to make as

much trouble as before." This was apportioning the responsibility for

failure in advance; but unfortunately failure there was. _Punch's_

frontispiece to 1912 is the "tug of war" of Labour and Capital. The

coal crisis was again acute in February, but in its opening stages

_Punch's_ hostility was chiefly displayed against the coal merchant,

who was against strikes, but the more they were threatened the better

it suited his book. _Punch_ derived a certain malicious satisfaction

from the spectacle of Mr. Ramsay MacDonald's exclusion from the coal

conference; but recognized that the final arbiter was not this or that

leader or statesman but Famine. The thorny question of "blackleg"

labour having again emerged, _Punch_ asserted the right of the

community in no uncertain terms. John Bull declares that he can't make

the _striker_ work, if he won't; but if others want to, he can and will

make the striker let them. This strike introduced a new figure into

_Punch's_ portrait gallery; "Prince Petroleo" being introduced for the

first time as a possible "second string" and rival of the hitherto

indispensable King Coal. But such light-hearted treatment is henceforth

rarely found in the treatment of industrial troubles. By the summer

John Bull is seen on the edge of the crater of Labour unrest, listening

vainly for any reassuring voices from its depths. The methods of the

Trade Unionist are contrasted with those of Justice: he is all for

striking first and arguing afterwards. The threat of a general strike

was heard in June, but _Punch_ remained sceptical as to the response.

Agitators might call spirits from the vasty deep; but there would be no

answer. In 1913 Dublin, for the first time in its long and chequered

career, became the chief focus of industrial unrest in the British

Isles, for this was the year of the strike of the Dublin transport

workers, and the emergence, in the person of the notorious Jim Larkin,

of a super-agitator of the most strenuous type. Strange things were

done in the name of Liberty Hall--his headquarters--Mr. Birrell's

absenteeism having become chronic, not to say conspicuous. Larkin was

arrested and imprisoned, but released with a rapidity which reduced

the penalty to a farce; and the assaults on the Dublin police during

the strike riots in the winter were sufficiently severe to excuse _Mr.

Punch_ for calling their assailants the "be-labouring classes."

[Sidenote: _Labour Members in Transition_]

Mr. John Burns's political evolution, since the days when _Punch_

savagely attacked him at the time of the Trafalgar Square riots in

1884, had long removed him from the range of attack on the score of

his revolutionary views. His former associates regarded him as a

renegade; independent observers found in him an energetic and arbitrary

bureaucrat. _Punch_ appreciated his manliness, but could not resist

having an occasional dig at his complacent egotism, and when the

Cabinet was reconstructed early in 1914, there is a picture of him

praising the four new appointments as "excellent choices--with perhaps

the exception of Samuel, Hobhouse and Masterman"--in other words, all

but his own.

Towards Labour members of the House of Commons, _Punch_, as we have

seen, had of recent years been none too friendly: least of all to

Mr. Keir Hardie. But on the occasion of the debate in the House

over the resignations at the Curragh in March, 1914, _Punch's_

Parliamentary representative credits them with intervening effectually

as representatives of the vast social and political weight behind

them. In particular he praises Mr. John Ward and Mr. J. H. Thomas for

their warning against militarism. "General Gough may feel keenly the

Ulster situation. Tommy Atkins will feel not less keenly the industrial

situation." For Mr. Thomas went on to point out that in the following

November four hundred thousand railwaymen would come to grips with

their employers, and if they did not attain satisfactory terms they

might simultaneously strike. And if the Opposition doctrine in regard

to Ulster were sound, added Mr. Thomas, "it will be my duty to tell

the railwaymen to prepare for the worst by organizing their forces,

the half-million capital possessed by the Union to be used to provide

arms and ammunition for them." Mr. Thomas still occasionally utters

blood-curdling warnings, but is now the special _bête noire_, to put

it mildly, of the Labour extremists. General Gough's views on Ulster

and Ireland have undergone considerable modifications, and Mr. John

Ward, who denounced military juntas, is Colonel John Ward, D.S.O., the

gallant soldier, fearlessly candid friend of Labour and uncompromising

foe of Bolshevism.

[Illustration: THE RECTOR: "Now, Molly, would you rather be

beautiful or good?"

MOLLY: "I'd rather be beautiful and repent."]

[Illustration: UNCLE GEORGE: "What! Hate all your lessons?

Come, now, you don't mean to say you hate history?"

NIECE: "Yes, I do. To tell you the truth, Uncle, I don't care

a bit what anybody ever did."]

[Illustration: MISS SMITH: "Now, Madge, tell me, which would

you rather be--pretty or good?"

MADGE (promptly): "I would rather be pretty, Miss Smith; I can

easily be good whenever I like to try."]

EDUCATION AND THE CHURCHES

The passing of the old order in Education had for its chief landmark

the Act of 1871, but the change admits of endless illustrations.

Many of these lie outside the scope of our survey; but no treatise

on the Modern Child would be complete which did not take account

of _Punch's_ contributions to this engrossing problem. To take one

example, the precocious representatives of the "younger generation" in

Leech's pictures are almost invariably shown as the "sedulous apes"

of their elders as men of the world. In the period under review in

this volume imitation gives place to independence. The precocious

child of both sexes--Leech's precocious children were almost without

exception boys--is sometimes pedantic, but the distinctive note is

one of scepticism and revolt. The young iconoclast has "found out all

about Santa Claus and is now going to look into this Robinson Crusoe

business." When the Rector asks Molly would she rather be beautiful or

good, Molly audaciously replies: "I'd rather be beautiful and repent."

Another version of the same retort is illustrated in Mr. Shepperson's

charming picture. And when Uncle George, shocked by his little

niece's declaration that she hated all her lessons, asks appealingly,

"Come, now, you don't mean to say you hate history?" he receives the

blunt answer: "Yes, I do. To tell you the truth, Uncle, I don't care

a bit what anybody ever did." In this magnificent declaration of

independence _Punch_ sought to reduce to an absurdity the new doctrine

of "self-expression" as adopted by the nursery. _Punch's_ love of

children was beyond question, but he remained in substantial accord

with the Greek sage who said that the roots of education were bitter

but the fruit sweet; that to avoid or evade the discipline of parents

and teachers was to forgo learning and virtue. The modern and already

fashionable inversion of the old method, by which education was to be

"brightened" and sweetened at the outset, and every study turned into

a game, seemed to _Punch_ subversive of what was not merely an old but

an inevitable order, and the new science of psychological "Pædology"

found in him an invariably hostile critic. Passing over a burlesque

article on the "Scientific Investigation of Infancy" based on a paper

in the _Fortnightly_ in 1895, I may note the first of his rejoinders

to those austere educationists who have made war on Wonderland. In

that year Mr. Holman, an inspector of schools, in an address delivered

before the College of Preceptors, declared that "the race has outgrown

fairy-tales, and to use them for early education is practically to

bring about a reversion to type. They express the ideas of a profoundly

ignorant primitive man. The hero has more often than not to lie, steal

and cheat and to be an ingrate to accomplish his ends." A mass meeting

of fairy-tale heroes and heroines, convoked by _Punch_, carried by

acclamation a resolution of protest against this heresy, which, by

the way, has of late years been espoused by the redoubtable Madame

Montessori. _Punch_ carried the war into the enemy's camp in a revised

version of _Cinderella_, rewritten so as to combine instruction with

amusement, and based on the latest scientific, ethnological, and

psychological discoveries and theories; while in "New Lamps for Old"

he retold other nursery tales so as to meet the supposed requirements

of the modern child. I am afraid it must be taken as a confession of

the failure of his efforts that in 1911 _Punch_ described an "advanced

child" replying to his grandmother's offer to tell him a story, "Oh,

no, Granny, not a _story_, please! They're so stodgy and unconvincing

and as out-of-date as _tunes_ in music. We should much prefer an

impressionist word-picture or a subtle character-sketch."

[Sidenote: _The War on Wonderland_]

[Illustration: TOMMY: "Do you believe in fairies, Mrs.

Hardacre?"

MRS. H.: "No, certainly not."

TOMMY: "I'm so glad you're candid about it. There's such a

pose among grown-ups nowadays to _pretend_ they do."]

The attempt to teach gardening at certain schools in the 'nineties

was "guyed" in the account of a disastrous imaginary experiment--the

encouragement of Small Holdings for Small Boys at a fashionable

Preparatory School. Here _Punch_ is irresponsible and reactionary;

but there is point in his criticism of the new-fangled cult of "nature

study," on the ground that even playtime was now made a burden and toil

for children by object lessons. In the same year (1900) the doctrine of

self-expression was proclaimed in strident tones by Mr. Bernard Shaw

in a lecture to the members of the Teachers' Guild of Great Britain.

"Any grown-up person," said the prophet, "guilty of the crime of trying

to form the character of children ought to be drowned. If there is

to be any progress at all, it must be recognized that the children

know better than their teachers." This was almost beyond the reach of

comment or parody, but _Punch_ did his best. Cranks, whether official

or unofficial, he treated with impartial disrespect, and shortly before

falling upon Mr. Shaw he had gibbeted a school inspector who had been

alleged in his report to have penned this immortal sentence:--

The lower babies' mental arithmetic leaves much to be desired.

In the verses on "Spoilt Parents" in 1901 _Punch_ expresses an

obviously ironical approval of filial insubordination as encouraged

in America, and a year later took for his text a passage quoted from

an essay written by an Australian girl of thirteen, in which she had

referred to "The Lady of Shalott" as "a fairy tale I remember in my

childhood." In 1903 the activities of the "Pædologist" furnished Punch

with abundant material. He celebrates, again with ironical applause,

the expulsion of Euclid; he refers to an American lady who, in

discussing suitable literature for children, had found a "moral squint"

in _Jack and the Beanstalk_ and _Bluebeard_; and he founds an excellent

set of verses on an article in the _Contemporary_ by Dr. Woods

Hutchinson. The child, according to this eminent writer, passes through

all the stages of evolution; "he is born not an Anglo-Saxon, but a

Cave-dweller," and _Punch_ proceeds to expound the "recapitulation

theory" as follows:--

When Edward, crawling on the floor,

Invades the eight-day clock,

Pray do not spank him any more

For dirtying his frock.

He is a little troglodyte,

As were our sires before us,

Who vanished when there hove in sight

The grim ichthyosaurus.

When, _ætat._ four, with savage joy

The hunter's art he plies

Upon the panes, don't scold the boy

For torturing the flies.

He has but reached the second scene

When men were all the scions

Of mighty Nimrod, and were keen

On slaying bears and lions.

At six, ambitious Edward yearns

A pirate king to be;

The tables into ships he turns,

And sails the fireside sea.

Then if the things are smashed to bits,

Don't give the boy a licking;

He's reached a further phase, and its

The æon of the Viking.

A little, and the pirate bold

A patriot becomes;

He fights the rascal imps who hold

In force the neighbouring slums.

Pray don't repress his noble rage,

E'en though his nose be gory;

He is but passing through the age

Of good Queen Bess's glory.

Last scene of all that ends this slight

But most eventful play

Is symbol of the lofty height

Achieved by man to-day.

At ten can Edward understand

What money means: he's willing

To be a saint for sixpence, and

An angel for a shilling.

[Sidenote: _Evolution and Self-Expression_]

As a rule, the most clamorous apostles of the new doctrines hailed

from the New World. In 1904 Mr. G. Archibald, a "Child Specialist" of

Montreal, gave utterance to the now familiar view that "Whenever you

say 'Don't' to a child you crush the creative instinct within him which

is the richest and most precious thing he has." _Punch_, it is hardly

necessary to remind the reader, was not likely to subscribe to this

view. Had not the _Daily Telegraph_ referred to his advice to those

about to marry--_Don't_--as "the memorable monosyllabic monition of

the Democritus of Fleet Street"? So we are not surprised to find him

enlarging ironically on the precept of Montreal:--

Should the genius of Marmaduke lead him to rear,

From the dining-room floor to the ceiling,

A palace of crystal and china, oh! fear

To exhibit an atom of feeling.

But your Satsuma bowl you will cheerfully bring,

And, where others would threaten to skin him,

You will beg him to do as he likes with the thing,

Lest you crush the creative within him.

If Lucy refuses potatoes and bread,

And calls for méringues and for trifle,

Or anything else that may enter her head,

Such yearnings another would stifle.

You will hand her a menu-card, beg her to state

What she happens to fancy for dinner,

And pray that you never may find it your fate

To crush the creative within her.

Advancing years failed to reconcile _Punch_ to the non-repressive

method. As late as 1912 one of his artists depicted the chaotic results

in an elementary school of realizing the ideals of one of the pamphlets

of a Teachers' Association, viz., to place a child "in an atmosphere

where there are no restraints, where he can move freely about in the

schoolroom, where the teacher is essentially a passive agent and where

there is no punishment."