[_From Mr. Punch's "Vagrant."_]
Dear Punch,--I am not one to bellow
Nor am I much on bloodshed bent;
I'm not a tearing Jingo fellow,
All fuss, and froth, and discontent.
[_Here follow some verses relating to political affairs, and then come
the lines printed below. J. H. S._]
We have another, sterner matter--
The Frenchman posted on the Nile.
Not his to reason? True! I like him,
His skill to act, his pluck to dare.
I'd sooner cheer him, far, than strike him--
But why did others send him there?
In truth, they did not mean to please us;
They must have realised with joy
That MARCHAND on the Nile must tease us,
And sent him merely to annoy.
So be it then: we know what's what now,
And what the Frenchmen would be at.
Though Major MARCHAND's on the spot now,
He's got to pack and go--that's flat.
We're tired of gracefully conceding,
Tired, too, of jibe and jeer and flout;
Our answer may show lack of breeding,
But there it is--a plain "Get out."
If one should, thinking I am weak, Sir,
Smite me on one cheek black and blue,
I'm told to turn the other cheek, Sir,
But not _both_ cheeks and forehead too.
Year in, year out, they've tried to spite us,
We've borne it with a sorry grin;
And now--well, if they _want_ to fight us,
Coat's off, and let the fun begin!
_Punch_ published these lines just before Lord Salisbury announced at
the Mansion House dinner, given in honour of Lord Kitchener on November
4, that France had come round to our view of the Fashoda question, and
_Punch's_ neat verses just quoted give an excellently succinct and
pithy expression to the feeling of the average peace-loving Briton, who
has become quite weary of being diplomatically played with by France in
our colonial affairs, and who was, and is, quite ready to "take off his
coat."
[Illustration: 1.--THE FIRST PAGE OF THE ORIGINAL PROSPECTUS OF
"PUNCH," IN THE HANDWRITING OF MARK LEMON. 1841.]
The preceding illustration of Mr. Punch's terse and true expression of
public opinion is the most recent that can now be given, but as one
looks through the pages of the 113 Volumes of _Punch_, which bring this
famous periodical to the end of the year 1897, one notices many other
examples of Mr. Punch's acute discernment and pithy expression of the
public mind, which have been stepping-stones of fame to him during his
long life of nearly sixty years, quite apart from the weekly dish of
good things offered by Mr. Punch to his public.
[Illustration: "THINGS MAY TAKE ANOTHER TURN."