A pot lid with a transfer print showing the figure of Justice in the center with outstretched arms holding laurel wreaths over two lists on either side naming the members of the House of Lords who voted for her acquittal.
66 820 H759
Acquired May 2017
“Indian men and women kneel before a large rectangular pedestal on which stands a golden calf with the head of Hastings. Three Indians lie on the pedestal at Hastings’s feet, making gestures of despair and entreaty. From his mouth protrudes a sword (left) inscribed ‘The Brand of Devastation’. On his back sits Wilkes facing the tail (right) which he lifts with one hand; in the other is the cap of ‘Liberty’ in which he catches large jewels excreted by the Golden Calf. He wears a livery gown and says: “Who would not wipe a Calf’s Backside, To gain the Sparks of Eastern Pride”. At the Calf’s feet lie a crown, sceptre, and orb, with (?) scimitars. On the ground and on the extreme left a well-dressed man stands before an altar holding a knife which drips blood over the altar; he says, pointing to an Indian who lies at his feet, stabbed through the heart: ‘When British Judges rule the Coast, The Natives must obey, No palliative means we boast, By G——you die or pay’. In the foreground (right) stand Thurlow and a military officer. The Chancellor, who wears his wig and robe, is blindfolded; in his right hand he holds erect the ‘Sword of Justice’, which is being taken from him by the officer who holds a diamond against the blade. In Thurlow’s left hand is a bag inscribed ‘Gold Moors’; he says: “Which Powerful God my wavering mind controuls, And my Sage Brows with Golden bands infolds, ‘Tis Mammons self I can be Just no more, Take thou the Sword give me the Golden Store”. The officer, who wears a wallet or haversack inscribed ‘Diamonds’, says: “So shall we Triumph while the Diamond’s smile, Can melt the Soul and Justice’s beguile.” Three Indians who kneel in the foreground below the pedestal of the Golden Calf are offering money (a bag inscribed ‘Gold Moors’) and jewel-boxes to Hastings.”–British Museum online catalogue.
Drawer 788.05.15.01
Acquired October 2017
A satire on the electoral Reform Bill of 1831, which was passed soon after this print was issued. Grant shows the figure of blind Justice leaning out from a mass of billowing clouds and holding her scales labelled “Reform 1813”. The load on the left side labeled “People’, though containing fewer documents — Magna Carta, Economy & Retrenchment, Peace of Plenty, Extension of the Electi[c] Franchise, Cheap Government — is heavier than the other plate “Oligarchy” which is weighted down by: Bribes, Corruption, Six Acts, Corn Law, Church, Rotten Boroughs, Corporation Charters, Law & Iniquity, Taxes, Imposts, Holy Alliance, [F?]onal Debt. A group of four men in the left foreground include a judge; the one man says “Behold! a mere feather turns the ballance in our favour and saves us from revolution & disgrace.” Just beyond them in the middle distance the King stands firmly and says “The triumph of this great & vital cause will fix my crown more firm upon my head.” On the right a group of over six men including a clergyman who wipes his brow and cries “The draft is in their favor. Our cause is lost. Oh dictatorium, dictatorium, dic-“. Another gentleman behind him cries “They may vainly recken on a paltry unit, we have yet power to rent it peicemeal [sic].” In the distance a crowd cheers, and some hold signs for “Reform” and “Support the King & his ministers”, etc.
Catalog Record & Digital Collection
831.03.26.01+
Acquired January 2016
Print shows on the left, a statue of Justice in a niche beneath which a candidate, doffing his hat, offers a purse of money to a voter who replies, “Twill scarce pay, make it twenty more”, beside them a gentleman points to the statue saying “Regard Justice” to another carrying a bundle on his shoulder who replies, “We fell out, I lost money by her”. In the centre, in front of a large crowd are two candidates, both waving their hats, slip coins into two of the many pockets of a voter’s coat; one candidate says, “Sell not your Country” and the voter replies, “No Bribery but Pocketts are free”. Further to the right another candidate, saying “Accept this small acknowledgment”, offers a purse to a gentleman who grovels on the ground for coins that have been thrown down by the prevailing candidate, from his position on a chair supported by poles on the shoulders of four men. On the right, a statue of Folly in a niche empties bags of coins; before the statue is an altar on which a fire burns, a candidate kneels at its base imploring, “Help me Folly or my Cause is lost”; to the left of the altar, is a butcher crying “See here, see here” and to the right, a classical philosopher, saying “Let not thy right hand know what thy left does”, puts his hand behind him to received a bribe from a young man. Beyond is a tavern outside the landlord, wearing horns, calls out “He kist my Wife he has my Vote”; outside the tavern hangs the sign of a bottle with a large globe attached.
Catalog Record & Digital Collection
727.00.00.02
Acquired July 2013
“From the opposite ends of a horizontal balance hang (left) a triangle from which are suspended the corpses of thirteen sailors, and (right) the body of a military officer in uniform (Governor Wall); all have bandaged eyes. The balance hangs in front of a stone building, in the centre of which is an open door showing men seated at a council table, a messenger stands in the doorway giving a dispatch box marked ‘GR’ to another messenger, saying, “Deliver this Immediatly He must Die.” The pilastered doorway is inscribed: ‘Justitiae Soror Fides’; above it are kneeling statues of Truth and Justice; between them they support an inscribed tablet: ‘It is determined that British Justice shall never be Stained by Partiality, while the poor & ignorant suffer for their Folly the Rich shall also suffer for their Brutality and Infamy.’ On the wall are two placards: (left) ‘An Account of the Mutiny’, and (right) ‘A Full True and Particular Account of the Trial of . . . For the Murder of. . .’ This is headed by a print of a man being tied to a cannon and flogged, while an officer looks on and soldiers stand at attention.”–British Museum online catalogue.
Catalog Record & Digital Collection
802.03.03.01+
Acquired November 2013
William Pitt created the Earl of Chatham on 29 July 1766 stands on the prostrate body of Envy alongside the Lord Chancellor Pratt, as they are presented by the figure of Justice to Britannia who receives the peers with pleasure. Minerva overhead holds two laurel wreaths over the heads of the statesmen. In the upper left Fame proclaims the event on her trumpet. On the right, in the background, the half-naked figure of the “scribler” (i.e. political opponent of the peers) is tied to the back of a cart and whipped by a hangman.
Catalog Record & Digital Collection
Acquired October 2011.
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