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Tomahawk (1867-1870), 28th May 1870, Edition 1 of 1, Page unpag

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    • SOMETHING WRONG!
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      The Tomahawk. A Saturday Journal Of Sati...

      THE TOMAHAWK . A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . < £ i > U * fc bp frtttfux ¦ IMHIHHB—bA ^ BBM ^^ M * ' & eckett + 1 " INVITAT CULPAM OUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . "

      No. 160.] London, Ma Y 28, 1870. [Price ...

      No . 160 . ] LONDON , MA Y 28 , 1870 . [ Price Twopence .

      Something Wrong!

      SOMETHING WRONG !

      Government Has Its Disadvantages. If Bro...

      Government has its disadvantages . If Brown knew what was best for him he would never envy kings and princes their dignity . A haberdasher ' s business is to be preferred to a bejewelled crown , a pawnbroker ' s three balls to a monarch ' s throne and sceptre . Even in this favoured land , supon which " the sun never sets , " & c , & c , the possession of high dignity is not a thing to be desired . Who for instance would care to exchange places with Prince Christian ? Granted that his domestic life ( a subject far too private and sacred to be discussed in these pages ) is one round of delights , still his onerous duties as a Royal Highness are sufficiently irksome to deprive existence of " half its pleasantness . Those duties need not be specified in this place , for obvious reasons . Who has not heard of them ? What stolid dolt is there in England who has not admired the energy with which Christian the Warlike has taken the chair at charitable dinners , and has expressed his willingness—nay , more—his eagerness to hold high military command ? And as we have mentioned the name of his Royal Highness for purposes of example , we may , en passant , note our deep surprise that he should not ( by this time ) have been promoted to the colonelcy of a regiment . From what we know , and have seen of the Prince , we feel sure that in him Napoleon Buonaparte lives again . He is just the sort of man who would have lost Waterloo !

      To step from the sublime to the ridiculous , let us quit Christian to join company with the present Emperor of the French , let us leave the bold Ranger of Windsor Park for the chief Lodger in the Tuileries . We admit that the change is not for the better . Had we the power it would please us greatly to sing the praises of the gentle and ( may we be permitted to add ) beautiful Christian in sweet songs and touching ballads . How it would delight us to enthusiastically recount the daring deeds of the noble chieftain in the day of battle . We would joyfully describe his gallant bearing as he led his bandsmen up , nay , past the cannon ' s mouth . We would delightedly depict his martial words , his warlike glances , his prowess with the sword , his skill with the pistol and Armstrong gun . Only one consideration , prevents us from indulging at once in this delicious toil , this pleasant labour . That consideration is the fact that if history is to be believed , Prince Christian has never fought a battle , and has never seen a fight—the only gunpowder he has smelt has been gunpowder tea—the only creature he has ever shot has been either the playful partridge or the spectral cat I But there , we must tear ourselves away from the pleasant ! subject ( for indeed the Prince is a pleasant , a very pleasant

      subject ) to consider the last move of Napoleon III . These pages all told could not express what we think of Christian the Warlike , but our opinion of the Emperor of the French may be summed up in something under a column and a half . C 0111-me ? ico 7 ts done . Since this paper made its first appearance , some four or five years ago , we have constantly and consistently opposed the policy of Napoleon . We have never lost an opportunity of exposing his chicanery and laying bare his selfishness and lack of principle . We admit , and have always been ready to admit , that he has been a good friend to England . But then , that friendship has been dictated by a policy as self-interested as it has been unquestionably sound . We must not forget that the present ruler of France fills the throne upon sufferance , and is emphatically a usurper—the worst kind of usurper—for he is foresworn , an enemy of his friends , a betrayer of his allies . Would he have held out the hand of friendship to England , had he possessed the birthright of the Bourbons ? Let it be remembered that he has been a refugee in this country , and that the day may arrive when our friendship may again be of value to him . But his conduct to us should not bind us to his ruthless ambition and reckless falseness . Granted that his friendship to England has been prompted by the purest feelings , that he has never considered the advantage of enjoying the good wishes of a neighbour , who , one day , may be forced to succour and entertain him , that he has never thought for a

      moment of our wealth or our strength . We will grant that he never calculated upon our support in the Russian War ( that war which gave his throne stability , and his name prestige ) when he toadied our Queen and danced attendance upon the late Prince Consort . No , it was merely gratitude for the favours shown to him by our Court , when he resided in King street , St . James ' s ; for the courtesy he experienced at the hands of our aristocracy when no one knew him in London , save and solely that living curiosity-huntress , the late Lady Blessington ! The facts speak for themselves ! His friendship for England has been prompted by a good heart , and has nothing whatever to do with ambition or diplomacy ! To use his own tongue ( if we may call a Corsican-Dutchman , French ) all this and much more is con tin / Judged upon his own merits , Napoleon III . is a successful Charlatan . He crept into France as an Upholder of the Republic , he foreswore himself as soon as his deceit had given him the confidence of his friends , the support of his countrymen . Foresworn and a traitor he fed the army with champagne , and the people with grapeshot ! His words are as worthless as his deeds , his purpose as faint as his courage .

  • Citation
    • Tomahawk (1867-1870), May 28, 1870, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_28051870/page/3/