The Plumb-pudding in Danger

In this most famous image of Britain’s war with France two greedy politicians, Pitt and Napoleon, carve up the globe. It is uncertain whether Gillray’s government pension was renewed between 1804 and 1806, but his view here is unexpectedly even-handed. The treatment of Pitt appears to take account of the French view that while keeping the French busy in Europe the British were intent on colonial empire and a monopoly of world trade. The hungry prime minister surreptitiously carves himself almost half of the globe, including the lucrative West Indies and the Atlantic Ocean. Napoleon, with his fork in George III’s Hanover, slices off most of Europe.