Origine de l’étouffoir impérial

Many Frenchmen were pleased to see the back of Bonaparte, who represented eternal war for them just as much as he did for the British. In this print Wellington and Blücher dispose of the former emperor. Napoleon begs for his life, fearing suffocation in a dustbin; Blücher complains that he is being allowed to breathe (the Prussians wished to execute him) but Wellington presses down the lid assuring his ally that the former emperor’s time is over.