him his
bucket of gruel as "sool as he has tallowed his loze." John, in fact,
had been aroused from his slumbers by the Emperor Nicholas, who,
thinking it a good time to appropriate Turkey, was suspected of having
offered a slice to Austria. The rumour is referred to in the cartoon of
_The Old 'Un and the Young 'Un_, in which we see the Russian and
Austrian Emperors at table with a bottle of port between them, "Now
then, Austria," says Nicholas, "just help me to finish the Port(e)." In
another cartoon, John Bull nails the Russian eagle to his barn door,
remarking to his French friend the while, that _he_ "wouldn't worry the
Turkeys any more." Lord Aberdeen, who, notwithstanding the signs of the
times, refused like Nicholas to believe in a war with England, is
represented placidly smoking the _Pipe of Peace_ over a barrel of
gunpowder.

Thanks to Messrs Bright and Cobden, who obstinately persisted in
opposing the popular feeling which had set in steadily in the direction
of war,--thanks to the exertions of the Peace Society, who were not
restrained from sending certain zealous members of their body to the
Emperor Nicholas, who not unnaturally supposed that these broad-brimmed
gentlemen represented the sentiments of the great English people,--but
thanks above all to the French Emperor and his astute advisers, who were
enabled to take advantage of the state of English feeling to hoodwink
the "great nation" by the prospect of an alliance with a great and
respectable power, the year 1854 found us in actual conflict with
Russia, starting off after our usual fashion with a handful of men to
attack the strongest fortress in Europe, provided with an unlimited
supply of men and metal and inexhaustible stores of warlike _materiel_
of all kinds. In vol. xxvi. we see Her Majesty _Throwing the Old Shoe_
after her Guards, who, for the first time since 1815, are seen setting
out on foreign service. Another cartoon, which has reference to our
_Bombardment of Odessa_, is divided into two parts, in one of which we
see Lord Aberdeen (whose dream of peace had been so rudely dissipated),
and in the other Nicholas of Russia, both reading the newspaper. Says
Aberdeen, "Bombardment of Odessa! Dear me, this will be very
disagreeable to my imperial friend!" Says the Emperor, "Bombardment of
Odessa! Confound it! this will be very annoying to dear old Aberdeen!"
In November, 1854, occurred our disastrous victory of Inkermann, in
which scarcely fo