Yes, d---- you, why don't you come out?"

FIGURES FROM GILLRAY'S NAPOLEONIC CARICATURES.

_Face p. 18._]

BASE POLICY OF BONAPARTE.

The policy, therefore, of the emperor towards England, which was
contrary to all the usages of civilized warfare, will explain the
bitter animosity with which he was regarded in this country. The English
were molested everywhere; they were made prisoners at Verdun and in
Holland; their property was confiscated in Portugal; Russia was cajoled,
Prussia forced into a league against them, and Sweden menaced, because
she persisted in maintaining her alliance with this country. The "Berlin
Decree" was an infamous document, worthy rather the policy of a bandit
chief than of a fair and honourable antagonist. It proclaimed war not
against individuals, but against private property, and specially
appealed to the cupidity of those to whom it was addressed. This base
policy towards English subjects recoiled inevitably against its
perpetrator; and its effects were soon felt in the fields of the
Peninsula, the banishment to Elba, and above all, in the final
consignment to the rock of St. Helena. We, on our part, ignored
Bonaparte's right to the title of emperor. With us, he was invariably
"General Bonaparte," and nothing more; and in the graphic lampoons of
Gillray, Rowlandson, and Cruikshank, he was exhibited under the most
ludicrous circumstances in connection with the divorce, the defeats of
Russia and the Peninsula, and even the paternity of his son the young
king of Rome. These caricatures were brought to his notice by his spies
and emissaries in England; they rendered him furious; and one of
them--Gillray's admirable and, as it subsequently proved, prophetic
satire of _The Handwriting on the Wall_--is said to have given him not
only offence, but even serious uneasiness.

The tone of the English caricaturists may be gathered from one of the
best of Woodward's satires, published in 1807. It is entitled _A
Political Fair_, in which the various shows are labelled Russian,
Danish, Swedish, Westphalian, Austrian, Dutch, Spanish, and even
American. The best show in the fair is kept of course by John Bull &
Co., whilst Bonaparte is the proprietor of a humble stall, whereat
gingerbread kings and queens are sold wholesale and retail by his
Imperial Majesty.[11] The same artist, in another but distinctly
inferior satire (published in November, 1807), gives us _The Gallick
Storehouse for