other debut the following year, among the
repeated appearances of "Dizzy," Napoleon, Pam, and Lord John, was that
of John Bright. He is shown in Quaker costume, examining the new-born
baby (the new Reform Bill) through an eye-glass, while Lord John, its
parent, stands by and hears the dry verdict that it is "not quite so
fine a child as the last." This eye-glass perplexed John Bright a good
deal, because, said he, he had "never worn such a thing in his life." He
did not see that the glass had here, no doubt, not so much reference to
him, as to the smallness of the birth examined by its aid.

Protection was still a subject of debate, but not for long. In 1852
appeared the admirable cartoon in which Cobden--suddenly come very much
to the fore in _Punch's_ pages--is represented as Queen Eleanor, who
advances on Disraeli, a grotesque "Fair Rosamond," with a poison-bowl of
"Free Trade" in one hand and the dagger of "Resignation" in the other.
Disraeli accepted the former, and _Punch_ and the Free Traders rejoiced.
But in their triumph they did not spare the feelings of the convert,
whom they had dubbed "The Political Chameleon;" but at least they
admitted the importance of the man, who is no longer sneeringly alluded
to as "Benjamin Sidonia," no more represented as an ill-bred schoolboy
made up of impudence and malice--unprincipled, vicious, and conceited.

In the following year _Punch_ sounded his first note of warning of the
approaching "Eastern Question," when in the cartoon of "The Turkey in
Danger," the Sick Bird is shown in the powerful hug of the Russian Bear;
and "The Emperor's Cup for 1853" illustrates still further the
prescience of _Punch_. Nevertheless, as has been said, he could not
appreciate a _suaviter_ policy, and in a cartoon entitled "Not a Nice
Business" (p. 271, Vol. XXVI.) Lord Aberdeen, the Premier, is shown
engaged in cleaning the boots of the Tsar.

How the Crimean War was followed by _Punch_ in a magnificent series of
pictures, chiefly from the hand of Sir John Tenniel, as well as in that
culminating effort of Leech's, "General Fevrier," there is no need here
to explain. But during the peace negotiations--which were delayed
through the Russians firing on a truce-party, called "The Massacre of
Hango"--the representation was unjustly made by _Punch_ that the King of
Prussia was a confirmed toper, and the charge was offensively maintained
by pen and pencil. This so angered the King that none of the En