File:The flight of the Congress (BM 1868,0808.4556).jpg

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The flight of the Congress   (Wikidata search (Cirrus search) Wikidata query (SPARQL)  Create new Wikidata item based on this file)
Title
The flight of the Congress
Description
English: Animals in a wooded landscape with a mountainous background. Howe, as a lion, chasing (left to right.) the American leaders in the shape of different animals. The scene is in front of a wooded mound in which is a cave inscribed "Cave of Rebellion. Resolv'd, nem: con never to run away". On the mound grows 'Liberty Tree', a tree inscribed "Liberty"; a squirrel sits on a branch scattering papers, inscribed "Paper Currency", "30 dollers", "100 dollers", &c. An opossum is climbing up the trunk. A roaring lion advances into the picture, his breath inscribed "How"; one paw is on a squared sheet of paper, inscribed "Philadelphia, Delawar ..." The animals he chases are: an ass with a lion's skin on its back, inscribed, "I. Hancock Pres"; a tiger, "Laurens"; an armadillo, "Washington"; two foxes with collars round their necks, inscribed respectively "Adams" and "[A]dam[s]", evidently intended for John and Samuel Adams; a pig or wild boar is "Putnam"; a wolf is "Lee"; a stag whose collar is inscribed "V... D". (? Francis Van Dyke, a New York patriot); a puma and a badger (?) without names. In the air (left) an eagle clutches in beak and claws a rattlesnake inscribed "Independence"; and (right) an owl flies away holding a paper, inscribed "Louis Baboon a Paris". In the background (left) is sketched a ship in full sail. Beneath the design verses are engraved:



"Impatient of Imperial sway,
The Wild Beasts of America,
In Congress met, disclaim'd allegiance.
And to the Ass profess'd obedience,
With such New Leader; feeling bold,
No wonder they disdained the Old.

Resolving roundly, one and all,
In the good cause, to stand or fall,
Then herding, underneath the Tree,
Of Treason, alias Liberty;
They boast the Baboon King's alliance,
And at their own, hurl mad defiance.

Their foul revolt, their Monarch hears,
And strait upon the plain appears,
Aloud the British Lion roars,
Aloft the German Eagle soars;
When, Lo! 'midst broken Oaths and curses,
The Rebel rout at once disperses." 20 November 1777


Etching
Depicted people Representation of: John Adams
Date 1777
date QS:P571,+1777-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Medium paper
Dimensions
Height: 252 millimetres
Width: 355 millimetres
institution QS:P195,Q6373
Current location
Prints and Drawings
Accession number
1868,0808.4556
Notes

(Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', V, 1935) This represents the occupation of Philadelphia by Howe in Sept. 1777 after the victory of Brandywine. In November there were reports in England of great successes over Washington which were not confirmed, Howe failing to bring him to a general action. In the meantime the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, 17 Oct. (see BMSat 5470), had disastrously altered the situation, but news of this did not reach London till 2 Dec. (see BMSat 5408). The owl flying to Louis XVI probably represents Benjamin Franklin's mission to France, where he arrived at the end of 1776. The 'baboon king' is the king of France, 'Lewis Baboon' of Arbuthnot's 'Law is a Bottomless Pit', 1712, but the alliance was not decided on until Dec. 1777 and not signed until 6 Feb. 1778. Lafayette had sailed for America in Apr. 1777 without the formal consent of the French Government. The rattlesnake was an emblem of the colonies and was on the earliest naval flag of the Americans, see BMSat 5336, 5973, &c. One of the few satires hostile to the Americans, cf. BMSat 5329, 5482, 5704, 5853, 6288.

Reproduced, 'Propylaën-Weltgeschichte', ed. W. Goetz, vi. 481; S. G. Fisher, 'True History of the American Revolution', 1902, p. 346.
Source/Photographer https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-4556
Permission
(Reusing this file)		 © The Trustees of the British Museum, released as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

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current21:00, 15 May 2020Thumbnail for version as of 21:00, 15 May 20202,500 × 1,756 (1.47 MB)Copyfraud (talk | contribs)British Museum public domain uploads (Copyfraud/BM) Satirical prints in the British Museum 1777 #10,876/12,043

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