Punch (12.1847)

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

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either. He was in the harbarous habit of requesting the philosopher
A GOOD IDEA. ' *° review his works, and putting him in prison if he expressed an un-

| favourable opinion. Had His Majesty been lucky enough to possess a
Among the petitions presented to the House of Commons, on Thursday ; Quarterly Review in his dominions, he would have been spared this-

harsh alternative. Voltaire on one occasion remarked that Frede-
rick might be a great Mug, but was certain1 y a small poet, for which
cutting sarcasm his pension was stopped and himself confined for
several years in the fortress of Glatz, where he made the acquaintance-
of the well-known Baron Trenck, and wrote his celebrated epic, the
"Pucelle de Belleville," on the outside of a pewter pot, with a rusty naiL
Frederick set out in life with that determination to make his wayr
which has always marked the character of great conquerors and cele-
brated highwaymen. He found Prussia 2190 German miles in extent,.

evening, was one by Mr. Waklet, from a gentleman in debt, who, out
of a conscientious regard to the interests of his creditors, had applied
to Parliament to lend him the money to settle with all of them. A
desire to pay one's debts is so exceedingly laudable, that we hope the
gentleman who has had the manliness to avow his embarrassments,
will not be thwarted in his noble project of paying twenty shillings in
the pound, by any ill-judged parsimony on the part of the Legislature.
The debtor confesses he has taken the idea from the great piece of
statesmanship lately propounded by Lord John Russell, as Prime

Minister, in accordance with which Government is to lend, or give, J and left it 3515, with seventy millions of dollars in the treasury, and an

which are often convertible terms, the money to pay the debts of the
Irish landlords. It is delightful to see a private individual coming
forward in a spirit of fine morality, and offering to pay his own debts
on the same terms as those which are suggested to an entire nation by
high ministerial authority. " Out of debt out of danger," is an
admirable motto ; and as Ireland is to be put out of danger by being
got out of debt, we trust that Mr. Waklet's embarrassed petitioner j

army of 200,000 men to keep off the owners, in case they claimed their
property. All this was the fruit of the most unblushing spoliation,,
conducted on that large scale which entitles royal practitioners to the
title of Great, while|smaller depredators seldom rise, except to the gallows.
He did not, however, promise his subjects a Constitution. He contented
himself with being the Turpin of the house of Brandenburg, leaving
to his present Majesty^ the character of its "Robert Macaire," which

will reap the fruits of his own honesty by the aid which—his being a he now alternates with that of its "Tartbfee," in a style quite un-
parallel case to that of Ireland—he is fairly entitled to. What is true . paralleled.

of the whole is true of a part, and what is good policy with regard to a j t==^^=-
whole community, must be good policy with regard to one of its j

members. The prayer of the gentleman's petition seems to be so j ADDRESS OF CONDOLENCE TO PRINCE ALBERT,
reasonable, when we look at the policy Ministers have adopted with

regard to Ireland, that we sincerely wish he may get it.

PUNCH'S HISTORICAL PORTRAIT GALLERY.

frederick the great.

This distinguiscd monarch is identified, ia the popular mind, with
war, jack-boots, high shoulders, snuff taken in immense quantities
from the waistcoat pocket, and Voltaire. His career is remarkable
for the *even years' war, which is popularly confounded with the thirty
years' d tto, but should, we need not say, be carefully distinguished
from it.

Frederick was well known for his military sternness and brevity,
which have made him a favourite on the stage and off. His amuse-
ment, while in camp, was to order out the candles at ridiculously
early hours, and then to prowl about, detecting those who neglected to
" dowse their glims," and immediately putting them to death.

His connexion with Voltaire redounds very little to the credit of

Mr. Punch, his bosom happening to be fired with loyalty, begs to-
move that the following Address of Condolence be presented by hie
numerous readers to Prince Albert ;—

May it please your Royal Highness :—We, the undersigned, readers-
of Punch, and constituting a large majority of the people of your
Gracious Consort, beg to approach your arm-chair—they lament that
they are as yet unable to say throne—with feelings of condolence and
sympathy.

We never, except in case of necessity, omit that portion of our duties
as subjects, which consists in daily reading the Court Circular, and
making ourselves duly acquainted with all the movements and pro-
ceedings of our illustrious Sovertign, yourself, and your august family.

From the first of last September until recently, we hardly remember
to have perused a single Court Circular in which we did not find it
related that your Royal Highness, in the morning, had, for several-
hours, enjoyed the diversion of shooting. We were thus macte'-seiisibie
of the high gratification derived by your Royal Highness from that
amusement, and of the strong attachment of your Royal Highness to
your princely gun. We are hence enabled to sympathise with your
Royal Highness in what we conceive must be your Royal feelings
during the present suspension of sport.

We therefore humbly venture to condole with your Royal Highness
on the termination of the shooting season, which occurred on the first
of this month , and respectfully to express the hope that you will find
some other amusement, which will be a resource and consolation to you
between this time and the first of September next.

THE " STABLE MIND " ON CRACOW.

On the first night of the Session Lord George Bentinck—with all
the coolness of Tattersall's—assured the House that the people of
Cracow were delighted at the annexation of the city. The Austrian
Eagle was, in fact, quite a pet with them ; in witness thereof they
illuminated. Liberty was extinguished, and they lighted candles in
gratitude therefore. And now, what says the last protest of Lord
George's delighted citizens of Cracow ?

" The inhabitants received notice that they were not to quit their houses, that doors
and windows were to be kept closed, that the patroles were ordered to fire on any one
who might come out at a door, or look out at a window, and that all the windows were
to be lighted throughout the night. This last was an effectual precaution for preventing
the inhabitants from moving about, or peeping furtively into the streets."

And by windows so lighted, Lord Stablemind reads the huge
content of an outraged people ! Now, had the city been burnt to ashes,
his Lordshix:> would, doubtless, have eulogised the conflagration as a
bonfire kindled to show far and wide the extreme felicity of the
houseless !

The Prattle of Parliament.

The House of Commons is "at it again ;"—at its old trick of talking
to no purpose. Lord George Bentinck brings forward an Irish
Railway Bill, which he well knows will never pass ; Lord John
Rdssell declares that he shall oppose it, and yet allows it to be dis
cussed. "Time," says the adage, "is money ;" of which Parliament is
giving too much away to have any left to waste. We hope that the
legend of " Tempus Fugit" will be conspicuously printed up in the
new House of Commons.