Punch: Punch (15.1848)

52 PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

TIKI I JEMMY LQM® gyOHIL®, tPKIglMYEIE) ©Y M\&„ PWMGW,

THE WELLINGTON
WEDDINGS.

We have had the Wel-
lington Dispatches, the
Wellington Campaigns,
the Wellington Letters
—to say nothing of Wel-
lington boots ; but the
series of Wellingtonia will
never be complete till the
Wellington Weddings are
added to the collection of
interesting matter relating
to the Hero of Waterloo.
He has given away more
young ladies, and blessed
more happy couples than fif-
ty old uncles in as many old
farces; and he has no doubt,
repeated the celebrated
clap-trap, " There, there :
take her, you young dog,
and be as good to her as she
deserves." He has, we say,
uttered this affecting piece
of tenderness nearly as
often as Mr. Farren, and
six times as frequently as
Mr. Tilbury.

We believe the Duke has
a quantity of property
purses for distribution ob
these occasions, to cram
into the hands of the bride-
groom, with a "Bless ye?
bless ye !"

He has been "at it again"
last week, when he was pre-
sent at the marriage of a
daughter of the Dtjke of
Beaufort. He and the
Duke of Cambridge will
be looked upon as the most
remarkable men of the day;
the military hero, for the
number of wedding-break-
fasts he has consumed, the
royal duke, for the quantity
of public dinners he has
devoured.

A BATTUE OF BILLS.

The Parliamentary shooting season has just commenced, when it is
customary for the Legislature to fire away in good earnest, and hit the
mark at last after the mere noise and smoke in which both Houses have
been indulging during the last eight months. Lord John Russell has
just performed the customary process of slaughtering all the superabun-
dant measures that are not sufficiently matured to reach their natural
growth, and a tremendous amount of billicide has been committed. The
House of Commons has been turned into a sort of abattoir for the
various hobbies that have been ridden since the opening of Parliament,
but which have come to a dead stand-still, and now evince such an utter
incapacity for further progress that it is considered advisable to put
them out of their miserv at once, and save their friends any further
trouble. The Battue of Bills this year has been perfectly murderous,
and there are but a few survivors left to lament the loss of their com-

THE SUFFERING FOXES.

No doubt the reader has, of late years, come unexpectedly upon
foxes in highways and in bye-ways, where foxes were to be least
expected. These foxes—the "fact has at length been divulged by the
French correspondent in the Morning Post—are victims to the railways.
They have been turned out of their ancestral holes by the despotism
of the iron king. Listen to the Post. The theme is a description of
the road to Vincennes:—

" The route resembled much our Epsom road on a Derby day, such as it was
wont to be before the railway stretched its lean long arms through our nelds ana
parks, shutting us out of our green lanes with its iron bars, puffing its noxious
vapours into the pure air of heaven, and terrifying all our foxes from out our best
coverts by that infernal whittle."

Is it too late in the present Parliament to consider the condition of
these homeless animals—the guileless victims of an infernal whistle !

Unions who have wT.TT.T k ° ^ l0SS 0t C°m" We put it to Colonel Sibthorp whether, as an enemy of railways, as

pamons, who have been cut short in their career. an ^ and & gentlemaDj he ought not to bring in a short Bill to

remunerate " all old foxes " for the loss of their " best coverts. "Never,
again, shall we travel by rail with our wonted pleasure. We shall
always be overshadowed, depressed by the thought of the many foxes
terrified by steam into destitution. Now, it is not " the little foxes
that spoil the vines, but the lines that spoil the little foxes.

The Irish Tribune.

The Times of July the 15th, in its report of the Review of the Clubs
at Cork, says, " The Review having terminated, Mr. Smith O'Brien
mounted a heap of rubbish, and, fronting the Lunatic Asylum, he pro-
ceeded to harangue," &c. It strikes us forcibly that all those who
take their stand upon Repeal talk to no other end. But really, with
Mr. O'Brien's position, and such inspiration before him, every word
k es discourse must have gone home. The whole scene, with its
rubbish and Lunatic Asylum, must have reminded the honourable
Member strongly of Confederation Hall.

the (vert) rum duties.

There has been a long debate on the " Rum Duties." It followed
the Debate on what the Ministry had done,—or rather had not done,
this Session—A most fit end for such a beginning! By the bye, a
Whig never displays the smallest spirit, but it is sure to turn out rum.