DOI issue:
May 22, 1858
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16621#0211
May 22, 1858 J
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
203
SOLVENCY v. INSOLVENCY.
Such is the pernicious influence of the un-
sound monetary system in the United States,
that the very rivers are imitating the example
of the inhabitants, and breaking their banks in
all directions. The last news was, that the
Mississippi had set up such a run on its banks
that they had given way under the pressure, and
the consequence has been the swallowing up of
all the landed property within hundreds of miles.
Einancial doctors, who don't believe in specie
payments, point with triumph to the
proving that the most extensive derangement
of the currency is not only consistent with, but
may actually be caused by, the too great solvency
of the banks.
What Jenner Said,
ON READING, IN ELYSIUM, THAT COMPLAINTS HAD BEEN
MADE OF HIS HAVING A STATUE IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE.
England, ingratitude still blots
The scutcheon of the brave and free,
I saved you many a million spots,
And now you grudge one spot to me!
A Retort in a Bali-Room.
BY A CLEVER GENTLEMAN WHO DOESN'T DANCE.
"The Extract of Elder-Flowers, aye? Of
course you mean Wall-flowers?" {Brutally
pointing to the elderly specimens, symmetrically
arranged in a long deserted row against the wall.)
A FACT. I A- Halfpenny Catch.—Abuse the toll of
Chelsea Bridge as much as you like, but let
Mistress. "I think, Cook, we most part this day month." i others praise it. To our mind, it would be
Cook (in astonishment). " Why, Ma'am? I am sure I've let you 'ave your own way rather a relief to hear that the bridge had been
in most everythink!" \ ex-tolled!
MR. PUNCH TO THE HONOURABLE THOMAS
DUN COMBE, M.P.
My Dear Tommy,
All the world knows you are a " chartered libertine," and
that your smart things are generally of the kind that may be laughed
at, and forgotten. But you really ought to know your place, my dear
Tommy. There are some subjects too large, and lofty, and serious for
| your light handling. You must have observed among your brother
contributors to the amusement of the Metropolis, that they have that
becoming sense of " what to do, dare, and avoid," which I fear you are
beginning to lose; whether from advancing years, keeping company
with Mr. Cox, or too great familiarity with your audience in the
| House of Commons, I know not.
Look at me. I never laugh at what deserves respect. Mr. Albert
Smith has, it is true, ventured to connect his name with Mont Blanc;
but he had the good sense to drop his joking in the royal presence of
the Monarch of Mountains. You do not see the Christy Minstrels
attempting Handel's Oratorios, or Mr. Bobson essaying the part
I of King Lear.
Follow these examples, my dear Tommy. Be satisfied to raise a
laugh out of what is laughable : but do not crack your irreverent jests
upon great men, or hang your venerable pleasantries upon a grand
discovery.
The other night, for instance, you ventured to ask a question about
the statue of Jenner, just erected in Trafalgar Square.
" Cow-pox," you said, " was a very good thing in its proper place,
but it had no place among the naval and military heroes of the
country. Everybody who heard of this statue spoke of it with ridicule
and disgust; and, if the Government should not feel justified in stop-
ping the work, you trusted that the House would pass a resolution,
calling upon them not to pollute and desecrate the ground, by erecting
a statue there to that promulgator of cow-pox throughout the
country."
Now really Tommy, if this be what at first blush it looks like,
the juke is too bad. But it may be meant seriously after all. You
nave joked so long, that it is not easy always to distinguish your
jesting from such earnest as you are capable of. I have, hitherto,
been admonishing you, on the assumption that these words were
meant to raise a laugh. But on re-considering them, it occurs to me,
that they may have been prompted less by irreverence than by igno-
rance—that you may not be aware of what Jenner really did for the
world, and not consciously guilty of the sin of scoffing at one of the
greatest benefactors of the human species.
Let me inform you, then, my dear Tommy, that thanks to Jenner's
discovery, the small-pox mortality, in countries where the records of
death are complete for corresponding periods, before and after the
introduction of vaccination, has been reduced, in Sweden to a
thirteenth of what it, was; in Austria to a twentieth; in Westphalia
to a twenty-fifth. Your old turf experience must have familiarised
you with figures. I need scarcely therefore point out to you, that
this last fact may be put in a more striking way by saying that
where small-pox swept away a hundred Westphalians before Jenner
" promulgated cowpox," Variola now numbers four victims only.
The ninety-six lives that remain over we must carry to the credit of
Dr. Jenner.
So in London, it appears from the Bills of Mortality, that whereas
the small-pox death-rate for the eighteenth century, ranged from
3000 to 5000; during the ten years, 1846—1855, it was under 340.
In all England, instead of a small-pox death-rate of about 3000,
thanks to Jenner, we count one in 1855 of 132. And, if vaccination
were as perfect as it might be made, there is every reason to believe
that these rates might be reduced to zero ; in other words, that this
loathsome disease might be utterly annihilated.
And yet you dare to talk of " desecrating" and "polluting" Trafal-
gar Square by the statue of the man who has done this service to
mankind! Or is it only, that you would not have this record of a
preserver of our species put up beside those of its destroyers? There
may be some grounds for that objection. But, if it be well founded,
let us be consistent, and award still more conspicuous honours to the
destructive principle. Let us remove Jenner to the Thames Tunnel,
and give the vacant pedestals in Trafalgar Square to Crimean
generals and Chelsea commissioners. And if civilian impersona-
tions of the destructive principle be required to balance these, its
military incarnat ions, let us by all means have a statue of your great
colleague Cox, Defender of the Dirt, Guardian of the Filth of Fins-
bury, and Asserter of the Liberty of the British Citizen to poison his
neighbours.
It is certain that Jenner would be no fit companion for such
worthies; and that even you, my dear Tommy—should it occur to an
eccentric posterity to give you a statue—might feel uncomfortable in
his pure and venerable neighbourhood. He devoted his life to labour
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
203
SOLVENCY v. INSOLVENCY.
Such is the pernicious influence of the un-
sound monetary system in the United States,
that the very rivers are imitating the example
of the inhabitants, and breaking their banks in
all directions. The last news was, that the
Mississippi had set up such a run on its banks
that they had given way under the pressure, and
the consequence has been the swallowing up of
all the landed property within hundreds of miles.
Einancial doctors, who don't believe in specie
payments, point with triumph to the
proving that the most extensive derangement
of the currency is not only consistent with, but
may actually be caused by, the too great solvency
of the banks.
What Jenner Said,
ON READING, IN ELYSIUM, THAT COMPLAINTS HAD BEEN
MADE OF HIS HAVING A STATUE IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE.
England, ingratitude still blots
The scutcheon of the brave and free,
I saved you many a million spots,
And now you grudge one spot to me!
A Retort in a Bali-Room.
BY A CLEVER GENTLEMAN WHO DOESN'T DANCE.
"The Extract of Elder-Flowers, aye? Of
course you mean Wall-flowers?" {Brutally
pointing to the elderly specimens, symmetrically
arranged in a long deserted row against the wall.)
A FACT. I A- Halfpenny Catch.—Abuse the toll of
Chelsea Bridge as much as you like, but let
Mistress. "I think, Cook, we most part this day month." i others praise it. To our mind, it would be
Cook (in astonishment). " Why, Ma'am? I am sure I've let you 'ave your own way rather a relief to hear that the bridge had been
in most everythink!" \ ex-tolled!
MR. PUNCH TO THE HONOURABLE THOMAS
DUN COMBE, M.P.
My Dear Tommy,
All the world knows you are a " chartered libertine," and
that your smart things are generally of the kind that may be laughed
at, and forgotten. But you really ought to know your place, my dear
Tommy. There are some subjects too large, and lofty, and serious for
| your light handling. You must have observed among your brother
contributors to the amusement of the Metropolis, that they have that
becoming sense of " what to do, dare, and avoid," which I fear you are
beginning to lose; whether from advancing years, keeping company
with Mr. Cox, or too great familiarity with your audience in the
| House of Commons, I know not.
Look at me. I never laugh at what deserves respect. Mr. Albert
Smith has, it is true, ventured to connect his name with Mont Blanc;
but he had the good sense to drop his joking in the royal presence of
the Monarch of Mountains. You do not see the Christy Minstrels
attempting Handel's Oratorios, or Mr. Bobson essaying the part
I of King Lear.
Follow these examples, my dear Tommy. Be satisfied to raise a
laugh out of what is laughable : but do not crack your irreverent jests
upon great men, or hang your venerable pleasantries upon a grand
discovery.
The other night, for instance, you ventured to ask a question about
the statue of Jenner, just erected in Trafalgar Square.
" Cow-pox," you said, " was a very good thing in its proper place,
but it had no place among the naval and military heroes of the
country. Everybody who heard of this statue spoke of it with ridicule
and disgust; and, if the Government should not feel justified in stop-
ping the work, you trusted that the House would pass a resolution,
calling upon them not to pollute and desecrate the ground, by erecting
a statue there to that promulgator of cow-pox throughout the
country."
Now really Tommy, if this be what at first blush it looks like,
the juke is too bad. But it may be meant seriously after all. You
nave joked so long, that it is not easy always to distinguish your
jesting from such earnest as you are capable of. I have, hitherto,
been admonishing you, on the assumption that these words were
meant to raise a laugh. But on re-considering them, it occurs to me,
that they may have been prompted less by irreverence than by igno-
rance—that you may not be aware of what Jenner really did for the
world, and not consciously guilty of the sin of scoffing at one of the
greatest benefactors of the human species.
Let me inform you, then, my dear Tommy, that thanks to Jenner's
discovery, the small-pox mortality, in countries where the records of
death are complete for corresponding periods, before and after the
introduction of vaccination, has been reduced, in Sweden to a
thirteenth of what it, was; in Austria to a twentieth; in Westphalia
to a twenty-fifth. Your old turf experience must have familiarised
you with figures. I need scarcely therefore point out to you, that
this last fact may be put in a more striking way by saying that
where small-pox swept away a hundred Westphalians before Jenner
" promulgated cowpox," Variola now numbers four victims only.
The ninety-six lives that remain over we must carry to the credit of
Dr. Jenner.
So in London, it appears from the Bills of Mortality, that whereas
the small-pox death-rate for the eighteenth century, ranged from
3000 to 5000; during the ten years, 1846—1855, it was under 340.
In all England, instead of a small-pox death-rate of about 3000,
thanks to Jenner, we count one in 1855 of 132. And, if vaccination
were as perfect as it might be made, there is every reason to believe
that these rates might be reduced to zero ; in other words, that this
loathsome disease might be utterly annihilated.
And yet you dare to talk of " desecrating" and "polluting" Trafal-
gar Square by the statue of the man who has done this service to
mankind! Or is it only, that you would not have this record of a
preserver of our species put up beside those of its destroyers? There
may be some grounds for that objection. But, if it be well founded,
let us be consistent, and award still more conspicuous honours to the
destructive principle. Let us remove Jenner to the Thames Tunnel,
and give the vacant pedestals in Trafalgar Square to Crimean
generals and Chelsea commissioners. And if civilian impersona-
tions of the destructive principle be required to balance these, its
military incarnat ions, let us by all means have a statue of your great
colleague Cox, Defender of the Dirt, Guardian of the Filth of Fins-
bury, and Asserter of the Liberty of the British Citizen to poison his
neighbours.
It is certain that Jenner would be no fit companion for such
worthies; and that even you, my dear Tommy—should it occur to an
eccentric posterity to give you a statue—might feel uncomfortable in
his pure and venerable neighbourhood. He devoted his life to labour