DEDIE AUX MILORDS DE L'AMIRAUTE ANGLAISE PAR U MEMBRE DU CONGRES AMERICAIN

Date1778

Publisher Charles Corbett

MediumBlack and white line engraving

DimensionsOH: 8 1/2" X OW: 10 1/2"; Plate H: 6 5/8" X W: 10 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1960-69

DescriptionThe lower margin reads: "DEDIE AUX MILORD DE L'AMIRAUTE ANGLAISE PAR UN MEMBRE DU CONGRES AMERICAIN/ Dessine d'apres nature a Boston par Corbut en 1778, et grave a Philadelphia par Va de bon Caeur/ 1 Un Amiral attache a un arbre, ayant aux pieds et aux mains des serres de Vautour et del ailes, 2 Le Congres Americain lui coupe celles des pieds, 3 I Espagnol tient/ une des ailes tundis qu'un Francais 4 la lui coupe pour empecher son vol, 5 Un autre Francais emporte des rouleaux de Tabac, 6 Un Anglais au desespoir casse ses pipes, 7 Un/ gros Hollandais s'enrichit des plumes qu'il arrache de l'autre aile du Vautour, tundis que son associe 8 fait la commerce a la barbe de l'Anglaterre./ Tel qu'un apre Vautour devorant l'Amerique,/ Anglais, impunement tu crus la mettre a sac:/ Mais pour la bien venger d un traitement inique/ Il ne t'y reste pas ne once de Tabac."
Label TextThe satire comments on European aid to the colonists as the Revolutionary struggle continued. Explanations of the numbered figures appear below with a brief humorous verse. England, symbolically pictured as half-man, half-vulture, is tied to a tree. Representing America, an Indian trims its claws, a Spaniard holds one wing so that a Frenchman can clip it, and a Dutchman plucks feathers, representing trade, from the other wing while a companion packs them and carries them away. To the rear, another Frenchman is holding rolls of tobacco, while a despairing Englishman standing in the doorway is breaking pipes for which he no longer has use. An unidentified town is shown in the distant right. No inhabitants are visible suggesting that the satirist intends it to represent Philadelphia, which had been abandoned by its population just prior to the date of the print.

The verse below suggests that the greedy English vulture devouring America by unjust treatment should be deprived of its much loved tobacco.

Two unusual satires with similar publication information suggesting that they were of French origin appeared in 1778. Although advertised as being drawn in Philadelphia by "Va de bon coeur" there is no other evidence that they were made in America. Corbett (Corbutt) was English.

This copy published in Joan D. Dolmetsch, "Rebellion and Reconciliation: Satirical Prints on the Revolution at Williamsburg" (Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1976), plate 48, p. 108.