Preliminaries of peace!, or, John Bull and his little friends "marching to Paris" / Js. Gillray d. & f.

Print shows Lord Hawkesbury as a drummer boy, very thin and weedy, leading John Bull on to a rotten plank inscribed 'Heart of Oak' which connects the shores of England and France. His drum-sticks are a rolled document, 'Preliminaries', and an olive branch. Across his bearskin hat is a ribbon: 'Peace'; from it hangs the end of a fool's cap. From his coat-pocket issues a paper: 'Instructions from Park Place' [Pitt's London address]. His drum is slung from his neck by a tricolour ribbon, and has on its side the Pitt crest, a stork holding an anchor. He is saying: "Allons, Enfans de la Patrie! - now's your time Johnny! - my dear Boys! - did not I promise long ago, to take my Friends by the hand, & lead them on to March to the Gates of Paris? - Allons! vive la Liberta!!" In the narrow Channel which he is about to cross float Britannia's discarded shield, a large money-bag of '£400 Million', and papers inscribed: 'Malta', 'West India Islands', 'Cape of Good Hope', 'Map of Egypt', 'Restoration of French Monarchy', 'List of Soldiers & Sailors Killed'. John Bull, a simple yokel, very fat and good-natured, marches after Hawkesbury in high glee waving his hat; over his civilian dress is a sword-belt from which a sword falls to the ground, hilt downwards. He shouts: "Rule Britannia! Britannia Rules the Waves!!! Caira! Caira!" He is urged forward by a crowd of little figures, members of the Opposition, who wave or wear their bonnets rouges. They are: Fox, Norfolk, Tierney, Sheridan, General Walpole, Burdett, and Moira. In front and under John's feet are three tiny naked mannikins: Nicholls, Derby, and M. A. Taylor. Across the water, in France, and on the extreme right, is a ramshackle building, perhaps a ruined church, with a large placard: 'Vive la Liberta'. Before it is planted a Tree of Liberty round which tiny simian figures dance, holding hands. They wear bonnets rouges and have tails.