POLITICAL CARICATURES.
IT is part of the nice skill of H. 13. in his craft as a caricaturist, that when he takes the Tory view of a subject, for the nonce, he at the same time adopts the Tory medium of expression—falsehood. Tim, of the various ways in which the humours of the late Middlesex elec- tion might have been hit off, who but a wag highly graduated in Toryism or 1Vinchesterism (which is all the same) would have thought of placing sturdy Joseph Hume on the back of poor Mr. Byng!—when, instead of being supported on the long leather-cased legs of the veteran Whig, Mr. Hume should have been represented borne in on the shoul- ders of the men of Middlesex, despite the frowns, threats, and bribes, of the shovel-bats, red-coats, and Tory landlords. Again, in setting forth the Coalition of IVIligs and Radicals, H. B. represents the Whigs as sheep and the Radicals as wolves, while Peel and Wellington are the watch-dogs at the call of the Shepherd-King, William the Fourth ! This false analogy may please the Tory party, for whose special use the print must be intended, but it will hardly amuse as it certainly will not convince the public. Fancy the Whigs as " silly sheep" in danger from the wolfish teeth of the Radicals, and protected by Tory watch-dogs ! The " Hopposition Bus-es" is a good simile. the Tory-Conservative Administration is likened to a crazy, low, and narrow omnibus, drawn by spavined and wind-galled jades, their withers wrung by the collar. The cad Wellington is obliged to coax John Bull to get in, by promising that he will " go much faster than formerly," andcrying up the coachman, Peel, as a careful, steady driver ; though it is well known he used to be so constantly looking right and left to catch stray passengers, with his smooth face, that he never drove straight-forward, and was for ever going down all manner of streets, narrow turnings, and back ways, to avoid the traffic of leading thorough- fares. It is quite in character too for the cad to try and frighten John Bull from going in the steam 'bus, by talking about hot-water and blow- ing-up, The " race-horse speed" and " no stopping" of the steam 'bus do not comprise all its advantages, however; its fares arc cheaper,— which, as Mr. Hume is the cad, lie ought to have set forth. Moreover, it is more easily managed : and whatever imperfections it has, belong, not to the principle, but the machinery, which will be perfected as the engineers increase in skill.
Sir Robert Peel getting absolution of the Pope for his political sins, is a fair hit and a clever picture. Mr. Humc's unlucky simile in his hustings speech about " the goose in the Capitol," is amusingly em- bodied. Mr. Hume made the joke at his own expense; but it has only cost him a laugh, which he can very well afford.
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