A grand manoeuvre! or, the rogues march to the island of Elba

 George Cruikshank

A grand manoeuvre! or, the rogues march to the island of Elba

London, Thomas Tegg, April 13^th 1814

Etching

Original hand colouring

260 x 350 mm

£450

In a fantastic procession Napoleon, much burlesqued and very thin, is dragged and pushed to the sea-shore, where (right) a boat manned by the Devil waits to take him to Elba. Round his neck is a rope dragged by two dwarfish and ragged Frenchmen (right): one is a ferocious little Jacobin, wearing a bonnet rouge, shouting “à bas le Tyran”; the other is a royalist, waving a hat in which is an olive-branch and ribbons inscribed ‘Vivent les Bourbons’, and shouting “Vive Louis XVIII.” Napoleon weeps; he is assailed by a shower of missiles including cats and rats; a little demon capers on his head playing a fiddle. His hands are tied behind him and his coat is worn back to front; his feet project through his ragged boots, his great spurs are attached to the front of his leg above the instep. In his coat-pocket is a tiny King of Rome waving a rattle topped by a crown and shouting: “By gar Papa I have made von grand manœuvre in your Pocket!!”
The chief motive force is the large ‘Allied Broom’ [according to Broadley, perhaps describing another state, the inscription is not ‘Allied Broom’ but ‘Abdication’], with which Talleyrand, wearing a long gown and a high surgical shoe on his left foot, pushes Napoleon forward, pointing derisively and grinning delightedly; he says: “There he goes!!!” Behind Talleyrand are a small but elderly drummer and a ragged soldier playing a fife. The former wears in his cap a big white favour, and an inscription: ‘Vive Louis XVIII’; the latter wears a laurel branch and a favour inscribed ‘Vive Louis’ in his bonnet rouge; from his mouth float the words:
“He was whip’d & he w drum’d
He w [sic] drum’d out of the Regt
If ever he is a Soldier again
The Devil may be his Sergeant.”
Next, and on the extreme left, are two women flinging missiles at Napoleon, and shouting “a bas le Tyran—Down with the Tyrant—Vive Louis.” On the extreme right is a shouting man holding up a tricolour flag, inscribed ‘Vivent les Bourbons’, its staff topped by a fleur-de-lis. On the ground (left) are Napoleon’s epaulets with the scissors by which they have been cut from his coat, his sash and a small crown, perhaps that of the King of Rome. With these is a document: ‘Done at Fontainebleau’, across which lies a broken sword. On the horizon (right) is a rocky island from which rise large flames; these surround a tall gibbet with one dangling corpse and one empty noose; a ladder leans against it.