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"print & colour & political & satirical & The Reformer's Attack On The Old Rotten Tree Or The Foul Nests Of The Cormorants In Danger & May 1831" [NMLH.1993.372.56]



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Catalogue Number
NMLH.1993.372.56

Object Name
Print

Title
THE REFORMERS' ATTACK ON THE OLD ROTTEN FREE OR THE FOUL NESTS OF THE CORMORANTS IN DANGER

Place
Rotten boroughs & England & UK

People
Duke of Welington ?; Earl Gray ?

Date
1831

Creator(s)
King, E.

Description
OSP Note: This pro-reform cartoon shows a tree, which represents the rotten boroughs, being chopped down. The names in the tree are those of the rotten boroughs. It illustrates the Reform Crisis.

Text from Hung Drawn and Caricatured exhibition CD Rom:
The Reformers' attack on the Old Rotten Tree; or the Foul Nest of the Cormorants in Danger.
Published by E King of Chancery Lane, May 1831.

The tree represents the 'Rotten Boroughs' system. It is being attacked by reformers and supported by anti-reformers. Around its base are toadstools and a nest of vipers: symbols of its corruption. Cormorants nest in its branches, which are labelled with the names of rotten boroughs. Under the so called 'rotten borough' system some districts had members of parliament even though they had tiny populations. The MPs for these districts were often chosen by an aristocratic landowner in order to control seats in the House of Commons.
The reformers include Brougham (dressed in a wig and gown), Grey (wielding the Grey's family chopper), Landsdowne and Althorp. Anti-Reformers include Peel (with his back against the trunk of the tree), Wellington in a red coat supporting the tree with both hands and Scarlett in a wig and gown with his hands on his knees. The anti-reformists are saying:
"You take our house when you do take the prop
That dost sustain our house - you take our lives
When you do take the means whereby we live".
(Adapted from the Merchant of Venice)

The nests are labelled with the names of rotten boroughs such as:
Seaford, Saltash, Orford, Whitchurch and Appleby.
The Rotten Borough system meant that many large towns such as Manchester and Birmingham had no member of parliament, while towns with tiny (or non-existent) populations did. For example, Dunwich had disappeared under the sea but still had an MP and in Old Sarum its seven voters used to meet under a tree. Altogether 56 rotten boroughs had less than 40 voters. Before the Reform Act was passed in 1832 more than 140 out of 658 parliamentary seats were in rotten boroughs.
However, a few places such as Westminster did have 'popular' representation (i.e. all house-holders had a vote).
King William IV and his Queen Adelaide stand on Constitution Hill. To their right stands a man representing Ireland, to their left a man in a kilt representing Scotland and a man in a farmer's smock representing John Bull of England.

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