Steering the Ship of State
Britannia between Scylla and Charybdis, by JamesThe Good Ship CONSTITUTION
In this political cartoon from 1793, the artist James Gillray shows William Pitt, acting prime-minister of Great Britain, steering the good ship CONSTITUTION through narrow straits bordered by a whirlpool on the right and dangerous rocks on the left. Seated in front of Pitt, the Lady Britannia, the female embodiment of the British nation, raises her arms in alarm over the dangers, which include sinister men pursuing the ship from behind.
Since political cartoons use symbols liberally, a viewer will need a historical background to understand what the cartoon conveys to its viewers. A centripetal force on the right? A Rocky outcrop on the left? These must symbolize political philosphies that threaten a constitutional republic and lure it into polarization. The sinister men pursuing the CONSTITUTION have to refer to William Pitt's rivals in the British Parliament.
Most Americans know little about William Pitt, although they should. His fame influenced the direction of our nation in its early life. Probably a hundred towns and cities bear some form of his name, the most famous being Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pitt's father, the Earl of Chatham came out early as a supporter of American independence; so his name also appears on the American landscape: Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham Township, Massachusetts, and other settlements.
Pitt steers the good ship CONSTITUTION past dangers on the right and left. They occur as an unfortunate by-product of Britain's parliamentary aegis--representative government being a necessary risk to a freedom-loving nation. The cartoonist James Gillray shows a sophisticated understanding of politics in Britain, and by extension the U.S. I am sure that journalists of his time could hold their own with their modern political counterparts.
For the average American, understanding the components of the cartoon requires some education in the mythology of Ancient Greece, in particular the ancient epic poem The Iliad and the Odyssey, by the Greek poet Homer, which he composed between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. It tells the story of the Greek warrior Odysseus (also known as Ulysses) who returns to his home in Ithaca after the defeat of Troy. The perilous journey lasts ten years.
Most Americans do not realize how deeply the elements of The Iliad and the Odyssey permeate the nation's culture. Troy, New York, is the county seat of Renssalaer County. Troy in Ohio is the county seat of Miami County. Troy is also the county seat of Pike County, Alabama. Ithaca is a city in New York, the home of Cornell University, and the county seat of Tompkins County. "Trojan" is the traditional nickname of the athletes at the University of Southern Carlifornia. In modern speech, an "odyssey" denotes a life-changing experience or journey.
During his journey by sea to Ithaca, Odysseus and his crew encounter the sea-monster Charybdis, seen in the political cartoon on the right. Charybdis lurks under the surface of the water and creates a whirlpool that can pull down ships and sailors, to their doom. Charybdis shares the narrow strait with another monster Scylla who inhabits the rocky outcrop on the left. Scyllla's shark-dogs also harass ships and mariners--shown as the sinister men pursuing the CONSTITUTION.
In the late-18th-century, the educated class in Great Britain would have needed no primer to help them understand the importance of James Gillray's cartoon. First of all, they would have recognized at once William Pitt's distinctive profile as the helmsman of the good ship CONSTITUTION, and they would have recognized his pursuers—Fox, Sheridan, and Priestley—as rivals of Pitt.
Britons also would have recognized the "Phrygian" cap on top of the rocky outcrop as the emblem of the French Revolution of 1789 and the pure, vengeful democracy that the Revolution unleashed. Pitt's rivals in Parliament, Fox, Sheridan, and Priestley, supported the Revolution. No wonder they look so ravenous.
One contemporary critic of the French Revolution, Jacques Mallet du Pan, wrote, "A revolution devours its children." The revolutionists in France launched a democratic rebellion against class-privilege and wealth. The degree of payback caused the executions of thousands. Vengeful French citizens egged on the executioners, and they never tired of murdering basically innocent people on the guillotine. Each day, Parisians crowded Revolution Square (now named Place de la Concorde) to enjoy more executions. Pitt knew he could not allow the nation to drift toward such a vindictive democracy.
Curiously, the American Thomas Jefferson supported the Revolution and said "a little revolution is a good thing." No wonder Britannia looks worried! Fox, Sheridan, and Priestley look ravenous in the cartoon—wishing they could have "a little revolution" by overturning the CONSTITUTION and devouring its passengers
On the right side of the cartoon, a whirlpool threatens to drag the CONSTITUTION under. If my reader looks closely, he can make out a whirling crown causing the whirlpool. Contemporary Britons would have recognized the crown as the symbol of monarchical rule and authoritarian leadership. Many Britons turned to the monarchy for security during the turbulent times. Although the whirlpool draws the CONSTITUTION toward it, the helmsman Pitt knows that a modern, forward-looking society must resist it and defeat its supporters.
One cannot miss Pitt's noble, unruffled expression as he navigates the dangerous straits, nor the artist Gillray's positive assessment of him. Historians consider him one of the most important prime ministers in the history of Great Britain, even though the position of prime minister did not exist in his day. Pitt more or less created the position by showing everyone how to carry out its duties.
He supported Adam Smith's ideas for a market-driven economy. He saw John Locke's ideas for a representative government, an elected parliament, an upwardly-mobile society, and a legal system based on constitutional law. And finally, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he understood the budgetary limits of governmental expeditures and the need to provide for them through proper banking. Americans on the other side of the ocean learned from Pitt, as well.Pitt described the English constitution as "that beautiful frame of government . . . in which the people had a share in the government by the means of representation." And yet, Pitt never stood for an election, so he had no constituency. He did not represent a political party, and answered to no one but the British King George III, who recognized his great skill, and so turned over the leadership of the nation to him. His cold, reserved, patrician nature made him all but invisible to the wider public. In a modern, publicity-driven nation like America, Pitt would have had some problems getting his points across; but his intellectual legacy continues as the basis for America's forward-looking ideas and exponential growth.