1-150-522 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

Tuck in yer Twopenny!, 1867. This cartoon shows the Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, Disraeli, leapfrogging over a mutinous John Bull. With a bill for a 2d rise in income tax in his hand, the Abyssinian expedition sits in his hat. In the background, King Theodore of Abyssinia makes off into the bushes. Earlier during the year, King Theodore of Abyssinia had arbitrarily imprisoned a number of British citizens, including a British envoy and a British consul. In mid-November 1867, Parliament was recalled in order to agree the expedition to free the captives. The sum of £2,000,000 was agreed for the purpose and the expedition was to proceed under the command of Sir Robert Napier. The final sum might be as much as £4,000,000 and this money would have to be raised through income tax. From Punch, or the London Charivari, December 14, 1867.