[In the following attack on the committee formed to agitate for the criminal prosecution of the former Governor Eyre and his underlings for atrocities committed in putting down the Morant uprising, Punch tosses in a little learned Latin and manages to work in a good bit of Jew-hatred into an attack on a group it more usually attacks for being largely Evangelical Christians. The text below comes from the Hathi Digital Library Trust version of a copy of the periodical in the University of Michigan Library — George P. Landow]
Mr. PUNCH is the last person to spoil sport. "‘More Alès, mor Alès, stir them on,” is his motto. Pacification is the thief of fun. Still, fair play is the brightest dew-drop in the British Lion’s mane, and when a combatant is exposed to an unforesseen peril, Mr. Punch is the first person, singular, to cry Mens Tuus oculus [Mind your eye, i.e. Watch out!].' In this spirit he respectfully invites the persons who are touting for subscriptions in order to get Ex Governor EYRE hanged for saving Jamaica, to take note of the fate of Shylock. That gushing Hebrew, under pretext of avenging the wrongs of an oppressed race, sought to use the law unjustly, to the detriment of a gentleman. The tearful result was, first, that the prosecutor was heavily fined, and secondly — we tremble to hold up such a menace to our vengeful friends — he had to turn us Christian.
Other Punch interventions in the Eyre Affair
- “Last Case of Colour Blindness” (2 December 1865): 216
- “Exeter Hall Spite” (27 January 1866)
- “The Bold Governor Eyre and the Bulls of Exeter Hall” (10 February 1866)
- “The Jamaica Committee” (26 January 1867)
- “Free as Eyre” (6 April 1867)
Last modified 29 November 2015