John Bull in a rage forcing Nic frog to fight against his will (caricature)

At the centre of this hand-coloured print, John Bull and Nic Frog are pictured on grass overlooking the sea Bull appears angry, handing Nic Frog a sword, saying, ‘Why, you cold blooded dolt, can nothing move you? I say you shall be in a rage – I am in a rage. Damme, you shall go to war; now what say you?’ Nic Frog, who represents France, leans casually on a barrel, smoking his pipe with his bayonetted rifle loosely under his arm. He replies, ‘I say nothing – you know John – I dare not contradict you’.

A British soldier stands to attention on the left, while a figure with a triangular profile, possibly William Pitt the Younger, pokes his head into frame on the right and adds, ‘Tell him they will open the Scheldt, and he shall fight Dam him’. On this impression, ‘George III’ is written in pencil beside this figure, a possibly erroneous identification.

Following the execution of King Louis XVI in January 1793, European governments formed a coalition to fight against the revolutionary action in France. France had begun fighting Austria the previous year and, after a successful invasion of the southern Netherlands, they entered the Scheldt River by force. The Scheldt had been closed 200 years previously to supress Antwerp’s economic power and raise Amsterdam’s. While Antwerp benefitted from this action, the Dutch Republic were against it and Britain declared it would not permit France to destroy Europe’s political system. In February 1793, France declared war against Britain and the Netherlands, marking the start of Britains inclusion in the French Revolutionary Wars, 1793-1802. The initial aim was to remove the French from the Dutch Republic and march on the republic government in Paris. Britain provided significant financial aid and additional troops to support the Austrian military, with the Duke of York, the King’s son, leading these troops.