A famous, satirical look at the decision of the English parliament to create a penal settlement at Botany Bay, in contrast to the atmosphere of reform and concern with civil liberties in the newly created republic of France and in the American colonies. This cartoon was first published in 1798; it was reissued in the mid nineteenth century as offered here.

A famous, satirical look at the decision of the English parliament to create a penal settlement at Botany Bay, in contrast to the atmosphere of reform and concern with civil liberties in the newly created republic of France and in the American colonies. This cartoon was first published in 1798; it was reissued in the mid nineteenth century as offered here.

James Gillray turns the tables on the politicians of the House of Commons responsible for the Botany Bay decision: French revolutionaries led by Napoleon storm the parliament gagging the Speaker and placing all the Members in chains and dressing them in the garb of convicts. All the symbols of House are destroyed: the mace is smashed, the statutes discarded on the floor, and below the Speaker's chair are the words, "The House is adjourned to Botany Bay".

This is the significantly later impression of the print, first issued at the close of the eighteenth century, circa 1798.