1-150-287 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

Beggar my Neighbour, 1861. Napoleon III, in a game of cards with Palmerston, has laid what he believes to be a trump in the shape of the French ship 'La Gloire'. Palmerston, however, has a higher trump in the form of the more technologically advanced British ship, 'Warrior'. Each man has a sack full of funds on the floor at his feet. The implication is that, no matter how much the French were to invest in their navy, the British would always remain one step ahead, no matter what the cost to both nations. In March 1861, Lord Clarence Paget published his Navy Estimates which showed the funds required being some £12m. In the belief that France was pouring funds into her navy to bring it up to the standard of the British Navy, it was essential, said Lord Paget, that increasing funds were made available to the nation's navy to ensure that recent developments in the use of iron for ships were advanced. From Punch, or the London Charivari, March 23, 1861.