1-150-586 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'Taking the (Irish) Bull by the Horns', 1870. Mr Gladstone, the Liberal Prime Minister, takes the Irish bull by the horns. The particular issue illustrated by this cartoon is the Irish Land Bill which Gladstone had introduced to the Commons in mid February 1980. Its principal aims were to provide compensation for evicted tenants, with restraint on evictions and the establishment of courts of arbitration. Naturally, the interests of the landlords and the tenants would be in opposition, an opposition that long been the basis of much unrest in Ireland. From Punch, or the London Charivari, February 26, 1870.