1-150-772 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'The Drowsy Pointsman', 1876. John Bull, the representative of the British people, prods a dozing Disraeli, now the Earl of Beaconsfield. This cartoon highlights two very topical stories. First, Disraeli is shown as the signalman on the railways. Collisions were all too common in the 1870s and Punch often featured cartoons about the perils of railway travel to emphasise its dissatisfaction with the lack of real investment in new technology. Secondly, this cartoon relates to the conflict between Turkey and Bulgaria, during the course of which Disraeli had maintained a neutral stance, much to the dissatisfaction of the British press. The frightful collision relates to the massacres of women and children carried out by Turkish forces (though atrocities had been perpetrated by both sides). The bigger smash probably relates to British concerns that the government's neutral stance would allow the Russians to become involved in the conflict. From Punch, or the London Charivari,