1-150-807 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'Two Persuasions', 1878. Britannia is being escorted by Lord Beaconsfield. Beaconsfield is carrying the olive branch of peace, but his olive branch is concealing a sheathed sword. On the other side, offering a pure olive branch, is Mr John Bright. This relates to a conference which, attended by some 1,500 people, convened in Manchester. Mr Bright was one of the principal speakers, and the thrust of his speech was a denunciation of the anti-peace stance being taken by the Conservative administration. Recently, Beaconsfield had ordered soldiers to be despatched from India to Malta in order to impress upon Russia the strength of British resolution in the aftermath of the Russian conflict with Turkey. From Punch, or the London Charivari, March 11, 1878.