2-751-954 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'The Cat's Paw', 1832. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, French ambassador to the United Kingdom, grapples with British prime minister Lord Palmerston, depicted as a cat. Talleyrand, who appears to have a rat's tail, holds the cat's paw over a hot stove, with the words 'Belgium' and 'Antwerp' written on hot coals. To make a cat's paw of someone means to use them as a tool or instrument to accomplish one's purpose. Satirical cartoon by 'H.B.' (John Doyle). [Thomas McLean, London, 1832]