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Disloyal British "Subject"

Publisher Currier & Ives American
1861–65
Not on view
This satire responds to a recruitment campaign aimed a foreign sallors that the United States Navy mounted during the American Civil War. We see an Irishman who is tempted to sign up being warned off by John Bull–a rotund embodiment of England–who tells him that he will lose British protection. The figures stand near a wharf with ships moored in the distance below a large American flag. Competing posters on the wall read: "The Union For Ever, U.S., Down with Secession, Death to Traitors, Volunteers Wanted For the U.S. Navy" and " Victoria R., The Belligerents, Strict Neutrality, Blockade, British Interests, Privateering, Letters of Marque." John Bull holds a scroll lettered "V. R. Proclamation, Foreign Enlistees."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Disloyal British "Subject"
  • Publisher: Currier & Ives (American, active New York, 1857–1907)
  • Date: 1861–65
  • Medium: Lithograph
  • Dimensions: Image: 10 7/16 × 8 7/8 in. (26.5 × 22.5 cm)
    Sheet: 14 in. × 9 13/16 in. (35.5 × 25 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of A. S. Colgate, 1952
  • Object Number: 52.632.174
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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