"Horrors of the Irish-Union; - Botheration of poor Pat - or - a Whisper across the Channel" was originally published on December 24, 1798, by Hannah Humphrey.
Created immediately following the bloody Irish Rebellion of 1798, the caricature captures the extreme political tension surrounding the initial proposals for an incorporated legislative union between Great Britain and Ireland. Rather than taking a one-sided stance, Gillray brilliantly mocks the competing propaganda of both the pro-Union British government and the anti-Union Whig opposition.
The print visualises the geopolitical divide by using the actual Irish Channel (the Irish Sea) to separate the figures into distinct camps
The British Side (The Pro-Union Allure)
On the left side of the channel sits Britannia, depicted as a buxom, wealthy, and benevolent figure.
She sits next to massive bales of trade goods and an overflowing cornucopia bursting with gold coins and jewels.
She looks appealingly across the water, holding out a scroll to present the Union as an economic savior that brings "Security, Trade, and Liberty" to Ireland.
Beneath her feet, Britannia fiercely tramples on a venomous snake and a book, representing the defeat of French revolutionary influence and the radical United Irishmen.
The Irish Side ("Poor Pat")
On a smaller, isolated plot of land across the water stands Pat (the personification of Ireland).
He stands with his hands shoved deep into his pockets, looking intensely conflicted, wary, and sideways toward Britannia's glamorous offer. He is caught entirely in a state of "botheration," unsure who to trust.
The Whig Opposition (The Warning Bushes)
Hiding low in the undergrowth directly behind Pat are prominent British Whig opposition leaders, including Charles James Fox, George Tierney, and Michael Angelo Taylor.
Fox and his allies are shown whispering warnings across the channel into Pat's ear. They hiss terrors about the impending union, warning him that England will strip Ireland of its independence and parliament.
Gillray mocks these opposition politicians as hypocrites who are merely using Ireland's anxiety to destabilise the government of Prime Minister William Pitt.
Gillray was one of five children, and the only one to survive to maturity. In 1770 he was apprenticed to Harry Ashby, a London writing in engraver, and five years later W. Humphrey published a few of Gillray's illustrations including satirical works. By the time Gillray commenced his career satire was old, but personal caricature was in its infancy. Other exponents in this form of art were soon overshadowed by Gillray's superior craftsmanship. His figures were full of vitality, titillating and reflective of some political crisis or private scandal. As his popularity increased so did demand by the public to see more of his work. In the rapidly changing politics of the late18th century he would produce a plate in twenty-four hours. Although sometimes overlooked his speech bubbles were elaborate and Gillray would spend considerable time composing and redrafting the text.
Between 1791 to 1807 his career continued successfully in association with William and Hannah Humphrey. There after Gillray's health began to suffer. He eventually slipped into madness and died shortly before the Battle of Waterloo on June 1st 1815. Hannah, who had a close relationship with him nursed Gillray through out his final years and following his death the copper plates then formed part of Hannah's estate when she died in 1818. The executor's of Hannah's estate sold Gillray's painstakingly worked plates for there second hand copper weight. Hearing of this, the then publisher, Bohn who had previously expressed an interest in buying the plates set about purchasing them from a variety of different sources. Eventually acquiring over 500. In 1851 Bohn republished the engravings in a large folio volume, "The Works of James Gillray".
