“Montagne Russe a Very Dangerous Game” (Punch 1854)

Montagne Russe a Very Dangerous Game

John Leech

Wood engraving

Punch 27 (1854): 127

Leech's initials appear at lower left

See commentary below

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. Formatting by George P. Landow.

Image courtesy of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and the University of British Columbia and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

The picture of Czar Nicholas I racing downhill on a toboggan is juxtaposed against the image of Victoria-Britannia and the British Lion, neither of whom appears to be amused at Russia's "dangerous game," grabbing territory (beginning with Wallachia and Moldavia in 1853) and thereby destabilizing the region, as settled by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Nicholas, indeed, whether sinister, pompous, ignorant, or simply ridiculous, was the subject of many of Leech's political cartoons in 1854, undoubtedly part of the strategy of the magazine to bring the reading public onside with the dubious adventure of conducting a land war over so great a distance, despite naval superiority. Until the advent of the telegraph in 1855, reports of Crimean battles took almost two weeks to arrive in London by sea.

Last modified 13 May 2014