[Editor: This illustration, drawn by Claude Marquet, regarding the British-Japanese alliance and White Australia, was published in The Worker (Sydney, NSW), 9 January 1908.]
(In an article on the Asiatic Problem the “Times” warns the colonies who most proudly proclaim their determination on the motherland for protection and for power to remain white, and, in effect, advises Australia to allow some form of Japanese immigration.)
Britannia: “Listen, Child! Your desire to remain white is most laudable; but I would have you modify your purity as far as MY friend and ally is concerned, or I must withdraw my ‘protection’!”
Source:
The Worker (Sydney, NSW), 9 January 1908, p. 1
Editor’s notes:
The illustration depicts three characters:
I) A British politician in the role of Britannia (a personification of Great Britain), with the word “Britannia” on the plume of the helmet he is wearing. The politician is the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Prime Minister of the UK, from 5 December 1905 to 3 April 1908). The Britannia personification of Britain is traditionally a female character; however, in this instance, the artist has placed the male British Prime Minister in that role.
See: 1) “Britannia”, Wikipedia
2) “Henry Campbell-Bannerman”, Wikipedia
II) A woman who is depicted as a general personification of Australia, with the words “White Australia” on her chest.
III) A Japanese man (in the background), who is reading a newspaper with the headings “The Times (on the left) and “Japanese Edition” (on the right). He appears to be a general personification of Japan, rather than being a depiction of the then Prime Minister of Japan, Saionji Kinmochi (Prime Minister of Japan, from 7 January 1906 to 14 July 1908 and 30 August 1911 to 21 December 1912), or a depiction of the then Emperor of Japan, Mutsuhito, posthumously referred to as Emperor Meiji (Emperor of Japan, from 30 January 1867 to 30 July 1912).
See: 1) “Mutsuhito”, Wikipedia
2) “Saionji Kinmochi”, Wikipedia
The illustration on the Trove website comes from a damaged copy of the The Worker (Sydney, NSW), 9 January 1908, where Claude Marquet’s picture appeared on the front cover. For use on this site, the illustration was digitally restored (as far as could be carried out, so therefore not to perfection). The letters for the words “White Australia” (which appear on the chest of the woman who is depicted as a personification of Australia) were taken from lettering used by Claude Marquet in illustrations published in The Tocsin of 6 August 1903 (p. 1) and in The Tocsin of 7 April 1904 (p. 1). The letters for the word “protection” (the last word in the text underneath the illustration) were taken from lettering used in the same sentence which that word appeared in.
Britannia = a personification of Great Britain, usually depicted as a female warrior wearing a helmet and holding a shield and trident
See: “Britannia”, Wikipedia
Ma = (vernacular) mother (“ma” is commonly capitalised when used regarding a specific person, such as one’s own mother); also known as: mama, mamma, mammie, mammy, mater, materfamilias, matriarch, mom, mommy, mum, mummy, mumsy, old lady, old woman; a female human parent
Times = (in the context of newspapers of the United Kingdom) The Times (London, UK), a newspaper which was founded in 1785 (originally published as The Daily Universal Register)
See: “The Times”, Wikipedia
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