Details
Creator Magee, John L., artist.
Title The nigger emperor of Nicuragua [sic] on his throne. [graphic] : Attended by Chatfield & his Black guards witnessing the detention of the steamer Prometheus, by the English brig of war Express, at San Juan.
Publisher [New York] : [publisher not identified]
Publisher N.Y. New York. 1852
Date [1852]
Physical Description 1 print : lithograph ; sheet 29 x 21 cm (11 x 8 in.)
Description Racist political cartoon satirizing the fictitious "Nigger Emperor" of Nicaragua during the "Prometheus-Express" incident of November 1851, which threatened the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 between the United States and Britain to abstain from attempting dominion of Central America. Depicts the Emperor as a Black man, partially undressed, attired in a military uniform with epaulettes, a black plumed hat, a sword on his waistband, and black boots. He sits atop a barrel labeled “Jamaica Rum.” He has one boot off that exposes his sock. His trousers are off and draped over his right arm. He smiles with a cigar in his mouth and carries a bottle labeled “Brandy” in his left hand. He looks towards Frederick Chatfield, the United Kingdom’s consul in Central America from 1834 to 1852, standing in the right. Chatfield holds his hands up and says, “They shall pay the money or be blow to attoms for their temerity, let me again entreat your Majesty to condesend (sic) to draw your breeches over your imperial shins.” The Emperor gestures with his right hand to the two ships in the harbor and replies in the vernacular, “Nebber mine, Massa Chatfield, wedder to warm for wear beechum, Yankee hab to cum back and pay money to dis nigger, ya, ya, ya.” Behind the Emperor, several Black guards, attired in tall hats, smile and stand in formation. Also in the print is a small black dog sniffing the Emperor’s sock.
The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 made Greytown, Nicaragua a free port, denying the British revenue. To circumvent this, the British charged harbor fees. On November 21, 1851, Cornelius Vanderbilt’s ship Prometheus refused to pay the British harbor fees. The British brig o’war Express fired three shots across the bow of the Prometheus. Vanderbilt then paid. However, when the ship arrived in New York he took his case to the U.S. government with the U.S. wanting Britain to withdraw from Central America. In early 1852, the Nicaraguan government sought to assert its authority over the Miskito kingdom. On April 30, 1852, Secretary of State Daniel Webster and British minister John Crampton negotiated a settlement that made Greytown a free city, protected the rights of the Miskito Indians, and established the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua along the San Juan River.
Is referenced by Weitenkampf p. 60
Murrell p. 152
Notes Title from item.
Erroneously dated 1839 by Weitenkampf.
Appears in The old soldier, New York, February, 1852.
Likely drawn by John L. Magee, who worked at 69 Nassau Street at this time.
Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush.
RVCDC
Description revised 2021.
Access points revised 2021.
Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Subject Chatfield, Frederick, 1801-1872 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850 April 19)
Black people -- Nicaragua -- Greytown -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Dogs -- Nicaragua -- Greytown.
Harbors -- Nicaragua -- Greytown.
Men, Black.
Racism in popular culture.
Ships -- Nicaragua -- Greytown.
Black men -- Nicaragua.
Black people -- Satire.
Geographic subject Greytown (Nicaragua)
Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- Nicaragua.
United States -- Foreign relations -- Nicaragua.
Genre Political cartoons -- 1850-1860.
Lithographs -- 1850-1860.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Political Cartoons - 1851-28 [5760.F.107]
Accession number 5760.F.107