Political Cartoon on the Minister of Colonies

This wood engraving satirizes Dutch colonial administration through the figure of a gentleman-driver controlling an unruly team: a horse labeled 'Vrijheid' (Freedom) and a mule marked 'Koloniën' (Colonies), harnessed to an overturned carriage. The composition invokes the 18th-century tradition of Gillray and Rowlandson—where political confusion becomes physical slapstick. The Dutch caption warns: "Is he a clever coachman, then he'll manage both, but the span still may overturn." The print reflects period anxieties over colonial governance and metropolitan control, employing animal allegory common to European political prints.