Schurz and Nye

Nast sets two U.S. Senators in theatrical costume to puncture their self-importance. At left, Carl Schurz—Missouri's German-born Reform Republican, dressed as Shakespeare's Richard III—slumps in his Senate seat, hand tangled in his hair in comic distraction, surrounded by scattered papers labeled PLANS. Behind him looms James W. Nye of Nevada in a jester's motley, bells on his cap, peering at Schurz with shrewd amusement. The banner caption quotes Napoleon: "There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous," while a fairground barker's line—"You pays your money, and you takes your choice"—frames both men as rival performers. The cartoon mocks Schurz's grandiose Liberal Republican scheming by pairing the would-be statesman with a Senate clown, leaving voters to judge which is which.