The British Lion Disarmed

A classical female figure — Columbia, representing the United States, wearing a star diadem — sits calmly beside a recumbent British lion and draws a thorn labeled Alabama Claims from its paw. The caption quotes the Prince of Wales urging that every point of dispute between the United States and England be "amicably settled." The Alabama Claims were American demands for damages after Britain allowed Confederate commerce-raiders, chiefly the CSS Alabama, to be built in British shipyards and prey on Union shipping during the Civil War. Nast casts Columbia not as a conqueror but as a composed physician, suggesting diplomacy rather than war. The lion's submission implies British guilt; Columbia's composure implies American magnanimity. The imagery draws on the ancient fable of Androcles, translating a folk moral into a pointed argument for arbitration over armed confrontation.