'A gentle shepherd who would lead his flock into the protectionist fold'

Leslie Ward ('Spy') depicts a mustachioed man in a long dark frock coat, grey waistcoat, and blue cravat, arms spread wide in a rhetorical shrug — the classic pose of the persuader who wants you to be reasonable. The caption frames him as a would-be shepherd of protectionism, placing him squarely in the fierce Edwardian debate over Joseph Chamberlain's tariff-reform campaign, which split the Conservative Party and alarmed free-trade Liberals. Ward's caricature is relatively gentle: the figure is rendered without grotesque distortion, suggesting a politician seen as sincere rather than dangerous — a man leading sheep, not driving them. The lithograph's wry subtitle does the real satirical work, implying the flock may not know quite where they are being led.