Judge — September 16, 1882 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# The Judge Cartoon: "England Safe from the Irish at Present" (1882) This satirical cartoon mocks Irish-American fundraising for Irish independence. The central image shows caricatured figures (with offensive stereotypical features typical of 1880s anti-Irish imagery) gathered around the "Office of the Irish-American Skirmishing Fund Committee," which collected money ostensibly for Irish causes. The cartoon's bitter irony—suggested by the title and chorus question "Who stole the skirmishin' fund?"—implies that Irish-American organizers were embezzling or misappropriating donations. The inset showing a wrecked ship labeled "The Irish Navy" reinforces the joke: the funds supposedly for Irish military efforts produced nothing. The satire reflects anti-Irish prejudice common in 1880s American media, mocking both Irish immigrants and their nationalist sympathies while suggesting Irish-American leaders were fraudsters exploiting their own community's patriotic donations.