Content note: Contains racial caricatures of African and Middle Eastern peoples in a nineteenth-century US magazine cartoon, shown as published. This object is shown as it was published. Why

British Benevolence: Puck cover by Joseph Keppler, 19 July 1882

Puck cover: a giant lion in boxing gloves marked "ARMY" and "NAVY" looms over small figures labelled "EGYPTIAN", "AFGHAN" and "ASHANTEE" (LOC lists two more, Boer and Zulu), while a figure labelled "FENIAN" pulls on gloves at right; the caption quotes Earl Granville. The tell: a state's foreign policy is reduced to one animal in boxing gloves, and each people to a label, set against an ironic quotation (name-calling).

Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

Name-calling

Date: July 19, 1882
Period: Pre-1914
Made by: Puck (Keppler & Schwarzmann), cover by Joseph Keppler
Region: North America
Country: United States
Medium: Cartoon
Issuer type: Media
Regime: Arthur Administration
Leader: Chester A. Arthur
Audience: Domestic public
Purpose: Demonize
Theme: War and the military
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: Library of Congress, retrieved October 4, 2026
Rights: Public domain in the US (pre-1931); LOC: "No known restrictions on publication"
Puck, vol. 11, no. 280, 19 July 1882, cover by Joseph Keppler. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division; hosted at 1024 px.

Text on the object

Original (english) · read from the image, not independently checked

Puck
VOL. XI.-No. 280. JULY 19, 1882. Price, 10 Cents.
"What fools these Mortals be!" MIDSUMMER-NIGHTS DREAM.
PUBLISHED BY KEPPLER & SCHWARZMANN. NEW YORK. OFFICE No. 21-23 WARREN ST. TRADE MARK REGISTERED 1878. "ENTERED AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, AND ADMITTED FOR TRANSMISSION THROUGH THE MAILS AT SECOND CLASS RATES."
[labels:] ARMY (glove); NAVY (glove); EGYPTIAN; AFGHAN; ASHANTEE (shield); [illegible] (figure at top left); [illegible, LOC lists Boer and Zulu among the victims]; FENIAN
[signature:] J. Keppler
BRITISH BENEVOLENCE.
"It is painful to be obliged to use force against the weak."—Earl Granville in House of Lords.

Read from the 1024 px LOC image.