Gillray - Pages 4 and 5

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Carlo Khan Dethron'd or Billy's Triumph (1784)

This engraving capitalises on the popularity of Sayers' creation of Carlo Khan in the previous caricature. The tables have been turned. Now William Pitt is about to enter the East India Company riding the elephant bearing Lord North's face, Fox having been pushed to the floor.

Pitt was on the verge of becoming Prime Minister when this work was published in March 1784, the Fox-North coalition having fallen with the failure of the India Bill. Pitt attempted to reform the bill, but it too failed to be voted through. The 'new' India Bill that he is holding was a further attempt to assert control over the East India Company. It eventually became the India Act of 1784.