Chapter XXI.
In Cartoon and Story.
There is no colonial politician, with the exception, perhaps, of Sir Henry Parkes, who has been so often described in song and picture as Mr. Seddon, and there have been more stories told of him, probably, than of any other Colonial statesman of these times. He has been cartooned in almost all conceivable political situations. The prominence of the characteristics and talents that helped him on in his career has made him especially adaptable to the purposes of the cartoonist’s art. Even before he became Premier he was looked upon as a man upon whom the comic journals might legitimately draw at any time. It is a sign of the popularity he enjoyed that the cartoons in which he figured are, with hardly a single exception, of a thoroughly good-natured character. There is no spleen in them. Mr. Seddon enjoyed the cartoonist’s extravagant exaggerations of his words and actions as well as anybody, and he had many a hearty laugh when he saw himself as cartoonists saw him.
In the colony, he had two humorous publications given up mainly to his doings. In one, “King Dick Abroad,” he is shown on his visit to South Africa, taking part in the negotiations for peace, advising Lord Milner and Lord Kitchener, pardoning the Boers, and telling Great Britain what to do. In one picture in this publication, Lord Salisbury, Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Balfour, and other English statesmen are depicted dancing, evidently in great joy at news just received by the Imperial Government. The cause of this display of feeling is made known by Mr. Chamberlain, who says: “Hurrah, he’s coming; King Dick of New Zealand has finally announced his intention of looking us up,” and Lord Salisbury adds: “At last, success is assured!”
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