State physicians bleeding John Bull to death!! [graphic]

Vansittart and Castlereagh, as surgeons, bleeding coins from the arms of John Bull. The coins are collected by Prince Leopold, Princess Charlotte, a tiny McMahon, a Chinese mandarin, and the gouty Regent. Brougham, stands on the left, pointing finger at John Bull, saying, "Retrench! Johnny, Retrench! practise [sic] a little more Economy."

"John Bull sits foursquare in an arm-chair, between two surgeons, his arms extended horizontally and supported by the vertical poles which he clutches; these are spirally striped, like the barber's pole, and are such as were used by practisers of phlebotomy. The one in his right hand is inscribed 'Additional Military Staff to support the Peace'; the other: 'Wellington's Staff'. The surgeon on the left is Vansittart, in his Chancellor of the Exchequer's gown, triumphantly holding up his lancet as guineas spout from the incision in John's right arm. The coin is collected by Prince Leopold in a warming-pan inscribed '60,000 per Ann'. [see British Museum Satires No. 12754] and by Princess Charlotte, who holds out a large receptacle inscribed 'For Wedding Garm[ents] Diamond Trinkets & Baubles'. She looks sideways at the warming-pan; her very décolletée dress has a train, and she wears a small crown or coronet. His military tunic is covered with stars, and he stares intently at the golden shower. Castlereagh, with a cynical smile, operates on the left arm. A tiny McMahon swarms up the pole and holds out his 'Privy Purse', see British Museum Satires No. 11874, to catch a trickle from the wound. The main shower of guineas falls into the enormous jaws of a squatting and grotesque Chinese mandarin (see British Museum Satires No. 12749) whose obese body, in the form of a large bag, is inscribed 'To pay off Arrears of the Civil List'. Over this bag, the biggest of the receptacles depicted, the gouty Regent stoops forward, supported on crutches, his head turned to the left, staring with apprehensive malevolence at Brougham who stands on the extreme left, not caricatured. John Bull, a stout 'cit', wears patched and ragged waistcoat and breeches. His empty pockets are inside out. He registers alarm, and exclaims: "Pray good folks have a little mercy & spare the Vital stream which sustains me!-- Consider what Oceans I have spilt in the late Wars!--I am too much exhausted to Bleed as freely as formerly--You have Open'd so many veins & drain'd me so incessantly that I fear my Constitution is impair'd for ever! My Friends, say that I am Declining fast & will certainly Die of a Galloping Consumption!!!" Two hussars with drawn sabres stand on guard behind his chair, watching the operation with pleased surprise. Behind them, the middle distance and background are filled with soldiers standing at attention with drawn sabres or fixed bayonets, wearing braided tunics and high hussar caps. They have British flags, faintly indicated, one being a Union flag, another the Royal Standard, and a fringed banner inscribed 'Standing Army For the Peace Establishment'. On the right, behind the Regent, the Tsar walks off to the right, looking over his shoulder with a pleased smile; he carries a sack across his shoulder inscribed 'Subsidies Russia'. With him, but less conspicuous, are Francis I and Frederick William; each carries a basket on his head heaped with coins, one 'Subsidies For Austria', the other 'Subsidies for Prussia'. All three wear uniform. Brougham, who wears a long loose coat, with trousers, and holds a top-hat, stands in profile to the right, his right arm extended with admonitory finger pointing at John Bull. He says: "Retrench! Johnny, Retrench!--practise a little more Economy in your present Wretched State, or you'll never Recover!--you have too many Physicians & their constant Employment is very Expensive they will not leave you till they have the last Shilling!--Kick out the Doctors & a fig for the Disease!!" At his feet and in the foreground is a neat box inscribed '37 Styptics [see British Museum Satires No. 12750, &c.] for Curing John Bull's Dreadful Disorder by Brougham & C°.' Near it are the fragments of a broken tub inscribed: 'Property Tax receiver rendered useless by the "ignorant impatience" of John Bull.' In front of John are a jar of 'Leeches' and a book: 'The Red Book or or [sic] a list of Persons Holding Sinecures'. Three tubs heaped with coin stand on the right, each progressively larger in size, inscribed: [1] 'Regency Presents & Yearly Allowance to Bonaparte & the Govenors [sic] Establist at St Helena'; [2] 'To Support the Allied Army in France'; [3] 'Extra Allowance for Commissrs of Dockyards & other fresh-water Agents of the Navy who will on the Peace Establishment of 1816 greatly exceed in expence the War Estabt of 1804 when the British Navy with 140,000 seamen Covered the Ocean.'"--British Museum online catalogue