Global Encounters and the Archives: Britain’s Empire in the Age of Horace Walpole

Carlo Khan Dethron'd, or, Billy's Triumph, March 24, 1784

Despite the increased involvement of the EIC in South Asia after 1765, the Company's privileges ran out in 1780. Preoccupied with the American Revolutionary crisis, Parliament did not determine a course of action until 1784. Charles James Fox's 1783 India Bill, undertaken with influence by Edmund Burke, proposed that India be governed by a board of seven independent commissioners in London. William Pitt the younger's 1784 India Act, by contrast, proposed a dual governance system that left the Directors in charge of Indian commerce but called for a new Board of Council to superintend Indian political affairs. "Billy's Triumph" refers to the success of Pitt's India Act at the expense of Fox's India Bill. In this political satire, the artist reimagines Fox, Pitt, and Prime Minister North using South Asian imagery. Charles Fox, dressed as an Oriental prince, lies on the ground after falling off the elephant with Lord North's face. The elephant, with William Pitt atop, faces the entrance to the East India House. Pitt holds out a "new India bill" and keeps other bills – including a Mutiny Act and Stamp Act – under his arm and in his pocket. Catalog Record

Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University Library

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