Malagrida & Conspirators,
Consulting the Ghost of Oliver Cromwell

This is one of a series of prints etched by Gillray and published by Elizabeth D'Achery satirising the new Rockingham administration which had taken office in late March of 1782.

The print features three figures from that administration "consulting" with the ghost of the infamous Oliver Cromwell, the leader of Parliamentary forces in the English Civil Wars, and the man seen as responsible for the execution of King Charles I and the (albeit temporary) overthrow of the English monarchy. Cromwell is shown in the height of his rebellion, in full military armor, with one foot on a broken royal sceptre and the other crushing the King's crown.

The members of the Rockingham ministry seeking his counsel include (from left to right) Charles James Fox (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs), the Earl of Shelburne (Secretary of State for the Home Department), and the Duke of Richmond (Master-General of the Ordnance). Shelburne was frequently called "Malagrida" by his political enemies after another infamous figure, the Jesuit priest Gabriel Malagrida (1689-1761) executed for his alleged involvement in an assassination attempt on the Portuguese King José I.

Implying that Cromwell is speaking as one radical republican to another, the print has Cromwell commending the trio for Shelburne's "Plan to Arm the People."

To obtain your end your Measures are right, You Arm the People - like me, you trample on Prerogative - Republicans favourite Plan.

The allusion is to a "Circular Letter" that had been distributed by Shelburne "to the Lord Mayor of London and other magistrates and officers dated the 7th of May, 1782; together with the Heads of a Plan. . .to arm the People." The letter and plan (as the British Museum commentary points out) were the subject of debate in the House of Commons on May 10 where it was vigorously supported by Fox. On the Ministry's side, the plan was seen as a needed way of strengthening the country's defenses in time of war. But to the Opposition (and to Gillray and D'Achery here) it was perceived as an invitation to armed rebellion like Cromwell's.

But lest it appear that Gillray and D'Achery support such a plan, Cromwell himself adds that all such attempts would be in vain: "The Spirit of the Constitution never dies." It is to that addendum, I believe, that the Rockingham trio is shown reacting: Fox disappointed, Richmond angry, and Shelburne not wholly convinced.

The point that the new Administration was dangerously republican and seemingly hell-bent on destroying the country had already beeen made by Gillray/D'Achery in May with Britania's Assassination, or the Republicans Amusement. And it was made again a few days after the Malagrida print with the publication of Guy Vaux in which the administration was likened to another set of conspirators, the members of the Gunpowder Plot.

But the specific design here in Malagrida may have been prompted by a satiric notice in the Morning Herald and Daily Adverstiser that appeared the same day as the debate over arming the people: May 10.

The spirit of Oliver Cromwell has been seen lately by divers persons to stalk through Privy Garden, stand on the stairs at the new Ministry levee, and haunt St. James's to the terror of all loyal subjects. (p.3)

Sources and Reading

• Commentary from the British Museum on Malagrida & Conspirators, Consulting the Ghost of Oliver Cromwell.
• "Gabriel Malagrida," Wikipedia
• "William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne," Wikipedia
• "Charles James Fox," Wikipedia
• "Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond," Wikipedia