I had a feeling that the japs intended to commit honourable treachery 

• 1941 
• Sillince, William 
• Drawing 
• Historical item 

6455163

Drawings / paintings

I had a feeling that the japs intended to commit honourable treachery

31.5 x 25 cm

1941

Original political cartoon in pencil on grained card for Punch magazine, 1941, shows two gentlemen on a London street discussing the recent actions of the Japanese. ‘Far east latest reports’ will refer to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941. Committing honourable suicide is a feature of Japanese culture, though here the word suicide is replaced by ‘treachery’, which is how US president Roosevelt described the attack on Pearl Harbour and which does not seem to be at all in keeping with the Japanese code of honour, as the attack came without warning or declaration of war and while the US and Japan were still engaged in talks to settle their differences. Published in Punch magazine on 10 December 1941 (date stamped on verso), and also reproduced in “We’re still all in it”, a collection of cartoons by Sillince (1942, p.93). Card size 31.5 x 25 cm (11.5 x 10 inch), image size 21 x 17.5 cm, signed lower left, caption written in red ink in lower border. In very good condition