This illustration references the Franco-Prussian War, which began in the summer months of 1870. British magazines serve as an unexpectedly valuable primary source on this military episode: its initial absence from the presses hint at the fact that few expected the conflict to endure as it did. After France had amassed a number of unforeseen losses, British periodicals began to cover the developments of the war in earnest, yet were divided in terms of support. Punch stayed neutral, as this illustration suggests, with the national caricatures communicating war updates in a relatively lighthearted way.

By 1870, cricket had become a popular sport amongst the British middle class—the main consumers of Punch. Cricket served the nation in two ways: as motivation for setting leisure time aside and as a measure of morality. Despite the latter, according to historian Claire Westall cricket caused rowdy overexcitement and contributed to a developing penchant for gambling across Britain. While it is difficult to know exactly what a Victorian Londoner would have thought of this illustration, one assumption can be made from the faces of the crowd: that cricket was comedically boring.

Half of 1870 was spent debating the Elementary Education Act, which was finally passed as an official act of parliament in August of that year. This act ensured that every child in the nation had access to a basic education and, according to this illustration, was not wholly approved of by citizens. The emigration referred to by the men here is factual: a large fraction (approximately one fifth) of the population left Britain between the Napoleonic Wars and WW1. While the Education Act might seem like a metaphorical “step in the right direction” by contemporary standards, here it serves as comedy.