Attributed to Philip Dawe, The Bostonians in Distress. Mezzotint engraving. London: R. Sayer & J. Bennett, November 1774.
This political cartoon is one of a series that Sayer & Bennett published in London to mock the contentious atmosphere in Boston following the December 1773 Boston Tea Party. In 1774, the British Parliament passed the Boston Port Act and other measures later known collectively as the Intolerable Acts, which cut off the city and limited its self-governance. The image depicts nine unkempt, pitiful Bostonians confined to a cage and fed fish by local sailors. The cage hangs from a dead branch of the Liberty Tree and British ships, troops, and cannon surround the scene.
For more information on this cartoon and related materials, see the European Political Print Collection Illustrated Box List.