Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
proving that Caroline had committed adultery, so the bill effectively placed her on trial, with
Parliament serving as both jury and judge. George's plan failed. Public sympathy lay with
Caroline and, although the bill passed narrowly in the House of Lords on 6 November, it had
little chance of passing in the House of Commons and the government withdrew it. Caroline
retained the status of queen accepting an annual allowance of £50,000. Her victory did not
last long; she died the following year, aged just 53.
The scandal surrounding the royal couple inspired a vast amount of satire in various forms.
Some satirists supported George and others Caroline, with the balance of opinion in the
queen's favour. This map of the imaginary 'Green Bag Land' comes from a volume of car-
toons collected together for the Treasury Solicitor, a small government department supplying
legal advice to other branches of government. The map was published by the London book-
seller Joseph Onwhyn but its author is unknown.
Several of the map's features refer to notorious aspects of the trial. The 'green bags' were
two sealed bags of evidence against Caroline, the phrase 'non mi ricordo' ('I do not recol-
lect') was frequently used by a prosecution witness under cross-examination, and the boot-
shaped 'Country of Lies' is Italy, where Caroline's adultery with Pergami was alleged to have
occurred. Some of the more obscure features, including 'the House that Jack Built' and 'the
Matrimonial Ladder' allude to satirical poems by William Hone, an outspoken supporter of
political reform.
The landscape of Green Bag Land results from a symbiotic relationship between satire and
cartography: the map is both inspired by satire and a vehicle for the satirist's art. This paral-
lels the equally symbiotic relationship between the queen and radical politics. Despite having
no interest in politics herself, Caroline found radical politicians and their supporters useful
allies in her struggle against her husband. In turn, many radicals, however much or little sym-
pathy they had with Caroline personally, found her a useful, temporary figurehead in their
campaigns for political reform.
