1863
Scylla and Charybdis, or The Modern Ulysses.
Punch, Volume 45, October 10, 1863, p. 149
Recalling here a dramatic episode from Homer's Odyssey, Prime Minister Palmerston must carefully steer the British ship of state -- characterized by its lion figurehead -- between the perils of Scylla, a craggy rock in the form of a grim-visaged Lincoln, and Charybdis, a whirlpool which foams and froths into a likeness of Jefferson Davis. A shield emblazoned "Neutrality" hangs on the ship's thwarts. The judiciously cautious Palmerston was careful to maintain a strict impartiality towards both combatants on the part of the British government, though many (including some members of his own cabinet) favored recognizing the Confederacy, and urged use of the Royal Navy to break the Union blockade of Southern ports.
A note from the Introduction to the cumulated Volume XLV of Punch states: "The neutrality of England pleased neither the North nor the South." On the left page of the spread opposite Tenniel's cartoon, a parody of verses from Book XII of Homer's epic includes these lines ("Jackides" is a play on Lord Palmerston's middle name, John):
'Twixt North and South to keep our steady course
Demands the wise man's skill, the strong man's force...
The Yankee Scylla vainly scowls on you,
As vainly scowls the Slave Charybdis too.
I see no terror in those Federal glooms,
Whence Lincoln's long and rugged visage looms,
I see no terror in that Southern cloud
That wraps the face of Davis, keen and proud.
Let Abraham disport in jocund tales,
And split his Union as he split his rails;
Let Jefferson renew his fierce attacks,
And whip his foemen as he whips his blacks:
Neither shall hail Jackides as his friend,
Jackides, sternly neutral to the end ...'