'Justice', 1857

Engraving, published, 1857.

An allegorical figure of Justice strikes at the Indian rebels. The female figure is meant to represent the views of the British people following news of the massacre at Cawnpore during the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859).

On receiving news that a British force was approaching Cawnpore in July 1857, the Indian rebel leader Nana Sahib had ordered his men to execute around 200 imprisoned British women and children. The victims were then stripped and thrown down a well. The tale of the massacre, horrible as it was, gained much in the telling, and was used by the British to justify harsh and summary punitive measures during the suppression of the uprising.