Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Disease, Politics, Government, Quackery, Reading

    Offers the Prime Minister, Edward G G S Stanley (14th Earl of Derby), some political advice which is given as if Punch were a political physician administering medicine to the English constitution. Advises Derby to change his principles by taking 'a course of alternative medicine', notably 'some strong purgatives to drive out by degrees all his party prejudices'. Thinks his political demise can be averted by several means, including swallowing 'a Reform pill without waiting till next session', because 'Unless taken quite in time, a tonic will prove useless'. Goes on to advise the 'weak' premier to take a 'good strong dose of Punch', which contains no 'quackism' and is 'In all political diseases [...] the only sure corrective'.