Image: Shah Allum in distress (BM 1868,0808.10034)

Description: A design in two compartments illustrating an article in Biblical phraseology, 'The First Chapter of the Book of Kings' and 'The Lamentations'. In the upper part is depicted a meeting of the General Court of the East India Company; the directors seated at a table on which are writing materials, a book, and a hammer. In the foreground a large man, Governor Johnstone, is holding up by the seat of his breeches 'Shah Allum' or Sir George Colebrook for the derision of the other directors. In the background, behind a barrier, a crowd of men, apparently the proprietors of East India Stock, watch the proceedings with amusement. A ship with broken masts in heavy seas is driving on to rocks (right), on which is a flag-staff with a flag inscribed 'Treasury Cape'. On the right margin is inscribed "L. 40,00,00". This symbolizes the ruinous state of the Company's finances, on the verge of bankruptcy and burdened with an annual tribute of £400,000 to the Treasury. See 'Ann. Reg.' 1773, pp. 62 ff., and 'Camb. Hist. of the British Empire', iv, pp. 181 ff. See also BMSat 5101, &c. January 1773 Etching
Title: Shah Allum in distress
Credit: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-10034
Permission: © The Trustees of the British Museum, released as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No