The figures have numbers which refer to an explanation engraved beneath the design. A large dog muzzled and chained to a low round post is being maltreated by figures representing England's enemies. He is (1) "an English dog chained to a round neutral stake". A Dutchman (2) holds his tail and pinches it with a pair of pincers, he is giving him "a pinch in the tail before being bitten by him in the leg". Behind him is a crowned woman (Catharine of Russia) holding up a caduceus (as the protectress of commerce) in her left hand, a sword in her right; behind her stand two men, representing Sweden and Denmark. They are (3) "The Neutrality at the head of which is a crowned Princess nobly protecting free trade", and assisting Holland. A lean Frenchman (4) in back view, wearing a bag-wig, raises a parasol to beat the dog, looking towards the Dutchman; he is "beating the dog to encourage the Dutchman and showing him his friends". A Spaniard (5) raises a large tasselled cane to beat the dog, his left  hand is on the shoulder of (6) an American, in quasi-military uniform, holding a knotted scourge in each hand. "The Spaniard deftly strikes the cur with his cane and the American joins heartily in beating this pest of humanity on his impudent muzzle."
<p><br>In the background (left) a crowned woman stripped to the waist is tied by her wrists to a gallows, she is being flogged by a man dressed as a naval officer who holds a birch in each hand. She is "the proud Queen of the Sea being lashed by Paul Jones". Jones, when he took refuge in the Texel after his fight with Pearson (see BMSat 5559-66, 5582), was treated as a hero by the Dutch. Van Loon, 'Fall of the Dutch Republic', p. 237.  1780
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<br>Mezzotint
1780<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1780-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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