This cartoon alludes to the bitter Anglo-French rivalry of the time. The cartoon depicts the Boer war raging in the background, while a tiny France encourages her ally the Russian Empire, depicted as a large bear, to rattle its saber at the British. A stalwart British soldier stares down the Russian bear and does not seem at all intimidated. The French Empire is depicted as tiny and impotent, forced to rely on the lumbering might of the Russians to achieve anything.
