Item Number: 3987
Title: "Under Two Flags"
Artist: monogram?
Date: c1910
Size: 30"x40"
Comments: Wonderful and rare English Political poster, showing British leader being crushed by huge bag of "American Dollars" and sat upon by Irishman with Irish and American Flags. See below for a description of the political meaning behind this remarkable image (thanks to Jon Ehret!)
Price: Sold
Condition: B+ to A-, linen mounted, faint folds before mounting, fine color
The story of the poster (courtesy of Jon Ehret):
The poster looks to be a harsh criticism of American financial support for Irish independence at the start of the 20th century. There were several periods of pressure and contentiousness, during the latter half of the 19th and first part of the 20th centuries, when liberal British governments tried to settle the issue of Irish "home rule," or independence.
The poster probably was published by British unionists. The unionists, arguing for retention of Ireland as an integrated part of Britain and not a separate nation such as Canada, were fighting the British liberals and Irish nationalists, who argued for separate national status for Ireland. Unionists assailed the financial help from America as meddling, and eventually got their way after World War I with the partition of Ireland.
The man atop the bag of money appears to be John Redmond, the leader of the Irish Party from 1900 to 1918. Redmond was head of the largest nationalist party and its loudest voice. His name is also mentioned on a bag of dollars in another poster from your grouping, no. 3980 (revolution disguised as reform, with the example being granting Irish independence with help from "dollars from Redmond"), and he may be one of the revolutionaries in that poster, too.
As to who is under the bag in no. 3987, I am not completely sure. But based on the date on the poster, as well as the charicatures and names in the similar posters, it would seem very likely to be the liberal British prime minister H.H. Asquith. He was PM in 1910, when there was a key election that included the issue of home rule, and he had the support of the Irish nationalists.
So "Under Two Flags" probably refers to the Irish voices and American dollars controlling the decisions of the British ruling party at the time.