General Georges Mouton sits perched on an enormous clyster; representing his use of a prototype water-cannon in quelling an uprising. Lithograph after A. Desperret after Charles Philipon, c. 1831.

The print refers to events occurring between the 5th and 10th of May 1831, when continued rioting in the Place Vendôme was quelled by spraying water at the throng. This hitherto unused form of riot control was devised by Georges Mouton, comte de Lobau, the état-major général at the time, and Gabriel Delessert, the préfet de police. The former is pictured here. An equivalent riot of sorts broke out among clyster-obsessed caricaturists of the time, who had a field day