Charles James Fox (Whig politician) fires a blunderbuss at a post shaped like King George III. Behind him, Joseph Priestley (liberal theologian) and Richard Sheridan (Whig politician) smile slyly. Sheridan sings a French Revolutionary refrain - 'Ca-ira!'. Fear of revolution was rife in Britain. The King of Sweden had recently been assassinated, and events in France were rapidly escalating. Gillray describes the group as 'Swedes' to depict Fox and his followers as sympathetic to the revolutionary cause