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December 17th was the date of the defeat of the Fox-North coalition government's East India Bill in the Lords.
Pitt, with Britannia and the British Lion, attacks a many-headed monster with a serpent's tail which encircles a column inscribed 'British Constitution'; on this is a bust of the king. Pitt wears Roman armour; he holds a club in his right hand, Britannia's shield in his left, and appears to represent Hercules slaying the hydra. The necks of the monster join in a flattened mass on which stand Pitt, Britannia, and the lion, all three threatening the heads, which are those of the late Ministry: (left to right) North, Burke, Lord John Cavendish, Lord Derby (who had been Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster), Keppel, Portland, and Fox. The bust of George III is in profile to the left; against his shoulder rests a shield inscribed 'Dieu et mon Droit'. Cf. British Museum online catalog.