The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-06-28
BOISSeU0In,
Tho Famous Woman Lawyer and American
Militant Suffragist

CIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE has pre-
y dicted that Wholesale lynching will be
the answer OF the men OF England to the
demand of the women of England for political
liberty. ] would not be surprised. Sir Arthur
knows his Engiishman; do the militants
Mnitancy is the result OF that knowledge. and
the losers In the game not the women.
Brutality. even when the origin OF the in
sinct that employs it is righteous. always re-
acts to the harm OF the person who makes use
OF II. 1t obhterates the faculties that we have
come to look upon necessary to civilization
1t deadens the sensibties. 1t burs magma
tion and sympathetic coarsens the spiritual
nore and dims the perceptions. When the or
lgin OF the instinct to brutality lies itself In
Injustice these results multiplied thous
andiold That is why any such outbursts on the
part OF Engiishmen as Sir Conan Doyle pre-
diets, would be fraught with danger 10 the
spiritual progress Of England.
In fact, these results already apparent
The hardening process which officials and
spectators have had to go through in order to
carry through the persecution OF English wo-
men fighting for their rights has led the
thorities from deIth to depth Of degradation
England has become. the London Times
truly says, the laughing stock of the
tions"-not because OF the repeated triumphs
of the militants over the Government. but be
cause OF the repeated exhibitions OF spiritual
poverty among her statesmen.
Now, am not disputng the fact that Sir
Arthur Conan Doyles predictions to the fu.
ture attitude OF Engishmen towards English
women is likely to result in ynching. On the
contrary, 1t is the existence OF such lurking
brutality In the nature of 80 many Englishmen
that Is responsible for the character OF the &C.
tiyities OF Englands women. The miltants
are not betraying their own natures by their
activities. They betraying their intimate
knowledge OF the natures of English men. who
nave for centuries looked upon as
something better than his dog: little dearer
than his horse" and have treated them &C.
cordingly. privately and publicly. In police
courts ami the sanctity OF the home, permit.
nj fha hand ho,& 1T.
and when battered and bruised, she appeared
In court against him. to punish him with
fine of So
Any reflection cast by the violence OF the
actions of the militants should fall where 1t be-
longs-on the statesmen who responsible.
Brutality begets brutality; violence begets VIC
lence; lawbreaking begets lawbreaking; and
II English women have disregarded the law, In
the making OF which they have had no say you
may be quite sure the aw-breaking game did
not begin with them. 1t began with their opt
ponens. and. apparently, IL what Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle says Is true 1t Is likely to end
where II began.
gard law and constitutional rights many peo-
pie do not know. The women who first
arrested as a result of their Interruptions OF
political Observation-Disclosures which by
no means illegal-were confined, as every pris
oner Is confined who Is committed for political
offences, even though that offence be murder
IN the first division of the English prisons.
Later the Government, in order to intimidate
the women, committed them to the Third d.
vision, although at no time was IL suggested
that their offence had any other than a politi.
cal motive The Third Division is the "a.
served for common criminals. and hence the
Incarceration of political prisoners there
a denial to the women Of right that had
never been denied to
This fact. and this fact alone, was RESPONSE
BILE for the hunger strike.
The hunger strike Is not protest against
Imprisonment 1t Is a protest, and the only
protest possible, to prisoners-prisoners being
individuals who are degree worse of than
those who outside the Constitution
against imprson lent in the Third Division.
rights and imprisoned in the First Division.
there was hunger striking. When their
prison" rights were denied them, they struck.
Now, IL the British Government Is in the
right, why does 1t not allow these hunger.
striking women to die in prison? The answer
Is simple. They dare not 1t Is because the
actions of those who would be responsible.
1. e., Of the British Government will not bear
the investigation that such deaths would entail.
Further, the public does not realize that 1t Is
a denial Of constitutional right that Is re-
Square and Buckingham Palace The Bill OF
Rights provides that every subject shall have
the right to petition the King or his represen
tative, the Prime Minister, for the redress of
any grievance, provided that such subject or
subjects do not approach the King or his rep.
resentative in deputation larger that thirteen.
Now, 1t Is because the Prime Minister Mr..
Asquith. has steadily refused to receive such
deputation from the Women's Social and Po-
litcal Union that all outbreaks, with their at.
tendant outrages to the women, like that Of
Black Friday, have occurred. The women have
attempted to approach the Prime Minister In