The Washington herald., 1914-09-06


part Of men, many OF whom were yoters.
the government yielded At once AeuIns
on this object lesson, the women organ-
lied to userSuch force a. women had At
command, and, moreover, In the time
honored regulation British way. II didnt
work out the same Although HUNDREDS
got away without being arrested IN the
confusion. about 800 were tried and I'M
prisoned. The fun Yengemcs Of the Cow
eminent was vented on Ara Pankhurst
and Mr.. and Mrs.. Pethiek-L AHrence VINO
had not broken any windows themselves,
but were arrested as the responsloIe'
tenced 10 nine month"; tmpr1sonment
The defense produced some Of the state
meuts which had been made BY members
Of the government condoning or advising
Violence To people who were striving for
noIiticaI rfrhts Mr.. Hobhouse was quoted
a. saying that thsre was nothing In the
women's agitation that men won their
votes by burning castles, etc. Lord Hal
dane had referred to their tactics az pin
prieks, and the attorney general. who was
leading the prosecution, had once re-
Formerly when the great mass
OF the people were voteless, they had TO
do something violent In order. to show
what they felt" And Mr.. Lloyd-GeorGe
was quoted as saying: There comes q
time In the life Of a people suffering from
an intolerable injustice when the only
way to maintain ones self-respect IL TO
light against that injustice"
Within three weeks Parliament, instead
of giving the women the justice asked for,
Is they had the miners, defeated the con-
Citation bill on its second reading by
Of Il where the same bill
the year before had had . majority on
Haadfn0 II In fkfa tina In
years o. Parliamentary action
On the question no suffrage bin had been
defeated by direct vote IN any Of its
stages, except the one TO give women the
county council vote, in 1889. There were
more of the avowed friends Of the bill
away investigating the labor trouble than
would have sufiiced 10 save the bill Then
the Redmond party voted solidly against
L as they had done against the minimum
wage bill, lest II might cost them some
votes on their home rule.
This last brought Irish women into mill
fancy, and they determined to make .
protest at the time when Mr.. Asquith
had announced he would speak In Dublin
At this time the attempt was made TO
burn the Dublin Theater. where his meet
Ing was held. great care being taken TO
start the FIRE when there would be no
lives endangered. This was followed BY
the most excessive punishments, the long
terms of Imprisonment being evadtd by
the hunger strike. to which the women
had now determined to resort These
leaders were all fed by force and released
1t the point Of death. In addition to i'm
prisonment Mr.. and Mrs. PethIck-Law-
renee, who were well-to-do people, were
fined and their goods seized 70 pay the
whole cost OF the damages. ! want to
quote from a letter which hints At the
spiritual side Of the movement because
unless one can understand this the whole
militant movement simply arrays itself
along with other attempts to gain polid-
,al rights by war.
AS Mrs. Pethick-Lawrence stood on the
avn with all her household possessions
around her. about TO be sold at auction,
he impression she gave in her speech
was the inviolabilIty of her soul"
There are things which no one can
ouch or assail, and the secret OF MILL
ant women il that they have withdrawn
themselves to the company Of those
hings, and that imprisonment and pain.
-idicule and contumely. loss Of money
md possessions. and even Of friends. are
'owerless to affect that inner center Of
and courage"
In November, 1872, Mr.. Philip SnoWden
moved an amendment to the clause in the
oral register substituting the local gov |
rnment register on which women In Ire |
and have long voted on equal terms with |
men, and this amendment would admit |
women to the electorate for the Irish |
louise The amendment was opposed by !
he government and by the members OF |
he Irish Nationalist party and was de- |
Gated by a majority of I7S.
why I.Gnsbury ResiEned.
The closing evenHof the year was the
esignation Of Mr.. George Lansbury. |
.abor member from East London, the |
Bow and Bromley district. as a protest |
.gainst the government, and especially |
IgainsF the Labor party, in not making /
,otes for women its FIRST political consid- |
ration. Mr.. Lansbury took the ground |
hat members who were sincere in their |
Idvocacy Of woman suffrage ought % \
orce the government by Withdrawing |
heir support from all government fran |
hise measures that did not include |
women. The government was about to |
its adult suffrage bill without |
including votes for any women, and IL |
he Labor members had agreed not to |
Import adult suffrage unless II included |
women they could have carried the day |
or women. On this point Mr.. Lansbury |
Lppealed to his constituents, but was not |
Imported. A Liberal was elected by q !