My own story
practical issue; and the next Parliament, I think, ought to see the
gratification of the women's claims. I do not exclude the possibility of
the suffrage being dealt with in this Parliament." Mr. Churchill
earnestly reiterated his claim to be considered a true friend of the
women's cause; but when pressed for a pledge that his Government would
take action, he urged his inability to speak for his colleagues.
This specious promise, or rather, prophecy of woman suffrage at some
indefinite time, won over a great many of the Liberal women, who
forthwith went staunchly to work for Mr. Churchill's election. Dundee
has a large population of extremely poor people, workers in the jute
mills and the marmalade factories. Some concessions in the matter of the
sugar tax, timely made, and the announcement that the new Government
meant to establish old age pensions, created an immense wave of Liberal
enthusiasm that swept Mr. Churchill into office in spite of our work,
which was untiring. We held something like two hundred meetings, and on
election eve, five huge demonstrations--four of them in the open air and
one which filled a large drill hall. Polling day, May 9th, was very
exciting. For every Suffragette at the polling-booths there were half a
dozen Liberal men and women, handing out bills with such legends as
"Vote for Churchill, and never mind the women," and "Put Churchill in
and keep the women out." Yet for all their efforts, Mr. Churchill polled
2200 votes less than his Liberal predecessor had polled at the general
election.
In the first seven by-elections following Mr. Asquith's elevation to the
premiership, we succeeded in pulling down the Liberal vote by 6663. Then
something happened to check our progress. Mr. Asquith received a
deputation of Liberal members of Parliament, who urged him to allow the
Stanger suffrage bill, which had passed its second reading by a large
majority, to be carried into law. Mr. Asquith replied that he himself
did not wish to see women enfranchised, and that it would not be
possible for the Government to give the required facilities to Mr.
Stanger's bill. He added that he was fully alive to the many defects of
the electoral system, and that the Government intended, "barring
accidents," to bring in a reform bill before the close of that
Parliament. Woman suffrage would have no place in it, but it would be so
worded that a woman-suffrage amendment might be added if any member
chose to move one. In that case, said Mr. Asquith, he should not
consider it the duty of the Government to oppose the amendment if it
were approved by a majority of the House of Commons--_provided_ that the
amendment was on democratic lines, and that it had back of it the
support, the strong and undoubted support, of the women of the country
as well as the present electorate.
One would not suppose that such an evasive utterance as this would be
regarded in any quarter as a promise that woman suffrage would be given
any real chances of success under the Asquith Government. That it was,
by many, taken quite seriously is but another proof of the gullibility
of the party-blinded public. The Liberal press lauded Mr. Asquith's
"promise," and called for a truce of militancy in order that the
Government might have every opportunity to act. Said the _Star_, in a
leader typical of many others: "The meaning of Mr. Asquith's pledge is
plain. Woman's suffrage will be passed through the House of Commons
before the present Government goes to the country."
As for the women's Liberal Associations, they were quite delirious with
joy. In a conference called for the purpose of passing resolutions of
gratitude, Lady Carlisle said: "This is a glorious day of rejoicing. Our
great Prime Minister, all honour to him, has opened a way to us by which
we can enter into that inheritance from which we have been too long
debarred."
At the two following by-elections, the last of the series, enormous
posters were exhibited, "Premier's Great Reform Bill: Votes for Women."
We tried to tell the electors that the pledge was false on the face of
it; that the specious proviso that the amendment be "democratic" left no
doubt that the Government would cause the rejection of any practical
amendment that might be moved. Our words fell on deaf ears, and the
Liberal majorities soared.
Just a week later Mr. Asquith was questioned in the House of Commons by
a slightly alarmed anti-suffragist member. The member asked Mr. Asquith
whether he considered himself pledged to introduce the reform hill
during that Parliament, whether he meant to allow such a bill to carry a
woman-suffrage amendment, if such were moved, and whether, in that case,
the suffrage amendment would become part of the Government policy.
Evasive as ever, the Prime Minister, after some sparring, replied, "My
honourable friend has asked me a question with regard to a remote and
speculative future." Thus was our interpretation of Mr. Asquith's
"promise" justified from his own lips. Yet the Liberal women still clung
to the hope of Government action, and the Liberal press pretended to
cling to it. As for the Women's Social and Political Union, we prepared
for more work. We had to strike out along a new line, since it was
evident that the Government could, for a time at least, neutralise our
by-election work by more false promises. Consistent with our policy, of
never going further than the Government compelled us to go, we made our
first action a perfectly peaceable one.
On the day when the Stanger bill had reached its second reading in the
House, and several days after I had gone to Holloway for the first time,
Mr. Herbert Gladstone, the Home Secretary, made a speech which greatly
interested the Suffragettes. He professed himself a suffragist, and
declared that he intended to vote for the bill. Nevertheless, he was
confident that it could not pass, because of the division in the
Cabinet, and because it had no political party united either for or
against it. Woman suffrage, said Mr. Gladstone, must advance to victory
through all the stages that are required for great reforms to mature.
First academic discussion, then effective action, was the history of
men's suffrage; it must be the same with women's suffrage. "Men,"
declared Mr. Gladstone, "have learned this lesson and know the necessity
for demonstrating the greatness of their movement, and for establishing
that _force majeure_ which actuates and arms a Government for effective
work. That is the task before the supporters of this great movement.
Looking back at the great political crises in the thirties, the sixties
and the eighties, it will be found that the people did not go about in
small crowds, nor were they content with enthusiastic meetings in large
halls; they assembled in their tens of thousands all over the country.
"Of course," added Mr. Gladstone, "it is not to be expected that women
can assemble in such masses, but power belongs to masses, and through
this power a Government can be influenced into more effective action
than a Government will be likely to take under present conditions."
The Women's Social and Political Union determined to answer this
challenge. If assembling in great masses was all that was necessary to
convince the Government that woman suffrage had passed the academic
stage and now demanded political action, we thought we could undertake
to satisfy the most skeptical member of the Cabinet. We knew that we
could organise a demonstration that would out-rival any of the great
franchise demonstrations held by men in the thirties, sixties, and
eighties. The largest number of people ever gathered in Hyde Park was
said to have approximated 72,000. We determined to organise a Hyde Park
demonstration of at least 250,000 people. Sunday, June 21, 1908, was
fixed for the date of this demonstration, and for many months we worked
to make it a day notable in the history of the movement. Our example was
emulated by the non-militant suffragists, who organised a fine
procession of their own, about a week before our demonstration. Thirteen
thousand women, it was said, marched in that procession.
On our demonstration we spent, for advertising alone, over a thousand
pounds, or five thousand dollars. We covered the hoardings of London and
of all the principal provincial cities with great posters bearing
portraits of the women who were to preside at the twenty platforms from
which speeches were to be made; a map of London, showing the routes by
which the seven processions were to advance, and a plan of the Hyde Park
meeting-place were also shown. London, of course, was thoroughly
organised. For weeks a small army of women was busy chalking
announcements on sidewalks, distributing handbills, canvassing from
house to house, advertising the demonstration by posters and sandwich
boards carried through the streets. We invited everybody to be present,
including both Houses of Parliament. A few days before the demonstration
Mrs. Drummond and a number of other women hired and decorated a launch
and sailed up the Thames to the Houses of Parliament, arriving at the
hour when members entertain their women friends at tea on the terrace.
Everyone left the tables and crowded to the water's edge as the boat
stopped, and Mrs. Drummond's strong, clear voice pealed out her
invitation to the Cabinet and the members of Parliament to join the
women's demonstration in Hyde Park. "Come to the park on Sunday," she
cried. "You shall have police protection, and there will be no arrests,
we promise you." An alarmed someone telephoned for the police boats, but
as they appeared, the women's boat steamed away.
What a day was Sunday, June 21st--clear, radiant, filled with golden
sunshine! As I advanced, leading, with the venerable Mrs.
Wolstenholm-Elmy, the first of the seven processions, it seemed to me
that all London had turned out to witness our demonstration. And a
goodly part of London followed the processions. When I mounted my
platform in Hyde Park, and surveyed the mighty throngs that waited there
and the endless crowds that were still pouring into the park from all
directions, I was filled with amazement not unmixed with awe. Never had
I imagined that so many people could be gathered together to share in a
political demonstration. It was a gay and beautiful as well as an
awe-inspiring spectacle, for the white gowns and flower-trimmed hats of
the women, against the background of ancient trees, gave the park the
appearance of a vast garden in full bloom.
The bugles sounded, and the speakers at each of the twenty platforms
began their addresses, which could not have been heard by more than half
or a third of the vast audience. Notwithstanding this, they remained to
the end. At five o'clock the bugles sounded again, the speaking ceased,
and the resolution calling upon the Government to bring in an official
woman-suffrage bill without delay was carried at every platform, often
without a dissenting vote. Then, with a three-times-repeated cry of
"Votes for Women!" from the assembled multitude, the great meeting
dispersed.
The London _Times_ said next day: "Its organisers had counted on an
audience of 250,000. That expectation was certainly fulfilled, and
probably it was doubled, and it would be difficult to contradict any one
who asserted that it was trebled. Like the distances and the number of
the stars, the facts were beyond the threshold of perception."
The _Daily Express_ said: "It is probable that so many people never
before stood in one square mass anywhere in England. Men who saw the
great Gladstone meeting years ago said that compared with yesterday's
multitude it was as nothing."
We felt that we had answered the challenge in Mr. Gladstone's
declaration that "power belongs to the masses," and that through this