'Twenty-six days after this Mr. Asquith received a deputation
of anti-suffragists to whom he gave free rein to an expression of
his entire sympathy with their position, and to whom he de-
clared that he regarded " the grant of the parliamentary fran-
chise to women as a political mistake of a very disastrous kind."
It was never disclosed how he could reconcile his promise to the
suffragists to make himself and his Government responsible, if
the House so desired, for carrying woman suffrage, with his
belief that it would prove a political mistake of a disastrous kind.
His words to the second deputation went far to make his promises
to the first worthless; many of his followers interpreted his
meaning to be that he relied on them to deliver him, as one of
them expressed it, from " the humiliation " of having to keep his
word. The first step in his deliverance would be the defeat of the
Conciliation bill, and the usual parliamentary devices were em-
ployed to secure this end. One of these was to detach from the
support of the bill the members of the Irish Nationalist party.
This was done by making them believe that the success of woman
suffrage would break up the Government and thus prevent
the third ratification by the Commons of the Home Rule bill
necessary to secure (under the Parliament Act) its passage into
law notwithstanding its rejection by the House of Lords. These
tactics, aided by a coal strike which caused the absence of 13
Labour members in their constituencies, were successful, and the
Conciliation bill, which had been carried on second reading on
May 5 1911 by 255 to 88, was defeated on March 28 1912 by 222
to 208. It was a heavy blow to the women's cause, and the most
perturbing feature to suffragists in this defeat was the conviction
that the same unscrupulous tactics which had secured it would be
put into operation against the woman suffrage amendments to
the Government Reform bill.
When this was produced it was called a Franchise and Regis- tration bill. It came on for second reading on July 12 1912. In his speech Mr. Asquith took full advantage of the recent defeat o! the Conciliation bill. He said: " This bill does not propose to confer the franchise on women ; whatever extensions of the fran- chise it makes are to male persons only." He then referred to the defeat of woman suffrage in March as the "considered judgment of the House," and he dismissed as "an altogether improbable hypothesis the possibility that the House would stultify itself by reversing this judgment during the same session." Notwithstanding this ominous warning Mr. Lloyd George and Sir Edward (afterwards Viscount) Grey continued to be confi- dent that amendments to the Government bill gave suffragists the best chance they had ever had of parliamentary victory. The bill itself, however, made no further progress during 1912; the protracted session lasted all through that year and overflowed into 1913; it was officially announced that committee stage would be taken on Jan. 24. All possible plans were elaborated by the real friends of woman suffrage both inside and outside Parlia- ment to ensure the success of one or other of the suffrage amend- ments. But the parliamentary air was still thick with intrigue, and many and circumstantial were the rumours that the suc- cess of any of the woman suffrage amendments would mean the resignation of anti-suffrage ministers and the break-up of the Government. No official contradiction was given to these rumours until the day before the House was expected to go into committee on the bill.
But the defeat of the bill did not proceed from this source. Three days from Jan. 24 had been allotted for the discussion of the woman suffrage amendments. This stage was, however, never reached. On Jan. 23 Mr. Bonar Law asked the Speaker to give a ruling on the point whether the Government's own amend- ments, regarding the occupation franchise for men, did not so far alter the bill from that which had received a second reading in July as to make it a new measure and necessitate its withdrawal and reintroduction in its new form. In his reply the Speaker intimated that this was his view, and added that there were " other amendments regarding female suffrage which of course would make a huge difference to the bill if they were inserted." The bill was killed by this ruling. Mr. Asquith did not mend the situation by his treatment of the suffragists, from whom he
refused to receive a deputation, and they were more incensed against him than ever when, in .lieu of what he himself called " the best chance they ever had," he only offered parliamentary time for the discussion of yet another private member's bill. All the suffrage societies repudiated this offer and did nothing to support the bill, which was brought forward in May 1913 and defeated by 266 votes to 219.
These events, the defeat of the Conciliation bill in March 1912 and the fiasco of the Government bill in Jan. 1913, convinced the N.U.W.S.S. that nothing would now be of any use but a Govern- ment bill with the whole weight of the party behind it. They accordingly gave a new interpretation to their election policy. This was, and continued to be, to support the best friend of woman suffrage; but events had proved that a suffrage candidate who belonged to a suffrage party was a better friend than a suf- frage candidate whose party was either hostile or neutral. The council governing the N.U.W.S.S. therefore resolved " that in judging which of the two pro-suffrage candidates should be sup- ported in an election, the official attitude of the party to which the candidate belongs should be taken into consideration." An analysis of the division when the Conciliation bill had been de- feated showed that 42 members who had been supported by the N.U.W.S.S. as " best friends of woman suffrage " (mostly follow- ers of Mr. Asquith) had voted against it. When party pulled one way and voteless women pulled the other, party proved the stronger. As Labour was the only party which had definitely made suffrage part of its programme, this change threw the influence of the N.U.W.S.S. in elections definitely on the side of Labour; and a special fund, called the election fighting fund, .was formed for the support of Labour candidates. The N.U.W.S.S. further resolved under no circumstances to support Government candidates, and to endeavour by all legitimate means to strengthen any party which adopted woman suffrage as part of its pro- gramme. By the adoption of this policy they succeeded in 16 months in defeating six Government candidates in by-elections, making a difference of 12 in divisions. They had also succeeded in each of the elections concerned in making the whole place ring with the suffrage agitation. Public opinion moved rapidly and strongly in the suffrage direction, the general view being that suffragists had received less than fair play at the hands of Mr. Asquith and his Government.
A " pilgrimage " organized by the N.U.W.S.S. in 1913 received a remarkable degree of support from the towns and villages traversed on the seven routes by which it approached London. But the N.U.W.S.S. were convinced that a free vote of the House of Commons on their question was an impossibility as long as there was a Prime Minister who was ardently opposed to his own principles when applied to women. They were therefore deter- mined to do everything in their power to reduce Mr. Asquith's majority. They believed that their election-fighting policy gave them an effective and constitutional method of doing this, and looked forward to helping to defeat his party in the general election which, but for the World War, must have taken place : not later than 1915. They were full of work in preparation for this, when on Aug. 4 1914 the overwhelming catastrophe of the World War broke out, not only destroying all opportunity of suffrage work but jeopardizing the very existence of represent- ative institutions in Europe.
Suffragists shared to the full in the solemn national con- ; sciousness that every ounce of strength would be needed in the gigantic effort which the successful prosecution of the* war de- manded. Indeed, suffragists realized this more quickly than the Government, which for many months seemed to believe that the war could be carried on solely by the efforts of. the male half of the nation, without disturbance of the domestic calm which they believed to be the only legitimate role of the female half: for offers of help from women to provide, and staff hospitals to sup- ply, women for work in public offices, thus leaving an additional number of young men free for military service, were plentifully douched with cold water.
Nevertheless suffragists, whether militant or non-militant, quickly faced the facts and clearly saw what their duty was. The
