The Women's Suffrage Movement in England

Author(s): Edward Raymond Turner

Source: The American Political Science Review , Nov., 1913, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Nov., 1913), pp.
588-609
Published by: American Political Science Association

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THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND

EDWARD RAYMOND TURNER

University of Michigan

At present neither the prospect of home rule nor the danger

from Germany nor the mighty design of imperial federation
assails the public mind of England so insistently as the demand
for the enfranchisement of women. Since 1905 it has come to be
realized that British men and women are face to face with a change
of profound importance, and that the veil of the future hides
immense possibilities of good or of ill soon to come.
Allowing British women to take part in the government of the
realm is a question of the last century and particularly of the
years since 1867, but the antiquarian traces the elements of the
problem in the feudal law of the earlier middle ages, when tenure
and service rather than persons furnished the basis of organiza-
tion, and when instances occur of women taking part in local
affairs and holding office and jurisdiction. For the most part,
however, these instances are valuable now merely as the slender
basis for legal argument.
In the seventeenth century some women attempted to influ-
ence the conduct of parliamentary affairs.' In 1642 a throng
of gentlewoman and tradesmen's wives came to the house of
commons with a petition against papists and prelates. "Christ
hath purchased us at as dear a rate as he hath done men," they
said. "You shall, God willing, receive from us all the satisfaction
which we can possibly give," replied Pym, who was sent to the
door to address them.2 Next year a great crowd came and
cried out against "that dog Pym," and threw brickbats until the
horsemen charged them with drawn swords.3 Several times Lon-

1 Cf. Commons' Journals, i, 348.

2 Parliamentary History, ii, 1072-1076; Commons' Journals, ii, 413.
3Rushworth, Historical Collections, v, 357, 358.

588

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 THE WOMEN S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND 589

don women assembled with petitions. Once they halted Sir

Simond D'Ewes, and even the mighty Oliver, it is said.4 These
actions, slight beside what was done by the women of Paris in
the days of terror, led to nothing, and there is only the shadow
of them now in the ridicule of Hudibras and the yellowed tomes
of Rushworth.
Toward the end of the eighteenth century, in the days of revolu-
tionists and liberal thinkers, woman's interest in government
began to be formally urged. In 1792 Mary Godwin wrote her
Vindication of the Rights of Women. "I may excite laughter,"
she said, "for I really think that women ought to have represen-
tatives, instead of being arbitrarily governed."' In 1797 Fox,
speaking in the house of commons against a too wide extension of
the suffrage, declared that the superior class of women were far
better qualified to vote than the lower class of men.6 In 1847
appeared the first women's suffrage hand-bill, asserting that good
government was impossible unless both sexes were represented.7
A year later Disraeli, speaking in parliament, declared that in a
country governed by a woman and where women had possessed
so many privileges of property and jurisdiction, "I do not see
on what reasons, if you come to right, she has not a
right to vote."8 In 1857 the work of a Quakeress, Anne Kent,
led to the formation of the Sheffield Female Political Association,
the first suffragist organization. A few years after, John Stuart
Mill became the apostle of the cause, after which it attracted ever
increasing attention. By 1878 a critic who was no friend to the
movement wrote that it had reached a point from which "it
cannot recede, and from which it is almost as impossible that it
should not advance."9
Therefore it may be seen that the women's suffrage agitation,
so prominent of late, is nothing new. Indeed, the student is apt
4Cf. Ellen A. M'Arthur, "Women Petitioners and the Long Parliament,"
English Historical Review, xxiv, 698-709.
5 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 335.
6 Parliamentary History, xxxiii, 726, 727.
7Cf. Kaethe Schirmacher, The Modern Woman's Rights Movement (New York,
1912), p. 60.
8 3 Parliamentary Debates (abbreviated below P. D.), xcix, 950.
9Mrs. A. S. Orr, Nineteenth Century, iii, 1010.

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590 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW

to be astonished at the gradual progress made recently. Fifty

years ago a few men and more women were saying that which
many people are saying nowadays. Viewed as a whole the move-
ment seems only one part of the rise of humanity and the exten-
sion of democracy in the nineteenth century. Women have been
rising as men have been rising; and they have advanced less
rapidly because bound more straightly by the past. But they
have realized their disabilities, and with this understanding
has come the desire to be free and better. The most important
factors in this development have been the achieving of a partial
economic enfranchisement and the gaining of intellectual freedom
through education.
Suffrage enthusiasts are not justified in their extreme accounts
of the legal disabilities of women in olden times; for historically
it seems certain that many of the inequalities were designed to
protect women more than to depress them. It is certain, however,
that by Glanvil's time most English women had before the law a
position subordinate and inferior. By the end of the eighteenth
century there had been some amelioration, but the inequality
was still very striking. Generally speaking, women could not
hold office and could take no part in the elections. They were
debarred from jury service, and in some instances oppressed with
harder punishments. Otherwise women who were unmarried had
the same legal status as men, except in the inheritance of en-
tailed estates. Married women, however, the great part of the
female population, were on a distinctly different footing. By
marriage the husband and the wife were one person in law, and
the existence of the woman was merged absolutely in that of her
partner, under whose cover "she performs everything; and is
therefore called in our law french a feme covert.""o The woman
wasfeme, the husband baron or lord, to whom she owed obedience,
and for whose murder she would be guilty of treason. Since the
husband was accountable for the conduct of his wife, he might
restrain and chastise her; and although she had come to have
reasonable security, Blackstone confesses that "the lower rank of
people, who were always fond of the old common law, still claim
10 Blackstone, Commentaries, bk. i, ch. 15.

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 THE WOMEN' S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND 591

and exert their ancient privilege."" On marriage the woman's

personal property became the husband's, as did the revenue of
her estates. Since she had no legal existence, she could make no
contract. The children belonged to the father. Divorce was
difficult. For slander there was no redress. "So great a favourite
is the female sex of the laws of England."'12
The burden of law and custom, once borne in silence, was
endured unwillingly, when the circumstances of a changing age
brought greater freedom. Of all the changes which contributed
to the uplifting of women, education, and particularly higher
education, was the most important. At the beginning of the
nineteenth century there was scant opportunity for girls to carry
on studies beyond the elementary stage, and generally education
was poor and difficult to obtain. For 1843 the marriage registers
show that nearly half of the women were unable to write, while
this was true of less than a third of the men.'3 As time went
on education was made better and more widely diffused, but even
more important was the work done about the middle of the cen-
tury in giving to women advanced instruction and college training.
Gradually they were admitted to colleges and universities, and
then obtained part of the empire of knowledge, so long in the pos-
session of men. The deeper insight and the broader view thus
gained make this movement as important to the womanhood of
England as the Renaissance was to the companions of Petrarch
and Erasmus.
This freeing of the intellect was accompanied by growing eco-
nomic importance and some economic freedom. The story of the
breaking up of the old home industries and the concentration of
manufacturers in the factories of capitalists has often been told,
and also the hideous wrongs which beset the women and children
gathered there; but it was by the industrial revolution that eco-
nomic independence was obtained. The women who had pre-
viously worked in the homes of their fathers or husbands, now
worked beyond their supervision for wages, and as time went by
came to regard these wages as their own and to keep them.
"lIbid.
12 Ibid.
13 Statesman's Year Book, 1911, p. 31.

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592 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW

And finally, to these causes there was added another which if

ultimately less powerful was directly the most effective of them
all, and that was the greater number of women. At the beginning
of the century there were in England and Wales nearly 400,000
more women than men. For a long while the sons of the nation
had been going out into new homes, and all too frequently their
women had not gone with them. Continually the surplus of
women increased. Nothing explains the intensity of the forces
which now appear so clearly as the figures of the census.'4 In
1913 the women exceeded the men by 1,200,000, so that there is
a large number who cannot possibly marry. Herein not a few
students have seen the cause of the suffrage movement,'5 while
antagonists have believed that the remedy lies in correcting an
abnormal situation. The suffragists, they say, are the incomplete
and sexually embittered;'6 the mateless woman of England should
join their men in the newer lands beyond the sea.
Such are the conditions of the problem. The position of women
in England was not that of men, and the inequalities were endured
less willingly as women obtained knowledge and financial indepen-
dence. Many were indifferent or conservative; but the bolder
or more impatient were constantly urged on by an increasing

'4CENSUS POPULATION MEN WOMEN EXCESS OF WOMEN

1801 8,892,536 4,254,735 4,637,801 383,066

1811 10,164,256 4,873,605 5,290,651 417,046
1821 12,000,236 5,850,319 6,149,917 299,598
1831 13,896,797 6,771,196 7,125,601 354,405
1841 15,914,148 7,777,586 8,136,562 358,976
1851 17,927,609 8,781,225 9,146,384 365,159
1861 20,066,224 9,776,259 10,289,965 513,706
1871 22,712,266 11,058,934 11,653,332 594,398
1881 25,968,286 12,624,754 13,343,532 718,778
1891 29,001,018 14,050,620 14,950,398 899,768
1901 32,526,075 15,721,728 16,804,347 1,082,619
1911 36,075,269 17,448,476 18,626,793 1,178,317

Statesman's Year Book, 1882, p. 240; 1892, p. 14; 1902, p. 14; 1912, p. 12.

16 Cf. Ninteenth Century, iii, 1013.

16Letter of Sir Almroth Wright, London Times (weekly), March 29, 1912.

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 TIHE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND 593

army of unmarried women forced out of the home to carry on an

unequal contest with men.'7 These women believed that great
changes were necessary for their welfare, and that these changes
could only be obtained with the ballot.
The movement for enfranchisement became a real force in Eng-
land in the days of John Stuart Mill. Before his time earnest
people had spoken and labored for it, enthusiasts had gained
notoriety, literature had been circulated, and some societies had
been founded; but it was a novelty which encountered ridicule
more than respect until Mill became its champion. In 1865 he
was sent to the house of commons for Westminster. In writings
and speeches he had already declared himself heartily in favor of
women's suffrage; now he brought the matter before parliament.
In 1866 the second struggle to extend the parliamentary fran-
chise reached its culmination with the introduction of the " repre-
sentation of the people's bill." On May 20 of the year following
Mill proposed to amend the fourth clause by substituting "person"
for "man," so that women might not be excluded. Women, he said
were neither unfit nor dangerous. The place of woman was the
home, but suffrage would not interfere with her work. The exclu-
sion of women because of sex was in violation of the old estab-
lished English doctrine that taxation and representation should go
together. Women were interested in the larger concerns of life
as were men, to whom they were companions, and from whom
they could not be thrust apart. "The time is now come," he
declared, "when, unless women are raised to the level of men,
men will be pulled down to theirs."18 The amendment was re-
jected, but after events were to show that this was the begin
not the end of the struggle.'9
The reform act of 1867 provided that every qualified "man"
might vote,20 thus changing the provision of the act of 1832 which
had given the franchise to male persons.2' Suffragists assert that

17 Cf. 3 P. D., cclxxxviii, 1946, 1947.

18 3 P. D., clxxxii, 1253; clxxxvii, 817-829.
19 3 P. D., clxxxvii, 843.
2030 and 31 Victoria, c. 102, sec. 3.
21 2 and 3 William IV, c. 45, sec. 19.

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594 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW

according to the old law and custom of England women were

permitted to vote, that abbesses were summoned to parliament,22
that women took part in local elections,23 that the election law of
1429 did not restrict the suffrage to men,2 and that the term "man"
whenever used in old legal documents denotes women as well as
men.25 In 1850 it had been enacted that "in all Acts Words
importing the Masculine Gender shall be deemed and taken to
include Females."26 Accordingly the courts were now asked to
determine whether under the provisions of the new law women
were not entitled to vote; but in 1868 they decided that the privi-
lege was not so granted.27 In 1884 the third Reform Act, which
widened the electorate still further, continued the exclusion of
women by allowing the suffrage to "every man" therein de-
scribed.28
Failing to obtain their desire through legal construction, the
suffragists sought enfranchisement through a statute of the realm.
Mill was not returned to the house of commons, but the cause was
taken up by his associates and by new advocates who appeared.
In 1870 Jacob Bright brought forward the women's disabilities
bill, the first women's suffrage measure presented in England.
It was thoroughly debated, but was lost after the second reading.29
Thereafter numerous bills were introduced, frequently several in
the same year, and debates became longer and more and more
frequent.30 Most of the measures proposed were never considered
at all, but on seven occasions suffragist bills passed the second
reading.31 Meanwhile in 1884 strenuous efforts were made for
an amendment to the pending reform bill so that women might
be included. In the same year the aged Lord Denman presented

22 Cf. Palgrave, Parliamentary Writs, i, 164.

23 Cf. Commons' Journals, i, 875.
24 Cf. Statutes of the Realm, ii, 243.
25 Cf. C. C. Stopes, British Freewomen, Their Historical Privilege.
26 13 Victoria, c. 21, sec. 4.
27 Court of Common Pleas. Chorlton v. Lings.
28 48 Victoria, c. 3, sec. 2.
29 3 P. D., cci, 194, 239, 607.
30 Cf. Mrs. M. G. Fawcett, Women's Suffrage, 84.
31 In 1870, 1886, 1897, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911. Cf. A Brief Review of the Women's
Suffrage Movement Since Its Beginning in 1832 (London, 1911).

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 THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND 595

in the house of lords a bill "for extending the right of voting at

parliamentary elections to women."32 Every year thereafter for
the next decade he brought up the matter, but could never gain a
hearing, because of the objection usually urged that the lords
should not first consider a measure affecting the house of
commons.33
The history of these efforts during forty-five years presents the
curious problem of no progress being made in parliament, despite
the fact that the matter was kept before the commons year by
year, with repeated and lengthy discussion, with many bills intro-
duced, and with some of them having heavy majorities on second
reading. Apparently there was during most of this time a ma-
jority in favor of such a measure, and this the suffragists confi-
dently maintain.34 In 1911 Sir George Kemp declared that a
stranger inquiring about women's suffrage would be told that
"for the last quarter of a century it had a permanent majority
in this House."35 Whether this majority contained for the most
part men who would work to the end for the consummation
of their purpose, or whether it was composed of supporters who
were advocates up to a certain point and lukewarm thereafter,
it is difficult to decide. There is, however, no doubt that this
majority existed only in so far as it was assembled around the
principle of women's suffrage, and had otherwise no cohesion or
strength. It was admitted from the first that the question was
not political in the ordinary sense.36 Both parties were divided
on the question, so that the advocates of enfranchisement came
from each of them without the support of either. Politically,
then, the chief cause of the failure of the movement is that neither
of the great parties in the house of commons has made women's
suffrage a government measure, and that therefore the cause has
lacked the powerful force of party organization and political

323 P. D., cclxxxix, 1860.

333 P. D., ccex, 256, 257, 258.
34 "There has been a majority in the House of Commons in favour of women's
suffrage since 1886." Fawcett, Women's Suffrage, 85. Cf. 4 P. D., cxlvi, 218.
355 P. D., xxv, 744.
364 P. D., xlv, 1174. Cf. ibid., cxxxi, 1335; cxlvi, 218.

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596 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW

machinery. It would seem, moreover, as sympathizers have de-

clared, that obstacles have been cunningly placed in the way.37
In 1911 Mr F. E. Smith, in a debate on the parliament bill,
asserted that if the prime minister would give facilities for full
parliamentary discussion, women's suffrage would be carried
into a law within two years.38
The women's suffrage bills introduced into parliament bore
various titles. Some were bills for the removal of the disabilities
of women, some for the enfranchisement of women, and some for
the extension of the parliamentary franchise.3' The purpose of
all of them was to allow women to vote in elections for members
of the house of commons, and the avowed object was to remove
disabilities resulting merely from sex.40 Upon what women the
privilege was to be conferred was not always clear. The earlier
bills proposed to enfranchise widows and spinsters with qualifi-
cations prescribed.4' Such a measure would not have enlarged
the electorate to a very great extent. In 1876 it was estimated
that by the terms of Mr. Forsyth's bill parliamentary elections
would be made by thirteen women for every hundred men,42 and
shortly after it was said that not more than 400,000 names would
be added to the lists.43 Even the legislators of 1910 proposed to
enfranchise no more than 1,000,000 women, or, roughly, one
woman to every seven men.44 The more ardent leaders, however,
were at no time willing that women should be excluded because
they were represented by husbands, and it was often suspected
that any legislation carried would permit wives to vote, leading
perhaps to adult suffrage, and that such was the design of the
advocates, if not directly, at least as an ultimate consequence.45

373 P. D., cccii, 700.

345 P. D., xxv, 1660.
39 Cf. 3 P. D., ccix, 90; cccii, 187; 4 P. D., xiii, 404.
40 3 P. D., cclxxxi, 664; 5 P. D., xxv, 738.
41Cf. 3 P. D., ccxxviii, 1659.
423 P. D., ccxxviii, 1667.
43Ibid., ccxl, 1827.
44 5 P. D., xxv, 739-741.
45 3 P. D., ccxxviii, 1669; ccxxxiv, 1364; cclxxxi, 718.

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 THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND 597

As there were more women in the country than men, this was
constantly .urged as a capital objection.46
Many of the arguments about women's suffrage have been
repeated so often that what seems striking in 1867 is familiar by
1884 and in 1913 interesting only through intrinsic merit. There-
fore the arguments advanced on one side or the other during the
past fifty years may be properly summed up and treated in
one place together.
Suffragists declare that women suffer under disabilities that only
the ballot can remedy. Much has been done to remove the injus-
tice of unequal laws, married women have been given control of
their property, a wife is no longerfeme covert, and the husband is no
longer her lord; but the divorce laws are unequal, the father is
the sole parent of the children, the husband is the sole owner of
his income, the age of consent is too low, and new social and
industrial laws may bring new discrimination7 They say, also,
that industrial salvation can only be obtained in the way that
men have obtained it, by making their influence felt in the govern-
ment.48 Until they can make legislators fear them, legislators
will never heed them. Men's trade unions were not legalized
until the ballots of laborers were feared, 49and since 1832 the wages
of men have risen greatly while the wages of women have lagged
far behind.50 The government, they say, deliberately pays its
women employees at a lower rate than its men, while the more
profitable positions are withheld from women altogether.51 In

46 "Woman suffrage means adult suffrage; and adult suffrage means the trans-
fer of the right to govern the United Kingdom from some 7,000,000 of men to
some 20,000,000 or, it may be, 24,000,000 of men and women, whereof women will
be the majority." A. V. Dicey, Quarterly Review, ccx, 299 (January, 1909).
47 Cf. Frederick W. Pethick Lawrence, Women's Fight For The Vote (London,
1911), 28-36; 4 P. D., cxxxi, 1358.
48 Some Reasons Why Working Women Want the Vote (leaflet).
49 Geraldine Hodgson, Five Points in the Relation between Votes for Women
and Certain Economic and Social Facts (leaflet).
503 P. D., ccxl, 1810; 4 P. D., cxxxi, 1334, 1345; "Easier to Starve" (leaflet).
In 1905 it was asserted that the average weekly wage of British working women
was seven shillings. 4 P. D., cxlvi, 223.
S1 Pethick Lawrence, Women's Fight For The Vote, 37-44.

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598 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW

art age when a vast number of English women are compelled to

support themselves such a situation is intolerable.52
They assert also that it is unjust for them not to be represented
in the government, and most fitting and necessary that they
should have a part in it. Again and again have they denounced
taxes without representation, and the fact that they must obey
man-made laws but have no voice in making them.53 "You admit
women to the gallows and the gaol, to the Income Tax list and the
poor rate book. By what right do you debar them from the
ballot box?"'4
Aside from the justice of giving votes to women, such enfran-
chisement would be for the good not merely of women but of men
and of the state as well. Some things affect women particularly,
and there are some which men can never understand as they do.55
Such are questions relating to morality, education, the care of
children, and all social and economic matters affecting munici-
palities, which may be regarded as the surroundings of the home.A6
Men can do some kinds of work better than women, who are in
other respects superior. At present the state loses the intelli-
gence and energy which women, when they are allowed to vote,
will bring to bear in government for the betterment of all men,
women and children.57
Whenever in the past there have been proposals to increase the
electorate, the novelty of the thing has aroused distrust in the
conservative part of the nation. This was so in 1832, 1867, and
1884, and opposition preceded all attempts to remove disabilities
from Catholics, Jews, Dissenters, and Irish. But in no instance
have the disasters followed which were predicted. In the case of
women such fears are evidently groundless, for women are now
asking for the parliamentary franchise after they have been ad-
mitted to vote in local elections. Gradually single women and

52 3 P. D., ccxl, 1840.

53 What Is A Vote? (leaflet).
b4 3 P. D., cclxxxix, 162. Cf. Punch, May 10, 1905.
55 A Wider World (leaflet).
66 Let the Women Help (leaflet); White Slave Traffic (leaflet).
57 Men & Women Together (leaflet); The Question of the Moment (leaflet).

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 THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND 599

widows have been made eligible as electors and even candidates

in one local unit after another, until at last they may vote in elec-
tions for parish, district, town, and county councils, for poor law
guardians and for school boards.58 If women can be trusted to
do work of this kind, and it is admitted that they are doing it
well, there can be no doubt that they are qualified in experience,
ability and intellect to take part in the conduct of national affairs.
The recent experience of the younger British commonwealths
and of some of the states of North America proves, they say, the
truth of this contention.A9
And finally, the effect upon women would be desirable from
every point of view. The traditional woman's life of circum-
scribed activity, narrow interests, dependence and servility, make
her unfitted to do her best work in the modern world. Partici-
pation in politics and interest in larger things would make her
finer and happier, a more admirable human being, a mother more
worthy of the respect of sons and daughters, a truer wife, a more
sympathetic companion to her husband. Then she would receive
more honor and respect because she deserved it. The world
would award her more because she would be better and could do
more for the world.
Against all this it is urged that the proper work of men and of
women is distinctly divided by nature.60 The place of woman is
primarily in the home as a wife and mother, and the tasks outside
are for the most part man's. Any undue enlargement of the
duties of either sex is detrimental to the interests of the other. If
women engage actively in politics, they will probably be less
willing to marry, and so the state will suffer grievously while the
neglect of home duties by the mothers will bring enduring harm
to children. Nor, if women exhaust their nervous strength in
assuming new and needless duties, will they be fitted as before to
enter into marriage and motherhood.61 All this is realized by

58 Cf. 4 P. D., xlv, 1175; The Anti-Suffrage Handbook (London, 1912), 67-69.
For the most part married women are debarred from these rights.
59 4 P. D., cxxxi, 1333; but cf. The Anti-Suffrage Handbook, 59.
60 Manifesto. No Votes For Women (leaflet).
61 Cf. Nineteenth Century, lxxii, 179, 180 (July, 1912).

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600 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW

most women, who do not desire to have the suffrage thrust upon
them.62
The very temperament of women and the relations of the sexes
make voting by women undesirable. It is the nature of women to
be hasty, emotional, subject to influence, and at times not capable
of just decision. The success of English institutions and the
growth of England's power are due to the resolute steadiness of
Englishmen, which would be lost if feminine whim and impulse
entered into government.63 As women are more subject to reli-
gious domination than men, the government might, when they
voted, get into the hands of prelates and priests.64 Nor would
there be the old harmony in family life or the sweet dependence
of woman upon man. Then husband would be divided from wife,
and they might conceivably be opposing candidates at elections.6"
The national affairs of Great Britain are men's affairs, and
must be so. The empire has been built up with the efforts and
the lives of great men, and only their sons can rule it. Things
that affect the existence of the nation cannot be left to the inex-
perience, the sentiment, and the wavering decision of women, nor
would the subject races of the east ever endure such rule.66 More-
over, the admission of women to the parliamentary franchise
would mean the ultimate domination of women over men in
England. When women vote they will never be content until
they hold office.67 Then, since there is a majority of women,
females will rule, and then will men suffer petticoat domination
in the government which once they created.68
A government based partly upon the votes of women would
fail because the decrees of such a government could never be
624 P. D., cxlvi, 235.
633 P. D., cclxxxix, 103; 4 P. D., cxlvi, 227.
643 P. D., ccxl, 1805; ccxxviii, 1700.
6 4 P. D., cxxxi, 1342.
66 Woman Suffrage And India (leaflet); A. C. Gronno, The Woman M. P., A
Peril to Women and the Country, 35.
67 3 P. D., cccii, 697.
68 "Votes For Women," Never! (leaflet); 3 P. D., cclxxxix, 173. In 1904 Mr.
Labouchere said: "If the Resolution was adopted, therefore, the country would
be absolutely in the hands of women." 4 P. D., cxxxi, 1339.

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 THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND 601

enforced against the wishes of a majority of the men. Govern-

ment, say the upholders of this view, rests ultimately upon force,
and in the last resort upon nothing else. The acquiescence of the
minority in the will of the majority is based upon experience
gained through ages of fighting, that the majority can enforce
its will; and at present it is well understood that the greater
number of votes represents what was once the greater number of
fighting men, and what would be again, if there were need of
it. But with women in the electorate this could not usually be
certain. If there came a day when a majority was made up of
the greater number of women and the smaller number of men,
while the minority embraced most of the men and the lesser
of women, then in all probability the minority would overturn
the government and enforce its desire, because it could do SO.69
Therefore, while women should have full civil equality and, if
need be, local political rights, they ought not to have part in the
government of the realm, since they cannot bear arms against its
enemies nor enforce its decrees at home.70
Women do not need the vote, nor it is well for them to have it.
Women are not held in servitude by the tyranny of men. The
old legal inequalities, which arose in the midst of different condi-
tions, have been removed one after another, until now, in some
instances, the woman is favored at the expense of the man.7'
Throughout the nineteenth century parliaments of men passed
laws to assist and protect women workers. Inferiority of women's
wages is not the result of laws, but is owing to the inferiority of
women's work and to far-reaching economic causes which suffrage
alone never can remove.72 Not only would enfranchisement
not cure the ills of which suffragists complain, but women, seeking

f9 Dicey, Quarterly Review, ccx, 293, 294; 4 P. D., cxlvi, 233.

70A. MacCallum Scott, The Physical Force Argument Against Woman Suf-
frage, London, 1912; but cf. 4 P. D., cxxxi. 1346: "they had borne in their own
arms those who became able to defend it."
71 The Anti-Suffrage Handbook, 48-51.
72 A. M. Scott, Equal Pay For Equal Work, A Woman Suffrage Fallacy,
London, 1912; cf. 4 P. D., cxlvi, 231.

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602 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW

vain remedies in the world of politics, would become less womanly

and undergo inevitable deterioration of character.73
Such are the arguments which are scattered through the parlia-
mentary debates for fifty years, which reappear in the newspapers
continually, which are to be heard of evenings in assembly halls
and on Sundays in Hyde Park, and which issue forth in a cease-
less stream of pamphlets and flying leaves. In such a controversy
the historian is at a loss to decide. Contentions once revolution-
ary now appear reasonable, while some of the opposition is that
prejudice and unreason which ever clog the steps of progress.
Nevertheless, it is no easy task to declare to which scale the
finger of destiny points, or in which finally will be found most of
right and of justice.
The debates in parliament and the arguments in meeting and
press represent only a part of the work done by organizations of
women which have multiplied exceedingly and grown to huge
proportions. In 1867 women's suffrage societies were founded
in London, Edinburgh, and Manchester, and shortly after in
Birmingham and Bristol.74 These bodies soon united to form
the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, the oldest.
the largest, and the most useful organization of its kind in the
world. It is supported by 40,000 members, has more than 400
branches and affiliated societies,75 and publishes a paper entitled
The Common Cause. Its purpose is "To promote the claim of
Women to the Parliamentary Vote on the same terms as it is or
may be granted to men,"76 and its work has been done so ably
and withal so quietly that many believe such women to be worthy
of that which they request. In 1903 was founded the Women's
Social and Political Union, presently to be described.77 Its

73 It may be remarked that a great many men and women, who are averse to
the granting of parliamentary suffrage to women, are thoroughly in favor of hav-
ing them engage in local politics, saying that here they are well fitted to take
part, here their true interests lie, and here they could be of real service to them-
selves and to the state.
74 Fawcett, Women's Suffrage, 85.
75 National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, report, 1913.
71 Constitution of the National Union, etc.
77 Pethick Lawrence, Women's Fight For The Vote, 77.

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 THE WOMEN S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND 603

organ is The Suffragette. 8 In 1907 arose the Women's Freedom

League, and also the Men's League for Women's Suffrage.
Organized opposition came later; in 1908 appeared the Women's
National Anti-Suffrage League, and the Men's League for Op-
posing Women's Suffrage. Two years later they combined to
form the National League for Opposing Women's Suffrage, a
body which contains some of the most prominent people in
England. Its publication is the Anti-Suffrage Review. These
societies have well-equipped headquarters, distribute vast quan-
ties of campaign literature, hold meetings, organize processions,
circulate petitions, attempt to influence elections, and carry on
a vigorous propaganda.79
For the most part this is the situation, and down to 1905 this was
the situation, in England. The work was done earnestly but in
quiet. Some women refused to pay taxes without parliamentary
representation, but there was little of the boisterous and sensa-
tional. A great deal of solid progress was being made, and the
country seemed preparing for mighty transformation in the future;
but public attention was not distracted and the opponents of
women's suffrage were not alarmed.8o Suddenly the entire situ-
ation was altered by the rise of militancy, one of the most baffling
problems in contemporary politics.
In 1892 some of the suffrage advocates had been stigmatized
as "wild women,"81 but the new methods can scarcely be said to
have been employed until 1905 when Mrs. Pankhurst and her
daughters raised the Women's Social and Political Union
into sudden prominence. The members of this organization,
believing that constitutional methods had too long been of no avail,
that the house of commons never granted what it was not com-
pelled to give, flung back the taunts that women would not fight
for their cause, and began to apply methods of force, annoyance

78Until 1912 its organ was Votes for Women, now published by Mr. and Mrs.
Pethick Lawrence, who seceded from the Union in that year.
79 The Historic Anti-Suffragist Demonstration, etc., London, 1912; Mrs. Fawcett,
The Best Friends of Women's Suffrage (leaflet).
80 Some of the opponents believed that the whole matter was an academic
question. Cf. The Anti-Suffrage Handbook, 12.
81 Nineteenth Century, xxxi, 455.

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604 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW

and coercion. In October of that year Annie Kenney and Christ-

abel Pankhurst at a meeting in Manchester insisted that Sir
Edward Grey declare the intentions of the Liberal party in the
matter of women's enfranchisement. In the midst of noise and
disorder they were ejected from the hall.82 In April 1906 during
a suffrage debate in the commons, proceedings were interrupted
by cries and cheers from the ladies' gallery. After a while the
speakers were silenced under shouts of "We will not have this
talk any longer," "Divide, divide," "Vote, vote, vote," "Vote
for Justice for women," "We refuse to have our Bill talked out."
Nor was there order until the gallery had been cleared. 83
And now appeared tactics as startling and novel as they were
effective. Everywhere political meetings were invaded by women
who bound themselves to pillars or chained themselves to seats
and then interrupted and shouted and screamed. Government
officials high and low were sought out and pestered by determined
women whom only the police could turn away. They invaded the
lobbies of parliament and the homes of ministers, and nowhere
were men safe from their questions or their missiles. In a short
time the government was undergoing a mild siege, and the " suffra-
gettes," as the militant women were called, had made good their
boast: they had brought their cause into prominence at last.
When the Liberal party came into power in 1906 many of the
suffragists hoped that at last their desires would be fulfilled. It
had long been evident, in the development of British parliamen-
tary procedure that bills introduced by private members had no
chance of success unless the government gave facilities and assist-
ance. This support had long been denied, but it was believed that
the Liberalswouldnowgive it. Moreoverin May 1908, Mr. Asquith
announced that the government proposed to introduce a bill for
further electoral reform, and that if an amendment for the enfran-
chisement of women were added, he would not hinder it. He
himself was strongly opposed to women's suffrage, but the larger
part of his cabinet seemed to favor it. Prospects of success
appeared brighter now than ever before, but the country became

82 Pethick Lawrence, Women's Fight For The Vote, 77-83.

83 4 P. D., clv, 1570-1587.

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 THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND 605

absorbed in the desperate struggle between lords and commons

with swiftly succeeding general elections, so that for a while
nothing could be done.
In 1910 a "conciliation committee" was formed in the house
of commons to enable the suffragist advocates in both parties
to work effectively and prepare a measure which would be accep-
table to all of them. A bill was drafted to enfranchise women
householders or occupiers. It was displeasing to those who had
been working for the simple removal of sex disqualification, but
was received with considerable satisfaction, since it would give
the franchise to about 1,000,000 women. This bill passed second
reading by a majority of 109, but got no farther, Mr. Asquith
refusing the facilities necessary.84 Meanwhile the suffrage socie-
ties and their supporters marched in great processions, a vast
number of petitions for the conciliation bill came in, and a
gathering in Hyde Park was attended by half a million people.
Again parliament was dissolved, and the suffragists as before did
all that they could to bring enfranchisement before the country
as an issue. In November Mr. Asquith promised explicitly that
if his party dominated the next parliament he would give facilities
for a women's suffrage bill drawn to admit of free amendment.85
The supporters of the cause now felt that they had two chances of
success, the amendment of the proposed reform bill, and the pas-
sage of a bill of their own.
In 1911 the conciliation committee introduced a bill differing
slightly from what they had proposed the year before, and de-
signed to meet the objections then raised. Substantially, the vote
would be given to the women householders. For this bill on
second reading there was a majority of 167.86 What would have
befallen this measure in the next session one may not say. The
old methods of burking might have been tried again successfully,
but there now seemed to be a favorable majority in the cabinet
and also in the commons, while there was friendly sentiment for it
all over the country. At this juncture, however, the militant

84 5 P. D., xix, 41, 324, 2587.

865 P. D., xx, 272, 273.
86Ibid., xxv, 738, 806.

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606 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW

women who had been at truce with the government, burst forth in
fury. In November, 1911, the prime minister announced that he
was about to introduce a manhood suffrage bill. Although he reit-
erated his promise of facilities for the conciliation bill, and again
undertook, a few days later, to allow a women's suffrage amend-
ment to be brought to government's measure, the suffragettes, who
desired that the government include women in the reform bill, felt
that they had been betrayed.87 "It was as if Mr. Asquith had
spat in my face and that of my whole sex," one of them declared. 88
At once the wild women broke loose. In November, 1911, and
again in March, 1912, they descended upon Oxford Street, Pica-
dilly, Cockspur Street, and the West End, and smashed a prodi-
gious number of windows with hammers and with stones.89
Attempts were made to set fire to theatres and public buildings,
and by the spring of 1913 it had become necessary to maintain
constant guard over all the historic buildings of England. Mean-
while letter-boxes were filled with inflammable liquid, wires were
cut, bombs were placed in doorways, and places of amusement
were burned down. In the years from 1911 to 1913 there was a
veritable rebellion of the suffragettes against the government of
England.
Whatever may be said of the wisdom of the militants or even
of their motives, there is no question that they acted with the
greatest hardihood and boldness, reviving for modern days the
grandest traditions of the warrior women of the past. They
stopped at nothing to accomplish their purpose, and refused all
compromise. In many cases there can be no doubt that their
motives were lofty and pure, and that they were willing to endure
martyrdom for their sex and for the welfare of the world. Even
in prison they defied their enemies, and baffled their jailers with
the hunger strike, one of the most effective weapons which
rebels have ever employed. And finally, some of them endured
the horrors of forcible feeding, a torture not much exceeded by
the worst done in Mexico or Russia. Nevertheless, it has followed

87 Times (w), Nov. 10, 1911.

88Ibid., Nov. 24, 1911.
89 Times (w), Nov. 24, 1911, March 8, 1912.

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 THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND 607

as an inevitable consequence that these women have for the

present worked harm to their cause. Much done by them has
been ugly, and has seemed sneaking and mean. Breaking the
windows of unoffending tradesmen, burning pavilions, destroying
letters, and poisoning dogs, give small dignity to the best cause.
Nor is the world prepared as yet to see women use violence. In
vain the suffragettes declare that in fighting by such means as they
can, they but follow in the footsteps of the heroes and martyrs of
old, who sacrificed themselves for the good of posterity. It has
been pointed out that when in the past men have resorted to
violence, they have thus signified their readiness to begin an armed
revolution, something that women can never do with any hope of
success. Therefore since 1905 there has been a gradual revulsion
of feeling, which by 1913 is intense. Many who were once amused
or indifferent are now hostile, and the suffragists themselves
confess that the suffragettes have done immense harm,90 and
have postponed indefinitely the grant of the parliamentary fran-
chise to women.
Whatever be the cause, such is the result. In March, 1912,
the conciliation bill was defeated, and this was attributed to the
smashing of the windows. 91 The constitutional suffragists now as
a last recourse strove valiantly to rescue the passage of a women's
suffrage amendment to the government's measure, but in January,
1913, the speaker ruled that a bill so amended would be a new bill,
and would have to be withdrawn and re-introduced. So after all
the years of striving and endeavor, the suffragists found themselves
left with nothing more than the old expedient, so often discredited,
of the private member's bill. And as each new failure is recorded,
and the conduct of the militants becomes increasingly violent,
the government at last seems to be gaining that measure of popu-
lar support without which it has been willing to proceed to ex-
tremities. In 1912 the suffragette orators in Hyde Park could no
longer obtain a favorable hearing, and for a while in 1913 they
needed police protection wherever they appeared. The authori-
ties have not yet been willing to allow a woman to die of the hunger

90 Broken Windows-And After (leaflet).

915 P. D., xxxvi, 728; xl, 643; Times (w), March 29, 1912.

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608 THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW

strike, but they now release the strikers only in the last extremity
and, under the " cat and mouse act," only during good behavior.
Such is the situation as it seems at present. After a long
period of intelligent activity the suffragists have made tremendous
progress, but at present the cause is in disrepute because of the
militant women.92 The ultimate value of the militant activity
cannot yet be estimated. It may be that at the cost of temporary
obloquy these women are gaining the attention and compelling
the respect which their cause did not have before; and it must be
remembered that in the history of American slavery the mild
abolitionists accomplished little until Garrison and the anti-
slavery agitators began their work. On the other hand it must
be said that these ardent champions of the woman's cause have
deliberately invoked violence and force, and hitherto the better-
ment of woman's position has been brought about by staying
these things in her presence.
Whether most of the women in England now desire the suffrage,
or whether most of the intelligent ones desire it, cannot be known.
Various attempts have been made to ascertain this. On several
occasions a referendum has been suggested.93 Partial censuses
of women have been taken by rival organizations, but the results
are inconclusive since huge majorities are reported to favor the
principles of the societies which make the enumerations.94 Many
people are working for women's suffrage and many are working
against it, but the majority of the nation has probably as yet
given no voice to its opinion and little approbation to the cause.

92 Upon this passage, Miss Olive A. Jelley, of the National Union remark
"This is of course a matter of opinion, but speaking for the National Union of
Women's Suffrage Societies, that Society is growing rapidly in numbers and activi-
ties generally. The membership has increased from 30,000 in October, 1911 to
43,000 in May 1913. These numbers represent only annual subscribers and not
friends and supporters who do not pay regular annual subscriptions, of whom we
count about 20,000. The number of our affiliated societies has risen from 311
in 1911 to 450 in June, 1913, and our funds for the last three years show a similar
increase."
93 Cf. 5 P. D., xix, 1747; xxviii, 1517.
94 Cf. "A Canvass of Women Municipal Electors in 105 Districts," Anti-Suf-
frage Review, April 1912; Fawcett, Women's Suffrage, 51.

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 THE WOMEN S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN ENGIAND 609

Writing the history of the present is difficult chiefly because

of the difficulty of interpretation, and particularly in the case of
a problem so baffling and complex as the movement for women's
suffrage. Right and wrong there must be on both sides, and the
final balance cannot be struck until many generations hereafter.
He would be rash as the Ecclesiazusae who supposed that if
enfranchisement is made complete women will obtain all their
hopes and desires, or be able to keep all that they fondly assume
they can retain. And yet I believe that the historian of the future
will record that in the twentieth century Anglo-Saxon people put
political power into the hands of the women whom they had made
intelligent, and so once more taught nations the art of governing
better; and it may be that even the student of now, peering back
into the ages and seeing the long procession of women toiling
through the mists and despair of the valley of the past, beholds
them at last mounting up to the higher ground where with men
they will work out the future of the world.

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