Latest / Suffragette The Militant Fight for Womens Voting Rights / 21 - Suffragette The Militant Fight for Womens Voting Rights by E. Sylvia Pankhurst

Transcript

21 - Suffragette The Militant Fight for Womens Voting Rights by E. Sylvia Pankhurst · Suffragette The Militant Fight for Womens Voting Rights

0:00
Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen of The Suffragette, The History of the Woman's
0:03
Speaker 1: Militant Suffrage Movement by E. Sylvia Pankhurst. This LibriVox recording
0:08
Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Seventeen November to the end
0:14
Speaker 1: of nineteen hundred eight Mister Burrell at City Temple, Mister
0:18
Speaker 1: Lloyd George at Albert Hall, release of Missus Pankhurst, Christabel
0:23
Speaker 1: Pankhurst and Missus Lee. During the autumn, whilst mister Burrell
0:28
Speaker 1: had been visiting his constituency of North Bristol, Annie Kenny,
0:31
Speaker 1: the center of whose flourishing West of England Organizing District
0:34
Speaker 1: was in that town, had prevailed upon him to receive
0:37
Speaker 1: a woman's deputation. In reply to this deputation, mister Burrell
0:41
Speaker 1: had said that the government did not intend to carry
0:43
Speaker 1: the woman's enfranchisement bill during that session, that many members
0:47
Speaker 1: of the Cabinet were strongly opposed to the idea of
0:50
Speaker 1: giving the woman the vote on any terms, that in
0:52
Speaker 1: his opinion, the matter was not ripe for settlement, and
0:55
Speaker 1: also that he would not endanger his position in the
0:57
Speaker 1: Cabinet by pressing the question forward. He added that he
1:01
Speaker 1: was in favor of the enfranchisement of rate paying widows
1:04
Speaker 1: and spinsters on the municipal basis, but that he disapproved
1:08
Speaker 1: of qualified married women voting, and that he would not
1:10
Speaker 1: support a measure to give adult suffrage to women. This
1:14
Speaker 1: last point was exceedingly interesting. It clearly demonstrated the cynical
1:19
Speaker 1: character of the suggestion made by mister Lloyd George and
1:21
Speaker 1: others that to give votes to women on the same
1:24
Speaker 1: terms as men was not sufficiently democratic to be supported
1:27
Speaker 1: by a liberal government. For here was a Liberal cabinet
1:30
Speaker 1: minister declaring opposition to any wider measure. On November twelfth,
1:35
Speaker 1: mister Burrell spoke at the City Temple, the church of
1:37
Speaker 1: mister R. J. Campbell, the well known initiator of the
1:40
Speaker 1: so called New Theology. It was well known that the
1:44
Speaker 1: suffragettes were present to heckle him, and the chairman tried
1:47
Speaker 1: to deter them by stating that mister Burrell had promised
1:49
Speaker 1: to give his influential support to any measure giving a
1:52
Speaker 1: liberal extension of the franchise to women. These suffragettes considered
1:57
Speaker 1: that this meant absolutely nothing at all, and continued to
2:00
Speaker 1: protest as earnestly as they could. The result was a
2:04
Speaker 1: terrible scene of violence in which large numbers of women
2:07
Speaker 1: were flung out of the church and dragged down the steps.
2:10
Speaker 1: The WSBU afterwards wrote to mister Burrell to ask what
2:13
Speaker 1: his statement had really meant. His answer, given through his secretary,
2:18
Speaker 1: was simply and solely, that he had nothing to add
2:21
Speaker 1: to the reply which he gave recently to a deputation
2:23
Speaker 1: introduced by Miss Kenney. Meanwhile, though the militant tactics were
2:28
Speaker 1: being condemned as vigorously as ever, sympathy for the militants
2:31
Speaker 1: and a desire for the franchise were rapidly spreading amongst
2:35
Speaker 1: women of all shades of opinion. The Women's Conservative and
2:39
Speaker 1: Unionist Franchise Society was formed about this time, and the
2:42
Speaker 1: Margate and the Wallacy Women's Liberal Associations passed resolutions dissolving
2:47
Speaker 1: themselves until women were enfranchised, whilst the secretaries and committee
2:51
Speaker 1: members of other associations resigned their posts on the same ground.
2:56
Speaker 1: At this point, mister Lloyd George wrote to the executive
2:59
Speaker 1: of the Women's Liberal Federation offering to speak for them
3:02
Speaker 1: on women's suffrage in the Albert Hall. They agreed to
3:05
Speaker 1: his suggestion, and it was announced that he would make
3:07
Speaker 1: a government pronouncement on this ground, the organizers of the
3:12
Speaker 1: meeting approached the Committee of the w SBU, asking that
3:15
Speaker 1: the Chancellor of the Exchequer should not be heckled. But
3:18
Speaker 1: we replied that unless we had an assurance that mister
3:20
Speaker 1: Lloyd George's pronouncement was to contain a government promise to act,
3:24
Speaker 1: we could not comply with this request. As requests that
3:28
Speaker 1: we would alter our decision continued to pour in. Missus Touke,
3:31
Speaker 1: our Honorary Secretary, wrote to mister Lloyd George on November thirtieth,
3:35
Speaker 1: stating that we would gladly ask our woman not to
3:38
Speaker 1: interrupt him if he could assure us that the government
3:40
Speaker 1: were really prepared to do something for the suffrage cause,
3:43
Speaker 1: and that if he wished, we would pledge ourselves not
3:46
Speaker 1: to divulge his reply until after his speech had been delivered.
3:50
Speaker 1: Mister George's only answer was a curt note stating that
3:53
Speaker 1: anything that he had to say in regard to the
3:55
Speaker 1: government's attitude would be said in the course of his
3:57
Speaker 1: speech in the Albert Hall. There was no hint in
4:01
Speaker 1: the letter of any great government pronouncement, But indeed every
4:04
Speaker 1: one knew the leaders of the Liberal Women themselves knew
4:07
Speaker 1: and in fact had admitted to us that mister Lloyd
4:09
Speaker 1: George had nothing of importance to say. His speech was
4:13
Speaker 1: merely intended to pacify those women who were beginning to
4:16
Speaker 1: falter in their loyalty to the Liberal Party, and to
4:19
Speaker 1: take the wind as far as possible out of the
4:21
Speaker 1: suffragette sales. Mister Lloyd George was as much responsible as
4:26
Speaker 1: any of his colleagues for the present warfare. His own
4:29
Speaker 1: personal record in regard to the woman's movement was not
4:32
Speaker 1: a good one. Therefore, there was absolutely no reason for
4:35
Speaker 1: modifying in his favor the rule that all cabinet ministers
4:38
Speaker 1: must be heckled. Indeed, his coming forward at this juncture
4:42
Speaker 1: to curry favor by offering empty platitudes was felt to
4:45
Speaker 1: be in the nature of adding insult to injury. When
4:49
Speaker 1: on Saturday December fifth, the day of the Liberal Women's Meeting,
4:52
Speaker 1: arrived the Albert Hall was girt by an army of
4:55
Speaker 1: mounted police, there was a general feeling of uneasy expectancy,
5:00
Speaker 1: and everyone seemed suspicious of what his or her neighbor
5:02
Speaker 1: might be going to do. Bands of men's stewards, known
5:06
Speaker 1: by their yellow badges, were massed in the corridors and
5:08
Speaker 1: stationed in groups at the end of every row of seats. Nevertheless,
5:13
Speaker 1: in spite of the fact that these men had been
5:15
Speaker 1: obviously engaged for the forcible ejection of interrupters. In order
5:19
Speaker 1: to protect the promoters of the meeting from subsequent charges
5:21
Speaker 1: of brutality, officials orders of the day were prominently displayed,
5:26
Speaker 1: in which the stewards were counseled to do no violence
5:29
Speaker 1: to any person, and the members of the Women's Liberal
5:32
Speaker 1: Federation were asked, whatever happened, to act as though they
5:35
Speaker 1: were soldiers, silent and steady under fire. Lady McLaren, who
5:40
Speaker 1: presided over the meeting, rose to speak with obvious uneasiness,
5:43
Speaker 1: which was increased when she suddenly realized that all the
5:46
Speaker 1: women in the front row of the arena, who had
5:48
Speaker 1: suddenly removed their cloaks, were clothed as second division prisoners,
5:52
Speaker 1: and dresses of green serge, blue and white check aprons
5:55
Speaker 1: and white caps, all stamped with the broad Arrow. For
5:59
Speaker 1: some time time, however, all was quiet, and it was
6:02
Speaker 1: not until mister Lloyd George had been speaking for some
6:04
Speaker 1: moments and was proceeding to give various reasons why women
6:08
Speaker 1: were entitled to the franchise that he was interrupted by
6:11
Speaker 1: a tall, graceful woman in one of the boxes. She
6:15
Speaker 1: declared that all present were agreed as to the justice
6:17
Speaker 1: of the cause, and that a government pledged to take
6:20
Speaker 1: action was alone required. The speaker was Ellen Oxten b
6:24
Speaker 1: s C. Of Saint Andrew's University and the daughter of
6:27
Speaker 1: Professor Oxen of Aberdeen. Her words were no sooner uttered
6:31
Speaker 1: than a man in the next box left over the
6:33
Speaker 1: barrier and struck her a blow in the chest, whilst
6:35
Speaker 1: several stewarts sprang upon her from behind. She protested that
6:39
Speaker 1: she was prepared to leave the hall at once, but
6:41
Speaker 1: the men did not heed her and continued to pummel
6:44
Speaker 1: her in the most savage way. At this the audience
6:47
Speaker 1: were astonished to see her draw a whip from under
6:50
Speaker 1: her cloak and strike at one of her assailants. Immediately afterwards,
6:54
Speaker 1: she was knocked down and disappeared Note thirty two. Now
7:00
Speaker 1: the whole hall was an uproar. Mister Lloyd George strove
7:04
Speaker 1: to continue weakly, protesting that he was in favor of
7:06
Speaker 1: women's suffrage. But then why don't you do something? And
7:11
Speaker 1: deeds not words? Deeds not words? Came a clear bell
7:15
Speaker 1: like cry. Again, he went on to urge that he
7:18
Speaker 1: really was in favor, but was met by why don't
7:22
Speaker 1: you resign from a cabinet that is hostile to women?
7:25
Speaker 1: Our women are in prison. You run with the hare
7:28
Speaker 1: and hunt with hounds. Only one woman spoke at one time,
7:32
Speaker 1: and each one merely fired a short, sharp, pertinent interjection.
7:36
Speaker 1: But there were many of them, and more than that,
7:39
Speaker 1: the raising of each woman's voice was the signal for
7:41
Speaker 1: a wild outburst of fury on the part of the stewards,
7:44
Speaker 1: who sprang upon the interrupter, silenced her by a blow
7:47
Speaker 1: under the chin or an impromptu gag, and after flinging
7:51
Speaker 1: her either to the ground or across the seats, dragged
7:53
Speaker 1: her out head foremost hitting her again and again. Some
7:57
Speaker 1: members of the audience struck with fists and umbrella at
8:00
Speaker 1: the women who were being carried past. Others tried to
8:03
Speaker 1: protect them, but the latter were always set upon by
8:06
Speaker 1: the officials and speedily bundled out, even outside in the
8:10
Speaker 1: numerous passages that surround the circular hall. The ejectors, some
8:14
Speaker 1: of whom were heard to say that the affair was
8:16
Speaker 1: more amusing to them than a night at the music
8:18
Speaker 1: Hall would not allow their captives to escape, and still
8:21
Speaker 1: continued to ill treat them until they had finally flung
8:24
Speaker 1: them down the steps and out of the building. At last,
8:27
Speaker 1: mister Lloyd George stopped. The scene was becoming too much
8:30
Speaker 1: even for him. He declared that he would rather sit
8:34
Speaker 1: down than be the cause of so much violence. Yes,
8:37
Speaker 1: do sit down and stop it. A chorus of distressed
8:40
Speaker 1: voices rose, but after a moment he went on again
8:43
Speaker 1: with the stale old reasons why women should have the boats.
8:46
Speaker 1: We have known those for forty years. We want your message. Still,
8:51
Speaker 1: the woman's voices called, and each interruption meant an ejection.
8:55
Speaker 1: We shall get peace presently by this process of elimination,
8:59
Speaker 1: he said, yes, fling them ruthlessly out His own words
9:04
Speaker 1: at Swansea were repeated, and you will never eliminate the
9:07
Speaker 1: suffer jests from practical politics. For more than an hour,
9:11
Speaker 1: the scene continued again and again. Lady mac laren intervened
9:16
Speaker 1: and secured a few moments peace for mister Lloyd George
9:18
Speaker 1: to make his statement, And again and again he himself
9:22
Speaker 1: promised to give the government message, but failed to do so,
9:24
Speaker 1: floundering back instead into a maze of arguments for and
9:27
Speaker 1: against the vote. If Queen Elizabeth had been alive to day,
9:32
Speaker 1: he ventured once, but she would have been in holloway,
9:36
Speaker 1: came the retort, and then the protesting voices broke out afresh. Then,
9:40
Speaker 1: at last, after a flight of oratory on the excellence
9:43
Speaker 1: and the importance to women of the measures already introduced
9:46
Speaker 1: by the Liberal government, the declaration came. It was nothing
9:50
Speaker 1: but mister Asquith's old, worn out promise to introduce a
9:54
Speaker 1: reform Bill and not to oppose a woman's suffrage amendment
9:57
Speaker 1: to it on certain conditions. The women rem minded the
10:00
Speaker 1: Chancellor that the Prime Minister had relegated the introduction of
10:03
Speaker 1: the reform Bill to the dim and speculative future, but
10:07
Speaker 1: he protested that it would be introduced before the Parliament
10:09
Speaker 1: came to an end. He was asked how women were
10:12
Speaker 1: to prove the demand for their enfranchisement, which was one
10:15
Speaker 1: of the conditions of the promise, and his reply was
10:18
Speaker 1: as the men showed their desire, but the women answered,
10:22
Speaker 1: men burnt down buildings, they shed blood, and the government
10:26
Speaker 1: has ignored our demonstrations. He was questioned as to the
10:30
Speaker 1: second condition that the votes for women amendment must be
10:33
Speaker 1: drafted on democratic lines. But though asked again and again
10:37
Speaker 1: what is democratic? He vouchsafed no reply, and at last
10:41
Speaker 1: the cry where is the message? Broke out once more,
10:45
Speaker 1: and a great white banner with the inscription be honest
10:49
Speaker 1: was hung out from one of the boxes. Of course,
10:52
Speaker 1: the w s p U was, as usual much blamed
10:55
Speaker 1: for what had taken place. The heckling of mister Lloyd
10:59
Speaker 1: George was declared to be both foolish and wrong. Nevertheless,
11:03
Speaker 1: many newspapers protested strongly against the behavior of the stewards
11:06
Speaker 1: of the meeting. The liberal Manchester Guardian said that the
11:10
Speaker 1: ejections were affected with a promptness that gave the chairman
11:13
Speaker 1: no opportunity for intervening, and in many instances, with a
11:17
Speaker 1: brutality that was almost nauseating. The Special correspondent of the
11:22
Speaker 1: Standards spoke of the grossly brutal conduct of the stewards,
11:26
Speaker 1: declaring that some of the worst acts of unnecessary violence
11:29
Speaker 1: took place within ten yards of the chairman's table, and
11:32
Speaker 1: therefore right under the eyes of Lady MacLaren and mister
11:34
Speaker 1: Lloyd George. The men responsible for the acts were stewards
11:38
Speaker 1: wearing the official yellow rosette that I am prepared to
11:42
Speaker 1: swear to. At the same time, the Manchester Guardian, in
11:46
Speaker 1: its leading article, though it condemned our action, admitted that
11:49
Speaker 1: mister Lloyd George's repetition of mister Asquith's promise was entirely
11:53
Speaker 1: unsatisfactory from the votes for women point of view. Many
11:56
Speaker 1: others took the same line, and the Conservative Globe we
12:00
Speaker 1: see very genuine grounds for the impatience displayed by the
12:03
Speaker 1: suffragettes at the Albert Hall. Mister Lloyd George must have
12:07
Speaker 1: known that the declaration he had to make would have
12:09
Speaker 1: infuriated any body of men. But the matter did not
12:13
Speaker 1: end with newspaper discussions. We had realized from the first
12:17
Speaker 1: time that we should be made to suffer in many ways.
12:20
Speaker 1: Again and again, attempts had been made to break up
12:23
Speaker 1: meetings addressed both by suffragettes and suffragettes, but the women
12:26
Speaker 1: would hardly ever afforded the protection of the police, and
12:29
Speaker 1: as their meetings were almost entirely officered by women stewarts,
12:33
Speaker 1: they were obliged to rely on their own powers of
12:35
Speaker 1: persuasion and magnetic force of will to control their audiences.
12:39
Speaker 1: This these suffragettes have always been prepared to do, but
12:42
Speaker 1: it was not always done without difficulty. Already, at a
12:46
Speaker 1: meeting in Birmingham, Cristoville had been assaulted with the bodies
12:49
Speaker 1: of dead mice, and on live mice being let loose.
12:52
Speaker 1: At one of our meetings, a well known Glasgow daily
12:55
Speaker 1: paper had suggested that rats or even ferrets might suitably
12:59
Speaker 1: be employed. After mister Lloyd George's Albert Hall meeting, such
13:03
Speaker 1: outbreaks of violence against us became for a time exceedingly frequent.
13:08
Speaker 1: At a meeting which I addressed just then for a
13:10
Speaker 1: woman's Suffrage Society in Ipswich, there was abundant evidence to
13:14
Speaker 1: prove that well known liberals in the town had bought
13:16
Speaker 1: shilling tickets of admission for a number of men, whom
13:19
Speaker 1: they paid a further shilling each to create a disturbance.
13:21
Speaker 1: And as soon as I rose to speak, I was
13:24
Speaker 1: assailed by shouts and yells, the singing of a song
13:27
Speaker 1: especially composed and printed with this object, which had been
13:29
Speaker 1: distributed broadcast throughout the town, the rattle of tin cans,
13:33
Speaker 1: and the ringing of bells. During my speech, several free
13:37
Speaker 1: fights took place in the hall, Walking sticks and other
13:40
Speaker 1: missiles were sent flying through the air, and an offensive
13:43
Speaker 1: smell of self furetted hydrogen was let out. The women
13:47
Speaker 1: who had promoted the meeting whilst anxious that I should
13:49
Speaker 1: stand my ground, or in despair at the damage which
13:52
Speaker 1: they saw was being done to the hall. But when
13:54
Speaker 1: they sent for the police to quell the disturbance, the
13:57
Speaker 1: chief Constable of the town declared that he had no
13:59
Speaker 1: power to act. His statements sounded strangely to suffragettes who
14:03
Speaker 1: had seen the police always massed around the meetings of
14:06
Speaker 1: cabinet ministers, and had also frequently seen them brought in
14:09
Speaker 1: to eject women interrupters. A few days after the Albert
14:14
Speaker 1: Hall meeting, Helen Oxten herself spoke at Maidenhead, where a
14:17
Speaker 1: gang of men, some of them made up as guise
14:19
Speaker 1: and dressed in women's clothes, waved whips at her and
14:22
Speaker 1: finally drove the speakers from the platform. The only thing
14:27
Speaker 1: that the police could suggest was that the woman should fly.
14:31
Speaker 1: At this time a by election was in progress at Chelmsford,
14:34
Speaker 1: and in organizing our campaign there we had at first
14:37
Speaker 1: to contend with great disorder. On the opening night of
14:40
Speaker 1: the election, the members of the National Union of Women's
14:43
Speaker 1: Suffrage societies were entirely swept from their platform in the
14:47
Speaker 1: market square, whilst a mob of hooligan surrounded the lorry
14:50
Speaker 1: from which we were speaking and dragged it down a
14:52
Speaker 1: hill into the darkness, away from the street lamps. Though
14:56
Speaker 1: aided by steadier sections of the audience, we still succeeded
15:00
Speaker 1: in maintaining a semblance of order. As soon as we
15:02
Speaker 1: descended from the cart, their rowdies crushed and jostled us
15:05
Speaker 1: so unmercifully that, had it not been for some men
15:08
Speaker 1: who fought for us, and who were seriously bruised in
15:10
Speaker 1: the struggle, we should have been trampled underfoot. We were
15:13
Speaker 1: at last dragged for safety into the entrance hall of
15:16
Speaker 1: the municipal building, where a banquet was being held. The
15:20
Speaker 1: head waiter, who stood at the door, was exceedingly anxious
15:22
Speaker 1: to get rid both of us and the noisy crowd
15:24
Speaker 1: that remained clamoring outside, and we were therefore taken by
15:28
Speaker 1: underground passage to the police court, and kept waiting there
15:31
Speaker 1: for an hour. This sort of thing did not continue
15:35
Speaker 1: long in Chelmsford, for, as has invariably been the case,
15:38
Speaker 1: as soon as these suffragettes became known to the people,
15:40
Speaker 1: the hostility, which was at first manifested towards them entirely disappeared.
15:45
Speaker 1: Missus Drummond was the heroine of this election, for the
15:48
Speaker 1: w s p U campaign was entirely organized by her.
15:52
Speaker 1: In an illustration, she is shown distributing leaflets to the
15:55
Speaker 1: farmers in the Chelmsford market place at the close of
15:58
Speaker 1: her speech to them. The result of the poll was
16:01
Speaker 1: a fall of nearly twenty percent in the Liberal vote
16:03
Speaker 1: and a piling up of one hostile majority against them
16:06
Speaker 1: from four hundred fifty four to two thousand, five hundred
16:09
Speaker 1: sixty five, which was generally acknowledged in the constituency to
16:13
Speaker 1: be largely due to these suffragettes. The violence of the
16:17
Speaker 1: rowdies met with little rebuke from political leader writers, and
16:20
Speaker 1: under the heading Sparrows for Suffragettes, the Westminster gazet stated
16:25
Speaker 1: Essex such as provided two amusing suffragest incidents, and described
16:29
Speaker 1: in the same spirit the letting loose of a flight
16:32
Speaker 1: of sparrows inside a hall where the women were speaking,
16:34
Speaker 1: and the breaking up of a suffragists meeting by boys
16:37
Speaker 1: who had rushed the speakers and cast garbide on the
16:39
Speaker 1: wet roads. Consider the action of a body of women who,
16:43
Speaker 1: in order to obtain a share in the constitution, deliberately
16:47
Speaker 1: decide to attend the meetings addressed by the members of
16:49
Speaker 1: a government that has the power to grant them what
16:51
Speaker 1: they desire, but withhold it. Consider also that these women
16:56
Speaker 1: are deprived by their sex of the principal constitutional means
16:59
Speaker 1: of pressing their claim, and that their action is taken
17:02
Speaker 1: at great personal risk. Then contrast the action of these
17:06
Speaker 1: women with that of a crowd of men who absolutely
17:09
Speaker 1: careless of injuring either persons or property, and merely because
17:12
Speaker 1: they imagine that their victims are unpopular or opposed to
17:15
Speaker 1: those whom they believed to be their own political friends,
17:18
Speaker 1: deliberately set out with the intention of breaking up the
17:21
Speaker 1: meetings of women who are withholding no man's rights from him,
17:24
Speaker 1: and who have no power to give rights to anyone,
17:27
Speaker 1: but who are merely struggling to obtain the franchise which
17:30
Speaker 1: their assailants themselves possess. Surely, no one with an unprejudiced
17:35
Speaker 1: mind could consider that there is a parallel between the
17:37
Speaker 1: case of those particular women and those particular men. Party
17:42
Speaker 1: politicians had before them frequent examples of the two cases,
17:45
Speaker 1: and they decided that there was no parallel. They decided
17:49
Speaker 1: that the action of the men was excusable, but that
17:52
Speaker 1: the action of the women must be condemned in the
17:54
Speaker 1: most emphatic terms, and must be sternly repressed at any cost.
17:59
Speaker 1: A measure called the Public Meeting Bill, providing that any
18:02
Speaker 1: person who acted in a disorderly manner in order to
18:05
Speaker 1: prevent the transaction of the business for which a meeting
18:07
Speaker 1: had been called together should be rendered liable to a
18:10
Speaker 1: fine not exceeding five pounds, or to imprisonment for a
18:13
Speaker 1: period not exceeding one month, was therefore laid before Parliament
18:17
Speaker 1: by Lord Robert Cecil. As the slightest interjection or the
18:21
Speaker 1: most pertinent question by a suffragette had now become the
18:24
Speaker 1: signal for a scene of disturbance. It was clearly apparent
18:27
Speaker 1: that they would not be able to raise their voices
18:29
Speaker 1: at the meetings of Cabinet ministers without rendering themselves liable
18:32
Speaker 1: to the suggested penalties. Though the bill was introduced but
18:37
Speaker 1: a few days before the end of the session, the
18:39
Speaker 1: government at once provided for it the facilities which had
18:42
Speaker 1: been denied to that equally short measure to enfranchise the
18:45
Speaker 1: women of the country, and It was quickly rushed through
18:47
Speaker 1: the two houses and became law before the end of
18:49
Speaker 1: the year. Party feeling on the one hand and public
18:53
Speaker 1: indifference on the other, veiled for the time being the
18:56
Speaker 1: serious and revolutionary nature of this measure, and allowed it
18:59
Speaker 1: to be placed on the statute book with scarcely a
19:02
Speaker 1: word of discussion or protest. Nevertheless, it struck at one
19:06
Speaker 1: of our most ancient and fundamental national customs. Describing the
19:11
Speaker 1: ancient governmental assemblies of the Saxon peoples, Tacitus explains that
19:15
Speaker 1: though as a rule only the more distinguished members of
19:18
Speaker 1: the community put forward new proposals, all had a right
19:21
Speaker 1: to be present, and the bystanders at once express their opinion.
19:24
Speaker 1: In regard to all suggestions, he says, the eldest opens
19:29
Speaker 1: the proceedings. Then each man speaks, according as distinguished by age, family, renown,
19:34
Speaker 1: in war or eloquence. No one commands, only the personal
19:38
Speaker 1: dignity residing in him exercises its influence. No distinction of
19:42
Speaker 1: rank exists. The Assembly determines, and its determination is law. Proposals,
19:48
Speaker 1: when deemed acceptable, are hailed with loud acclaim and clash
19:51
Speaker 1: of arms. A loud shout of dissent rejects what appears
19:55
Speaker 1: to be unacceptable. Our present system of government is, after
19:59
Speaker 1: all the direct descendant of these ancient assemblies, largely owing
20:04
Speaker 1: to the distinctions of class which have sprung up and
20:06
Speaker 1: have grown more and more complex and at the same
20:09
Speaker 1: time more deeply marked. Because of the constant struggling of
20:12
Speaker 1: those who already possess advantages of property and of education,
20:15
Speaker 1: to add to these advantages a greater political power than
20:18
Speaker 1: their fellows. By restricting the rights of those who are
20:21
Speaker 1: poorer and weaker than themselves, many changes have been wrought.
20:26
Speaker 1: It has come about that our modern parliament is elected
20:28
Speaker 1: by only a section of the people, and that almost
20:31
Speaker 1: the whole of the business transacted by Parliament is carried
20:34
Speaker 1: on by a small cabinet of persons nominated by one
20:37
Speaker 1: man himself, pitchforked into power by a possibly transient wave
20:41
Speaker 1: of popularity. Moreover, our existing system of party government renders
20:47
Speaker 1: this small cabinet almost all powerful during its term of office,
20:51
Speaker 1: and the strong party prejudice obtaining both amongst private members
20:55
Speaker 1: of Parliament and the press of the country, secures that
20:57
Speaker 1: the cabinet shall remain almost exempt from criticism except by
21:01
Speaker 1: the followers of the opposing party. This criticism loses an
21:06
Speaker 1: influence and value because for party purposes it is directed
21:09
Speaker 1: almost without exception against every act of the Cabinet, whether
21:12
Speaker 1: the act be in itself worthy or unworthy. The section
21:16
Speaker 1: of the people who are entitled to vote and who
21:18
Speaker 1: elect the majority that makes the power of the Cabinet possible, may,
21:21
Speaker 1: it is true, dismiss them at the next general election
21:24
Speaker 1: if they disapprove of the way in which their stewardship
21:27
Speaker 1: has been fulfilled. But they cannot insist upon an election
21:30
Speaker 1: when they will, and they have no power to decide
21:33
Speaker 1: that their representatives have done well in one respect and
21:35
Speaker 1: badly in another. It is only possible either entirely to
21:40
Speaker 1: accept what the representatives have done, or to reject them altogether.
21:44
Speaker 1: There exists also the right of every section of the
21:47
Speaker 1: people to carry resolutions embodying their opinion in regard to
21:50
Speaker 1: matters of government, which may either be published, broadcast, or
21:53
Speaker 1: presented in the form of petitions for redress of grievances
21:56
Speaker 1: to those in power. But what usually happens to resolutions
22:00
Speaker 1: and petitions put forward by those who have no political
22:03
Speaker 1: power is aptly expressed in the words of mister Sargent Hallock,
22:07
Speaker 1: the Council who spoke for the coercionist government in one
22:10
Speaker 1: of the cases arising out of the massacre of Peterloo,
22:12
Speaker 1: which took place in eighteen nineteen prior to the passing
22:15
Speaker 1: of the First Reform Act, If deliberation had been their object,
22:20
Speaker 1: he said, could they not have settled their petition in
22:22
Speaker 1: a private room and then have sent it to the
22:24
Speaker 1: House of Commons, where it would have been laid on
22:26
Speaker 1: the table and never heard of again. Nevertheless, the old
22:30
Speaker 1: right of the bystanders, the right of the whole people
22:32
Speaker 1: to express their opinion in regard to suggestions put forward
22:35
Speaker 1: by powerful folk, and to receive them, either with shouts
22:38
Speaker 1: of approval or equally loud cries of dissent, still exists,
22:42
Speaker 1: and it exists if it has not been altogether destroyed
22:46
Speaker 1: by the Public Meeting Bill. Not merely for men, but
22:49
Speaker 1: for women. This right is constantly exercised when a member
22:54
Speaker 1: of the Government, and to a lesser extent a private
22:56
Speaker 1: member of Parliament, appears before a public meeting of the
22:59
Speaker 1: people to make proposals for fresh legislation and to give
23:02
Speaker 1: an account of his stewardship in the past. When he
23:05
Speaker 1: comes forward. Thus, the people, women as well as men,
23:08
Speaker 1: have the right to express assent or dissent with what
23:10
Speaker 1: he has done, or with what he has left undone,
23:13
Speaker 1: with what he proposes, and what he has omitted to propose.
23:17
Speaker 1: They have the right to question him and to demand
23:19
Speaker 1: an answer, to heckle him during his speech if they will,
23:22
Speaker 1: and if they will cry out and refuse to let
23:24
Speaker 1: him speak until he has dealt with the thing which
23:26
Speaker 1: they have at heart. And if they believe that he
23:28
Speaker 1: has not dealt justly with that thing, they have the
23:30
Speaker 1: right to decide that he shall not be heard. How
23:33
Speaker 1: else can he know the mind of the country. How
23:36
Speaker 1: else can those who are without the parliamentary franchise express
23:39
Speaker 1: their will? There is no other way, And this right
23:42
Speaker 1: is one of those upon which the people of these
23:44
Speaker 1: islands have always insisted. Those who have said that if
23:48
Speaker 1: this right be exercised, the right of free speech will
23:50
Speaker 1: be endangered do not realize what the right of free
23:52
Speaker 1: speech is. The right of free speech is the right
23:56
Speaker 1: of every one to speak publicly and without penalty or restraint,
23:59
Speaker 1: of what seems important. And this old right to question
24:02
Speaker 1: and to express assent and dissent is included in it
24:06
Speaker 1: it is the only refuge of those who have no
24:08
Speaker 1: political power. The right of members of the government to
24:11
Speaker 1: speak freely can never be endangered, for they have Parliament
24:14
Speaker 1: to speak from, the police and military at their beckon
24:17
Speaker 1: call to protect them and enforce their wishes, and the
24:20
Speaker 1: press of the country all waiting to note down their
24:22
Speaker 1: words and publish them broadcast throughout the land. The right
24:26
Speaker 1: of poor and voteless people to be heard has been
24:29
Speaker 1: endangered by this bill, and so long as it remains
24:32
Speaker 1: on the statute book, it is a standing menace to
24:34
Speaker 1: our ancient popular liberties. Happily, up to now the bill
24:38
Speaker 1: has been practically a dead letter. But none can be
24:41
Speaker 1: sure that an instrument of coercion which exists will not
24:43
Speaker 1: be put into force. Had the movement for women's enfranchisement
24:48
Speaker 1: been a movement solely of poor women, with others dependent
24:51
Speaker 1: upon them, as might have been the case, the new
24:53
Speaker 1: bill might have proved a serious menace to the movement.
24:56
Speaker 1: But as it happened, there was fortunately no lack of
24:59
Speaker 1: women were able and willing to risk imprisonment. Therefore this
25:04
Speaker 1: bill could make no difference to us. Nevertheless, though our
25:08
Speaker 1: members might not have left a crowd of starving children
25:11
Speaker 1: behind them. We well knew that their going to prison
25:13
Speaker 1: entailed many sacrifices, and we always waited impatiently for their
25:17
Speaker 1: release and welcomed them back amongst us with the greatest joy.
25:22
Speaker 1: During these summer and autumn bands of women in white
25:24
Speaker 1: dresses had flocked to the jail gates, had unhorsed the
25:27
Speaker 1: carriages provided to carry the prisoners to breakfast, and with purple,
25:31
Speaker 1: white and green ribbons, had drawn them in triumph through
25:33
Speaker 1: the streets with Scotch tartans and Scotch heather. The scotchwoman
25:38
Speaker 1: had been welcomed four Irish colleens and an Irish piper
25:42
Speaker 1: and a jaunting carm at. Missus Tanner, an irishwoman, and
25:45
Speaker 1: women in prison dress, marched from the station with Missus
25:48
Speaker 1: Baines on her return to London. When Missus Pankhurst, Missus Lee,
25:52
Speaker 1: and Christi Belle were released earlier than had been expected
25:54
Speaker 1: on December nineteenth, women on white horses drew their carriage
25:58
Speaker 1: and behind and before their marched long lines of WSBU
26:02
Speaker 1: members wearing white jerseys, purple skirts and gaiters, green caps
26:06
Speaker 1: and votes for Women regalia. In the evening a meeting
26:11
Speaker 1: of welcome was held in Queen's Hall, and as Missus Pankhurs,
26:14
Speaker 1: Cristabel and Missus Lee appeared, all the organizers of the Union,
26:18
Speaker 1: in their white dresses, lined up and saluted them with
26:20
Speaker 1: tricolor flags, whilst the great audience of women sprang to
26:24
Speaker 1: their feet and cheered and waved and cheered again, as
26:27
Speaker 1: few but suffragette audiences can. Then Annie Kenny stepped forward,
26:32
Speaker 1: holding in her hand a purple, white and green silk
26:35
Speaker 1: standard with an aluminium staff bearing a gilt shield inscribed
26:39
Speaker 1: with the great dates in Christabel's career. When Cristabel spoke,
26:43
Speaker 1: she recalled the many thousands of women's suffrage meetings that
26:46
Speaker 1: had been held in this country, and the work of
26:49
Speaker 1: the pioneers who had begun the agitation more than forty
26:52
Speaker 1: years before. These women had labored well and devotedly, yet
26:56
Speaker 1: they had not succeeded in gaining for women the parliamentary voulte.
27:01
Speaker 1: She believed the reason for this to be that they
27:03
Speaker 1: had relied too much upon the justice of their cause
27:06
Speaker 1: and not enough upon their strong right arm. For an
27:09
Speaker 1: idea had only life and power in it when it
27:11
Speaker 1: was backed up by deeds What had been wanted was action,
27:15
Speaker 1: and it was for this reason that the militant tactics
27:18
Speaker 1: had achieved so much already and would in the end succeed.
27:23
Speaker 1: The old methods of asking for the vote had proved futile,
27:26
Speaker 1: and not only worthy futile, but they were humiliating and
27:28
Speaker 1: unworthy of women. I say to you, She said, that
27:33
Speaker 1: any woman here who is content to appeal for the
27:35
Speaker 1: vote instead of demanding and fighting for it, is dishonoring herself.
27:40
Speaker 1: The women who came into the militant movement did not
27:43
Speaker 1: fear suffering and sacrifice. They felt not that they gave
27:46
Speaker 1: up anything for the movement, but that they gained everything
27:49
Speaker 1: by it. Why, she cried, the woman of this union,
27:53
Speaker 1: of the happiest people in the world, we have the
27:56
Speaker 1: glorious pride of being made an instrument of those great
27:59
Speaker 1: forces that are working towards progress and liberty. That note
28:04
Speaker 1: was struck again and again, and it was upon that
28:07
Speaker 1: note that the whole meeting rested. Loyalty, enthusiasm, courage, belief
28:13
Speaker 1: in a great cause, the joy of fighting for it.
28:16
Speaker 1: These things filled the air. No one could fail to
28:19
Speaker 1: be impressed by them. When Missus Pankhurst rose to speak,
28:23
Speaker 1: someone stepped forward and pressed into her hand a replica
28:26
Speaker 1: of a medal struck to commemorate the fall of the
28:28
Speaker 1: Paris Bestie in the French Revolution. Because she had been
28:31
Speaker 1: born on the anniversary of that day, she was weakened
28:35
Speaker 1: and mourned by her imprisonment. But her speech, brief and
28:38
Speaker 1: somewhat hesitating as it was, contained a pronouncement heralding important events,
28:42
Speaker 1: for it foreshadowed the hardest and bitterest struggle to secure
28:45
Speaker 1: the rights of political offenders to British women political prisoners
28:49
Speaker 1: that had yet been fought. Two further events must be
28:53
Speaker 1: chronicled before closing the story of the year nineteen hundred eight.
28:57
Speaker 1: The first is the fight of the Scottish woman graduates
29:00
Speaker 1: for their recognition of their claim to vote under the
29:02
Speaker 1: Scottish University franchise, which they carried right through to the
29:05
Speaker 1: House of Lords. Though they failed to establish their claim,
29:09
Speaker 1: they yet brought to light many valuable new facts in
29:12
Speaker 1: regard to the rights and privileges of their country women
29:15
Speaker 1: in ancient times. One of their contentions was that the
29:18
Speaker 1: question as to whether they might vote should be decided
29:21
Speaker 1: according to the actual wording of the University Franchise Act,
29:24
Speaker 1: and not according to the known or supposed intentions of Parliament,
29:28
Speaker 1: for that is the rule which the British courts have
29:30
Speaker 1: agreed to be always the just and proper one to adopt.
29:33
Speaker 1: There was nothing in the words of the Act to
29:35
Speaker 1: prevent women graduates from voting on equal terms with men,
29:38
Speaker 1: and even if it were held that this had happened,
29:41
Speaker 1: because when the Act was passed the legislature had not
29:44
Speaker 1: foreseen the possibility of their ever being women graduates, the
29:48
Speaker 1: right course to pursue, because it was the accepted course
29:51
Speaker 1: when such questions in regard to Acts of Parliament rose,
29:54
Speaker 1: was for the women to be allowed to vote until Parliament,
29:57
Speaker 1: if it chose to do so, should carry an amending Sconce,
30:01
Speaker 1: the graduates pointed out that this had been done in
30:03
Speaker 1: the case of the first woman who had graduated in
30:05
Speaker 1: medicine in the Netherlands, where as in England graduation carried
30:09
Speaker 1: with it the right to vote. This lady had claimed
30:13
Speaker 1: her right, and, not being allowed to exercise it, had
30:15
Speaker 1: taken her case to the courts. For technical reasons, the
30:18
Speaker 1: case had been postponed, and during the postponement the legislature
30:23
Speaker 1: had brought in a repealing enactment to prevent woman graduates voting,
30:26
Speaker 1: and had succeeded in carrying it. The reason for the
30:30
Speaker 1: refusal of the English authorities to take this course is
30:32
Speaker 1: clearly apparent, for it would have been difficult, indeed, for
30:35
Speaker 1: our Parliament to carry such a repealing measure in the
30:38
Speaker 1: face of the tremendous suffragette and suffragist agitation. The second
30:43
Speaker 1: of these two important happenings, and perhaps the most auspicious
30:47
Speaker 1: one of the whole year, was the granting of votes
30:49
Speaker 1: to women in Victoria, where after struggling for many years,
30:54
Speaker 1: these suffragists had at length succeeded in inducing their government
30:57
Speaker 1: to take the matter up, and had secured their enfranchisesement.
31:00
Speaker 1: On November eighth, nineteen hundred eight footnotes thirty two. Miss
31:07
Speaker 1: auxten acted upon her own initiative in using the dog whip,
31:11
Speaker 1: and her intention was not known to the Committee of
31:13
Speaker 1: the w s p U, who felt, however, that they
31:15
Speaker 1: could not condemn her for seeking to protect herself. She
31:19
Speaker 1: employed the whip as a protest not against dejection, but
31:22
Speaker 1: against the unnecessary violence to which she, herself and other
31:25
Speaker 1: women had been subjected. End of Chapter seventeen