CAMPAIGN, January 20.
Ir was the gruff toast of a surly bachelor which ran:—Woman, the morning-star of our early years, the load-star of our prime, the evening-star of our declining days bless our stars, may she over he kept at a telescopic distance." The wish may, possibly, have found its only echo at the Cabinet meeting on Friday, or we may imagine the deliberations temporarily interrupted while the President of the Board of Education or Mr. John Morley, bachelors both, recited Adam's lament, "Oh, why did God, Creator wise, that peopled highest Heaven With Spirits masculine, create at This novelty on Earth, this fair defect Of Nature, and not fill the world once With men as Angels, without feminine?"
Outside, No. 10 Downing Street was sustaining "an organized onslaught" of irrepressible suffragettes. An attempt was being! made to force an entrance, and one assailant, more successful than her "scuting"' sisters behind, actually passed through the door. Hor triumph, however, was short-lived. Meanwhile two resourceful advocates of women's suffrage had chained themselves to the railings on the other side of the see wie stake to melt the heart of the ther in the of martyrs at the
adamantine Cabinet or with the more practical ambition of being in atthe finish, is left to be inferred—and could not be removed until their chains had been broken by the police. In the and the attack shared the fate of former demons trations of a similar character; a number of arrests were made sureties for good behaviour were refused and the undaunted disturbers of the public peace were sent to prison for three weeks. The: Cabinet, we may suppose, continued ite deliberations, perhaps with mingled feelings towards Mr. R. B. Haldane's recent utterance on the impossibility of withholding votes from women, but certainly unanimous in support of the scheme of the First Commissioner of Works to close Downing Street us a public The repeated occurrence of these unfeminine scenes renders it increasingly difficult to regard in a serious light the cause which these udo Te. Derald ant S. C. & C. Gezette.
Certainly it is regrettable that a movement scarcely fifty years old, that may—loosely be styled the emancipation of woman, should so quickly have degenerate ed to undignified street brawls. Throughout that movement, not the least significant feature of a noted era in the world's progress, a calm dignity has been the distinctive characteristic of all those who have contributed to its rapid growth. Whether in education or public work, in philanthropy or politics the position occupied by woman today has been won by perseverance, it is trae, but at the same time by steady ability and honest conscientiousness. Especially to the political exigencies of the time have women adapted themselves, and as platform speakers and organizers they bring an enthusiasm and conviction that are bound to carry influence. Each step, however, in the rapid process of emancipation, apart from legislative enactments, bears the stamp of individual effort, the natural insistence upon the recognition of merit, rather than the wide claim of equality for equality's sake. In the very method of urging female suffrage there is a striking note of differentiation from the quiet movement that has made women pro-four local boards and. inspectorates, minent among educationalists, on
on the platform and in various professions. Nor can its advocates claim the interest, mach less the support, of the majority of their own sex. In spite of all its activity—it may indeed, be owing to it—the violent minority has to record indifference or even opposition to any change in the political position among the vast bulk of women in Great Britain.
Be this as it may, it is clear that an agitation which has led to even an abortive Bill in Parliament has to be reckoned with in the domain of practical politics. Nearly four hundred Members of Parliament gave rash electioneering promises to support female suffrage, and it may be that Mr. R. B, Haldane's recent statement on the subject indicates that the Government is anxious to avoid further responsibility by re-forring the question to a Plébiscite. Meanwhile public opinion is keenly exercised for and against the proposed suffrage. The fact that it obtains in Australian colonies and elsewhere is quoted as a complete refutation of all hostile arguments. But as found to-day, it is essentially political experiment and no country has had sufficient experience to be able to decide whether it will result in good or ill. Its strenuous women have st heart.!opponents realize thet cartied toa
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.