CHAPTER XII

APRIL AND MAY, 1908

MR. ASQUITH BECOMES PRIME MINISTER. DEFEAT OF MR. WINSTON CHURCHILL IN NORTH WEST MANCHESTER AND HIS ELECTION AT DUNDEE; MR. ASQUITH'S OFFER AND THE WOMEN'S REPLY.

Owing to Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's continued illness, Mr. Asquith had been acting as his deputy for many months past, and the Easter Holidays were scarcely over when it was announced that he had become Prime Minister in fact, for the state of Sir Henry's health had compelled him to resign. The Ex-Premier did not live long afterwards. Though he had been converted to Women's Suffrage late in life when his fighting powers were always seriously impaired, there is little doubt that he spoke truly when he declared his disappointment at not being able to do anything for the Suffragists when they waited upon him in deputation on the 19th of May, 1906; and, if ever the secret history of the Government during that time comes to be written, we shall probably learn that, had he possessed the strength to enforce his will upon his colleagues, votes would have been granted to women that very year. Once when Annie Kenney and Mary Gawthorpe were travelling with Mr. and Mrs. Pethick Lawrence to Bordighera, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and they chanced to enter the same train and afterwards Sir Henry happened to seat himself at the very table where Annie and Mary were taking tea. They at once introduced themselves to him and all three had a long talk together in the course of which Annie naïvely assured him, "You have no one in the Cabinet so clever as Miss Christabel Pankhurst." Other things, too, she must have told him out of her loyal, earnest heart for, as she explained to us later, "he looked _so_ much happier afterwards," and we have been told by some who knew him that, when criticisms of the Suffragettes were subsequently made in his hearing, he would invariably protest, "Oh, you must not say anything against my little friend, Annie Kenney."

Mr. Asquith who had come to take his place, was a man of very different metal. He was one whom nobody seemed to like and the only reason for his having become Prime Minister appeared to be that he had the reputation of being what is _called_ "a strong man," and what generally turns out to _be_ an obstinate one. It was a significant fact that it was whilst he had held the reins of power during Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's illness, that the practice of treating the Suffragettes as first class misdemeanants had been abandoned. On the promotion of Mr. Asquith, a general move up to better paid and more important posts took place in the Cabinet. According to the Constitutional Law of the country, the newcomers into the Cabinet were obliged to vacate their seats and to offer themselves for re-election. At the same time there were three elevations from the lower to the upper House, curtailing a choice of new representatives in the Commons by the constituencies for which the new peers had sat. Two vacancies also occurred owing to deaths, and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's own seat at Stirling Burghs was soon vacant. Something almost like a miniature General Election was therefore sprung upon the country, and the Suffragettes were compelled to marshal their forces simultaneously in no fewer than nine constituencies.

The election at North West Manchester, where a vigorous campaign was organised in opposition to Mr. Winston Churchill, who was endeavouring to obtain the people's sanction to his appointment as President of the Board of Trade, was the most hardly fought, and aroused the greatest interest. It was the scene of the first anti-Government struggle during which Mr. Churchill had angrily declared that he was being "henpecked"; but the women had no need to go round to his meetings now, as they had done then, in order to attract public attention to their cause, for all Manchester was now wanting to hear about it. The Suffragettes had but to arrange their own meetings and the _Manchester Guardian_ itself was ready to publish a detailed list of them in its columns.

Mr. Churchill himself, Cabinet Minister though he was to be, could not obtain such crowded audiences as the Suffragettes.

At the same time many Liberal women, dissatisfied with the behaviour of the Government and profoundly distrustful of Mr. Asquith, held almost entirely aloof from the contest while Miss Margaret Ashton, one of the most prominent, publicly stated that she would work no more for the Liberal Party until the Liberal Party were prepared to give her a vote. The _Manchester Guardian_ wofully deplored these defections; declaring that "the Women's Liberal Associations were deprived in a large measure of their natural leaders" and tended "to become as sheep without a shepherd," and Mr. Churchill now began to realise that the women's opposition was a serious matter. Therefore, asked at an election meeting on April 15th, what he intended to do to help women to obtain the Parliamentary franchise, Mr. Churchill made the following statement: "I will try my best as and when occasion offers, because I do think sincerely that the women have always had a logical case _and they have now got behind them a great popular demand amongst women_. It is no longer a movement of a few extravagant and excitable people, but one which is gradually spreading to all classes of women, and, that being so, _it assumes the same character as franchise movements have previously assumed_."

Some people thought that the Suffragettes would be satisfied with Mr. Churchill's promise to use his influence, and would accordingly withdraw their opposition to his return, but Christabel Pankhurst at once addressed a letter to the Manchester press explaining that the W. S. P. U. would be satisfied with nothing less than a definite understanding from the Prime Minister, and the Government as a whole, that the equal Women's Enfranchisement Bill would be carried into law without delay.

When polling began at eight o'clock on the morning of April 25th the Suffragettes took their places at the entrance to the booths in the midst of a heavy snow storm and remained there is spite of it, throughout the day. The excitement which had been growing as the contest progressed was not confined to the poorer members of the electorate, but spread in all its force to the candidates themselves, and one of the Suffragettes was able to tell that when Mr. Churchill drove past the polling booth at which she was stationed, he stood up in his open carriage, shouting and shaking his fist at her.

During the counting of the votes, huge crowds assembled in Albert Square outside the Town Hall, and inside there was a large gathering of the more favoured persons. With pallid face the future Cabinet Minister walked feverishly up and down the room and when the figures were announced and it was known that Mr. Joynson-Hicks had defeated him by a majority of 429 votes, the Suffragettes, although they were his opponents, could not refrain from pitying him, for he burst into tears and hid his face on his mother's breast. As he passed out of the room, Mrs. Drummond, always eager and impulsive, darted up to him and, laying her hand on his arm, said: "It is the women that have done this, Mr. Churchill. You will understand now that we must have our vote." But he shook her off petulantly saying, "Get away, woman!" Meanwhile, Mr. Joynson-Hicks was outside thanking the electors who had returned him to Parliament, and in the course of his remarks he said: "I acknowledge the assistance I have received from those ladies who are sometimes laughed at, but who, I think, will now be feared by Mr. Churchill,--the Suffragists." These words were received with cheers. Next day all the newspapers were discussing Mr. Churchill's defeat and amongst others, the _Manchester Guardian_ (L), the _Daily News_ (L), the _Morning Leader_ (L), the _Daily Mirror_ (C), the _Daily Telegraph_ (C), the _Daily Chronicle_ (L), and the _Standard_ (C), admitted that this was largely due to the opposition of the Suffragettes, whilst the _Daily News_ now called upon the Liberal Party to bring this state of affairs to an end by granting the suffrage to women.

Of course it was a foregone conclusion that a safe seat would now be found for Mr. Churchill, and that of Dundee, which happened to be vacant, was immediately offered to him. On his accepting the invitation, the Suffragettes' armies hastened North to oppose him, and Mrs. Pankhurst held a great meeting in the Kinnaird Hall on the evening before his arrival. One of Mr. Churchill's first acts on reaching the constituency was to address a gathering of Liberal women, for he was determined to make every effort to secure their help in counteracting the influence of the Suffragettes. Instead of expatiating on the greatness of the general principles of his party, and calling upon his hearers to support him on those grounds, as politicians had been wont to do in the past, he dealt almost entirely with votes for women, saying that there was a "general demand" for the suffrage on the part of "a very large body of women throughout the country," and that the question had "now come into the arena of practical politics." He asked to be considered as a friend of the movement, and added, "No one can be blind to the fact that at the next General Election, Women's Suffrage will be a real _practical issue and the next Parliament, I think, ought to see the gratification of the women's claims. I do not exclude the possibility of the suffrage being dealt with in this Parliament._" He refused, however, to give any pledge that those in power would take action. He went on to describe the Suffragettes, as "hornets," and presumably referring to the by-election at Peckham, he said: "I have seen with regret, some of the most earnest advocates of the cause allying themselves with the forces of drink and reaction carried shoulder high, so I am informed, by the rowdy elements which are always to be found at the tail of a public-house made agitation."

Mr. Churchill's slanderous innuendoes in regard to the Women's Campaign at Peckham were not considered worthy of notice by the W. S. P. U., but Miss Maloney, a high spirited young member of the Women's Freedom League who had also taken part in that particular by-election, determined that she would force him to withdraw what he had said. At his next open air meeting she appeared brandishing a large muffin bell and warned him that unless he would apologise to the women, she would not let him speak. As he refused to do so, she carried out her threat. The Women's Social and Political Union regretted this action, because at by-elections they preferred to fight the Government with argument alone, but the Freedom League upheld Miss Maloney, and she continued to make it impossible for Mr. Churchill to speak in the open. On the eve of the poll it came to a pitched battle between them in which Miss Maloney triumphed. It had been arranged that Mr. Churchill should address a meeting at the Gas Works and "la Belle Maloney," as she was afterwards nicknamed, was speaking at the gates when he appeared. As before she at once called upon him to apologise, but, without answering, he passed on to enter the gates. She followed and though Mr. Churchill's friends strove to prevent her entering, the crowd swept her into the yard. She had lost her bell in the rush but, quite undaunted, she darted into the shed where the meeting was to take place, and, whilst Mr. Churchill mounted a bench to address the workmen, Miss Maloney climbed up on to a pile of boxes directly opposite to him. Again she called for the apology, but he remained silent and the crowd burst into shouts and yells. At last, as the noise grew, the Manager of the Gas Works, a supporter of the Government, shouted out, "hands up all those who want to hear Mr. Churchill." A few hands, half a dozen or so, were all that were raised, and seeing this Miss Maloney cried, "Now, friends, who wants to hear me?" and when a great forest of hands shot up, in answer, she pressed home her advantage saying, "Gentlemen, the resolution has been put to the meeting and by a large majority it has been decided in my favour." Then she went on to explain what she had come for, but in the midst of her words, Mr. Churchill jumped up and repeated his earlier statement in a modified form. For some time she and the future Cabinet Minister continued shouting at each other through the uproar of the crowd. At last, white with rage, he turned tail and left the meeting to her. Thus, as the papers said, "the amazing episode concluded."

Meanwhile the Women's Social and Political Union had been holding some two hundred large and enthusiastic meetings in the constituency each week, and on the eve of the poll they wound up with five monster demonstrations, four of which were in the open air and the fifth in the Drill Hall. Though the bulk of the Press throughout the country preferred to give greater space to the account of the incident between Mr. Churchill and Miss Maloney with her bell, glowing accounts of these W. S. P. U. meetings appeared in the Dundee papers. The _Referee_ for May 3rd also said:

The women are doing wonderful election work and not getting half the credit for it that they deserve. Our wayward Winnie does not underestimate them as a fighting force. The War Song of the conquering Christabel to the worsted Churchill is "Bonnie Dundee."

"And Tremble, false Whig, in the midst of your glee, You have not seen the last of my bonnet and me."

It was perhaps to guard against any falling off in the Liberal Majority that on May 7th, two days before the Dundee poll, Mr. Asquith announced in the House of Commons that the establishment of Old Age Pensions was to be the outstanding feature of the forthcoming Budget. On polling day, May 9th, Liberal men and women stood beside the Suffragettes at the polling booths with handbills which were adapted from those of the Suffragettes, and read "Vote for Churchill, and never mind the women," and "Put Churchill in and keep the Women out."

As had been a foregone conclusion, Mr. Churchill was returned by a large majority, but he received more than 2,000 votes fewer than Mr. Robertson, his predecessor, had done at the last election, and, whilst fifty-eight per cent. of the recorded votes had been cast for Mr. Robertson, Mr. Churchill only received forty-four per cent. of the total, and therefore represented a minority of the electors.

The figures were:[26]

Mr. Winston Churchill, Liberal 7,079 Sir G. Baxter, Unionist 4,370 Mr. G. H. Stewart, Labour 4,014 Mr. E. Scrymageour, Prohibitionist 655

At the General Election the figures had been:

Mr. E. Robertson, Liberal 9,276 Mr. Alex. Wilkie, Labour 6,833 Mr. Henry Robson, Liberal 6,122 Mr. E. Shackleton, Unionist 3,865 Mr. A. D. Smith, Conservative 3,185

The results of the other elections which had been fought meanwhile, were as follows:

_Dewsbury_ polling day, April 23rd.

Mr. W. Runciman (L.) 5,594 Mr. W. B. Carpenter (C.) 4,078 Mr. B. Turner (Lab.) 2,446 _____ Liberal majority 1,516

The figures at the General Election had been:

Mr. W. Runciman (L.) 6,764 Mr. W. B. Carpenter (C.) 2,954 Mr. B. Turner (Lab.) 2,629 _____ Liberal majority 3,810

_Kincardineshire_, polling, April 25th.

The Hon. A. Murray (L.) 3,661 Mr. S. G. Gannell (C.) 1,963 _____ Liberal majority 1,698

At the General Election the figures had been:

Mr. W. J. Crombie (L.) 3,877 Mr. S. J. Gannell (C.) 1,524 _____ Liberal majority 2,353

_Wolverhampton_ (E), polling day, May 5th.

Mr. G. Thorne (L.) 4,514 Mr. L. S. Amery (C.) 4,506 _____ Liberal majority 8

At the General Election the figures had been:

Sir H. Fowler (L.) 5,610 Mr. L. S. Amery (C.) 2,745 _____ Liberal majority 2,865

_Montrose Boroughs_, polling day, May 12th.

Mr. R. V. Harcourt (L.) 3,083 Mr. Burgess (Lab.) 1,937 Mr. A. H. B. Constable (C.) 1,576 _____ Liberal majority 1,146

At the General Election the figures had been:

Mr. J. Morley (L.) 4,416 Col. Sprott (C.) 1,922 _____ Liberal majority 2,494

In the batch of by-elections which had occurred since Mr. Asquith had become Prime Minister, most of them as a consequence of the change in the ministerial leadership, the Government had therefore suffered a reduction of 6,663 votes or more than eighteen per cent. of the total Liberal poll recorded in the same constituencies at the General Election of 1906. Though the party leaders denied that the Suffragette campaign had affected any of the election results, there were few who had really worked in the elections who believed this and only Cabinet Ministers, newspaper editors and the Suffragettes themselves could form any impression of the large number of influential people who were writing to one or other of those three agencies to say so. At the same time a growing spirit of disaffection towards the Government was showing itself amongst Liberal women and Miss Florence Balgarnie's declaration that they had been "hewers of wood and the drawers of water for the Liberal Party too long, and that they must now look out for themselves," found a wide echo.

An ominous resolution had now been set down on the agenda for the Women's Liberal Federation Conference on behalf of the Cuckfield Association which stated that "Unless Women's Suffrage is granted before the dissolution of Parliament, the time will have arrived for a definite refusal on the part of Liberal women to work at Parliamentary elections." These things, doubtless, led Mr. Asquith to receive on May 20th, a deputation of Liberal Members of Parliament who urged him to grant the few days required for the carrying into law of Mr. Stanger's Women's Enfranchisement Bill, which earlier in the Session had already passed its second reading by so large a majority. In reply Mr. Asquith said that he himself did not wish to see women enfranchised, and that it was impossible for the Government to give any time for Mr. Stanger's Bill, but he added, "barring accidents, I regard it as a duty, indeed a binding obligation on this Government, before the present Parliament comes to an end, to bring in a really effective scheme for the reform of our electoral system." Having referred to what he considered to be the defects in the existing electoral provisions, dwelling especially on that of plural voting, he explained that, though the Government intended to introduce a Reform Bill, Woman's Suffrage was to have no place in it, but that when the Bill had been laid before the House, those Members of Parliament who believed in giving Votes to Women might move an amendment to that effect. If this were done, he did not consider it would be any of the Government's duty to oppose such an amendment, because two-thirds of the Cabinet were of the opinion that women should vote. But though Mr. Asquith began by stating that the Government would not oppose the amendment if it were approved by the House of Commons, he went on to attach certain conditions to this promise. These were, that any proposed Women's Suffrage amendment "must be on democratic lines," and "it must clearly have behind it the support--the strong and undoubted support--of the women of the country as well as of the present electorate."

Christabel Pankhurst at once exposed the unsatisfactory nature of Mr. Asquith's statement through the medium of the Press. She pointed out that he had not shown sufficient reason for his refusal to give facilities for the discussion of the Women's Enfranchisement Bill, and recalled the fact that after the second reading of the Women's Bill had been carried, a London Electoral Reform Bill had been introduced by a private Member, and that the Government had promised to carry this latter Bill into law, if it should pass the second reading. The House had, however, rejected the London Electoral Bill, and the time which the Government had designed to give that measure might therefore be handed over to the Votes for Women Bill. In regard to the details of Mr. Asquith's promise, she explained that women could not wait contentedly for the introduction of the proposed Reform Bill, because, as Mr. Asquith had himself foreshadowed, in his words "barring accidents," some unforeseen turn of events might precipitate a General Election before it had been introduced. Even if the Reform Bill were actually laid before Parliament the position of the Government with regard to Women's Enfranchisement was far from satisfactory. Apart from the fact that their refusal to make this question a part of the original Reform Bill was certainly insulting to women, the promise not to oppose an amendment moved by a private Member and carried by the House of Commons could not be relied on, because two conditions had been attached to it. The first condition was that it should be framed on "democratic lines." But Mr. Asquith had not defined the term "democratic" and there was reason to fear that the Government intended to resist the proposal to enfranchise women on the terms applying to men voters to which a majority of the House of Commons had pledged itself. Mr. Asquith was an anti-Suffragist, and, according to the vague form of his statement, it was open to him to object to any and every amendment except one that was of so broad a nature that it could scarcely pass the House of Commons and would certainly be thrown out by the House of Lords.

The second condition was that the women of the country and the present electorate should show their strong and undoubted desire for a measure of women's enfranchisement, but Mr. Asquith had neglected to indicate how this desire should be expressed. The Women's Social and Political Union contended that the women had already, by demonstrating, petitioning, and going to prison for their cause, shown a very strong and very earnest desire for the franchise, and that the electors in the by-elections had also shown their belief in the justice of Votes for Women. But Mr. Asquith had hitherto refused to admit that such a desire had been manifested, and it was possible that he would always refuse to recognise its existence. Even if, in spite of all obstacles, the Woman's Suffrage amendment were safely carried and secured a place in the Reform Bill, the Bill itself was certain to prove a highly controversial measure. It was to deal with many other electoral questions besides that of Women's Suffrage, and if, as was only too probable, it were shipwrecked upon one of these, the Woman's claim to vote would go down with the rest.

The opinion of Christabel Pankhurst and that of the other leaders of the Women's Social and Political Union appeared in the Press next morning and in the Conservative papers there were other warnings; the _Standard_ plainly said, "Of course Mr. Asquith does not intend to carry such a change." But most of the Liberal papers upheld Mr. Asquith. The _Daily News_ called for a cessation of the militant tactics of the Suffragettes and referring to Christabel's objections said, "A more mature and experienced leader than Miss Christabel Pankhurst would have understood that the pledge which Mr. Asquith has given is quite exceptionally definite and binding." The _Star_ said, "The meaning of Mr. Asquith's pledge is plain: Women's Suffrage will be passed through the House of Commons before the present Government goes to the country."

Events have already proved how rightly Christabel and the other Suffragette leaders had summed up the situation, for two General Elections have since come and gone and still women remain unenfranchised and the promised Reform Bill has not yet been introduced. But at the time only too many women were deceived by Mr. Asquith's false promise. Lady Carlisle presided over the Liberal Women's Conference which met next morning. "This is a glorious day of rejoicing," she cried. "Our great Prime Minister, all honour to him, has opened a way to us by which we can enter into that inheritance from which we have been too long debarred." She swept the majority of the women onward with her. A resolution of deepest gratitude to Mr. Asquith and the Cabinet was carried with every sign of enthusiastic joy, and the Cuckfield resolution was lost by an overwhelming majority.

Whilst the Liberal women were thus thanking the Prime Minister for his worthless "pledge," another body of women were striving to expose his insincerity, for, before ten o'clock that morning, the members of the Women's Freedom League were at the door of number ten Downing Street armed with a petition asking for an assurance either that the Government would give facilities for the passing of a Women's Suffrage measure or would promise to include Women's Suffrage in a general Government Reform Bill to be introduced before the end of the Parliament.

Mr. Asquith refused to give an answer and sent out police to clear the women away. Eventually they were arrested and sent to prison for from seven to twenty-one days.

Meanwhile at Stirling Burghs, the last of the recent series of by-elections, the Liberals were using Mr. Asquith's false promise to counteract the influence of the Suffragettes. The Women's Freedom League had wasted no time in making their protest to expose it and the Women's Social and Political Union had also proclaimed it to be worthless, but polling was already taking place, and on every newspaper placard appeared the words: "Premier's great Reform Bill, Votes for Women," and there was no time for the Suffragettes to undeceive the people.

When the result of the poll was declared, it was found that the Liberal majority of 630, that had been cast for the late Prime Minister in the General Election, had been more than doubled. The actual Liberal poll had also increased from 2,715 to 3,873. Thus the constant falling off in the Liberal vote which had manifested itself through so many elections was suddenly checked.

Mr. Asquith's promise had done its work at the Stirling by-election and had secured the loyalty of the Liberal Women for another year.

On Wednesday, May 27th, just a week after the day on which it had been given to the deputation of Liberal members who supported Woman's Suffrage, Mr. Asquith was questioned in the House of Commons by Mr. Alfred Hutton, a Liberal Member, who was opposed to it. Mr. Hutton asked whether he considered himself pledged to introduce the proposed Reform Bill during the present Parliament, whether in that event he would give an opportunity for raising the question of Woman's Suffrage, and whether, if a Woman's Suffrage amendment to the Government Reform Bill were carried, it would then become part of the Government policy in relation to the franchise. After some close cross-questioning, in which he had tried hard to evade the point, Mr. Asquith finally replied, "My Honourable Friend has asked me a contingent question with regard to a remote and speculative future." Thus was the hollowness of the vaunted pledge exposed.

The Liberal papers still called upon the women to support the Cabinet, but in spite of this they showed that they found it difficult to uphold the trickery of their leader, and it was the Liberal _Daily Chronicle_ that said "the skill and dexterity of the Prime Minister in parrying embarrassing questions was much admired, but not a few loyal supporters of the Government felt that the occasion was one that demanded candour rather than adroitness."

FOOTNOTES:

[26] At the General Election there were two seats to be contested, and every elector had two votes but he might only give one vote to each candidate.