The Dominion. FRIDAY, JULY 15, 1910. THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 869, 15 July 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, JULY 15, 1910. THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT.

—. ——s — It was expected, when Me. AsQuiTii declared some time ago that he would do nothing to prevent the Mouse of Commons from expressing an opinion upon the question of j female suffrage, that Me. Shackleton's Bill would secure a good ma-' jo'rity on the . second reading. The actual'figures—299 votes to .'l9o—disclose a ,quit 6. sufficient majority :in favour of the . idea that women should share in the government of the nation to make it certain that at no distant time the ladies will obtain their desire. The details of the voting, as given in one of today's cable messages,' are exceedingly interesting. , The majority included 159 Liberals, 87 Unionists, 32 Labour members and 21 Nationalists, while, the minority was made up of 114 Unionists, 60 Liberals, 14.National: ists and two Labour members. Some of the' alliances and antagonisms were delightfully piquant. Me. Walter Long, the right arm of Mr. Balfour and the special bogey of the Liberals, found himself arm-in-: arm with Mr. llilaire Be-lloc, most robust and elemental of Liberals; Me. Haldang spoke in favour 'of having the women's voice in Parliament against his chief, who solemnly stated last January that he had ''always been 1 opposed to women's - suffrage: it would bo bad for the women and bad for the country"; and, strangest fellowship of ■ all, Lord Hugh Cecil, the finest intellectual liower of idealistic Toryism, cast his vote with Me. Keir Hardie. These _ are only 'some of the queer situations in this very important division, and in the face of .tliem it J would obviously bfe a very rash man I who would say off-hand whether lie thinks the extension of the-franchise to women either right or wrong in princi])le._ It is at all. events clear— and this is a very fortunate circumstance.—that the final settlement of the question will emerge from' an honest fight amongst the-best brains of the nation. The Times declares, with how much' truth we cannot know until wo have the full reports, by. mail, that the debate went verymuch against the promoters of the Bill., As much support as one could expect from it is given to this .view by the Daily News, which admits the defects of .the measure. - The debate coulcj well have been a victory for the case against the suffrage without being a victory on a division, for those "whose faith was shaken by the' speeches of Me. Asquith, 'and Mr. " Austen Chamberlain, may well have decided that there is ample time for fuller consideration and that in the meantime the Bill should be spared., ' Between Mr. Asquith's declaration that "the maintenance of the distinction between the sexes lay at .the root of the Parliamentary system", and Me. Balfour's that "true democracy meant government .by consent, which was absent when an' important section of women complained of the disability of exclusion - from the franchise" there is a gulf which plainly cannot be bridged by .any use of logic. Both, are profound, and skilful thinkers: this fundamental' difference, therefore, must, arise from a difference in .tem--perament. Mr. Asquith's attitude will' doubtless bo' unpopular with those who are loudest in their professions of- democracy, but we can--not help thinking that his views will have the blessing of the great Liberal leaders of the past. The Bill which Me. Shackleton introduced was drawn up by a -Conciliation Committee, presided over by Lord Lytton and composed of 10 Liberal M.P.'s, 11 Unionists, five Nationalists.and four leading members-of the Labour party. In a memorandum this committee explained the basis of agreement that it- set out to find. In the first place, the mere removal, of the sex distinctions was disliked by Libeyals as being certain to add to the 'property vote and increase plural voting. On the other hand adult suffrage was opposed by most Unionists and was a step too revolutionary to be taken without the support of a very powerful Government. A working compromise, therefore, must (1) meet the objections of Liberals and Labbur members to any increase of the ownership or plural vote; (2) satisfy Unionist opinion, as a-cautious and moderate advance; and (3) be capable of statement in a simple formula. The Bill accordingly proposed a measure of onfranclnsoment which practically reproduced the present Local Government register for women as it exists in England and Wales. The committee claimed that the Bill did not preclude a future advance towards adult suffrage, and yet did not make that advance inevitable. It, cannot be said that the division on the second reading really brings the Suffragists much nearer their goal. Any broad view of political tendencies requires the conclusion that a restricted suffrage cannot be a stable change: that if the women arc to get the vote they will only get it, or retain it, as a subsidiary consequence of adult suffrage. This hccms to be Mr. Asquith's view, and if it is correct the real issue behind the immediate one must be faced. What the result of a conflict on the big question of adult sliffragc will be it is impossible- to say.