WOMAN SUFFRAGE—AT LAST.

White Ribbon, Volume 23, Issue 275, 18 May 1918, Page 2

WOMAN SUFFRAGE—AT LAST.

Rejoicings at the victory of the cause of Woman Suffrage in Britain are not loud, but deep. The war cloud hangs too heavy for jubilation to be possible to thinking minds. As might be expected, the spiritual aspect of the question has come to the fore. On February qth, the Saturday following the passage of the Bill into law, the Church League for Woman Suffrage (Established Church) held very striking services of thanksgiving and dedication in St. Martin’s in the Fields, the great church which dominates Trafalgar Square, London. At these services, conducted by the Bishops of Stepney, W’illesden, and others, special commemoration was made of those, and the list was a long one, who have suffered unto death in the cause. On February 10th a similar service was held by the Free Church League for Woman Suffrage in the even better known City Temple, London, where Miss Maude Rovdcn, assistant minister, preached on “the great cloud of witnesses.” The audience, which filled the large building to overflowing, included many men in khaki. On Sunday, February 17, High Mass was performed in the magnificent Catholic Cathedral by leave of the Archbishop of Westminster, for “the intention” of the cause. At the close of this service, the members of the Catholic Women’s Suffrage Society, reinforced by many members of other Societies, walked in procession to the shrine of Joan of Arc and laid a wreath in her honour. At all these services, the Dominions Overseas were officially represented bv members of the British Dominions Woman Suffrage Union. A number of public meetings, at which the future work of the great Women’s Suffrage Societies will be discussed, are shortly to take place. The most important of these, in which all the Societies, including the British Dominions Woman Suffrage Union, will take part, will be held in the great Queen’s Hall, London, on March 13. The veteran suffrage leader, Mrs Fawcett, will preside, and members of Parliament who have been instrumental in passing the measure into law are announced as shakers. Many schemes for the organisation of women as voters have been under consideration for months past, and quietly, under the surface, as it were, a vast amount of work in preparation

for the coming social reconstruction, has already been done. The tone of hope, the firm belief in the uprising which is at hand, which characterises all these gatherings, augurs well for the entry of women into the political sphere, and the calmness and quiet which marks every woman’s assembly is a very remarkable feature at this moment of deep unrest in our nation’s life. (Sgd.) HARRIET C. NEWCOMB, Hon. Sec. British Dominions Woman Suffrage Union.