A Suffrage Bill, like any great Franchise Bill, could not
be brought in except on the eve of a dissolution, and the time for that was not yet ripe. In his view, the only chance of these proposals being defeated was the possibility of a reaction provoked by the tactics of the extremists, but he admitted that it was a great chance. Mr. Lloyd George dwelt on and justified the conditions imposed by Mr. Asquith,—that the measure must be democratic, and that there must be a clear demonstration that it was the wish of the women of the country to be included in the franchise. Such demonstration, however, must be made by recognised Constitutional methods, and if they threw away their opportunities it would be entirely owing to the folly and lunacy of the militant extremists. At the close of the meeting a motion condemning the tactics of the interrupters was passed by an overwhelming majority. None the less, the meeting has seriously compromised the cause of woman suffrage by widening the cleavage between the two wings, to say nothing of alienating, and even converting into opponents, those who had hitherto been moderate supporters of the movement.
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