13 JUNE 1914, Page 1

.Mr. McKenna ended by showing that the allegation that the

"Cat and Mouse" Act had failed was not true. Of the eighty-three persons who had been tried under it, fifteen had given up militancy, six bad left the country, twenty were in hiding, while the remainder were liable to rearrest if they left their places of abode. He stated that the Government had hopes of making the subscribers individually liable for the damage done to persons and property, and also of prosecuting them criminally. If that is done, said the Home Secretary, "I am convinced that the days of militancy are over." That ie perhaps too optimistic, but we are sure that the Home Secretary's policy is a sound one. What is wanted is patience, imperturbability, and • unsensationaliam. The militants will at last get tired of dashing their heads against a brick wall. What ought to be

PONTAON ABROAD avoided most of all are sudden and ill-considered changes of plan. Before we leave the subject of militancy' we must refer to the very painful evidence given before the Coroner in the case of Miss Joan Guthrie's suicide. The Coroner dwelt very strongly upon the letter written on behalf of the Women's Social and Political 'Union sending her a medal for "valour in action," and its effect upon her mind.