- The assurances given by Sir Edward Grey at the
National Liberal Club on June 1st on the subject of facilities for the Women's Enfranchisement Bill have been confirmed and amplified by the Prime Minister. In a letter to Lord Lytton, which appears in last Saturday's papers, Mr. Asquith states that " the week offered will be interpreted with reasonable elasticity, that the Government will interpose no obstacle to a proper use of the closure, and that if, as you suggest, the Bill gets through Committee in the time proposed the extra days required for Report and Third Reading would not be refused. The Government, though divided in opinion on the merits of the Bill, are unanimous in their determination to give effect, not only in the letter, but in the spirit, to the pro- mise in regard to facilities which I made on their behalf before the last General Election." One is reminded of Coleridge's saying that " the three ends which a statesman ought to pro- pose to himself in the government of a nation are security to possession, facility to acquirers, and Hope to all."
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