During the debate on the Bill prolonging the life of
Parliament in the House of Lords on Monday, Lord Cromer dealt with the subject of votes for women. Only two solutions of the question, he declared, were possible. One was the continued exclusion of women and the other was adult suffrage, giving the vote to all men and all women. The latter would raise the electorate "from eight millions to twenty- six millions, with a majority of one million three hundred thousand women." The country was not prepared for such a complete revolu- tion as that. He challenged the moral right of the present Parliament to deal with the subject until there bad been a General Election in formal circumstances. But before such an election could take place the issue should be clearly stated to the country. Anti-suffragists were very properly quiescent until the war was over, but they were unshaken in their opposition.
