On Monday, in the Commons, Mr. Dickinson moved the second
reading of his Woman Suffrage Bill for enfranchising not only widows and spinsters with the household qualification, but also the wives of men having that qualification. The rejection was moved by Mr. Arnold Ward, who pointed out that the Bill would enfranchise about six million women. The public would be disgusted if the House surrendered to violence. The debate was languid; the House was sometimes almost empty ; the deadening effect of the violence of the suffragettes was very plain to see. The interest deepened however, on Tuesday, when Mr. Asquith and Sir Edward Grey delivered very able speeches from their different points of view. Mr. Asquith made it clear that he spoke for himself only, and that the Government would exert no kind of pressure on its followers to vote one way or the other.
