The House of Lords on Thursday week, after two days'
debate in Committee, rejected Lord Loreburn's proposal to omit Woman Suffrage from the Franchise Bill by 134 votes against 71. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Haldane, and Lord- Selborne strongly supported Woman Suffrage, and the Lord Chancellor and Lord Lansdowne spoke against it Lord Curzon, in concluding the debate, declared himself a convinced opponent of Woman Suffrage, and then advised the Peers to accept the measure rather than challenge the House of Commons to a hopeless fight. We are not surprised that the anti-suffragists are more angry with their old leader, Lord Curzon, than with the hostile majority of the Peers. Yet his advice was sound enough. The war has set the problem in a new light. Women in the mass have shown that they can bear the strain of war more cheerfully and bravely than many men, and we have no fear that British women would ever accept a German peace. Moreover, the balance of opinion is now clearly in favour of making this great change, revolutionary though it may be. The House of Lords has been wise in not trying to swim against the stream.
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