A meeting opposing Woman's Suffrage was held in the Colston
Hall, Bristol, on Friday week. Lord Cromer pre- sided and Mr. Charles Hobhouse, who made a speech both frank and courageous, proposed a resolution requesting the members for Bristol to oppose any measure extending the Parliamentary franchise to women until it had been approved by the majority of the electors. He pointed out that if they gave adult suffrage to men and women in the present Parliament they would immediately add to the electoral roll three million men and twelve and a half million women, and the women would be in a majority by about one million. Those upon the platform were quite prepared to submit the question of woman suffrage to a, Referendum. The suffragists should show that Parliament had been blind and deaf to the interests and cries of women ; that reforms necessary to the State had been un- attainable or denied; also that women were capable of sharing in all the burdens as well as the control of the affairs of the State. Those were the conditions on which men had the suffrage, and the nation had a right to demand compliance with those conditions by women. " He believed the absorption of women in politics would prejudice the number, character, and vigour of our future race, would lead to the limitation of their capacity and inclination for maternity, and to their un- willingness and incapacity to manage their homes, and home was the primary and eternal unit of all social life in all countries." Mr. Hobhouse's admirable speech provoked some interruptions, but the resolution was passed by an over- whelming majority.
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