Sir Henry James, who detests the proposal for giving votes
to women as much as he detests the intervention of sacerdotal influence in political affairs, defeated the proposal to keep Wednesday, May 13th, for Mr. Woodall's Female Suffrage motion, rather neatly on Thursday night. Mr. W.
Smith had proposed to take precedence for the Irish Land Bill on all the other days before Whitsuntide, except the day for which the Female Suffrage question was put down, as be had given a kind of pledge that that Wednesday should not be absorbed by the Government, but should be taboo. Sir Henry James moved as an amendment, that all the Wednes- days should be taken till the Irish Land Bill had passed through Committee, and Mr. W. H. Smith, though he de- clared himself pledged, remarked that of course the House was master of its own proceedings, and could overrule his pledge. And this, at Sir Henry James's suggestion, it promptly did, 218 votes being given for Sir Henry James's amendment, and only 159 against it,—majority, 59. So the Women's Franchise discussion, which is of course a mere castle in the air, was got rid of for the Session; and as that is a subject on which constituencies do not worry their representa- tives, but are apt to resign themselves to destiny, the House of Commons heaved a sigh of relief.
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