The Progress of the World. 



233 



^^'indows on a great scale. Considering that the nation 

 is in the throes of a coal strike which may eventuate in 

 the assertion in the most naked form of the brutal fact 

 that force is an ultimate factor in the selllenic-nt of 

 social and political disputes, the moment does not seem 

 opportune for lawless manifestations by those who, 

 with all their virtues, are nevertheless physically the 

 weaker sex. There is no doubt a great deal to be said 

 in favour of making yourself a nuisance when you want 

 to call attention to your grievances, but it is possible 

 to make yourself such an intolerable nuisance by press- 

 ing your claims at the wrong moment as to provoke a 

 reaction against you, which is the one thing you want 

 to avoid. The woman's cause has made much progress 

 and has now attained such assurances of support that 

 it seems a thousand pities it should be thrown 

 back by demonstrations of this sort. It is not the 

 wmdoiys that are smashed 1 am worrying about ; it is 

 the cause of the window smashers. 



At the great anti-suffrage meeting 



The Position ^t the Albert Hall, held last 



ot 

 the Cabinet. month, Miss Violet Markham dis- 



tinf,'uished herself by making an 



eloquerit speech affirming that Nature's Salic Law has 



disqualified woman for political activity. Then what 



■is Miss Violet Markham doing on a political platform ? 



And how can Nature disqualify women from the 



irnple act of marking a ballot-paper, while it leaves 



ihem free to do all the arduous and disagreeable work 



of t-anvassing for men ? The notable utterance at the 



anti-suffrage meeting was that in which the Lord 



Chancellor cut himself adrift from ^Mr. Asquith. It was 



,dways understood that the Prime Minister promised 



that if the House of Commons amended the Manhood 



Suffrage Hill so as to make it an Adult Suffrage Hill, 



the Government would take it up and endeavour to 



pass it into law as a Government measure. Not so, 



however, thinks Lord Lorebum. He declared : — 



It woald be .1 I'onsliiulional outrage if such a chanyi- were 

 p.ibsc'l into law without the express sanclion of ihc const it uencies. 

 But it would surely lie acknowledged that where gre.it and 



11,0111 deparlurcsof [lolicy were concernc<I for which no Ministry 

 were prepared to shoulder the responsibility it was not legili- 

 niate to spring a surprise on the country or to treat a vole in 

 the House of t'ominons as finally decisive. He was convinced 

 that the great ni.ijorily of people in the country were opposed 

 to the proposal, ami they ought to do all in their power to 

 |.ievent its iK-coniiiig law without the real consent and 



Iclibcrate demand of the electorate. 



We take it, therefore, either that Mr Asquith will 

 modify his pledge, or that Lord Loreburn will not be 

 on the Woolsack if an .Adult Suffrage Hill is presented 

 to the House of Lords as a Government measure. 



Parliament 



in 



Session. 



Parliament met on February 14th. 

 With the exception of March 1st, 

 when it discussed the Plural Voting 

 Hill, it occupied itself with debating 

 various topics raised by the speech from the Throne 

 and with discussions on Supply. Mr. Honar Law has 

 not made a good start as leader of the Opposition. He 

 made charges of political corruption and jobbery, which 

 he utterly failed even to attempt to establish, and he 

 made one great blunder in saying he certainly would 

 repeal the Insurance Bill if his party came back to 

 power. So conscious was he of having " put his foot 

 in it " that he had to write to all the papers the same 

 night explaining away his words. When he said 

 " certainly " he did not mean " certainly," but only 

 that under circumstances he would repeal it ; other- 

 wise he would not. Mr. Balfour accustomed us to 

 evasive dialectical answers. But everyone was sick of 

 it, and we all hoped for better things from Mr. Bonar 

 Law. 



The by-election at St. Rollox. 

 The Prospects Glasgow, where Mr. McKinnon 

 the Unionists. Wood was re-elected on his accept- 

 ing office as Secretary for Scotland. 

 showed a heavy falling-off in the Liberal majority. 

 From 1,917 in 1910, it dwindled to 469 last month. In 

 this pulling down of the Liberal majdrity it was like 

 the in--c'lections which preceded it — jnly more so. 

 The fact appears to be that the agitation against the 

 Insurance Act has achieved some measure of success, 

 and the prospect of Home Rule e.xcites no enthusiasm 

 in Great Britain. Without exaggerating the significance 

 of the by-elections, they certainly show a sufficient rise 

 in the Unionist tide to justify a hope, if not an expec- 

 tation, in the Unionist ranks that if they were to force 

 a General Election they might come back to power. 

 There is little doubt they would stand a good chance 

 if they could only bury Tariff Reform. They are doing 

 their best at the Manchester by-election, but its ghost 

 haunts them to their own undoing. .Ml questions 

 between the parties will be blotted out of existence as 

 electoral issues if the strike goes on. And the strike, 

 whatever else it may do, is almost certain to weaken 

 the Government — first, .by alienating the Labour 

 Party ; and, secondly, by enormously strengthening 

 the Conservative instinct in the average Englishman. 

 If this is what we are coming to, says the man in the 

 street, we had better have the Tories back. What they 

 will do when they are i)ul back is not very clear, e.xcept 

 create a new Upper Chamber, guaranteed to be just as 

 Conservative and far more powerful than the existing 

 House of Lords. 



