344 



The kEviEW of Reviews. 



By pcnnission of the proprietors oj ' * Punch"} 



In the House of Her Friends. 



" To think that, after all these years, I should be the first 

 martyr." 



mutters " bombs," another says " revolvers"; a third 

 would smash windows ; Mrs. Despard would have them 

 go bareheaded ; others are disheartened and propose 

 nothing. If women could but get a sufficient number 

 (if women in every constituency to refuse to canvass 

 for or to support any candidate who would not 

 vote for their enfranchisement, and to pledge them- 

 selves to work against any candidate who was a 

 declared opponent of woman's suffrage, they would 

 have no reason to despair. The Unionists in any 

 case wilt probably enfranchise them next Parliament. 

 The Budget is to be taken on 

 April 2nd. Parliament rises for 

 the briefest of all Easter Recesses 

 the day after, to meet again after 

 Then we are to have the Home 

 Rule Bill. After that the Bill disestablishing the Welsh 

 Church, and after that, again, in the far-off distance, 

 we are promised the Manhood Suffrage Bill. Nobody 

 wants the Manhood Suffrage Bill except those who 

 wish to convert it into a Womanhood Suffrage Bill. 

 As there is no chance of carrying an amendment 



The 



Parliamentary 



Outlook. 



Easter Tuesdav. 



Hoine Rule Prospects. 



substituting " adult " for " man " in. Committee on 

 the Bill, the zeal of many has grown cold. There 

 is no need for any further hesitation in lacing 

 the facts. Xo Suffrage Bill, whether manhood or 

 adult, has a ghost of a chance of passing this year. 

 The House of Commons has not the time, the Houte 

 of Lords has not the will, to deal with the reconstruction 

 of the Constitution at the fag-end of a Session the 

 heart of which has been consumed by the Minimum 

 Bill, Home Rule and Welsh Disestablishment. If we 

 can get the Plural Voting Bill through this Session, 

 there is a chance that in two years' time, after passing 

 it through the House twice more, it may become law 

 in spite of the Lords. More than that it is in vain 

 to pray for. If Ministers really meditate seriously 

 dealing with the franchise and redistribution, the sooner 

 they set a small Committee to work out the details 

 the better. 



The Home Rule Bill will be be- 

 fore the country before these pages 

 reach the eye of the reader. It is 

 therefore idle to write an\thing 

 about the measure which Mr. Asquith will introduce. 

 The important thing to remember is that, although it 

 is nominally the Bill of a Cabinet in which no Irish 

 n>ember has a seat, it is in reality the Bill of Mr. Red- 

 mond, Mr. Dillon and Mr. T. P. O'Connor, who, as 

 an informal committee of the Irish party, have attended 

 frequent councils at Downing Street for the purpose 

 of assisting Ministers in drafting the rheasure. It 

 would in every way ha^•e been preferable if the Irish 

 Junto had been saddled with the direct responsibility 

 of framing the measure, and if, in the first instance, 

 it had been introduced by Mr. Redmond as the Bilf 

 which Irishmen had framed to meet the aspirations 

 of the Irish nation. But nothing scares the Nation- 

 alists so much as a demand thai they should define 

 what the Irish nation requires for the legitimate satis- 

 faction of its Nationalist aspirations. It is probable 

 the great triplet, R. D. O., will repudiate the share 

 in framing the Bill which everyone believes to be their 

 due. For that we must wait and see what will happen 

 when the Dublin Con^■ention meets to consider the 

 Bill. The moral courage necessary to lead is not often 

 possessed by nominal leaders on either side of the 

 Irish Sea. 



'i'he most extraordinary thing 

 about the Irish question is the 

 unusual optimism of the National- 

 ists and also of their Liberal sup- 

 porters. Mr. Redmond told the great meeting in Dublin 

 on March 31st : — " I entertain a confidenl belief tliat 



Optimism To-day. 

 To-morrow ? 



