Great Demonstrations in the Provinces. Mr. Lloyd George Accuses Women of Being Paid to Interrupt Him. Arrest of the Three Leaders and the Fifth Women's Parliament.
Meanwhile, in spite of the fact that the Union had thought it necessary to again resort to militant tactics the campaign of great provincial demonstrations was proceeded with, and included gatherings of 100,000 people in Shipley Glen, Bradford, on May 31st, 15,000 at Heaton Park, Manchester, on July 19th, of 100,000 on Woodhouse Moor, Leeds, on July 26th, of many thousands, also, on the Durdham Downs Clifton, near Bristol, on September 19th, in Nottingham Forest, on July 18th, at Huddersfield, on September 27th, at Rawtenstall, on September 3rd, and in the Market Square Leicester on July 30th.
During these months, by-elections had been fought in Pembrokeshire, Haggerston and Newcastle. At the first of these the Liberal majority was reduced. At the second a Liberal majority of 1,401 was turned to a Conservative majority of 1,143. At Newcastle, the Suffragettes swept all before them, and, when Mrs. Pankhurst announced to a great meeting on the Town Moor that five of the released prisoners were shortly to arrive, an immense procession was formed to do them honour, and the railway authorities placed the entrance usually reserved for Royalty at the disposal of the Suffragettes. Almost the whole population turned out to cheer the women. There seemed no doubt the Government nominee would be defeated, and so it proved, for a Liberal majority of no fewer than 6,481 votes was turned into a majority of 2,143 for the Conservatives.
After the poll, Mr. Renwick, the successful candidate said: "I must express admiration for those who have addressed meetings on behalf of Women's Suffrage. They have taught us a lesson as to how to speak and conduct a campaign. I am sure we all wish that they may realise their hopes." The defeated Liberal candidate also expressed the hope that the women would be voting at the next election.
Meanwhile, at almost every meeting addressed by a Cabinet Minister throughout the length and breadth of the land, the Suffragettes had been in evidence, and when they had been unable to secure admission to the halls, they had held meetings outside.
At some of Mr. Lloyd George's meetings the women hecklers were treated with special brutality, and this was certainly increased by the exclamations of the Cabinet Minister on the platform. He called his interrupters "sorry specimens of womanhood," and added, "I think a gag ought to be tried." So calculated to aggravate the already savage behaviour of the stewards were his remarks, that quite a storm of protest was raised and Mr. Lloyd George found it necessary to write to the Times, saying:
Owing to the constant interruptions to which I was subjected, it was doubtless difficult for me to make myself clearly and fully understood, and the difficulty which I found in speaking was no doubt shared by the Press in reporting. Under these circumstances I am not surprised that some misunderstanding may have arisen, and I appeal to the courtesy of your columns to remove it.
Nevertheless, when he spoke at Swansea, his remarks were even more unguarded, and he urged on the stewards with such cries as, "By and by we shall have to order sacks for them, and the first to interrupt shall disappear," and "fling them ruthlessly out." At that there were shouts of laughter from Liberals on the platform mingled with cries of "frog march them!" Then he taunted the women. "I wonder how much she has been paid for coming here," he called as one was being dragged away. His supporters responded with cheers and shouts of "Tory money," and he added "I am sorry to say this business is becoming a profession."
On hearing of this remark, Mrs. Pethick Lawrence wrote to Mr. Lloyd George as Treasurer of the Women's Social and Political Union to protest against his suggestion that the women who interrupted Cabinet Ministers did so as a "profession." In doing so she forwarded him a copy of our Annual Report. He replied by repeating his insinuations and calling attention to the fact that the Report showed considerable sums of money to have been dispensed in "salaries," "travelling expenses," and "special board and lodging." Mrs. Lawrence then stated that whilst, like every other political organisation, the Women's Social and Political Union had its paid staff and organisers and that whilst these organisers were occasionally present at Cabinet Ministers' meetings, the protests were almost entirely made by members of the Union who gave their time and work freely. Thus, of the thirty women who had interrupted Mr. George at the Queen's Hall on July 28th and had been ejected, twenty-nine had never at any time been in receipt of any salary from the Union, and of the five women who had taken part in the protest made at Swansea, four had never been in receipt of any salary from the Union and the fifth was not receiving any salary at the time.
The eyes of all Suffragettes were now fixed upon the opening of Parliament for the autumn session, which was to take place on October 12th. The Prime Minister was again asked that facilities should be given for the House of Commons to proceed with the Women's Enfranchisement Bill, but he again refused and the W. S. P. U. then determined that a fifth Parliament of Women must be called together on October 13th, and that a deputation from it must again seek an interview with the Prime Minister. It was thought desirable that, as on the last occasion, the general public should be present, both that they might see what actually happened between the women and the authorities, and also that it might be shown to the Government that many thousands of men and women were prepared to support the Suffragettes and to answer to their call. Knowing well the difficulty of bringing anything prominently before the public in these modern days of crowded interests except with the aid of the advertisement afforded by notices in the Press, and knowing also that in this epoch of Press sensationalism that nothing, even if it be as serious as a struggle between life and death, is reported except when it is new, the Committee of the Union cast about in their minds for some racy and attractive means of drawing public attention to the forthcoming deputation. At last the phrase, "Help the Suffragettes to rush the House of Commons" was hit upon, because of its double suggestion and echo of the oft heard but almost always ridiculously unfounded complaint that legislation is being "rushed" through our too talkative and dilatory Parliament. The words were at once embodied in a handbill of which the accompanying illustration is a facsimile.