all
events an advance on the position taken by Mr. Gladstone upon his
Reform Bill of 1884, when he vehemently opposed a women's suffrage
amendment and caused it to be defeated.

The emergence of what was afterwards known as "militancy" belongs to
this period, dating from the General Election of 1906 and very much
stimulated by Premier Bannerman's reply to the deputation in that year
and by the attitude of Mr. Asquith. It will ever be an open question
on which different people, with equal opportunities of forming a
judgment, will pronounce different verdicts, whether "militancy" did
more harm or good to the suffrage cause. It certainly broke down the
"conspiracy of silence" on the subject up to then observed by the
press. Every extravagance, every folly, every violent expression, and
of course when the "militants" after 1908 proceeded to acts of
violence, every outrage against person or property were given the
widest possible publicity not only in Great Britain but all over the
world. There was soon not an intelligent human being in any country
who was not discussing Women's Suffrage and arguing either for or
against it. This was an immense advantage to the movement, for we had,
as Sir H. Campbell Bannerman had said, "a conclusive and irrefutable
case." Our difficulty had been to get it heard and considered and this
"militancy" secured. The anti-suffrage press believed that it would
kill the movement and it was this belief which encouraged them to give
it the widest possible publicity. The wilder and more extravagant the
"militants" became the more they were quoted, described and advertised
in every way. The sort of "copy" which anti-suffrage papers demanded
was supplied by them in cartloads and not at all by law-abiding
suffragists, who were an immense majority of the whole. This can be
illustrated by an anecdote. The Constitutional suffragists had
organized a big meeting in Trafalgar Square and had secured a strong
team of first-rate speakers. The square was well filled and on the
fringe of the crowd the following conversation was overheard between
two press men who had come to report the proceedings. One said he was
going away, the second asked why and the first answered: "It's no good
stopping, there's no copy in this; these women are only talking
sense!"

The earlier years of militant activity were in my opinion helpful to
the whole movement, for up to 1908 the "militants" had only adopted
sensational and unusual