beral afraid of his own
principles, were being rejected at by-elections in a manner that
foreshadowed a great gain to suffrage forces at the General Election.
Then suddenly, destroying all our hopes of success and jeopardizing
the very existence of representative government and all forms of
democracy throughout the world, came the outbreak of war; the entry of
our own country and the resulting concentration of the vast majority
of the British people, whether men or women, in the gigantic national
effort which the successful resistance of such a foe demanded. August
4, 1914, was a heart-breaking day for us. Nevertheless, suffragists
from the first faced the facts and saw clearly what their duty was.
The "militants" instantly abandoned every sort of violence. A large
number of the more active members of their societies formed the
Women's Emergency Corps, who were ready to undertake all kinds of
national work which the exigencies of the situation demanded. The
N.U.W.S.S. Executive Committee meeting on August 3, the day before our
own country was actually involved, resolved to suspend immediately all
political propaganda for its own ends. Under normal circumstances we
should have summoned a Council meeting to discuss the situation and to
determine the course to be taken by the Union. This being impossible
owing to difficulties connected with railway communication we
consulted our societies, then numbering over 500, by post, placing
them in possession of our own views, viz.: that ordinary political
work would have to be suspended during the war and suggesting that our
best course would be to use our staff and organising capacity in
promoting forms of work designed to mitigate the distress caused by
the war. We felt that our members would desire to be of service to the
Nation and that the N.U.W.S.S. had in their organisation a special
gift which they could offer to their country. This view was endorsed
by our societies with only two dissenting.

On receiving this practically unanimous backing we further proceeded
to recommend distinct forms of active service. The Local Government
Board had addressed a circular to Lord Mayors and Mayors and Chairmen
of Town and County Councils directing them at once to form Local
Relief Committees to deal with any kind of distress caused by the war.
We suggested to our societies that they should offer their services to
help, each in its own district, in this national work. We also opened
in d