ht of it! The most exciting moment was when Lord Curzon
rose to close the debate. The first part of his speech was devoted to
a description of the disasters which he believed would follow from the
adoption of women's franchise but the second part was occupied by
giving very good reasons for not voting against it. He reminded their
Lordships of the immense majorities by which it had been supported in
the House of Commons, by majorities in every party "including those to
which most of your Lordships belong.... Your Lordships can vote as you
please; you can cut this clause out of the Bill--you have a perfect
right to do so--but if you think that by killing the clause you can
also save the Bill, I believe you to be mistaken.... The House of
Commons will return it to you with the clause re-inserted. Will you be
prepared to put it back?..." Before he sat down Lord Curzon announced
his intention of not voting at all, for the reason that if he had done
otherwise he "might be accused of having precipitated a conflict from
which your Lordships could not emerge with credit." The division was
taken almost immediately after the conclusion of this speech. Both of
the Archbishops and the twelve Bishops present voted for the bill. Our
clause was carried by 134 votes to 71, and Women's Suffrage was,
therefore, supported in the Lords by nearly two to one. The Lords
inserted in it among other things Proportional Representation. It was
on this and not on women's suffrage that the final contest took place
when it was returned to the Commons, but at last the long struggle of
women for free citizenship was ended, having continued a little over
fifty years. The huge majorities by which we had won in the House of
Commons had afforded our ship deep water enough to float safely over
the rocks and reefs of the House of Lords. The Royal Assent was given
on Feb. 6, 1918.

The first election at which women voted was held on December 14. Our
friends in the Speaker's Conference had aimed at producing a
constituency numbering roughly about 10,000,000 men and 6,000,000
women. The actual numbers of both sexes enfranchised by the Act of
1918 turned out to be considerably in excess of this calculation. A
Parliamentary return published in November, 1918, showed the following
numbers of men and women on the register.

_Men._
12,913,166
Naval and Military Voters 3,896,763