A SUFFRAGETTE DAY IN LONDON.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1019, 7 January 1911, Page 10

A SUFFRAGETTE DAY IN LONDON.

THEIR WAYS, THEIR POLICE, AND OURS. (By Dominica.) I spent most of a recent afternoon at Parliament Square, London, whero a great crowd had collected to wateh tho suffragettes trying to break through the rows of police set to guard tho House of Commons. At their big demonstration in Albert Hall during suffrago week, when about ten thousand women were present, ihe militants announced that they would give the Government time to bring down the Conciliation Bill (which secured a very large majority in tho House of Commons and was then dropped), and that if they did not do so, a deputation of militants would wait on Mr. Asquith. "If necessary," said Mrs. Pankhurst, "I will go alone, but it will not bo necessary." • "Mrs.-Pankhurst, I will go with you," said a woman from the hack of the hall, very quietly. "And I will come too," said another. "And I will come, Mrs. Pankliurst," said a third, and so it went on—women from all parts of the hall signifying their intention to follow tho leader whom they adore. The news of the dissolution altered their plans, bo they had their deputation to-day, after a packed meeting in the Caxtou Hall at Westminster. Hundreds of women were turned away from that morning meeting, and even Lady Stout, I was told afterwards, was not able to get a seat, so great was the crush. The taxi-man wo asked to take us down to Parliament at first refused to go, saying that the police were using their truncheons, and ho was afraid of having his car smashed up. This was pure fabrication, and I really think it was because I was wearing a green coat and skirt with white blouse and a hat that might, in a fog, be' called violet, and as these happened to be the suffrage colours, he was'afraid. tho antis-would attack tho cab. However, with a scared look, he promised to take us as far as it was safe to go, and ended by driving us right to the. Square, where there was nothing at first to be : seen but the waiting crowd of thousands, most of them men, and tho seven hundred police, who were tiought necessary to guard the approaches' to "Parliament. There had been a set deputation earlier in the day, and now the.suffragettes wearing the deputation badge were advancing singly or in twos and threes, and making little rushes at the gates, which it was obviously hopeless to atr tempt to pass. Then they would be seized by the police, twisted round, and run across the road back to the crowu, the run-beginning.gently enough, but often ending with an angry little shove that would nearly send, them flying. They would disappear for a few.minutes, only "to make a' similar ! attempt elsewhere. Old ladies there, were whom the police called "mother," aiid .escorted firmly to the footpath, and quite young girls. One intrepid,. crippled lady, wearing tho purple of her. society, charged .tho polico in fier wheeled chair, and they had great difficulty in disposing of her, since she had control of tho rudder, and, as they turned the chair y '^ J > B J? e Woltl d set f wheeling in tho other direction. . Tbo attacks were so small, however, that it seemed strange that, the polico should treat them with such deep seriousness. About 3 o'clock a whistle was blown loudly on the outskirts of tho crowd, near station, ■ Slid instantly a,tang-line: of strong, solemn, silent policemen walked past, two -i Tf* : determined faces, whilo the crowd , craned their .-'necks to see what danger was threatening.,- A row banners, purple, green', and white, waved for a minute or two; above the massed heads, and next minute tho po icemen were breaking.: the banneret poles in their hands, and the littlo-pro-had ceased to exist. That was We crossed the' road to the railings, where constant little rushes were being made, and presently some stalwart policemen ran out two of the valiant besiegers a pretty fair girl and her ■ older companion-with a shove that sent them-stumbling into the middle of tho crowd. A crowd of New Zealand men would have looked and laughed, W5? th «m good-naturedly, but these.Enghshmen turned on them roughly, and,' regardless of the fact that they were evidently shaken aiid a little unnerved, jeered them ' roughly, scolded, and admonished them, tho girls answering with considerable, spirit till the polico ran' at the whole crowd, and dispersed it untenderly. . Wo wanted to see \vhat was liappenCaxton Hall—the headquarters ot the militant suffragettes for the day -and wo made oar way there past Westmmster Abbey, but only with considerable difficulty, for it was just by tha Abbey railings that the roughest war was being waged; Air the traffic m London seemed to bo diverted to that street for the afternoon, and probably everyone' with tho least excuse •.chose to drive along that way and see the fun, so that the ordinary pedestrians, the onlookers, tho police, and the women of the deputation who were trying to force their way past to the House of Commons were penned into a very small space. Tho police looked very hot, and breathed rather heavily, and the suffragettes very_ quietly, but very persistently,- attempted over and over again to push their way past, while the crowd (among whom were some of the American mon-of-warsmen now visitinu London), looked on and laughed, and every now aud then other suffragettes would lean over from the top of a passinc bus aiid cheer tho combatants. \Vo were all pushed about roughlv by tho polico every now and then in their attempt to clear the road, and I was separatod from my companion, who succeeded m crossing tho street, but it was more than half an hour before I could join her, so constant was the stream of traffic. Every now and then when there was a break,' and some suffragette would make a bold dash, and in the excitement of watching her, attempt tho opportunity of getting through tho motor buses and "taxis" would be lost, and again I would be shut in that narrow space. Afterwards I. went on to Caxton Hall, whore wo found little groups of suffragettes very interested, and still very determined, gathered to hear the latest news. An inspector of polico and an ordinary policeman mounted guard over "the hall itself, and a little way down the road half a dozen policemen or more waited for emergencies.

By half-pas? four in tho afternoon twenty-five men and women liad been arrested and taken to tho 'police station, where Mr. Pethick Lawrence was waiting to bail them out, and Miss Evelyn Sharp, tho well-known writer, was also waiting with creature comforts for them, though how she got thcro is a mystery to nic. When wo came homo in the twilight thcro wcro still thousands of idle men waiting about tho Square, the hundreds of policemen were standing shoulder to shoulder iu the silver lamplight, yellow lights shone fronl the narrow hiWi windows of the House of Commons and behind, melting into tho shadows of tho sky, rose tho filigreed roofs and towers of Parliament, and the Abbey strong, and'quiet, and grand. Tho speeches delivered at the meetings all through suffrage week wero on a high level. They breathed an idealism, a noblo desire for freedom of spirit, for wider lives, for greater opportunities than the women of England now enjoy, and . constantly' did = tho speakers .insist- on this': That in asking

for the vote they asked for much more than the vote,. fort all that it represented in tlic way of liberty, to live aud to develop. Tho success of New Zealand was constantly quoted, til! one was forced to feel that the women of New Zealand do not realise just where the vote has put them. 31rs. Pethick Lawrence made a very strong point when she compared tha laws regarding- tho protection of children liero and in Now Zealand, .and sha quoted a recent case where a mail in a good position who had. wronged a little maid-servant under sixteen yeara of age. was sentenced to a fortnight's imprisonment. "In New Zealand," said Mrs. Lawrence, "they, realise tho valud of a woman's life, and the offencewhich in England is .regarded as so trivial is in New Zealand recognised as 0110 of the most serious crimes, rendering the criminal liable to seven j'ears' imprisonment. We lyanfc to protect our children, too." After their splendid speeches, it wae distressing to find that these high aspirations had to be translated into §uch trivial, _ aggravating, and apparently ineffective action. Ono wished that the Suffragettes could have found a bigger way of urging their point, aud one understood; why the stupid, thoughtless ■crowd did not understand. But ona ia bound also to recognise Hie ability, the sublety, and 'ingenuity of the leaders of this militant movement, • and to realiser that if there had* been any better way'.' to urge their cause they would have taken it long ago: The women who be-' siege Parliament—and they'have coma' : from all parts of England to do it— obviously dislike v their, task intensely,' and realise to the full 'their impotence and loss of dignity. - That is why ona. admires them-so tremendously. '