Last Saturday at Oxford Mr. Lloyd George received three deputations
on woman suffrage. First came the Men's Political Union, who sympathize with militancy, led by Mr. Nevinson. They hotly abused the Government for breaking their pledges. Mr. Lloyd George gave as good as he got. Personally, he could not leave the Government because the Cabinet were disagreed about woman suffrage. He would break up the Cabinet on a question of land reform or Welsh Disestablishment, but not for woman suffrage. The only way to remove the women's grievance was to win over the majority of the people to their side. To the next deputation, from the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, Mr. Lloyd George said that Liberalism was more important than woman suffrage, and that to insist on votes for women at present would destroy Liberalism. To the last deputation, from anti-suffragists, he said that militancy had destroyed much of the desire for woman suffrage. The way to find out the feeling of the country was by an election and not by a Referendum, as the deputation proposed. Mr. Lloyd George professes to be an ardent suffragist, but we are bound to say that if we were advocates of that cause we should very much prefer his opposition. The man who in politics tells you that he supports your cause but is entirely unwilling to make any sacrifice for it is, in the happy American phrase, "No more good than a headache." His promise to help the women when they have won is delicious.
Previous page
