Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/744

 728 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE 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 differ- ent 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 move- ment, 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 de- manded 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 suf- fragists 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 !" f~ The earlier years of militant activity were in my opinion help- ful to the whole movement, for up to 1908 the "militants" had