“Mr. Speaker, I make no apology to you, sir, or to honourable gentlemen
for the bill which I am about to introduce to the House. It is a bill
embodying a simple act of justice to woman, a tardy though complete
offer by man to repair the wrong which he has done her in the past. Now
the bill is simple enough, and contains no ambiguous clauses. It states
in terse, clear language what it is that we propose to bestow on woman,
the rights to which she is entitled, and the manner in which we suggest
that they should take effect.
“We have rightly, though tardily, bestowed the suffrage upon her. That
was an act which should have been performed years ago, but one which has
been delayed by much of that unwieldy and unworkable machinery that
clogs and hampers the operations of the Westminster Parliament. I refer
to the numerous local affairs of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales,
which, as you know, I have frequently expressed as my opinion, might be
more profitably, efficiently, and quickly disposed of in the separate
countries named, leaving the time that is consumed here in attending to
them free for the consideration of great Imperial and National social
questions, which are, alas! and dangerously so, being pressed into the
background.
“The bestowal of the suffrage on woman is a practical acknowledgment by
man that woman has a right to be considered as a being who can reason,
and who can study humanity in its various phases, and act on her own
responsibility. It is not for me here to seek for the causes which have
hitherto led man to believe to the contrary. His belief, in a great
measure, has been due to woman’s weak acceptance of his arbitrary laws;
for I do not suppose it will be pretended by any one that the laws laid
down for the sacrifice of woman’s freedom were the creation of a woman’s
brain. But this weak acceptance of these arbitrary laws cannot fairly be
ascribed entirely to the fault of woman. ‘Slavery in no form is
natural;’ it is an artificial creation of man’s; and woman’s slavery
cannot be taken as an exception to this maxim. She has, in point of
fact, been subjected to bondage, a bondage which has, in a manner,
become second nature to her, and which custom has taught her to regard
as a part of the inevitable.
“But if honourable gentlemen will believe me, Nature is stronger than
custom, and more powerful than law. Nature is a force that cannot be
repressed finally and absolutely. It is like an overwhelming torrent
against which you may erect monster dykes, which you may dam up for a
time, but all the while the waters are rising, and will find their level
in the end. Through countless years woman has been repressed. Every
human force and ingenuity of man have been employed to establish her
subjection. From religion downwards it has been the cry ‘Women, submit
to men!’ a cry which I may safely say was never originated by herself.
“Now Nature has established a law which is inviolable. It has laid down
the distinction between the sexes, but here Nature stops. Nature gives
strength and beauty to man, and Nature gives strength and beauty to
woman. In this latter instance man flies in the face of Nature, and
declares that she must be artificially restrained. Woman must not be
allowed to grow up strong like man, because if she did, the fact would
establish her equality with him, and this cannot be tolerated. So the
boy and man are allowed freedom of body, and are trained up to become
muscular and strong, while the woman, by artificial, not natural laws,
is bidden to remain inactive and passive, and in consequence weak and
undeveloped. Mentally it is the same. Nature has unmistakably given to
woman a greater amount of brain power. This is at once perceivable in
childhood. For instance, on the stage, girls are always employed in
preference to boys, for they are considered brighter and sharper in
intellect and brain power. Yet man deliberately sets himself to stunt
that early evidence of mental capacity, by laying down the law that
woman’s education shall be on a lower level than that of man’s; that
natural truths, which all women should early learn, should be hidden
from her; and that while men may be taught everything, women must only
acquire a narrow and imperfect knowledge both of life and of Nature’s
laws.
“I maintain to honourable gentlemen that this procedure is arbitrary and
cruel, and false to Nature. I characterise it by the strong word of
Infamous. It has been the means of sending to their graves unknown,
unknelled, and unnamed, thousands of women whose high intellects have
been wasted, and whose powers for good have been paralysed and
undeveloped. To the subjection and degradation of woman I ascribe the
sufferings and crimes of humanity, nor will Society be ever truly
raised, or ennobled, or perfected until woman’s freedom has been
granted, and she takes her rightful place as the equal of man. Viewing
this great social problem in this light, we have deemed it our duty to
present to Parliament a bill, establishing as law, firstly, the mixed
education of the sexes, that is to say, bringing into force the
principle of mixed schools and colleges, in which girls and boys, young
men and young women, can be educated together; secondly, the extension
of the rights of primogeniture to the female sex, so that while
primogeniture remains associated with the law of entail, the eldest
born, not the eldest son, shall succeed the owner of property and
titles; also that all the professions and positions in life, official or
otherwise, shall be thrown open as equally to women as to men; and
thirdly, that women shall become eligible as Members of Parliament, and
peeresses in their own right eligible to sit in the Upper House as well
as to undertake State duties. Such is the drastic, the sweeping measure
by which we desire to wipe off for ever and repair, though tardily, a
great wrong. Honourable gentlemen will perceive that we take no half-way
course. We are not inclined to accept the doctrine of ‘by degrees,’
believing that this would only prolong the evil and injustice which
daily arise from the delay in emancipating the female sex; and I will
now as briefly as possible set forth to honourable gentlemen the
arguments in favour of the three clauses contained in this bill.
“With regard to the first one, namely, the advisability of educating
girls and boys, young women and young men, together, it is necessary to
point out that the system of separating the sexes throughout their
educational career has arisen chiefly from the totally different forms
of education meted out to each. We hold that these different forms are
pernicious and morally unhealthy, calculated to evilly influence the
sensual instincts of the male sex, and to instil into the other sex a
totally wrong and mischievous idea of the right and wrong side of
Nature. We are convinced that this system has been productive of an
immense amount of immorality and consequent suffering and degradation in
the past, and that the system of elevating Nature into a mystery is the
greatest conceivable incitement to sensuality and immorality. We hold
that there should be no mystery or secrecy anent the laws of God. We
hold that in creating mystery we condemn God’s law—namely, Nature, to be
what it is not—indecent; and we hold that the system of separating the
sexes, of telling all to the one and enshrouding everything in silence
and mystery to the other, has had the evil effect of producing
immorality, so wide and far-spreading as to be frightful in its
hideousness and magnitude; while it has been productive of millions of
miserable marriages, of disease, and of evil immeasurable and appalling.
“Nature tells us truths which we cannot condemn as falsehoods, however
much we may avert our eyes from their light. Nature tells us that it is
natural for the male and female sex to be together. If we bring up the
young to face this truth, if we bring up the young to accept as natural
and rational the laws of pure and unaffected Nature, they will accept it
as it is. But if we clothe it in boys’ and men’s eyes in fanciful
garments, and leave girls and women in ignorance of its truths, we must
expect the terrible and horrible results which have followed such
unnatural teaching through centuries of time.
“We therefore emphatically in this clause record our protest against the
system of teaching the young to regard Nature in a false light, in other
words, to judge of God’s laws as impure. We believe such a system of
education to be, as we have said, an incentive to the male sex to do
wrong, while totally unfitting the female sex to do right. The beginning
of all immorality on woman’s side has sprung from ignorance, and from
the system of mystery and the tendency to declare indecent that which
cannot be so, being God’s law. In regard to the physical condition of
the sexes, we hold that where equal opportunities are afforded to both
of strengthening, developing, and improving the body, little material
difference will be found in the two. There are many strong men in this
world, and there are many strong women, as there are weakly men and
weakly women. I have never heard it yet argued, that because a man is
not strong in body he is therefore unfitted to take part in the affairs
of State. Yet woman’s weakness is one of the reasons adduced for
excluding her therefrom. We believe that in a big public school, say,
for instance, at Eton, if girls and boys were admitted together, that
girls would very soon prove that neither physically nor mentally were
they inferior to boys, nor should such a pernicious doctrine be ever
inculcated into the boy’s brain. He should not be brought up as he is
now, to look down on his sisters as inferior to him, nor should those
sisters be told that he is their superior in strength and mental
capacity. It is a doctrine the perniciousness of which is far-reaching,
and a distinct infringement of the natural.
“This leads us to the consideration of the second clause, the adoption
by women of those professions hitherto arrogated to themselves solely by
men. We are of opinion that, granted a similar education as men, women
are in every way as fitted to occupy those professions. I may be allowed
here perhaps, to refer with pride to that magnificent body of women over
200,000 strong who are now enrolled in the regiments of the Women’s
Volunteer forces, of which I am proud to call myself a member, and whose
uniform I am fittingly wearing on this occasion. We have before us a
splendid evidence of woman’s power to combine and come under discipline.
These regiments are kept up to their full force, and are all due to
individual effort and womanly sacrifice. There is no State aid in the
question, and yet the efficiency of each regiment is perfect. Disbanded
and scattered, they can be summoned to their ranks at a few days’
notice, without fear that they will fail. I point to this as a brilliant
example of what women can accomplish in so short a time, by
self-sacrifice and simple determination. The same argument of their
efficiency to enter the army applies to the navy, and to any other
profession hitherto occupied solely by man.
“But, believing as I do, that with the admission of women into the
conduct of affairs of State, wars, and all their attendant horrors,
would quickly become a thing of the past, I dwell shortly on the second
clause, passing on to the third, which, in conjunction with the first, I
regard as the most important part to be examined.
“It is now eleven years since County Councils were established. At the
very first elections women were chosen as representatives, but on an
appeal to the law they were ousted from their seats. We have wisely
remedied that state of things, and no one thinks it odd or extraordinary
now, to see women sitting in these County Councils as members. On the
contrary, it is tacitly acknowledged that their presence is, and has
been, productive of much good. Well, will honourable gentlemen tell me
in what great particulars these County Councils differ from Parliament?
“Both are debating assemblies, and both are conducted on almost similar
lines. What is there preposterous and appalling in the suggestion that
women should become Members of Parliament, and when, by genius or
talents, they can attain to such, assume Cabinet rank, and claim the
right to carry on the affairs of their country? It is merely custom that
now debars them, a custom established by the selfishness and arrogance
of man, and accepted by woman in the same manner as slaves in the past,
from long custom, accepted the lash from their taskmasters. The
taskmasters had established the right to flog their slaves; they had
dammed up the slowly rising waters of rebellion, but these rose to their
level at last, and overflowed, and slavery is no more. The analogy holds
good in the case of woman, whose greater slavery is not yet entirely
overcome. That it will finally be, is as certain as that the hours of
Time never go back. You may fight against it, you may pile the dykes
higher, you may go on damming the rising waters as you will, but the
time must inevitably come, when those dykes and dams will crumble away
beneath the overwhelming flood, which your own efforts will have
entirely accumulated and brought to its tremendous and irresistible
strength. We may be met with many arguments in condemnation of this
bill. One will be that it will obstruct the rite of marriage. We deny
this. We grant you that it may diminish the number of marriages, but we
contend that this will be a blessing rather than a curse. Thousands of
miserable unions are yearly effected in consequence of woman’s unnatural
and one-sided position in Society. In all these cases she does not marry
because, with a knowledge of the subject, with every profession thrown
open to her and chance to get on equal to men, she is satisfied that she
prefers married life. No. In the cases referred to, she marries for
money, or for position, or to escape the restraints of home, or because
she has no chance of making her way in the world, and the result is that
these marriages are miserable failures, and the offspring of such either
diseased in body or in mind, or condemned to grow up to a life of
misery, and, in thousands of cases, immorality and crime.
“There is a problem creeping gradually forward upon us, a problem that
will have to be solved in time, and that is the steady increase of
population. If it advances at its present rate, the hour will come when
this earth will not be able to contain it. What then? We may possibly by
that time have arranged, with the aid of science, for conveyances which
shall carry our superfluous population to other realms of light, but it
is equally possible that if this be so, those realms may not consent to
receive the emigrants. What then? I believe that with the emancipation
of women we shall solve this problem now. Fewer children will be born,
and those that are born will be of a higher and better physique than the
present order of men. The ghastly abortions, which in many parts pass
muster nowadays, owing to the unnatural physical conditions of Society,
as men, women, and children, will make room for a nobler and higher
order of beings, who will come to look upon the production of mankind in
a diseased or degraded state, as a wickedness and unpardonable crime,
against which all men and women should fight and strive. The
emancipation of women will, I am convinced, lead up to the creation of
the great and the beautiful, to higher morals and nobler aims.
“Yet, as we are now, what is the sad reality? In this huge, over-crowded
city alone, the greatest the world has ever known, amidst rich and poor
alike, teems immorality awful and appalling in its magnitude. Deeds are
committed of which even some of the most vicious have no idea. Thousands
are born in our midst who should never see the light of day. Born in
disease, these miserable victims of vice and immorality grow up to beget
to others like horrors, and in the teeming millions of this vast city
alone exist misery and sin too terrible to contemplate.
“We submit, therefore, to honourable gentlemen that the first step
towards the regeneration and upraising of mankind is the emancipation of
woman, and with her emancipation the careful training of the sexes
together. Convinced that the time has come, when it would be dangerous
to delay this emancipation, we have made it the plank on which the
Government of the day intend to stand or fall. We would further,
perhaps, overstep the bounds of custom, and ask that the fate of the
measure be decided to-night by a vote taken on it immediately. If the
vote be adverse, the Government will at once resign, and appeal to the
country on the clauses of the bill. They are clauses which I think,
to-night, it would be but waste of time to discuss. They can be
discussed before the country if the bill be rejected. Yet, ere I sit
down, I would beg of honourable gentlemen to consider the few words
which I have had the honour, and, I thank God, the opportunity to make
to them. I would appeal to them to put aside party feeling, and vote for
the common good as their consciences dictate. I solemnly warn them,
however, that they cannot put back the hand of time, and that the hour
must be reached at last when the cause of woman will triumph; for, as I
have already remarked, Nature is like the rising waters of a great
flood, which the hand and ingenuity of man may restrain for a time, but
which must find a level at last and overflow. The course of Nature is
unconquerable; no art of man can defeat it, wrought as it is by the hand
of God.”
He has sat down. He has been heard throughout in death-like silence, but
now the Ministerialists and D’Estrangeites are cheering him again and
again. Yet chill as ice are the Nationals and Progressists. They cannot
rise to the height of generosity to which he has appealed. In this
moment of uncertainty for many, Hector D’Estrange knows that the bill is
doomed.
* * * * *
The House has divided. It has recorded its vote. The numbers for and
against the emancipation of women have been announced. The author of the
bill was no false prophet when he predicted defeat. By a majority of 120
it has been rejected.
Then the rafters ring with the wild cheering of the victorious
Opposition, of that strange medley of parties, that hating each other
cordially, yet hate still more the high-souled, far-reaching,
justice-loving principles of Hector D’Estrange. Again and again the
cheering is renewed, drowning in its volume the counter-cheers of the
D’Estrangeites, wild, almost ungovernable in its elation, full of bitter
meaning, echoing with sneering emphasis the triumph of selfishness over
right.
He sits very quietly through it all, hardly seeming to notice this
outburst of the victors. He does not grudge them their momentary
triumph; his thoughts do not dwell upon the defeat which he has just
sustained. They are far away, out beyond the portals of the present,
clasping the warm hands of the future, reading the bright letters that
twine their golden circlet round its brow, as they flash their meaning
forth in the one word “Victory!”
Be of good cheer, brave heart, for victory is at hand!
The House has adjourned; it is five minutes past twelve. As the Prime
Minister passes out he is joined by Evie Ravensdale, who at once links
his arm within that of his friend and colleague. Although the duke’s
carriage is in waiting, these two purposely refrain from entering it, so
as to avoid the crowd and the inevitable demonstration which would
follow recognition thereby. In this manner they escape detection by the
populace.
Not entirely, however. Sharp eyes have recognised Hector D’Estrange. He
has not gone many steps when a hand is laid on his shoulder.
“Mr. D’Estrange,” he hears a voice saying, “I arrest you in the name of
the law.”
“On what charge?” he inquires in a quick, startled voice.
“On the charge, sir, of murdering Lord Westray,” is the reply.
In a moment his quick brain has taken in the situation, and he knows
that resistance is useless.
“Very well,” he answers quietly, “I will go with you. Evie,” he adds, in
a calm, composed voice “please go at once to my poor mother.”
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