There might, indeed, be—­for force is not always brute—­some excuse and even admiration for the Terrorist, did the triumph of her cause appear indefinitely remote, were even that triumph to be brought perceptibly nearer by forcibly feeding us with horrors.  But the contrary is the case:  even the epidemic of crime foreshadowed by Mrs. Pankhurst could not appreciably delay woman suffrage.  It is coming as fast as human nature and the nature of the Parliamentary machine will allow.  To try to terrorize Mr. Asquith into bringing in a Government measure is to credit him with a wisdom and a nobility almost divine.  No man is great enough to put himself in the right by admitting he was wrong.  And even if he were great enough to admit it under argument, he would have to be godlike to admit it under menace.  Rather than admit it, Mr. Asquith has let himself be driven into a position more ludicrous than perhaps any Prime Minister has occupied.  For though he declares woman suffrage to be “a political disaster of the gravest kind,” he is ready to push it through if the House of Commons wishes, relying for its rejection upon the House of Lords, which he has denounced and eviscerated.  He is even not unwilling it shall pass if only the disaster to the country is maximized by Adult Suffrage.  It is not that he loves woman more, but the Tory party less.

All things considered, I am afraid the Suffrage Movement will have to make up its mind to wait for another Parliament.  There is more hope for the premature collapse of this Parliament than for its passing of a Suffrage Bill or clause.  And at the general election, whenever it comes, Votes for Women will be put on the program of both parties.  The Conservatives will offer a mild dose, the Liberals a democratic.  Whichever fails at the polls, the principle of woman suffrage will be safe.

This prognostic, it will be seen, involves the removal of the immovable Asquith.  But he must either consent to follow a plebiscite of his party or retire, like his doorkeeper, from Downing Street, under the intolerable burden of the suffragette.  Much as his party honors and admires him, it can not continue to repudiate the essential principles of Liberalism, nor find refuge in his sophism that Liberalism removes artificial barriers, but can not remove natural barriers.  What natural barrier prevents a woman from accepting or rejecting a man who proposes to represent her in Parliament?  No; after his historic innings Mr. Asquith will sacrifice himself and retire, covered with laurels and contradictions.  Pending which event, the suffragettes, while doing their best to precipitate it through the downfall of the Government, may very reasonably continue their policy of pin-pricks to keep politicians from going to sleep, but serious violence would be worse than a crime; it would be a blunder.  No general dares throw away his men when nothing is to be gained, and our analysis shows that the interval between women and the vote can only be shortened by bringing on a general election.