The suffrage movement passed through a period of comparative discouragement after 1884, and though propaganda continued, and huge petitions were yearly sent in, no fresh developments took place. In the '9os a successful effort was made to interest the working women of the north, and although no progress was ap parent in parliament the volume of support for the movement steadily grew. In 1897 the scattered societies united in a National Union, under the presidency of Mrs. Henry Fawcett, and their efficiency greatly increased.
In 1903 an event occurred which was both a symptom of re newed interest and a cause of further progress, namely the forma tion of the Women's Social and Political Union. Before many years were over this society, led by Mrs. Pankhurst, had de veloped "militant tactics." The real development of this policy began in 1906, when the Liberal Party came into power. The older societies were asking for pledges from individual candidates, but the new society be lieved that the only hope lay in the action of the Government. At a meeting in the Free Trade hall, Manchester, Christabel Pank hurst and Annie Kenney asked what the attitude of the new Gov ernment would be. Instead of an answer to their perfectly legit imate question, however, the two girls were seized by the stewards and thrown roughly into the street ; and when they held an indig nation meeting they were arrested for obstruction, and sentenced to fine or imprisonment. Both chose to go to prison; and the sen sation caused by these events was an enormous advertisement to the cause. Thereafter the "militants" adopted the policy of heck ling cabinet ministers, of marching with petitions to parliament, and of sending deputations to Downing street. Disturbances and arrests followed, and with every such demonstration the strength of their society grew.
From 1906 the movement entered upon its stage of greatest effort. Organised societies expanded with great rapidity, and the agitation they carried on became incessant. The meetings which multiplied in halls and drawing rooms, in schools and chapels, at street corners and on village greens were missionary meetings, and new converts flocked into the ranks. In 1907 the first public demonstration in the streets was organized, and on a wet afternoon 3,00o women took part in the "mud march" through London. Nothing dreadful happened to them, and the demonstration was repeated in other places. As time went on the scale increased, and vast crowds gathered again and again in the Albert hall, in Hyde park and in other open spaces, and processions, miles long, marched with bands and banners through the streets. Both suffragists and
suffragettes developed great ingenuity in propaganda. They turned everything to their uses, and their war-cry, "votes for women," cropped up in the most unexpected places. They chalked the pavements, paraded in sandwich boards, sold their newspapers in the streets, picketed the House of Commons and flooded the streets with leaflets and handbills.
All this commotion put the Government into a very uncomfort able position, since H. H. Asquith, the prime minister, was a violent opponent of the cause. He was determined not to yield; and yet nothing but the granting of the vote seemed likely to stop the agitation. The militants courted arrest, and continued their protests in prison. They adopted the method of hunger striking, and after painful attempts at forcible feeding, which they invariably resisted, the authorities were obliged to release them. While the propaganda of both sections of suffragists de veloped, the political situation remained unaltered. Private mem bers' bills were introduced, but owing to the opposition of the Government they were either defeated or blocked. In 1910 a serious effort was made to find a solution of the problem, and a conciliation committee of M.P.s with Lord Lytton as its chairman and H. N. Brailsford as its secretary was set up. This committee drafted a bill acceptable to all sections of suffragist opinion, and the second reading was carried in the same year by 110 votes.
Asquith refused further facilities, but after the second general election of 1910 the same bill was brought forward again, and was again carried by an increased majority. But still the Liberal Government would not grant facilities, and in the autumn of 1911 Asquith announced that he proposed to introduce a franchise bill "for male persons only." This naturally enraged the suffragists, and the militants began a campaign of greater violence, destroying property and breaking windows to mark their protest. Early in 1912 the conciliation bill again came forward, but this time, owing to the prospect of the franchise bill and the known wishes of the prime minister, it was defeated by 14 votes—and that in the same parliament as had carried the same bill by 167 votes not a year before. This treatment of their cause still further angered and stiffened the suffragists, but they fixed their hopes upon the coming reform bill, which Asquith had promised would be open to amend ments including women.