WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE BILL [H.L.] (Hansard, 24 June 1892)

LORD DENMAN

My Lords, I was summoned by the noble Earl, who is called the Whip, to support Government measures, and I rather hoped that this was included as a Government measure, seeing that at least one 1855 Member of the Government has supported a measure of the kind in another place; but, my Lords, I find that there are objections. The noble Lord who spoke to me asked whether Peeresses were entitled to sit in this House; they certainly are entitled to a place in the Gallery, but not to sit in the House; and when Lady Abbesses sat in the House of Lords, they sat and voted by proxy. My Lords, it would be an extremely easy thing to carry a measure of this kind, because the whole country is in favour of it; and the great commotion at St. James's Hall the other day shows what a dangerous thing it is to leave this an open question before a new election. My Bill has been well considered. I have taken the liberty of corresponding with the noble Lord the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for many years, and I know to what extent he has gone with me. I am not disposed to proceed any further than to give the vote to women householders who are spinsters—I do not propose to extend it to the lodger franchise. This may cause opposition in another place, and you may think it is impossible to carry this Bill; but, as I told Mrs. Fawcett, my father always said, "If a thing is pronounced impossible it will happen in a fortnight." I can hardly hope for so early a settlement of this question, but at the same time it would be a very great boon if the numerous public speeches from the Throne, and Answers to Addresses, were done away with; and, in answer to the objection that was made to this measure by the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack, that the 2nd September would be too late for carrying such a measure, I wish, my Lords, I could move that this House should adjourn to the 2nd September; because, if that were carried, then it would be in Her Majesty's power to say whether she would dissolve Parliament at once for this interference with the course of business. The noble Lord the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has said that we could not interfere with the other House of Parliament; but the Triennial Act was introduced by an ancestor of the Duke of Devonshire in this House, and was carried in the other House. My Lords, I am 1856 very old, and I am extremely anxious that this Bill should pass. My words may not produce even a single teller, but I think it really would be courteous of your Lordships to show that there are some who are in favour of voting by female householders. I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time.