ABSTRACT
These repeated disappointments and the refusal of the Government to afford any facilities for the discussion of the claim of women to be included in the great measure of Reform which is still incomplete, point emphatically to the injury which women must suffer so long as they are totally unrepresented. Their claim on the attention of Parliament is, as Prof. Stuart happily phrased it the other night, like pulling a wire when there was no bell at the other end. Not being a voter, their claims will never be " opportune." For yea:nJ they were told to stand on one side because their d~· mand for the Franchise could not be settled till the general question of Parliamentary Reform was before the country. Last session they were commanded to withdraw because the general question of Parliamentary Reform was before the country, and theirs was a social question. The Bill stood for second reading, Nov. 24th with a fair chance of passing, but the House was ad• journed. Again, its chance of a fair hearing has been Jost, and we confess to feeling very little certainty that we shall be more fortunate later in the summer. Meanwhile it is the fixed conviction of a large body of women that it is as absolutely unjust to legislate for women without their consent as for any large section of men, and their dissatisfaction is now increased by the conviotion that the recent enlargement of the electorate has intensified the disadvantage at which they are placed and the injustice of their exclusion. .
