Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/801

WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN MANY COUNTRIES 785 was to consider giving the vote to women. Appeals were made through the members from the fifty branches of the association and through public meetings and much outdoor propaganda was carried on in little boats. There was no cessation of the work and as a result leaders of the four political parties declared them- selves in the Parliament in favor of the enfranchisement of women, but in 1909 a Conservative Government was elected and the revision was withdrawn. This year the Lutheran and Men- nonite churches gave women a vote on all matters. In 1913 the Cabinet announced its own revision of the constitution. Early in 1914 the association memorialized the Premier and the Queen, sent letters to all the electors and carried on the most strenuous work. Its meetings in every town and city were crowded and in a short time a petition signed by 165,000 women was presented to the Parliament. Then the War broke forth and everything was at a standstill. In 1915 the suffragists were roused by the announcement that the constitution would positively be revised. In June they held a big demonstration in Amsterdam, in which trade unions and political parties participated. It was evident that the country was back of the demand for woman suffrage. Although street proces- sions were forbidden, the burgomaster, a suffragist, allowed it. In The Hague a large one took place in September, when the Parliament opened, the burgomaster yielding to the entreaties of the women that if the Government was going to bring in a new constitution in the midst of the War, which so much concerned women, they should be allowed to express themselves. It was preceded by an immense meeting and a resolution calling for woman suffrage was passed; thousands of women massed in front of the Parliament House and Dr. Jacobs and a deputation carried it in to the Speaker, who promised to do all in his power for them. During all the weeks while the discussion raged the members had to pass through two rows of silent women wearing broad sashes with the name of the association on them. Women filled the seats inside and the Speaker offered his private box to Dr. Jacobs and her friends. Prime Minister Cort van Linden threatened that if a vote were permitted on woman suffrage he would withdraw the whole constitution. The members of Parlia-