part of the Bill, having all the Government machinery at its command; but the Women's Social and Political Union was not able to believe that there was any value in such an offer, and their policy of relentless opposition to the members of the Government continued, accompanied by ever-increasing acts of law-breaking and disorder.
The argument which the militant suffragists use in defence of their behaviour is that nearly fifty years of lawful methods have produced no result; that Governments are amenable only to pressure; that men have always adopted methods of violence and destruction before each Reform Bill was enacted; that the public, through its indifference, ought to be roused by attacks on its property, which is the thing it cherishes the most; that for whatever is done by the militants, the Government is responsible, and that the end, in this case, justifies the means.
The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies has repeatedly dissociated itself from this method of propaganda. It does not approve of the use of violence. It believes the injury of innocent people is wrong and indefensible, and that it can do no good to the cause. In reply to the argument of the militants, it says that fifty years of lawful agitation have produced very great results in those improvements in the status of women
