despondency ruled, and now rule now longer; and that their awakening and ours are due to a common cause, which historians in the future may account for in many ways, but which all will acknowledge to have existed, the striking re-emergence of interest in domestic politics which marked the second five years of the twentieth century. It is not mere perverseness on our part that makes the new agitation coincide with the accession to power of the Liberal Party. On the contrary, the two facts have a common cause.
Moreover, it is from a Liberal Government that claims for the extension of the franchise should meet with active support. Philosophic Liberalism depends on the ideals of political freedom; its very maxims are "No taxation without representation," and that just, though hardly inspiring expression of principle, "Each to count as one and none as more than one." The work of Liberalism is to provide fair and equal political machinery, to make the form of government democratic; that task is nearly done, and soon a new doctrine of political development, whether called by a different name or not, must replace the old views. One part, however, of the machinery still awaits completion. The rights of women must be acknowledged; their energy and devotion must be made available for the work of government. To carry out this reform is consonant with the principles and traditions of Liberalism, and yet those who urge it continue to be met with those often heard exhortations to wait, to be patient.
Now there are weighty reasons, not often clearly
