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.Claimingthe right of the subject to present petitions, Emmeline Pethick Lawrencedescribed the charge the women faced—of obstructing the police—as “abreach of the technical law.” She exhorted the magistrate that in his capac-ity of administering the law, he represented more than the mere technicali-ties of law: “I put it to you, sir, if I may, that you represent something deeper,something more abiding than the mere conventionalities of the law—Imean the great abiding principles of equity.” 96 WSPU member Rose Lamar-tine Yates similarly told the magistrate that while she was charged with ob-76r e s i s ta n c e o n t r i a l , 19 0 6 – 19 12f i g u r e 4.2Christabel Pankhurst, Flora Drummond, andEmmeline Pankhurst at Bow Street PoliceCourt during the “Rush” trial, 14 October 1908.Mary Evans Picture Library.structing police in execution of their duty, “she considered that the policehad obstructed her in what she conceived as the discharge of a higher duty—the assertion of every subject’s constitutional right to lay grievances beforethe Government.”97 The spectacle landing women in the courtroom thus wasonly part of the women’s protest; the courtroom’s provision of a publicvenue for staking claim to women’s inclusion in the constitution was theother, equally significant, part.Suffragettes’ arguments, however, were less likely to be heard sympathet-ically if their actions involved the use of violence.In 1909, Alison Neilansand Alice Chapin of the Women’s Freedom League were tried on charges ofinterfering with a by-election in the London constituency of Bermondseyand injuring an election official in the course of their protest.Due to theseverity of the charges, the women were tried in the central criminal courtbefore a jury.98 The Bermondsey trial, however, held only mixed successfor suffragettes, for if the two women won the right to trial by jury, they lostthe right to a sympathetic audience in the public benches, as Mr.JusticeGrantham ruled that all female spectators be removed from the court-room.99 Ironically, the organization with which the newspapers had the most77t h e m i l i ta n t s u f f r a g e m ov e m e n tsympathy, at least until 1909, was the WSPU.Despite attacks on property car-ried out by the WSPU, the courtroom demeanor of its members was womanly,patriotic, and not excessively passionate.The WFL’s unfortunate Bermondseyepisode made that organization susceptible to the charge of recklessness andirresponsibility, especially as accounts of injuries to the election official re-ceived widespread press coverage.The use of violence against property andharm done to individuals then created a problem for suffragettes in the court-room.Women lost the moral high ground when their actions were perceivedas harmful or destructive.Perhaps the zenith of suffragette performance in the courtroom dramacame with the May 1912 trial of WSPU leaders at the Old Bailey for con-spiracy to incite violence.100 The government charged Frederick PethickLawrence, Emmeline Pethick Lawrence, Emmeline Pankhurst, and Christa-bel Pankhurst with conspiring to organize the mass window-breaking protestson 21 November 1911 and 1 and 4 March 1912.The first three were arrestedon 5 March 1912; Christabel Pankhurst escaped to Paris.The defendantswere indicted on a total of fifty-four counts.The general indictment chargedthat the defendants had on various dates together and with Christabel Pank-hurst and others conspired “to commit damage, injury, and spoil to theamount of £5 and upwards to certain glass windows.” All three pleaded notguilty.101Extensive newspaper coverage of the trial brought the public into thecourtroom, where readers, including those distinctly at odds with the move-ment, could see for themselves the arguments made by both sides.Unlikesuffrage newspapers, which tended to circulate among the faithful, or at leastamong those not unsympathetic to the cause, mainstream dailies reachedmilitancy’s intended audience: the wider public [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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