Canada, the United States, and Woman Suffrage: An Exchange
From the end of August through mid-September, 1912, Davison engaged in a
protracted correspondence in the pages of The Newcastle Daily Journal and The
North Mail about Canadian, American and British attitudes toward woman suffrage.
She repulses any hint that Canada is not pro-suffrage and uses Canadian and
American enthusiasm to paint England as laggard and backward in its attitudes. Her
characteristic rhetoric of modern times and forward thinking, typical of the 1911
letters, appears once more in these letters. In her scrapbook the exchange begins with
the following news story from The Newcastle Evening Chronicle:
August 26, 1912, The Newcastle Evening Chronicle , “Mr. Borden and Woman
Suffrage”;“Canadian Premier to Receive a Deputation”
Mr. Borden has consented to receive a deputation from the Women’s
Social and Political Union, and from those interested in the cause of woman
suffrage in Canada. The W.S.P.U. representatives will wait on the Canadian
premier at the Savoy Hotel, London, at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
When first approached on the subject, Mr. Borden refused to receive any
deputation on the question, but subsequently he changed his mind and wired an
acceptance. The primary object of the W.S.P.U. is to obtain a statement as to
what steps the Canadian Premier is prepared to take for the furtherance of the
cause of Female Suffrage Bill in Canada.
Emily Davison wasted no time in responding; the day she read this story she wrote
the following letter praising the forward thinking of the Canadian and American
governments, and castigating the British as backward:
August 28, 1912, To the Editor the Newcastle Evening Chronicle,
“The Canadian Premier and the Suffragists”
Sir, –In an interesting paragraph in your issue to-night, you announce that Mr.
Borden, the Canadian Premier, now in London, has consented to receive a
deputation of the W.S.P.U. on women suffrage next Saturday. This gentleman
is evidently one of those who can read the signs of the times, a remark which
applies equally to his go-ahead neighbour, Mr. Roosevelt, who, as we all know
well, is so ‘previous’ that he has actually put woman suffrage on the forefront of
the presidential programme. ‘Uncle Sam’ and his friendly rival, ‘Cousin Robert, ‘
are evidently wide awake, and as ready as ever to ‘lick creation,’ and give a
playful twist to the tail of the sleepy old British lion, whose attitude to the female
of his species seems to be as hoary as his constitution. ‘Wake up, England!’ is
the rousing motto painted in large plain letters on the bright blue driving-cart
of Mr. Graham White’s up-to-date water-plane. ‘Wake up! Wake up!!’ we
suffragist women cry, ‘Oh, beloved country, or thou will certainly find thyself in the
rearguard instead of the vanguard of progress!!’ Yours, etc.,
EMILY WILDING DAVISON
Longhorsley, Aug. 26, 1912