Permission was obtained to place the Appeal in Westminster Hall on May
19th, and passes were given to the Committee to enable them to show it
to any Members of Parliament who might wish to inspect it.
Accordingly--although it was already known that all Wednesdays had
been taken in Government business--the Appeal of the women of this day
and generation for constitutional rights was placed in that grand old
Hall, round which the Parliamentary associations of a thousand years
are clustered. Many Members showed great interest in studying the
signatures from their respective constituencies.

Irrespective of the interest called forth, other good results
followed, for the Women's Suffrage Societies had been drawn into
pleasant relation with a great many new friends and helpers all over
the country. It was also shown that women who differed widely on
political and social questions could work cordially and unanimously
for this common object. The closer union which this work had brought
about led to the modification of the Special Appeal Committee into a
combined Committee for Parliamentary Work. A Conference held in the
Priory Rooms, Birmingham, October 16th, attended by delegates from all
the Women's Suffrage Societies, greatly assisted concerted action.

_1897._--All was thus in good working order when at the opening of the
session an excellent place was drawn in the ballot by Mr. Faithfull
Begg (M. P. for St. Rollox division of Glasgow) and the Women's
Franchise Bill was set down for February 3rd, when it passed second
reading by a majority of 71. The old opponents sent out a strong whip
against the Bill and mustered in force, but they were exceeded by the
old friends, nor did the division show the whole strength of the
movement, as many known to be favorable were still absent at that
early date of the session.[485] A statement issued by the National
Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, said:

This vote places the question of Women's Suffrage in a new phase,
and its friends have only to continue to press it upon the
attention of Parliament and the public in order to render it
necessary at no distant date that it should be dealt with by the
Government of the day. This has been the history of nearly all
important measures of reform. They have very rarely been placed
on the Statute Book by private members; but private members by
repeatedly bringing a particular question before the House