"I want here to insist," she said, "upon the legality of the action which we have taken. We have a perfectly constitutional right to go ourselves in person to lay our grievances before the House of Commons, and as one witness--an expert student of history--pointed out to you, we are but pursuing a legitimate course which in the old days women pursued without the smallest interference by the authorities." In regard to the meaning of the word "rush," she pointed out that a large number of witnesses had been examined, and that all these witnesses had testified that, according to their interpretation of the word "rush," no violence was counselled. "The word 'rush,'" Christabel said, "appears to be very much the rage just now. We find that at a meeting of the League for the Preservation of Swiss Scenery, Mr. Richard Whiteing, discussing the question of Swiss railways, suggested that a general 'rush' to the Italian Alps might induce the Swiss to listen to reason. Well, I do not think that anyone here would suggest that Mr. Whiteing meant to offer any violence to the Swiss in his use of the word 'rush.' He meant to imply that a speedy advance should be made to the Italian Alps. Then we have Mr. McKinnon Wood counselling the electors to 'rush' the County Council, and get a lady elected to that body." "I want to submit that 'rush' as a transitive verb cannot mean 'attack,' 'assail,' 'make a raid upon,' or anything of that kind." In support of her contentions, Christabel quoted the definitions given by many dictionaries, including _The Century Dictionary_, _Chambers' English Dictionary_, and _Farmer and Henley's Dictionary of Slang_ which gave amongst other meanings of the word "rush" "an eager demand," "urgent pressure of business," "hurry or hasten,--it may be unduly," "to go forward over hastily; for example a number of Bills are 'rushed' through Parliament or a case is 'rushed' through a law court." One of the definitions ran, "A 'rusher,' a go-ahead person," whilst "on the rush" was said to mean "in a hurry," and "with a rush, with spirit or energetically." Christabel also displayed a little label which had been sent to her during the progress of the case. It stated, "Rush by first train leaving," and was used in America for parcels required to reach their destination early. She reminded the magistrate of Mrs. May's comparison of the phrase "rush the House of Commons" with "a dash for the Pole," saying: