When the authorities had first raised the threat of punishing women under the Statute thirteen, Charles II, for proceeding to Parliament in a body of more than twelve persons with the object of presenting a petition to the Prime Minister, the Suffragettes had decided to defy the Statute. We were indignant at the proposal to enforce against us in the supposed free and enlightened days of the twentieth century, a coercive law passed in a bygone time of great upheaval and of great tyranny. Moreover the police authorities had stated that if tried under this Statute of Charles II the Suffragette cases must be decided by a judge and jury instead of being hustled through the Police Court. Deputation after deputation of more than twelve women had therefore gone forth but though these women had again and again been seized and imprisoned for periods as long as that prescribed by that Act, the authorities still did not charge them under the Act of Charles II. At last, as the seriousness of the whole position grew, our committee decided that it would be wisest to comply with the very letter of the law and to stand on the constitutional right of the subject to petition the Prime Minister as the seat of power. We were advised that the right of petition, which had been to some extent limited by the Act of Charles II, had existed from time immemorial. It had been confirmed by the Bill of Rights which became law in 1689, at the beginning of the joint reigns of William and Mary, as one of the securities for the liberties of the British people, the complete preservation of which had been a condition of the accession of that King and Queen. The Bill of Rights declares that: "It is the right of the subject to petition the King and all commitments, and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal." As the power of the King had now for all practical purposes passed into the hands of Parliament, the Prime Minister, as the chief Parliamentary official, had become the King's representative and therefore the right to petition the Prime Minister clearly belonged to each and every member of the Community. This right, though it should always be zealously guarded, is of course most essential in the case of persons placed outside of the pale of the franchise. A ninth Women's Parliament having been called, Mrs. Pankhurst wrote to Mr. Asquith stating that a deputation from the Women's Parliament would wait upon him at the House of Commons at eight o'clock on the evening of June 29th. She informed him further that the deputation could accept no refusal and must insist upon their constitutional right to be received. [Illustration: Mrs. Lawrence's Release Procession, April 17th, 1909] The Prime Minister returned a formal refusal to receive them but the women proceeded with their arrangements.