THE UNENFRANCHISED DEAD.
Noel Pemberton Billing, the aviator who defeated the Coalition candidate at the last English by-election, affirmed in the House of Commons that he could prove that the lives of brave men in the air service had been lost through ths supply af bad materials. The Government demnrred, but considerations of military secrecy intervened. Prior to the by-election Mr. Pemberton Billing said : "If only the dead had votes, I know on which side they would be cast." This sentence appears to have inspired the following lines in the Sunday Times by Kitty Lofting : — If they could speak, those countless, silent hosts, What strange new wisdom might they give to us, Born of a knowledge gained beyond the stars ? The unenfranchised dead! Their lips are sealed. They have most right to speak, and. yet are mute. But in his secret heart each live man knows The message of their ceaseless, voiceless cry. Whate'er he may pretend, his conscience hears The echo of their inarticulate prayer. ITor England we gave all. Was it in vain? Avenge our sacrifice, or join us here. For we were true to Eiigiand. Better
That England died than prove herself untrue."
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19160401.2.109
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 78, 1 April 1916, Page 11
Word Count
196THE UNENFRANCHISED DEAD. Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 78, 1 April 1916, Page 11
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