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[Page 194]

7.

think of the whole business?

Did I tell you that the Rose Bay Church proposal fell through some time ago, & Mark Sheldon, Odillo Maher's estate, Michael O'Gorman Hughes, & I, found ourselves stuck with a bank guarantee & other expenses amounting to over £1000 between us? We sold the land today for £900, which means about £850 nett, so that we shall get out of the business without losing anything very heavy after all.

Today the papers are full of the Italian debâcle, & of the complete sweeping away of all their slowly won ground towards Trieste, & of the actual invasion of Italy by the Austrians & Germans. I never had much faith in the Italian army, but this complete smash-up is alarming, & England & France must hasten to the rescue to prevent another Roumanian, or Servian catastrophe. 

I suppose France has her own hands as full as she can manage with, so that England will have to do most of the work. Heaven grant that she will be quick about it, & not too late as so often before! The worst part of it is the fillip it gives to the failing hopes of Austria who must have been dead sick of the war, & anxious only for peace. There can be no doubt at all that Mackensen is one of the greatest if not the greatest living general today, hateful as it is to have to admit it.

Wednesday night 31st Octr. 1917. I am sending you some further cuttings from this morning's papers. 

 

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