usiness of sight-seeing. Rumours now reached us of the attack
that our Division was making up in the Salient, and one night when I
was having tea in the Grand Hotel I went over and asked a young
British staff officer whom I saw there, if he had any news. He said to
me that the Canadian Corps were making an attack at Passchendaele
under the most appalling conditions of mud and rain and had covered
themselves with glory. I asked him if it were true that Sir William
Robertson had come to Rome. "Yes," he said, "I am his son. He has
brought me with him and we are all very proud of the Canadians." At
another table I saw M. Venezelos. It was understood now that (p. 221)
Britain and France were to come to the assistance of Italy, but still
Venice was in imminent peril, and the Italians were heart-broken at
the way the 3rd Italian Army had behaved. Refugees from the North
began to pour into Rome and affairs were very serious. I told our men
of the gravity of the situation and the increased importance of
helping on the cause of the Allies in every possible way.

It is the custom at Rome on All Soul's day, November 2nd, to place
flowers and wreaths on the marble steps in front of the equestrian
statue of Victor Emmanuel. This year, I was told, the people were
going to make a special demonstration. It occurred to me that it might
not be a bad idea if we, too, placed a wreath to the memory of our
comrades. I put the matter before Colonel Lamb and he said it was a
very good idea indeed, but asked us to put on the card which would be
attached to our wreath, the words, "To the brave Italian dead, from
their comrades in the British Empire," rather than, "To the brave
Italian dead from their Canadian comrades." He said he was anxious to
emphasize the connection between the British and the Italians. An
Italian major made the arrangements with me for carrying out the
project. Poor man, he was so moved at the thought of the disgraceful
surrender of the 3rd Italian Army that his eyes filled with tears as
he talked about it, and he said, "What will our Allies think of Italy
when her men behave like that?" I told him it was only a small part of
their army that had failed and that the rest had behaved very
gallantly. That afternoon, preceded by two of our sergeants carrying a
large wreath of laurel tied with purple ribbon, to which we attached
two cards with the inscription, one in English and one in Italian, we
marched through the crowds