No. 436 UCDA P80/1411
Extracts from a handwritten letter from Desmond FitzGerald to Mabel FitzGerald (Dublin)
London, 2 October 1930
[matter omitted]
Conference (heads of delegations) 10 am today. We shone there, obviously we were the only people who understood position. I got going and felt quite confident.
[matter omitted]
MacDonald and Thomas were badly briefed so that the discussion wandered into byways with myself and Patrick McGilligan acting as technical advisers to the whole lot. Fortunately it gave me a sense of confidence I have never had before - though I haven't read a document. Yesterday's1 was rather pitiful. I didn't listen to the speeches much, they were just general opening statements and I was writing the obituary references to the dead men since 26 to include in Tody's2 speech.3 The world slump has them all in a bad way. Each wonders if the others can do anything for them - conscious of a press doped public outside who expect what is obviously impossible. Our speech sounded like the expression of sympathy from a rich man to a poor man.
[matter omitted]
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