Kantian Rationalism

434 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY subjects, as between the different British nations.... At bottom ... it was a constitutional question, not one of economics.... The colonies wanted full nationhood within the empire ... a permanent alliance of the British nations operative in every sphere of life.... Preferences thus came to symbolise a new constitutional relationship-the Commonwealth relationship as we have since learned to call it." This is suggestive, but it hardly allows enough for the deep-rooted economic nationalism of Canada. And Chamberlain did sense that Laurier was not really on his side: "I do not entirely trust Laurier. His ideal is an independent Canada and he is certainly not an imperialist in our sense." When Chamberlain proposed a change in the royal title on the accession of Edward VII, he would have added "and of Greater Britain beyond the seas." Imagine proposing a title like that to a French-Canadian premier of Canada or to a Boer premier of South Africa! Mr. Amery stresses the imaginative powers of Chamberlain, but it is evident that his understanding of people who differed from the pushing business men of Birmingham was distinctly limited. And perhaps Mr. Amery himself does not quite appreciate the full extent of the nationalism of such communities as Canada and South Africa. His account of Chamberlain's visit to South Africa after the war, with the Colonial Secretary sternly and objectively distributing praise or blame to the vanquished, reads strangely today in 1952 when every despatch from that part of the world makes it clear that the present governing group in South Africa are determined to demonstrate that it was the Boers who won the Boer War. Still this is a fascinating volume. It concludes with Chamberlain at the age of sixty-six, an old man in a hurry, about to embark on his last great campaign for Tariff Reform. "Too old? Perhaps. And yet it was only now that he reached his full maturity... . The last lingering restraints had been abandoned. There would be a broadening of character and a new stirring of imagination.... With the strength of maturity might also go its weakness. Prudence would decline as selfconfidence grew. Judgment would be impaired by the very brightness of vision. The edge of persuasion would be dulled by the habit of command." KANTIAN RATIONALISM" T.A. GoUnGE The philosophy of Kant continues to be an important influence on contemporary thought. In recent years a number of leading scientists such as Eddington, Einstein, and von Weizslicker have expressed *In Defence of Reason. By H. J. PATON. London: Hutchinson's University Library [Toronto: The Ryerson Press] . 1951. Pp. 288. $4.00. 434 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY subjects, as between the different British nations.... At bottom. it was a constitutional question, not one of economics.... The colonies wanted full nationhood within the empire ... a permanent alliance of the British nations operative in every sphere of life.... Preferences thus came to symbolise a new constitutional relationship-the Commonwealth relationship as we have since learned to call it." This is suggestive, but it hardly allows enough for the deep-rooted economic nationalism of Canada. And Chamberlain did sense that Laurier was not really on his side: "I do not entirely trust Laurier. His ideal is an independent Canada and he is certainly not an imperialist in our sense." When Chamberlain proposed a change in the royal title on the accession of Edward VII, he would have added "and of Greater Britain beyond the seas." Imagine proposing a title like that to a French-Canadian premier of Canada or to a Boer premier of South Africa! Mr. Amery stresses the imaginative powers of Chamberlain, but it is evident that his understanding of people who differed from the pushing business men of Binningham was distinctly limited. And perhaps Mr. Amery himself does not quite appreciate the full extent of the nationalism of such communities as Canada and South Africa. His account of Chamberlain's visit to South Africa after the war, with the Colonial Secretary sternly and objectively distributing praise or blame to the vanquished, reads strangely today in 1952 when every despatch from that part of the world makes it clear that...