National and International

SOCIAL STUDIES 471 should be corrected (e.g., read tabhal etc. on p. 92, miqweh on p. 102) and a consistent system of transliteration used. (R. F. G. SWEET) SOCIAL STUDIES NATIONAL AND IN'rERNATIONAL Alexander Brady On the eve of Canada's centennial many of the current social studies illuminate the special features and problems of the country's evolving nationhood. Important among these are: G. P. de T. Glazebrook, A History of Canadian Political Thought (McClelland & Stewart, pp. viii, 360, $10.00); Peter Russell (ed.), Nationalism in Canada (McGrawHill , pp xx, 377, $6.95); Ramsay Cook, Canada and the FrenchCanadian Question (Macmillan, pp. xii, 219, $4.95); J. H. Dales, The Protective Tariff in Canada's Development (University of Toronto Press, pp. viii, 168, $2.25 pa.); John Crispo, International Unionism: A Study in Canadian-American Relations (McGraw-Hill, pp. vi, 327, $8.60); A. E. Safarian, Foreign Ownership of Canadian Industry, (McGrawHill , pp. xiv, 346, $3.95 pa.). Nationalism is an elusive concept and Canadian nationalism more elusive than that of most countries. It is best understood when viewed in an historical context, and this Mr. Glazebrook does with admirable clarity, coolness, and discernment in A History of Canadian Political Thought. His book does not deal with political thought in the classic sense-the ideas and ruminations of philosophers who write treatises on politics. What Coleridge once called "the lonely walks of uninterested theorists" have not in Canada yielded a rich stock of ideas. Mr. Glazebrook is concerned to describe and explain the opinions of Canadian leaders in the past on the form and operation of government, on the character of the state, and On political society. He begins with New France and ends with the contemporary problems of Canadian unity. History is here traced within a general chronological framework, with an emphaSiS on the opinions and ideas that inHuenced political action and practice. In the Colonial period the pattern of political thought was 472 LETIERS IN CANADA imposed from without by the imperial rulers. But with the coming of self-rule Canadians had to govern by their own ideas and devices, and their one major conception was the union of British North America. The author carefully examines the grounds on which it was defended and attacked, and how it was carried into effect. He observes that although Confederation came in the age of militant nationalism in Europe, it owed little to nationalism in the European and ideological sense and little to European example. In the earnest debate on the issue throughout the provinces few allusions were made to parallels across the ocean. The arguments in support of the idea ran on practical lines, such as the necessity for defence against a possible American aggression and the economic and commercial advantages of a large political unit. It was born amid hesitations and doubts. New Brunswick at first voted against it and then changed its mind. The interested majority in Nova Scotia was clearly opposed. Prince Edward Island rejected it, and only altered its view six years later when it got into a desperate financial plight through building a railway. Newfoundland refused to join and remained aloof for over eighty years. Upper and Lower Canada through their initiative alone made it possible, but partly because both were anxious to loosen a close and unhappy union and eager for access to an ice-free Atlantic port under the British Hag. These sober considerations were not calculated to inspire an exciting and well-defined new nationalism, hungry to make an abrupt break with the past. At the outset Canadians had no such ardent nationalist aspirations and have never developed them. They were absorbed in the practical issues of preserving and developing their inheritance and securing arrangements that would stimulate their agriculture, commerce, and industry. The French Canadians were particularly interested in the security of their language, religion, and customs. Mr. Glazebrook in calmly illustrating these points keeps his readers close to the basic realities of Canada's experience, and in doing so provides the best type of background to the more specialized studies in the current year. Nationalism in Canada consists of twenty-two essays by as many authors, mainly...