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294 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY volunteered as a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and came to Canada under the latter's auspices in 1807. He served in two parishes in the Eastern Townships, acted as a !ravel1ing missionary in both Upper and Lower Canada, and final1y in 1826 was elevated to the bishopric of Quebec. His diocese covered the two Canadas, and in this vast area be laboured faithful1y, despite bouts of ill-health, until he left for England in September, 1836. He died in July, 1837. Unlike his contemporary, ] ohn Strachan, his interests were severely ecclesiastical, and except for his part in the Clergy Reserves controversy, he tried to avoid the larger social and political problems of the day. But his assumption that the Church of England had the same rights in the New World that it had in the Old, necessarily brought upon him aIJ the antipathies of the non-conformists. 4. War Books HUGH MACLEAN Most of the Canadian "war books" which have appeared since 1946 have been novels or "histories," official and otherwise. Hugh Gamer's Storm Below and Earl Birney's Turvey (the latter perhaps not as warmly applauded by soldiers as by critics of the Canadian literary scene) have been the most successful war novels; the field tails off quickly after these two. Regimental histories have varied a great deal. A few show the results of intensive preparation, but many seem to have been hastily written and hurriedly published to deck some regimental occasion. Histories of higher formations, apart from those compiled or directed by Colonel C. P. Stacey and (for the Navy) Joseph Schull, are in the main no better than they should be. This year, however, something new has been added. A type of war book which Canadians have not essayed with success is the informal account of personal war experience. This is a genre particularly congenial to Englishmen, whether they adopt Blunden's meditative air, or the impressionistic tone of A. J. Smith's neglected A Captain Departed. The best of these give a determinedly individualistic answer to the face of war. They combine frank independence of mind with unswerving attention to order and duty; one is reminded of Sir Thomas Picton, who rode against the French in the Peninsula attired 'in frock coat and top hat, brandishing a rol1ed umbrel1a-or even of the corduroys and scarves favoured by the Eighth Army's leaders. Now we have a Canadian version of the form. The result, indeed, is not in the Blunden manner; but Waldo Smith's What Time the Tempest (Ryerson, x, 305 pp., $4) turns out wel1. He has written a LETTERS IN CANADA: 1953 295 modest but very readable and at times thrilling account of his war career as a chaplain with the First Armoured Brigade and other units, chiefly in Sicily and Italy. The author's candid discussion of Dieppe, and his powerful vignette of a few hours in a Field Dressing Station during the batde for the Gothic Line, demonstrate his experience of army life and his comprehension of the soldier's point of view. He has a sharp eye for "human interest," but avoids sentimentality. His comments on the variety of personal problems which soldiers brought to their "Padres" are shrewd, instructive, and often moving. Best of all, he is thoroughly Canadian; although he likes Punch and is evidendy somewhat disconcerted by Americans, his book has none of that obsequious buttering-up of the English which has sometimes clogged "Canadian" writing. The stock American major, complete with cigar, is here, to be sure; but so is the "silly-ass" Englishman. Smith prefers Canadians, and he makes that preference clear without belligerence. The author's courageous and likeable personality is not the least attraction of this book. What Time the Tempest, we may hope, will point the way for other Canadians who want to write about their war. Dr. C. T. Bissell has contributed the following review of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, 1928-1953. (Hamilton, Regimental Headquarters, x, 407 pp.) This is an official regimental history, and as such it constitutes what is usually described...

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