Great Britain and the Commonwealth

332 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW issue andtheyscored heavilyontheConservatives whereit hurtthemost,in southern Ontario.Diefenbakerneverfullyrecovered from thatevent.He learnedthepriceto be paid politicallyfor rationaland decisivegovernmentactionon controversial matters. Couldonedatetheprimeminister's irresolution andincreasing suspiciousnessfrom that point?Almostcertainlyso.It appearsto havebeendownhillall the way: Coyne,devaluation,Cuba,and nuclearwarheads.Delaysand fractiousness soonreplaceddecisiveness andharmonyasthe dominantstyles andmoodsof the Diefenbaker government. In thewordsof GeorgeHees'...wejustarguedourselves into exhaustion'(•8o). Several of Diefenbaker's colleagues wereof oldConservative stock. They were,in manycases, individuals whose ancestors hadbeenprominentmembers of Conservativeadministrations federallyand/or provincially- aspremiers,cabinetministers, M•'s, and Senators. There were at least six such ministers in Diefenbaker's cabinet: L/•onBalcer,Hugh JohnFlemming,Jacques Flynn,DavieFulton,Howard Green, and Pierre S/•vigny.(One wouldbe hard pressedto find an equalnumber from historicallyprominent Liberal familiesin the combined ministriesof St Laurent, Pearson,and Trudeau). Yet here, aselsewhere,Diefenbaker wasan outsider.ProminentConservatives werenotpartofhisancestry andthis,nodoubt,contributed tohis sense ofuneaseamongtheparty's 'establishment.' Evenatthebestof timesit did not takemuchtogeneratesuspicion in hismind.EllenFairclough recalls thatasDiefenbakerembarkedupon hisprime ministership in •957 he woefullyconfidedin her thathewasgoingtohave'tocompose acabinet of myenemies!' (7o). Appropriateappendices listingimportantdatesof the Diefenbakergovernment andgivingthenames andportfolios ofthevariouscabinet ministers wouldhavebeen helpfuladditions tothebook.Mr Stursberg hasincludedshortbiographical sketches of most of the main interviewees, but the reader would have been better served had the samebeendonefor all thosewhowerequoted.These,nonetheless, are minor flaws in anotherwise enjoyable andilluminating book. JOHN C. COURTNEY University ofSaskatchewan GREAT BRITAIN AND THE COMMONWEALTH Waterloo totheCommon Market.j.B. CONACHER. The BorzoiHistoryof England,v: •8•5-The Present. Toronto,Alfred A. Knopf from RandomHouse,•975. PP-xvi, 366. $6-95. Thisisthefinalvolumeof anewfive-volume history whichseeks 'topreserve for the presentthe excitementof the Englishpast.'It is 'frankly political'but Professor Conacher isawarethat'sound political historymustpayclose attention toeconomic andsocial developments andtheintellectual andculturalclimate of theperiodunder consideration,' notleast inaperiodsodominated byindustrialism andthefermentof politicaland social ideassparkedoff bythe American,French,andRussian revolutionsasthatfrom •8• 5 to •973. The sources andsecondary worksfor thelast•6o yearsare sovoluminous thatit wouldtakea polymathto dojusticeto all aspects of REVIEWS 333 England's richandcomplexhistory, whichfor mostof theperiodwascentraltothe history of theworld.Thecreation oftheIndusthaiRevolution anditsimpactonthe developing andunderdeveloped world,theevolutionandspreadof parliamentary democracy, andtheriseanddeclineof thelargestpolitical empiretheworldhasever seenwouldbe enoughin themselves to warrantthecloseattentionof scholars and students on both sides of the Atlantic. Professor Conacher tellsthestorygracefully andcompetently. He isnopolymath andisnaturallymoreat homewiththepoliticalthanwiththesocial andeconomic, intellectual and cultural elements. Indeed, he finds the task of the social historian 'fraughtwithhazard'andhisfindings 'moretentative, less categorical, andfrequently less exciting toread'- anoddjudgmentinaperiodwhenthegreatest political clashes, from parliamentary reformor theanti-cornlawcampaign to theGeneralStrikeor the Common Market referendum were about the distribution of income and the struggle betweentheclasses. The bookisnotflawless evenonthepoliticalside,andit isdisturbingtofindtheMinistryofAll theTalentsantedated byayearanditsgreatest achievement, theabolition of theslave trade,postdated bytwo,thusgivingthecredit toitssuccessor. At theotherendit isamusingtohearLord Woolton,oneof themost partisanConservatives of moderntimes,described as'a nonpartybusinessman' or Britain'sentryintotheCommonMarket,aftersomucheffortbyHarold Macmillan, Harold Wilson,and many othersof all three parties,as'Edward Heath's singular achievement.' Perhapsthe book'sgreatestfault is an amiableone. ProfessorConacheris too kindlyand Anglophilea historianto blamethe Bhtishfor their manifestfailure to sustainthe enormouspolitical,economic,and intellectualleadershipwhich they possessed in theVictorianage.It cannotallhavebeenbadluckandlackof resources. The declineandfallof theBhtishempireisatleastastragicandawe-inspiring asthat of Athensor Rome. As even the home islandthreatensto disintegrateinto the fragments ofdevolution, Englishmen canonlysmile wrylyathisfinalquotation from thenostalgic war-timesong,whistledin thedark stillmorenowthanthen,'There will always beanEngland' - if only,theyaretemptedtoadd,for NorthAmericantourists and historians to visit. HAROLD PERKIN University ofLancaster, England Cases ofConscience: Alternatives open toRecusants and Puritans under Elizabeth I and James I. •.I•I•OTRosE. London,CambridgeUniversityPress [Toronto, Macmillan],1975. Pp.266.$22.95 Dr Rose haswrittena bookthat,refreshingly, isdistinguished byhumanity, compassion , andcommon sense. Somuchoftheliterature onparticipants intheEnglish Reformation for thelast45øyears hasconcentrated onthezealots, polemicists, and martyrsof that struggleand hasdismissed with contemptthosepersons of more politic temperament whopreferredtoavoidconflicts withthelawandyetcontinue to practise theirreligion.It isuponthese people andtheirtheological andlegalalternativesthat the authorfocuses. Partsof hisstudydraw heavilyupon the work of ...