The British Commonwealth: An Experiment in Co-operation among Nations by Frank H. Underhill (review)

$70 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW ArcticCommand: The Storyof Smellie of the Nascopie. By RO•.AND WXLD. Foreword bySirPATRICK ASHLEY COOPER; Introduction byDENNIS JORDAN. Toronto: TheRyerson Press. 1955.Pp.xxiv,194,filus.$4.00. A GALLANT littleship,abluffseacaptain, grinding ice,blinding snow, stormy seas, a highly miscellaneous cargo andpassenger list,lonely outposts inhabited by huskies, Eskimos, anda fewEuropeans--mainly "characters"--all arehere, described in a livelyanecdotal styleintended forpopular consumption. There is, however,little of the factual informationthat would make the book useful toscholars. It isnoteven possible, forexample, todiscover inthese pages such majorfactsaswhen,andforhowlong,theNarcopie waslaidup in Scotland duringthe Depression andCaptainSmellie assigned to shore duties.Nor is it clearin whichyearof thisperiodashore thecaptain examined theMackenzie Riverwith a viewto reorganizing the Hudson's BayCompany tradeof the area--although thecurious maylearnthathe arrivedbackin Edmonton from hisexpedition onsomeOctober 20. It isdifficultto seehowa few concessions in such cases asthese totheacademic thirst forfacts wouldhaveimpaired the account in theeyes of thegeneral reader. Thatthebook isnotofmuch valueacademically isunfortunate because the roles ofCaptain Smellie andoftheNascopie in the1920's and1980's werenot merely exciting: theywereof serious historical significance. These wereyears of transition in theArctic, marked by theuseof newnavigational insh'tm•ents such asthegyro compass andecho sounder, newamenities fornorthem living such astheradio, andthebeginning ofa great newmethod oftransportation, theaircraft. TheArctic wasbeing opened upbythese andothermeans, and in consequence wasbecoming of greater economic andmilitary importance. Thevirtual monopoly which theHudson's Bay•Company hadcontinued to enioy longaftertheabandonment ofitscharter rightwasinevitably breaking down. Thetrend ofthetimes canbeseen inthefactthattheHudson's Bay Company icebreaker, Nascopie, famous in the 1920'sand 1980's,was displacedin the popular imagination of the 1940'sby the R.C.M.P.schooner St.Itochandin thatofthe1950's byH.M.C.S. Labrador. Theordinary and c•aite excusable grumbling ofanold Company servant who has witnessed these nges from retirement does much nodoubt toexplain thesomewhat petulant references to theSt.Rochandto wartime regulations at seathatmarsome closing sections ofthebook. Fromthepoint ofviewofthehistorian atanyrate,thetruthisthatArctic Command isnotwhatit claims tobe--"the story ofSmellie oftheNaacop4e"-it isjustthesugar-coating fora story thatremains tobetold. D. G. G. Kv.R• MountAllison University TheBritish Commonwealth: An Experiment in Co-operation among Nations. ByFR•a•x H. UNDv. ranLL. Durham, N.C.:DukeUniversity Press [Toronto: Burns & MacEachern]. 1956.Pp.xxviii,127.$2.50. IN launching the Commonwealth-Studies Centerestablished at Duke University withtheaidofCarnegie Corporation funds, thecommittee in charge invited ProfessorFrank Underhill to deliver in the autumn of 1955 the three public lectures whicharenowpublished asthefirstvolume of a projected REVIEWS OF BOOKS 871 series "by distinguished social scientists andofficials fromthe Commonwealth designed to givein broadscope theresults of wide andmatureresearch on andinterpretation of the Commonweakh." Intothese threelectures Underhill hasdistilledthe essence of a lifetime's cogentthinkingon the evolution of the Commonwealth. Theyare a delightto read,astheymusthavebeento hear,fortheyarefull ofpenetrating wit andwisdom. The first,entitled"The LiberalVictorianEmpire,"begins:"Like somany otherpractical gadgets formaking life onthisplanetmoreefficient andmore comfortable,the British Commonwealthwas invented in America." This was, as Underhillexplains, on the eve of the AmericanRevolution when some leading Americans advanced the doctrine of constitutional equalitybetween thecolonies andthemother country. Thereisnomention of theevenclearer contemporary visionof the modernCommonwealth that was conceived in Scotland by AdamSmith.Excellent asis the explanation of the foundation of theCommonwealth in theEmpiredownto 1914,onemisses anyreference to a numberof important things.Theseincludethe liberalization of the old colonial system beforethetriumphof freetradein Britain,theinfluence of the close juxtaposition of the UnitedStates to BritishNorthAmerica in bringing theconcession of responsible government, theeffectof thatconcession andof theheavymigration to the colonies in reviving the faithof the Empire,and theenlightening contrast between Irishandcolonial policy. Butanhour's discourse onsuchanimmense subject hastobehighlyselective. The nextlecture, onwhatishereaptlycalled"TheFirstCommonwealth," whichemerged fromtheFirstWorldWar, deals with theimperial federation movement, its extinction underthe pressure of dominion nationalism during thatwar, andthe constitutional shaping of the Commonwealth downto the Second WorldWar. Mr. Underhill admits that the argument for imperial federation as developed by LionelCurtiswas unanswerable, but doesnot examine whydominion nationalism wasableto kill theRound Tableproject. What destroyed thecompelling forceof thatargument wasthe revolution in worldoutlook wrought by theAmerican entryintothewar.The omission of thisexplanation seems a {lawin an otherwise masterly treatment. The last lecture, on"TheSecond Commonwealth," whichliketheFirstsprang froma xvorld warbut differs radically in thatit embraces nations of non-European stock, some of whichhaverichandancient cultures andarerepublics, raises thechallenging question thatonlythefuture cananswer: Will it continue to hangtogether? Throughout thislittlebook, whichisbigwithmeaning, Professor Underhill shows howthe constitutional evolution of the Empireand Commonwealth resembles thatof the...