The New British Empire by W. Y. Elliott (review)

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 329 young doctorsin spe, to cut their teeth on, hitherto it has proved too big a morselfor them to chew. A glanceat Dr. Elsholz'sbibliography showsthat mostof the standardworkson this theme--in sofar as they are written in English--are conspicuousby their absence,and no book publishedlater than 1927 has been consulted. It is, to say the least, misleadingto write of "Delegierte der Kolonien Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, New Foundland [sic!], Prince Edward Island" (p. 24) insteadof delegatesfrom Upper Canada,Lower Canada, the Maritime Provinces,etc.(in connectionwith the assembly that met at Quebec,October 10, 1864). The controversybetweenLord Byng and Mr. Mackenzie King is discussed in a few lines (p. 53) which concludewith "Das veranlasstedie Londoner RegierungLord Byng yon dem Gouverneurpostenabzuberufen", whereaswhen he left Canada his term of officehad expired. On page71, in dealingwith the attitude of the dominions in case of war, Herr Elsholz quotes Koellreuter's pronouncement(in the A rchivdesoeffentlichen Rechts,XIV, 133): "Wenn heuteein Konflikt zwischenden Vereinigten Staaten und England ausbricht , sowird zum mindestensKanada nicht auf britischer Seite zu finden sein." It would be difficult to find any justification for this statement, and although it is possibleto imagine such a situation, historical facts do not point that way. A remark suchas this is much on a par with that made before the Great War by so many European writers that, in caseof the outbreak of hostilities,the empirewould drop to pieces. The conclusionthat our author (and by inference his professors) comesto as to the status of the empire is that it is a "Staatenbund mir Realunion". Vox et praetereanihil. Louis HAMILTON The New British Empire. By W. Y. ELLIOTT. New York: McGraw Hill Book Company. 1932. Pp. xv, 519. ($5.00) THIS is an able book by a professor of government in Harvard. It undertakesa survey of the British Empire as it has emergedsincethe Great War. The legal, economic,and cultural bonds of the commonwealth are described with genuine insight, and the problems of the dependentempire, political and economic,are acutely set forth. The book is closelypacked with pertinent information, but not so closelyas to hide the underlying arguments. It is very clearly brought out that the dominionshave won an equality of status, but that if the empire is to survive they will require to learn the dutiesas well as the rights of equals. It remains to be seen whether they will learn. No less clearly doesProfessorElliott show that in the dependentparts of the empireexploitationmustincreasingly be temperedby a sense of trusteeship , and already this is evident. The author writes with a strong realization that the empire is at presentvery much on trial, and with it that for which British democracystands, "social control and rational planning with the flexible play of economicforcesand the retention of individual initiative". It is a pleasureto find the empire so understandingly studied by an American scholar. The book contains no specialtreatment of Canada, which, like the other dominions, fits into the picture merely as it illustrates salient 330 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW economicor political problems,as thesemight be viewed by a student of the empire as a whole. A. BRADY Rose du Canada: Mgre Marie-Rose, rondatrice de la Congregation des Soeurs des Saints Noms de J•sus et de Marie. Par R. P. DUCHAUSSOIS. Montreal: Granger Frbres Limitbe. 1932. Pp. 352. Une disciple de la croix: La v•n•rable Marguerite d' Youville. Par les Soeursde la Charit6 de Quebec. Quebec:Ernest Tremblay. 1932. Pp. xxiii, 169. To onewho is at all familiar with Father Duchaussois's delightful books on pioneeringin the Arctic and in the tropics, his latest volume Rosedu Canadais most welcome. It has not the stern, wild beauty--the silent grandeur of the great north,--that one finds in his Glaces polaires, Femmes h•roiquesor Ap6tres inconnus; nor does one encounter in it the exoticcharmofSouslesfeux deCeylan;but it doespossess that unique appeal with which those who know the story of French-Canadian culture are familiar. Father Duchaussoisis not a Canadian. However, his ability, as a missionary,to adapt himselfto conditionsin Canada, north and south, in India, in Africa--where he isat present--are evidenceof hisversatility in matters literary. Perhapsthe chief merit of this...