The English Face of Machiavelli: A Changing Interpretation, 1500–1700 by Felix Raab (review)

mzvmws 71 western front from 1916 onward.At Beaumont Hamel the regimentsuffered "virtualannihfiation"-every officer participating in theattackwaseitherkilledor wounded, and in approximately thirty minutesthe unit sustained over 700 casualties. TwiceafterthistheNewfoundlanders wereexposed to almost equally bloody battles. For Newfoundland,asfor Australiaand New Zealand,the First World War was a militaryepic.In allthese colonies thewarwasaccompanied by bitterpolitical struggle onthehome front.Indeed theobvious parallel between theNewfoundlandersand New Zealanders practicallycriesout for comparison. Nicholson argues that"noother bodyof troops wassosingularly andclosely identified with thecommunity fromwhich it came," buthisclaimisunsubstantiated in thebook. Altogether a totalof6,179volunteers served in theRegiment (oneoutoffivewas killed), but nowhere arewe givenNewfoundland's totalpopulation or its geographic distribution. The opposition party (Fishermen's Protective Union)which controlled theentirenorthern endof theisland issimply notmentioned, though its members refused to serve on the Patriotic Committee. The formation of a coalition NationalGovernment is described in a paragraph; conscription is dismissed intwopages anddoes notappear in theindex. Thoughthe authormaintains that sectarian influence in the regimentwas minimal, he quotes an official cablerequesting thateachdenomination be given an equalshareof officer commissions. Undoubtedly, full investigation of such matters wouldcausea certainamountof embarrassment, but surelyit is more important than detailing Frenchvillages through whichthe regiment moved ("Vignacourt, Beauval, Grenas, Invergny, andCoullement-all names notknown beforeandsoon tobeforgotten"). We aretoldthat"a decision wastakennotto document thetext"whichmayhavebeentheauthor's ortheregimental committee 's,but whichis lamentable in anycase,andhardlycompensated for by the slimbibliography. Obviously nootherexpense wasspared: the abundant photographs andmaps(by Sergeant E. H. Ellwand)areexcellent, andeveryveteran receives afreecopy. Manypitfalls of regimental history havebeenavoided by Nicholson. He skilfullyeschews monotonous (and,except to theparticipants, meaningless) listsof names, yetby useof anecdote works in sufficient personalities to satisfy boththe readerandtheregimental committee. Simfiarly, heconcentrates ontheregimental picture withoutlosing sightof therestof the war.Colonel Nicholson, in short, haswrittena good, old-fashioned, regimental history--his description of Beaumont Hamelismagnificent. Butonewonders ff it ispossible to dojustice to thetruly astonishing courage of Newfoundland soldiers withoutdescribing the corrosive political andsocial conflicts whichtheyalso hadtoendure. A. M. J.HY•,x'r University ofWestern Ontario Great Britain The EnglishFaceo F Machiavelli: A Changing Interpretation, 1500-1700.By Fv.x•xx Po•B.With a foreword by Hvcx-I Tva•voR-RoPv. R.London: fouredge& KeganPaul;Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1964.Pp. xii, 306. $7.50. "axvz •Aa'vvaz oF •m x•v.s•,oNsv. he stimulated leads to the firm conclusion that Machiavelli assisted materially atthebirthofmodem politics in England." Sothe THE CANADIAN I--I•STORICAL REVIEW lateFelixRaabends thissuperb study. It canbewarmlyrecommended asa work ofhistory which should provoke each reader tohisownthoughts. Machiavelli exerted a compelling force,sometimes unacknowledged, overthe mindsof two centuries of EnglishwriterseventhoughEnglisheditions of the Discourses and The Princewere not allowedto appearuntil 1636 and 1640 respectively. Polewasoneof thefirstto attackhimin writing,andsubsequent generations appliedhis nameas a dirty word:royalists and parliamentarians, puritans andArminians applied it to eachother;OliverCromwell andCharles I were both damned as Machiavellian rulers. There was interest as well as revulsion, andamong Elizabethans thisreached a peakwith Bacon. However, Mr. Raab sees thehighpointof hisinfluence-in thesense thatMachiavellian criteria were consciously adopted-during theyears1640-60.Elizabethan attitudes continued, buttherewasa greater dissemination ofhiswritings and,onceit wasappreciated thathisworks represented a critique of single rulers, he cameto be utilizedasa spokesman for republicanism. Machiavelli's attitude,however, wasbasedupon classical analogies, whereasStuartrepublicanism, the productof immediate circumstance, wasfounded onthescriptures orontheories ofParliament. Harrington alonetriedto bridgethe gapby introducing the doctrine of balance, the determinism ofland.He wasnotsuccessful, butheemerges asa greatMachiavellianeventhoughhe coulddifferradicallyfromhismentor.Harrington felt that Machiavelli hadmissed thepointbyoverlooking theforce ofbalance. TheEnglishmanshared in thebeliefthatthe lessons of history wereempirical, but he also wanted certainty inpolitics andthistheFlorentine didnotsupply. SoHarrington, inthisrespect, could ioinwithHobbes whoalso looked fora demonstrable science of politics. With the Restoration, Machiavelli, despite survivals, dropped outof politicalliterature. In a modemworldof politics, Englishmen "hadno further needofsuch aguide." The readercannot but reflecthowlittle the worldhasadvanced in political analysis. Mr. Raab's picture oftheorthodox Tudoriustification forruleonearthwhichassumes one's ownformofsociety andgovernment tobe"themanifestation of Providence"-is notfar removed fromsome understandings in the ageof the Johnson doctrine. Machiavelli thoughtotherwise, but he alsowasno greatinnovatorandmerelyreflected ontheexperience andbehaviour of pastgenerations. Menhadalready recognized theself-sufflciency of the nationor citystatewhich acknowledged nosuperior authority, papalorimperial. He simply described what hap enedandhowmenworkedHencehisbad reputation'it is asthoughan p . . official of theC.I.A.produced a do-it-yourself handbook. Onewonders whether politics in thetwentieth century couldexistat all unless therewasa fundamental division between thejustification of political happenings andthe wayin which things ha...