Our Living Tradition ed. by R. L. McDougall (review)

48 TI-I]• CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW Our Living Tradition.Edited by R. L. McDouGALL. Toronto:Universityof Toronto Press in association with Carleton University. 1962.Pp.x, 158.$3.95. OUllLIVING TRADITION, the lectures delivered in CarletonUniversity underthe auspices of its Instituteof Canadian Studies, hasnowreached its fourthseries. Thepresent volume consists of seven essays uponpersons whoduring theirlifetimewereprominent in onefieldo.ranother of Canadian life.Theyare:Joseph Howe, Sir CharlesG. D. Roberts, JohnGravesSimcoe, Saint-Denys-Garneau, J. W. Dafoe, Emily Carr, and Henri Bourassa. None of them would claim originality, except perhaps in theirauthor's viewofhissubject. Robertsand BourassaI met more than once,Dafoe I knew well. These three men,eachin hisownway,looked forward to a national futureofsignificance for Canada, a bond that linked me to them. Let me deal with the "men of affairs" first. J.M. Beek's viewofHowegives usthepicture ofthemanoftenpresented-the embodiment of publicspiritandof egotism, attractive, energetic beyond words. Professor Beck's material relieves Howeto some extentof the charges of mere wounded vanitymadeagainst him withrespect to Confederation but otherwise I found hisviewtoopurely eulogistic formytastes. S. R. Mealing's lecture on Simcoe tellsusthatit will not"psycho-analyse" the man,butit isnevertheless anattempt to analyse hischaracter, andassuch has value.A person whose ambition exceeded hisabilities, whose innumerable notions wereintended primarily to advance hisowncareer, soMr. Mealing sees Simcoe. Next we haveProfessor Donnellyon Dafoeand,a companion piece,Andr• Laurendeau on Bourassa. Reading thesetwopapers together, onerealizes anew how similarwerethe general positions of thesetwo verydifferent men.Both wereCanadian nationalists, onein the English st le, onein theFrenchOf the y . two Bourassa's Canadian sympathies werethe wider,for Dafoeneverovercame his earlier anti-Catholicismand anti-Frenchism,whereas Bourassacould not rightlyhavebeencalled anti-English. Eachreflected hisbackground; in thegreat crises through whichthe country passed duringtheirlifetimes-the threewars beginning in 1899-Bourassa turnedinward,Dafoeoutward, andtheirfellows for themost partfollowed theirexample. Threecenturies ontheSt.Lawrence with others in charge of theirdestinies haveturnedthe gazeof FrenchCanadians almost completely inward, whereas theworldwide sweep oftheAnglo-Saxon has drawnEnglish-Canadian eyes justasconsistently outward. It wouldbebetterfor bothpeoples if theycouldeachtakesomething of theother's pointof viewin thesematters,' forv•hatFrenchCanadalacksisawareness of therestof theworld andwhatEnglish Canada needs ismorefaithin itself. To anEnglish Can, adian, theessay onDafoecomes closest home, forthereare manypoints about theman's career thatmostofusshare. "Hewasmorecomfortable with the pen inhis hand than with anaxe," says M,r,. Donnelly. But his pen wasan axe,asmostEnglishCanadian pensstill are. His brotherCal,when ask ..... ' edrecentl, why Jackwentintoloumahsm, rephed snnply,Well,hewasno Y , ,, goodaroundthe place. One couldnot askfor a moreperfectexpression of .... • ß ,, •, fronherathtudes andnecess•hes. Bemg nogoodaround theplace, henaturally fell intosomethinthat an bod coulddo,"school teaching"He wasdrivenout g Y Y ß of thiswhenit wasdiscovered thathewasonlyfifteenandI understand thediscovery wasmadeby theinspector of theday,whowasthefatherofthepresent Vice-Chancellor of Queen's. Mr. Donnelly states thatoneof theincidents thatgaveDafoea legup was his"getting holdof the casualty listof the North-West Rebellion, a few hours in advance of hiscompetitors." I havealways understood thatthe "scoop" con- •a•v•ws 49 sisted in advance info,rmation, through a casual meeting with a civilservant "in the know," thatin the case of Rielthecabinet haddecided to allowjustice to take its course. Dafoe had his limits forCanadian independence, even th,o•ugh hewrote sometimesasff these didnotexist. In a studygroupof the 1930s,theconstitutional question hadbeenpushed tothepointwhere it wascontended thatthemonarchy wasa merepersonal union, nothing moreDafoewouldnot o along.it wasclear ß g . thatsomething of theoldmystique stillexisted forhim.Butthiswasnotevident enough toprevent hisbeing putintolimbobytheoldguard: once whenhisname cameup in conversation, I remember, a ladyverymuchof "theestablishment" n ' ' ' ' " ' proounced upon him asentence wathout appeal: 'heas not loyal, she sa•d. It wasnoaoubtthesame kindofperson who,because Bourassa could notrise to theirheights of hysteria during thefirstworldwar,wished to havehimimprisoned . Yet hisposition wastooliberalfor manya FrenchCanadian. "No.tre nationalisme • nous,c'estle nationalisme canadien-fran•ais," wro.te J. P. Tardivel in 1904.Bourassa wouldnot havethis narrowconception: he saw a common nationalism bridging thetwo eoples, though notfusing them Thatseems almost p . asfar aswe cango.Despite whatcritics havesaidabout thesentiment, it makes me stickto my opinion thatthe land Canadawill formus all in duetime, if wecan l•revent cleavage: itwillpress thetwo peoples into enough good relationshiptokeepthe experiment going, but therewill be littleintimacy, not much mutualunderstanding. Theotheressays-Pace onRoberts, ElieonSaint-Denys-Garneau, andDanJells on Emily Carr-are somewhat off the beat of an historical review. May I merely saythattheyareall good pieces ofwork.Professor Pacey isappreciative ofRoberts ,whomI thought hewouldhaveconsigned to thedustheaps reserved today for merelyreadable...