Canada and the Privy Council by Coen G. Pierson (review)

•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 poets,asdoesMr. Millar MacLure,fromwhomhe quotes. The difference in attitudedisplayed in the MacLurequotation .andin thetone of theElielecture isimmense. M. Elie does notcarp,heisnotsmart. He feelsthe mystery of life andis notashamed of it. Apartfromthis,howintereesting it is to contrast thispieceofliterarycriticism withthetwoEnglish examples. Bothof theseI foundgood,but thereis the difference of a civilization betweenthem and it. The seven lectures, given,I suppose, for a general audience, musthaveadequately fulfilled theirobjective. A. R. M. LOWER Kingston Canadaand the PrivyCouncil.By CoENG. PIERSON. London:Stevens & Sons Limited[Toronto: TheCarswell Company Limited].1960.Pp.xii, 119.$4.25. THISBOOK ISUTTERLY WORTHLESS. •-Iowit evercameto be accepted by a reputable la,w publisher isone ofthe mysteries that are really quite inso.luble: Profdssor Pierson sideas of Canadian constitutional law arecloudy andcorffused. His summaries of Pri Council decisions are at bestsuperficial, or muddled, osboth, andthereareglaringomissions. A simple listof hiserrors of factwouldrunto pages. It wouldbe a wasteof timeto citehereeventheworstexamples; but I shall begladtofinnish anannotated (though probably incomplete) listtoanyone who wants it. It seems incredible thatProfessor K. C. Wheare, who,the author says, read themanuscript, canhaveallowed thismass of mistakes (mostofthemgross and palpable) to pass without comment. It seems equally incredible that,if he did 50 TH• CANADIANI-1ISTOBICAL lIEVIEW' comment, Professor Pierson cansototallyhavedisregarded whathe mus•have said. Whoever isresponsible, theresults aredeplorable. Toletthisbook getinto thehands of students would bea disaster. It should beplaced, along withMiss Neuendorff onthegovernor-generalship, onanindex expt*rgato•/us ofbadbooks on the Canadian constitution. EUOENE FOmSEY O•awa Le Canada franqais missionaire: Uneautregrande aventure. ParLIONEL G•aouLx. Montreal etParis: Editions Fides.1962.Pp.532,illus.$6.00. A•rDP• suAm•s a•crit quelque part ßqu,e legrand po•te est rho, mme d'une idle qui s'exprime dansun chant•. Cetteremineseenee litt•rairemestrevenue, par e nesais quelhasard, ;ilaleetare dudernier ouvrage duChanoine Lionel Groulx; 'id6equ'ellerenferme, on s'enrendeompte, earaet•rise /i merveille la vie et l'•euvre decethornroe quis'est vou•enti•rement • unecause:expliquer ;i ½son * peuple pourquoi il peutetdoitgtretierdeson histoire. Le Canada [ranfaismissionnaire n'•eha e pas/i eetter•gled'tmit•ßbienau ß PP , ß eontrmre, il on constitue une illustration parfaire.L auteur,depuislongtemps enthousiasm• par lesceuvres apostoliques du clerg$ canadion-fran•ais, s'est propos •de dresser le bilande eetravailgigantesque. Poury parvenir, il end•erit les trois •tapes: laeonqugte religieuse del'Indien, avant 1760; lepros•lyt•,,me eanadien-fran•ais quiprendtoutle continent nord-am•rieain eomme champ dactionauXIX øsi•cle; et enfin, cette<< •tonnante ßtroisi•me •tape(quieonstitue les ,qdu volume) o/xl'Eglise du Canada fran•ais prendplace/ttouslespoints du globe etvavraiment << enseigner toutes lesnations •. L,eChanoine Gro,,u, lx,nous conduit ;iehaque endroit del'Asie, del'Oe•anie, de1 Afrique oude1 Amerique duSud, •,chaque endroit off s'est d•ploy• lez•le do nosmissionhakes. A chaeunde eesetablissements, dontil d•erit le elimatet lesmceurs partieuli•res, on assiste /t l'implantation de la mission, o.nen voitse d•rouler l'histoire souvent h•ro'/que, et onpenteneontempler lesr6sultats conerets .Entreprendre une •tude aussivaste,apresavoireonstat• l'inexistenee d'ouvra. gesant•rieurs surle mgme sujet et la dispersion dessources doeumentakesdansunequarantaine de communaut•s diff•rentes, demandair un courage inoui.Mais ee courage •tait pr•cis•ment • la mesure de l•istorienehewonn• qui s'est permis de fake figurede pionnier, • plusde quatre-vingts ans,et de couronner magistralement son•euvre d•j;isiimposante. Pinsieurs impressions sed•gagent/i la lecture deeevolume:i'enretiens deux. On serappelle Jacques Chastener qui s'•merveillait devoit lesvaisseaux anglais sillonner les mersdu monde entier,arborant fi•rement le drapean de St-Georges et draia. ant dans leur ile le commerce de l'univers; le Chanoine Groulx nous montreles missionnaires ear, adiens-fran•ais aceomplissant les ragroes p•riples pouraller,eux,porterla foi et la eivilisation. La seeonde impression queie me suispermisde fetenitestla suivante ßLe Canada[ranfaismissionnaire eut-il attemdre le and ublic? Jene le erms as,personnellement, pareequun tel gr p p titre ne r•sente as fiattrait articulier,surtoutde nosjours.A monavis,le P P , ,P . volume nem•ritepasquon1ignore x,loinde1/iI I1estseientifiquement compos• XArmand Lavergne,• proposde L'Enseignement fran•atsat, Canadade l'abb• Groulx, avait •critunarticle intitul$ ßLelivre don,t, onnepar, l, era pas ßdans leDevoir du3re%tier 1934. ,Les circonstanees ont chang$, ]e1avoue, et1onnepourfait parlet, en 1962,de ß livrequonnelirapas,, maisdelivre ßqu'onnelirapeut-gtre pasassez ß parcequ'oncroiray trouver unplaidoyer prodomo alors qu'ilrelateunehistoire vraie, trait•eobiectivement. ...