Quebec 70: A Documentary Narrative by John Saywell (review)

92 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW complete bibliographical data (originaldate,place,publisher or publishers, reprinting history) fortherestof theworks in thisseries. Onehastoreadvery carefully todiscover eventhefirstdateofpublication of GoldwinSmith's work, and neither volume setsforth this essentialinfomarion so that it can be seen at a glance,asit shouldbe. Universityo[ Vermont Quebec70: A Documentary Narrative.JOHNSAYWELL. Toronto,University of TorontoPress, x97x.Pp. iv, •5•, illus.$•.95 paper. Thisdocumentary account of theQuebec crisis of •97obegins with thebackground oftheprovincial election of •9 Aprilandends withthecapture of Paul Roseon •8 December.The format is that of the CanadianAnnual Review, editedbyProfessor Saywell for several years, andQuebec 7ø isreprinted from the Reviewfor that year. The most valuable aspect ofthisbookisitsdocumentation oftheOctobercrisis. Muchofthisdocumentation - such as,forexample, the•-.• Manifesto broadcast on October x8 - is of a fugitive nature. There is alsoan excellentselection of cartoons fromtheperiodwhichperhaps betterthananything elsecaptures the flavourofthese bizarredays. In fact,sofar asQuebec70stands onitsownrather thanasa part of thecA, a straightforward collection of documents with only enough texttomakethese meaningful wouldhaveperhaps beena bettercontributionthan the 'documentary narrative'which Professor Saywellpieced together. Anyreviewer ishelpedwhentheauthorstates explicitly what he hastriedto do. In JohnSaywell's account, 'This isan attemptto lookat Quebec7ø asit happened, asthepublicandthegovernments experienced it, withoutthebenefits ofhindsight orthedangers ofspeculation.' Disparagingly, heasserts thatduring thecrisis 'andundoubtedly for years after i97o' accounts wereandarebeing writteninwhichtheconclusions arein linewiththepolitics andideology ofthe writers.There are surely methodological problems in writingaboutcomplex events astheyreallyhappened, problems ofwhichProfessor Saywell ashistorian is no doubtwell awareunless he is somehow ableto divorcecompletely his academic perspectives from thoseof journalism. Thus an explicitstatement of the author'spreferences wouldhavebeenin order,and on thisbasisI find the Haggart-Goldenanalysis of the crisisby far the bestthat hasbeenmadeboth in itsaccount of theseevents and its openavowalof the author'svalues.It is obvious thatSaywell generally approves of theactions of theTrudeaugovernmentduringthe October crisis. This ismostclearlyapparent in hishandling of theopposition to these actions. Thereisnomention at all of suchopposition by thetwolargest civilliberties groups in English Canada.AlthoughSaywell resorts toadhominen argument in pointing outthatFrankScott,J.C.McRuer, andJohnRobarts supported theproclamation ofthewMA,heavoids mentioning thattheopposite stand wastakenbypeople asprestigious asthemoderator of REVIEWS 93 theUnitedChurch, thepresident oftheUniversity ofToronto, andthepresident of theProgressive Conservative Association of Canada. Andsurely anywriter concentrating onthedramaofthecrisis mighthavebeenexpected togivemore thancasual mentionto the actionof David Macdonaldin standing alonein the House of Commons against thepassage onsecond reading of thePublicOrder TemporaryMeasuresAct. Despite hisself-imposed avoidance of 'thebenefit of hindsight or thedangers of speculation' hereisthelastparagraph of Quebec 70: 'Whateverthefuture of therLQ,theOctober crisis wasa turningpointin Canadian history. Superficiallyit forceda re-examination of Quebecnationalism, and the relations between Quebec andtherestof Canada. Farmoreimportant, however, it forced a re-examination of fundamentalattitudes, beliefs,and values.The nationalism of ther•'•2mightbelimitedandcontained; itsradicalism brought Canadafully intothelastofthecentury, forit challenged less theexistence of thenation-state thanthenatureof thesociety withinit.' The meaningof thisjudgmentisby no means clear.In myview,it istheleast useful andleast defensible kindofspeculation to assert the historical significance of contemporary events. With a year morehindsight thanhad Saywell, it seems plausible to me to arguethat the Octobercrisis wasnotin factdecisive eitherfor thedomestic society of Quebecor therelationbetween thissociety and therestof Canada.But neitherjudgment canbemadewith confidence. Apartfromthis,therelationbetween Quebecnationalism and the internalpressures for changein the community is complex andworthyofanalysis ratherthanassertion. DONALD SMILEY Universityo! Toronto UNITED STATES FortheReputation ofTruth:Politics, Religion andConflict among thePennsylvania Quakers, •75o-•8oo.mcum•D BAUrtAta. Baltimore and London,The Johns Hopkins Press, I97I. Pp.xx, e58.$I I.OO. Historians havelongbeenfascinated by the plightof colonialPennsylvania's Quakers. WilliamPenn's 'HolyExperiment' rested on legislators whoaffirmed the testimonies of simplicity and pacifism. Godlypatriarchs tanglingwith the problems ofworldliness, imperial conflict, andtheAmerican Revolution hasthe ringofamorality play.Of course it wasnot.Writers such asTheodore Thayer, FrederickTolles,and PeterBrockhavemadedear that therewere serious divisions withintheSociety of Friends, andthatthemajorityof Quakers within the assembly had longsince madepeacewith an imperfect world.Professor Richard Bauman's book adds little to these earlier accounts. He sets forth an engaging prospectus. 'The analytical framework hasbeenconsciously derived with reference to a particularsegment of the anthropological literature,'he notes, andbriefly discusses recent works onAfricansociety (pp.xiii-xiv). Bauman ...