Hutton of Hastings: The Life and Letters of William Hutton, 1801–1861 by Gerald E. Boyce (review)

198 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW mander-in-chief, Pacific;and after BCenteredConfederation in x87xthe needs of imperialcommunications enhanced thestrategic importance of theprovince. Esquireair had become headquarters of thePacificStationin x86• (not x865, as historianshave assumed from the date of the Order-in-Council); when it declined in navalimportance laterin the decade, Confederation agreements ensuredthepreservation of thenavalbase;by •873 thecrg broughtit a newlease onlife.Lateinthecentury Esquimalt became infact,if notin name,theprincipal baseof the PacificSquadron. Dreadnought navies,the Anglo-Japanese alliance of x9o4,and Fisher's concentration of the fleet in homewatersfinallyspelled theendof thePacificStationin x9o5 . By x9x• Esquimalt, likeHalifax,hadbeen transferred from imperialto dominioncontrol.In •9•4 it was the Japanese ratherthantheRoyalNavy that providedsecurity againstenemynavalattacks in strength. Thiscarefulanalysis ismorethanadequate towarranttheconclusion that 'theexercise of seapowerby theRoyalNavyconstituted a determining influence in Canada's possession of a Pacificshore...' The scope of thisbook,particularlyin view of thevarietyof source material consulted on bothsides of theAtlantic,givesa newdimension to the historyof BritishColumbia. The perspective affordedbytheRoyalNavy'sPacificStation wasverydifferentto that of the Hudson's Bay Company,or of the decisionmakers at Ottawa,andit wasjustasimportant.Canadianhistorians haveoften paid lip-service to the importance of Britishnavalsupremacy in the nationmakingprocess . There have beenuseful (but infrequent) articlesin learned journals thattouchuponnavalaffairsoneithercoast. Professor Cough,whohas madefull useofsuchsources, hasproduced thefirstmonograph on thesubject. In doingso,hehasprovided a solidframework for furtherresearch. We should like to knowa greatdealmoreaboutthe organization of the PacificStationa subjectrelegatedto the appendices and not woveninto the main narrative. There is a needto examinethe interaction between shipsand the colonyin moredetail- andin hisprefacetheauthorindicates that he hassucha study inmind.The activities of theRoyalNavyin oneoutpost ofempire canyieldup important information onthethinking ofnineteenth-century navalofficers. It was an erawhenseamanship and'polish' aresupposed to havesupplanted strategic thought. Whatmadethese professional seamen tick?WastheAdmiraltycontent toaccept theirviews ontheNorthwest coast? Andif so,why?Professor Cough haswrittenanimportant andwelcome pioneer study - themorewelcome for its pleasing format.It opens thewaytofurthermonographs in Canadianmaritime history, a fieldthathasbeenneglected byprofessional historians. W.A.B. DOUGLAS Departmentof NationalDefence HuttonofHastings: TheLife andLettersof WilliamHutton, z8o•-•86•. GERALD Ig. BOYGE. Belleville, Hastings CountyCouncil, I97•. Pp.x, 259,illus.$5.85. Of books published in recent years ascommemorative projects byhistoricallyminded localgroups, HuttonofHastings isa workof outstanding merit,andof considerably morethanlocalimportance. In part,thisisdueto theable,un- REVIEWS 199 obtrusive scholarship of Mr Boyce; but,morelargely,it isduetothequalityand quantityof thewritingsof William Hutton, mostof whichare lettersaddressed to hisfamilyin Ireland.Boyceplaces theseandHutton'sotherwritingsin their historical andbiographical context; he doesnot,to anygreatextent,interpose himself between these documents andthereaderby seeking to simply process themasprimary material. That ismost fortunate; forwhatmighthavebeenthe lifeofanobscure manofsmallimportance isinsteada smallmineof richmaterial relatedto thecolonial history of Ontario. A cousin ofFrancis Hincks, Huttonwasa debt-encumbered, Unitarian,middle class, scientific farmer,with a well-informedmind, who settlednear Belleville in •834.At varyingtimes,hewasa county warden,a school inspector, and an official withtheCanadian Bureau ofAgriculture. Hisletters andpublished works arefullofinformed opinion related toallthese fields ofendeavour; butofparticularvalueare hisviewsuponthe stateof education and its needfor reform. Theseappearto havehad a significant effectuponthe thinkingof Egerton Ryerson. Butmoreuseful thanthisareHutton'ssaltycomments uponthemores of the society intowhichhehadtransplanted himself, hisexplanations ofhisstruggles andeconomic difficulties asa farmer,andhisreflections uponlocal,provincial, andBritish politics andpolicies astheyimpinged uponhimin thecounty of Hastings. Equallyusefulis whatis revealed in thisbookwith respect to the economic and politicalimportance of 'family.' In short, all onefeels inclined to criticize in thisworkisitstitle.Huttonof Hastings isless about HuttonorHastings thanthewebofsociety inwhich Hutton lived. G.H. PATTERSON Universityof Toronto TheSocial Passion: Religion andSocial Reformin Canadaz9z4-•,8.RmHAm• ^LLEN. Toronto, University ofToronto Press, I97I. Pp.xxvi,385,illus.$i5.oo. RichardAllenreaches theheartof the matterwhenhe argues that the social gospel broughtsocial reform'withinthe sanctions of CanadianProtestantism.' At a timewhenmiddle-class Canadians stilllistened towhatclergymen hadto saythiswasa valuableworkof popularization and legitimization. The clerical outriders ofreformmovements alertedtheircongregations to theneedfor social change at thesame timeastheysustained andencouraged those working reformers whose inspiration wasstillrooted in organized religion. Aswell,the Canadian leftwasgreatly enriched by those social gospellers - Woodsworth, Wm Ivens, A.E.Smith, andothers - whomadethetransition frompulpitto political platform. AsProfessor Allennotes manytimes, it isimpossible towrite a history of theCanadian left in thisperiodwithoutgenerous attention to the contribution of thesocial gospel. TheSocial Passion isa detailed study of that contribution, thebook-length expansion of hisarticlein theDecember i968 Canadian Historical Review. Somereaders will question Professor Allen'schoiceof periodand themes. ...