Soldier of Fortune by Ella Pipping (review)

302 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW Main on International Nickel? Overton has written voluminously on the Burlingtonfinesand this pieceaddsnothing.And there is no relationshipto Canada.MEn's seven-page summary of Inco'sfirstfifty yearsispointless, when he himselfhaswritten a well-knownbookon the subjectand whensomeimportant new scholarship has appearedrecently.Richard Rice's'The Wrights of SaintJohn' appears to havebeentackedon the end of the book.It is a sometimes bewildering piece.Whenevera significant pointarises we are treated to an explanationthat lack of recordsallowsno firm understanding of the problem.A readercannothelp but think that the cautionshouldhave been heeded andthisweakpapernotbewritten. F.H. Armstrong haspub fishedpreviously hisdiscussion of the literaturein Canadianbusiness history.It is a very usefulpaperbut, like the volumeasa whole,it suffersfrom lack of editing.Errorsabound.Someprominentnames are misspelled, amongthemW. Kaye Lamb, G.P. de T. Glazebrook, Gustavus Myers,and Edward Porritt.The highlightin thisline, however, is the titling of Peter Newman's book on businessmen as 'Flower of Power.' There are importantomissions aswell; the section on labourhistory,for instance, does not mentionLiptonor Robin.And it isseriously out of date.The McClelland and StewartCentenarySeriesis listedashavingsixvolumes published when, in fact, elevenare nowavailable;the sixthvolumeappeared in •966. Limitationsof space prohibita reviewerfrom dealingwith all the problems of thisvolume.And they preventjusticebeingdoneto the goodessays listed earlierwhichsufferonlyfrom the contextin whichtheyare to be found. The inevitableconclusion of any summaryof CanadianBusiness Historyis that the volumehasbeenbadly conceived and poorlyedited.It is a serious blow to an importantnewareaof study,thisbook.The subject is sufficiently important,however, tosurvive eventhis. MICHAEL S. CROSS Universityo[ Toronto Soldiero[ Fortune.mJ.A•U•'mNO. Historicalepilogueby JOHNM. GRAY. Toronto ,Macmillan,•97•. PP.•9•. $7.5 ø. Though he appearedonly briefly in Upper Canada, as the leader of the 'patriot' force at the Battle of the Windmill in November•838, Nils Gustaf von Schoultzis oneof the mostromanticand mysterious figuresin Canadian history.In this little bookhis great-granddaughter hassetforth all shehas been able to discover about her 'miscreant ancestor.' A full-scalebiography wasnot possible for very few of Nils von Schoultz'lettersare extantand the lettersandjournalsof hiswife,the memoirs of hisfatherandbrother,andthe few othersources available haveyieldedonly'kaleidoscopic fragments'; 'many pieces are still missing-thevery necessary ones,whichperhapscouldexplain why it all went wrong.'Nonetheless, Soldiero[ Fortunepresents a fascinating biographical sketchthat reveals the extentto whichfancywasintermingled with fact in the yon Schoultz mythsthat Canadianhistorians haveaccepted as accurate. REVIEWS 303 Von Schoultzis invariablydescribed as Polishin accounts of the aftermath of the Canadianrebellions, but, in fact, he wasa Finn of Swedish extraction. The second sonof Nils FredrikyonSchoultz, a circuitjudge,he wasbornon 7 OctoberI8o7 in Kuopio,Finland,whichwasthenpart of Sweden.He was born to a life of adventure.When he wasscarcely a yearold, hismotherwas forcedto fleewith Nils andhiselderbrotherbeforean invadingRussian army. By the timehe wastwenty-five he had helda commission in theSwedish Svea Regiment of artillery (x8•3-3o), joined the Polishpatriots in their revolt againstRussia,escaped after beingtakenprisoner by the Russians, and served with the French ForeignLegionin Africa. Freshfrom theseadventures he arrivedin Florencein x83• to be reunitedwith hismother,hisbrother,Carl, and his sister,Johanna.In Florencehe met Ann Campbell, a friend of his sister,and after a temperatecourtship theywere marriedon 2o March x834 , more asa resultof the wishes of their mothersthan of the two youngpeople involved.Nils tookhisbride,accompanied by her motherand sister, to livein Karlskrona,Sweden.During the next two yearstwo daughters wereborn and he sought, with limitedsuccess, to adjustto his new responsibilities. In x836 he went to Englandto arrangehismother-in-law's finances and to promotea red dye he had invented,but insteadof returninghome,he sailedfor New York. In the United Stateshe encouraged the belief that he was a refugee Polishpatriot, replacingGustafwith Scholtewskii as his secondname. He achievedsomesuccess in applyinghis techniqueof camphorrefiningto the purificationof salt brine, but he soonbecameassociated with the Hunters' Lodgeand accepted, withoutquestion, the beliefthat Upper Canadians were eagerto beliberated fromBritishdomination. His greatloveof libertyledhim to hisexecution on the gallows at Fort Henry on 8 Decembert838. Ella Pippinghassoughtto understand her great-grandfather in emotional and psychological terms.'How couldhe deserthisyoungwife and children?' is for her the major question. This is quite natural, but shehasconcentrated on thisquestion at the expense of adequately developing the politicalbackgroundof the eventsin whichyon Schoultzbecameinvolved.This defectis rectifiedsomewhat by John Gray'sepilogue,but still, sincethe Battle of the Windmill was the climax of yon Schoultz...