Documents relatifs aux relations extérieures du Canada/Documents on Canadian External Relations, IV: 1926–1930 ed. by Alex. I. Inglis (review)

308 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW Theseries ispresented 'foruniversity study uptothegraduate level,'butdespite its merit it is difficult to be certain who will use this volume. Graduate students usually do theirresearch in originalsources, whilemostof thestudents whofill undergraduate survey comesin Canadianhistoryrarelyuseoriginalsources. However,students in specialized seniorcourses, and their teachers, will often savethemselves a gooddealof timeandenergy byreference tothisvolume, and forthatreason it deserves tobeontheshelves ofuniversity andpublic libraries. MARGARET PRANG University ofBritishColumbia Docume.nts relatifsaux relations ext•rieures du Canada/Documents on CanadianExternalRelations . •: x9•6-x93o.Compil•par/Editedby Ottawa, Minist•re desAffairesext•rieures/Department of ExternalAffairs, •97•. Pp.cxx,•o38.$•2.75. A fourth volume in the Department of External Affairs documents series, covering theMackenzie King yearsfrom •926 throughto thefirstdaysof R.B. Bennettin •93o, isnowat hand.Like itspredecessors, thisvolumereflects wide research and considerable attentionto mattersof detail. It is admirablyindexed ,printed,and bound.Two pointsare worth making,however.First of all, theargument thatEnglish documents arenottranslated intoFrench in order to preserve the integrityof the originalseems opento question. A numberof document booksput out underthe auspices of the PublicArchivesof Canada havebeenpublished in bothlanguages, and to goodeffect.Secondly, it would be a helpif thesource of eachdocument wasidentified explicitly. The Department of ExternalAffairsis to be congratulated for allowingthe editor,Mr Alex Inglis,the absolute freedomto publishany document in its archives. What canbecriticized isMr Inglis'useof thatfreedom. He generally follows the distinction,made in Volume • of this series,betweenExternal Affairscommunications whichreflecta seniorlevelof government consideration and decision(to be published)and the lettersand memorandaof officials (onlyto bepublished in 'rarecases'). Whateverthevalidityof thiscriterion of selection for Volume•, it surelycannotbe justifiedfor the periodfrom •9•6 to •93o, a periodwhenO.D. Skeltonwasestablishing himselfas Mackenzie King's indispensable man and the Departmentof ExternalAffairs, under Skelton'sleadership,was reorganizingitself and recruiting officersof the highest calibre. Mr Inglisseems to accept,in his excellent introduction, the needfor 'a greater emphasis ... on theformulation of policy.' Evenso,themostblandly prominent documentsofficial telegrams, messages andthelike- dominate this volume,astheyhavedonein previous collections. The selection is narrowly basedand frankly old-fashioned. There is very little of the kind of interdepartmental correspondence andofficial memoranda whichgivecoherence to highpolicy, making it intelligible andeven interesting. Therearenodocuments relatingto organization and recruitment withinExternalor to the pressure REVIEWS 309 underwhichthe department wasplacedby the new Conservative administrationin x93 o. It is remarkable howfew of theinformativeandpowerfully writtenSkelton memoranda from thisperiodappearin these pages. The importantmemorandum , for example,which Skeltonpreparedfor the Imperial Conference of x9•6, showing how little influenceSkelton's radicalviewshad on King's conduct in London,is nowherein sight.Nor is Skelton's retrospective memorandum on the Conference on the Operationof Dominion Legislationin i9• 9 deemedworthyof publication. Here Skeltoncaptures the dramaand conflict of the gathering,describes with greathumourits chiefpersonalities, setsout the Canadianposition aswell asthatof theotherparticipants, andsummarizes conference findingsand their significance. Skeltondoesthis, admittedly,at somelengthand oneunderstands that manydocuments wereexcluded on that basis. But, instead, we are givenoverthirty pagesof mind-destroying extracts from the minutesof thismosttechnical of conferences. And, if lengthis to be the criterion,then why are somanyof Skelton's shorterpapersomitted,such asonesuggesting theimplications of William Phillips'appointment in •9•7 as first Americanministerin Ottawa? As it is, we are simplyinformedof the appointment, asif it wasnomorethananeveryday occurrence. Despitethesecriticisms, Mr Inglis' volumeis importantand useful,the essential starting pointfor anystudyof thehistory of Canadianexternalaffairs in thisperiod.We havelongbeenput to shame by theBritishandtheAmericans in thepublication of foreign policydocuments. Now thatwearebeginning to do somecatchingup, it is to be hopedthat the Departmentof External Affairswill continueto givethisprojectthe highpriorityit deserves. NORMAN HILLMER Directorateof History, NationalDe[enceHeadquarters GENERAL The Industrial Revolution and Economic Growth. R.M. HARTWELL. London andToronto,Methuen,i97t. Pp.xxii,4•3. $•5.95 cloth,$7.95paper. This volumeis a collection of seventeen papers.Thirteen havebeenpublished before;several,especially thosewhich deal with the standard-of-living controversy , arewellknownandwidelyread.The authorhasgrouped hismaterial into threesections: methodology and background, causes and processes in the EnglishIndustrialRevolution, and socialand economic consequences of it. The resultscontain no surprises for anyonewho has been followingthe scholarly literature of thepasttwenty years, towhichHartwellhascontributed soextensively. But it isusefulto havetheoldpapers gathered together in one place. And thefournewpapers areinteresting supplements to thearguments with which we have become familiar. ...