The Rebellion of 1837 in Upper Canada ed. by Colin Read, Ronald J. Stagg (review)

88 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW thantheprovinces. Thelatterwereoftenportrayed aslittlemorethanfoilsto thedriveforahumane andunifiedCanada. AsRamsay Cookhas pointed out, nationalism hasalways beenthe standardagainst whichhistorical actors have beenjudged. Thompson andSeager do notchangethe standard buttheydo question manyearlierjudgments. Forif thereissuch athingasanti-Whig history, this bookis it. The lastsentences of the booksumup itstone.CitingArthur Lower's statement thatCanada'isa countrywhose majorproblems are never solved,' theauthors conclude that'duringthedecades between thetwoWorld Wars,however,Canada's politicalleadersdid their bestto seethat those problems wereneveraddressed' (332).Meighen,King,Bennett, theprovincial premiers,and otherpoliticians thusyieldfew heroes.In relativetermsthis means thatMackenzie Kingisdealtwiththemost harshly forthesimple reason that,againwithsome exceptions, historians havenotpreviously beenkindto Meighen, Bennett, ortheprovincial premiers. King's reformism isdepicted as shallow if notcompletely hypocritical andhisbeliefin national unityisalltoo oftenmarredin themindsof theauthorsbyitsusefor partisan andpersonal benefit.Only in hissuccessful maintenance of nationalunityin the faceof World War II is an exceptionmade to this generallybleakassessment of political leadership inCanada. Oneofthelastvolumes oftheseries designed to mark the centennial of Canadathusindicates just howmuchthingshave changed sincethe euphoriaof •967. That suchan interpretation couldbe managed withoutlapsinginto cynicalpolemicis further testimony to the strength of thework. DOUC OWRaM University ofAlberta TheRebellion of z837 in UpperCanada.Edited by COLIN READ and RONALD J. STAGG. OntarioSeries oftheChamplain Society, vol.xxI.Toronto:The Society •985. Paperback edition:Ottawa:CarletonUniversityPress•985 Some yearsagoI wasspeaking withmyson's highschool historyteacherwho informedmethatonthatdaytheyhad'studied thethreecauses of theUpper Canadian Rebellion.' I hadjust recentlycompleted a doctoraldissertation in the area and I was not at all sure what had caused it. But in the face of such absolute certitude,I weaklychosediscretion. It isa dauntingtaskindeedto attemptto undo •5o yearsof simplistic polemicwhichpresumes that the Mackenzie rebellion wasa goodthing.Howeverun-Canadian itwastogetthe gunsout,it wasanunhappilynecessary preludeto our greatconstitutional achievement of responsible government. Mackenzie is,in theprocess, raised fromthelevelof gutterjournalistto populistfolkhero. Giventhecentrality of thismisinterpretation in ourschool texts,it isallthe moreregrettable that we haveneverhad a thorough,balanced, scholarly REVIEWS 89 monograph ontheUpperCanadian rebellion. In therelatively briefcompass of the introductionto thissetof documents,editorsReadand Staggdo their best tosetthings straight. Theybeginfromstrength. Bothhavecompleted fine doctoral theses in thefield;Staggon theYongeStreetrebellionandReadon therisingin thewestof theprovince, whichwassubsequently published. In their reviewof the literatureon the Upper Canadianrebellionthey dismiss, almost off-handedly, theMarxistcontention thatMackenzie's failure wasaresultof theimmaturelevelof industrialcapitalism withtheobservation that all the so-called industrial workers were farm labourers. In order, perhaps, toputtoofineapointontheirargument, theytendtodownplay the efforts ofhistorians - especially GeraldCraig,Sydney Wise,andMichael Cross - togive theToriestheirdueinamorebalanced examination. TheReformers, afterall,onlyachieved electoral victories intheassembly ontwooccasions and theoverwhelming majority ofthehundreds whotookuparmsdidsotodefend theconstitution. The Toriesmusthavedonesomething right.Butin theend, the editors seem to concur with Wise and Cross and others that both sideslost; themost important resultoftherebellion wasthediscrediting ofthepolitics of extremism. The volumeconcentrates almost exclusively ontheevents of 1836-7.There isonlyasketchy account of thebackground intheintroduction andnoattempt ismadeto examineor illustratethe post-rebellion troubles alongtheborder withtheUnitedStates, provoked bythe'Patriot'movement. Thusweseelittle of the notorious Colonel Prince. But it seems a sensible editorial decision. The editors areabletopresent, 'inwholeor inpart,alltheimportantdocuments of the period,'includingmaterialfrom throughoutthe province, notjust the disaffected areas. The documents, mostofwhichhaveneverbeenpublished before,coverthe ideologicalspectrumof Upper Canada. The annotationsare generally excellent.It is, perhaps,unfair to askfor more, but the only weaknegs I detectedwasthat the webof relationships aroundthe province- bothTory andReform- mighthavebeenmoreclearlyrevealed. Butthisisaminorcavil. The OntarioSeriesof the ChamplainSocietyhasonceagainproduceda splendid exampleof texteditingin a finevolume. j.•.. R•.•,University ofManitoba TheVoyage ofGeorge Vancouver •79•-•795, vols.I-IV.Editedbyw. •CA¾•. I•nMB. London:The HakluytSociety•984. Pp. •752 George Vancouver sailed fromEngland on• April •791.Hearrivedbackfrom theNorth Pacific in October•795. His ship,the Discovery, hadcoveredabout 65ooomiles,itsboatsanother•oooo. Inevitably, Vancouver iscompared toJames Cook,withwhomhesailed on ...