Le rouge et le bleu: une anthologie de la pensée politique au Québec de la Conquête à la Révolution tranquille ed. by Yvan Lamonde, Claude Corbo (review)

Book Reviews 365 its proposal for an Aboriginal Lands and Treaty Tribunal staffed equally by Native and non-Native judges. But I have difficulty in seeing how the assertion of jurisdiction over these issues by the British Crown in 1704 can be viewed as incorporating either the principle or practice of a just system into our law. Both in Canada and internationally we are still a long way from anything that could be considered capable of rendering true justice in disputes involving the rights ofindigenous peoples. Nonetheless, Bruce Clark was surely entitled to have his argument to the contrary heard and dealt with in a respectful manner in our courts. It is a shame that our 'justice system' was incapable ofrendering him that much justice. McGill-Queen's University Press is to be congratulated for enabling Clark to have his argument heard by those whose minds are open to a sustained and rational thesis. It is an argument well worth hearing. PETER H. RUSSELL University ofToronto Le rouge et le bleu: une anthologie de la pensee politique au Que'bec de la Conquite ala Revolution tranquille. Sous la direction de YVAN LAMONDE et CLAUDE CORBO. Montreal: Les Presses de l'Universite de Montreal 1999· Pp. 576, $34.95 paper. Is there a distinction, a useful distinction, that can be made between intellectual history and the history of political thought? The editors of this collection of documents, most of which talk about politics and government, seem to think so, though they don't really explain themselves other than to say that 'political thought' does not need to be original, or the product ofgreat thinkers, to qualify as 'political thought.' Perhaps, though I think this view would be more readily accepted by historians than by political theorists, who would demand a more rigorous approach. In my opinion, this anthology ofdocuments fits into the intellectual history of French Canada. And that classification reveals my second reservation about the title. If the documents were really drawn 'au Quebec,' would the anthology not be expected to include more anglophone representatives than Robert Nelson, Lord Grenville, and Lord Durham? The anthology apparently follows the old, ethnocultural definition ofFrench Canada/Quebec, not the new, pluralistic, territorial version. Having quibbled, let me say that the anthology is a valuable one, making often obscure·texts readily available to students. While admitting that Quebec francophone political thought lacks seminal thinkers - a Toqueville or a Maritain - the editors insist that it is more than merely derivative. Its originality, or at least distinctiveness, 366 The Canadian Historical Review derives from its confrontation with 'la problematique propre au Quebec, centrale dans son destin collecti£' And what is that? It is no surprise, given the dominance of conquetisme in francophone intellectual life, to learn that 'la problematique' is founded on the Conquest and subsequent efforts to control or overcome its supposed consequences. Or, as Pierre E. Trudeau contended in his contribution to La greve de l'amiante (oddly, the anthology includes nothing from this essential piece of political thought, though it does include Andre Laurendeau's critique), nationalism is 'l'axe principal' ofpolitical and social thought for francophones . Lamonde and Corbo argue that their selection illustrates the diversity ofthought and 'les six trames essentielles' to an understanding ofthat body of thought. These currents are monarchy and republicanism, liberalism, clericalism and ultramontanism, national survival, cultural relations with the external world (including language), and social questions . These are probably useful categories, though they are not always well illustrated (the debate among French speakers about the nature of their language - Canadian or French - receives no attention, and social questions are hardly touched upon). Nor do the editors use the categories to organize their collection, resorting instead to a rather conventional chronology. The selection is certainly a good one, though sometimes ofarguable value. For example, the 1935 exchange between abbe Grqulx and Father Levesque does not really explain whatwas at issue, since the letters concern a document that is not included. Similarly, Cardinal Villeneuve's windy attempt to convince the French to support both Petain and de Gaulle can only leave the uninitiated as confused as the cardinal. There are, ofcourse, plentyoflucid documentsthat reallydo qualifyas 'thought': Etienne Parent...