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  • Patrician Liberal: The Public and Private Life of Sir Henry-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, 1829–1908 by J.I. Little
  • Louis-Georges Harvey
J.I. Little. Patrician Liberal: The Public and Private Life of Sir Henry-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, 1829–1908. University of Toronto Press. xiv, 376. $63.00

Well known as one of Canada’s leading social historians and particularly for his micro-historical studies of the mainly anglophone communities of Quebec’s Eastern Townships, J.I. Little justifies his decision to write a political biography of Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière by explaining that his study will depart from a purely biographical narrative structure to favour a more thematic approach. Little’s study draws on rich archival material retrieved from the Joly family papers housed in the Montreal and Quebec city branches of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, as well as more official documents conserved in the British Columbia Archives and at the Library and Archives Canada. The author also exploits a rich collection of contemporary printed sources and contextualizes his narrative through his impressive grasp of the secondary literature.

The thematic/chronological structure of the book is reflected in three main sections, which address first Joly’s early life, family, and seigneurial background, before moving on to his provincial political career, and finally to his national political career. The chapters on Joly’s early life, the operation of the seigneury, and the lumber business that grew out of it are critical to establishing both the material and social basis of Joly’s status, as well as the sources of his paternalistic social attitude. Joly’s business career prepared him for entry into the rough-and-tumble world of provincial politics, although the patrician and Protestant Joly displayed an early aversion to the political corruption that held sway in government and campaigned tirelessly against its effects on government. His brief tenure as premier is also addressed, but the bulk of these highly political chapters deals with Joly’s time in the Opposition and his relationship to the mercurial Honouré Mercier. While a more conventional narrative approach prevails through these sections, Little skilfully draws on the [End Page 186] existing historiography to uncover the socio-political underbelly of period politics.

Joly’s provincial political career leads Little to examine his emergence as a national political figure, one recognized mostly for his role as mediator between French and English Canadians. The author returns to this theme through the remaining chapters, arguing that Joly’s national stature grew largely out of his refusal to follow nationalist colleagues in their reaction to Louis Riel’s execution and, later, from his criticism of the strong Protestant reaction to the Mercier government’s raising of the Jesuit estates question. In Little’s biography, Joly consistently favours national unity, toning down, for example, his strong affinity for some forms of British imperialism. Little also adds a very useful chapter on his subject’s very strong advocacy for the forest conservation movement, which spanned the last thirty years of his life. Although this material might usefully have been integrated into the other chapters, the forestry chapter stands well on its own and adds material on a relatively original subject.

Joly’s federal political career proved similar to his time in provincial politics. Relegated to a minor ministry with a significant patronage role, Joly seems to have alienated most of his Liberal colleagues by refusing to bend to calls to distribute the spoils of office to the party faithful, and he grew exasperated at the constant pressure he faced within the Laurier cabinet. Joly’s national political stature nonetheless made it possible for Laurier to solve his internal political problem by appointing him as lieutenant-governor of British Columbia in 1900. Joly brought a vast experience in parliamentary politics with him to Victoria, and he helped to install party discipline and government within the unwieldy British Columbia legislature by paradoxically favouring the appointment of a Conservative premier. He was the last lieutenant-governor who would play such an active role.

Little’s study sheds a great deal of light on a figure previously considered a marginal player...

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