Recent Books on the Empire and Foreign Policy

REVIEW ARTICLE RECENT BOOKS ON THE EMPIRE AND FOREIGN POLICY 1 THE background ofthis sextet ofvolumes iswhat might becalled the Anglo-Saxon empire, this being the extension of the British Empire and Commonwealthinto closeassociationand co-operationwith the United States. Against this background the large number of writers who have contributed to the volumesdiscussto the point of exhaustion the undying and hydra-headed subjects of trade and industry , war and peace. The importanceof the United Statesto the Commonwealth and its individual membersis everywhererecognized. Dr. Shotwellputs forwardthe view "that the United Statesisfundamentally at one with Great Britain and the Dominions in its attitude toward world organization" (p. 115). ProfessorMackintosh notes once more "the profoundinfluenceon Canadian developmentand thought, of the nearnessof Canada to the United States". A member of the delegation from the United Kingdom to the Toronto Conferencearguesthat "cooperationwith the United Statesin generalmattersof world policy" is "essential to the peaceful and satisfactory continuanceof Commonwealth relations", not only for the well-being of the parties concerned, "but also because the fundamental ideas of Americans and ourselves are really similar and often identical" (p.171). The report of the Toronto Conference'scommissionon the collective system concludes,amongst other things, that we should "recognize that co-operation with the •Imperial Economyand its Placein theFormation of EconomicDoctrine,•6oo-•932. By C. R. FAy. Oxford: At the ClarendonPress. 1934. Pp. 151. ($1.75). Canadian Papers, •933. Prepared for the Fifth Biennial Conferenceof the Institute of PacificRelationsto be held in Banff, Canada, August 14 to 28, 1933. Toronto: Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 43 St. George Street. 1933. Pp. 99. (75 cents). Br,tish Commonwealth Relations: Proceedings of the First Unoffiial Conference at Toronto,•-2• September •933. Edited by AR•ox•t>J. Tov•B•.•.. With a foreword by the Rt. Hon. Sir. ROB•-RTL. Bo•on.•. London: Oxford University Press. 1934. Pp. xiv, 235. ($3.25). Consultationand Co-operationin the British Commonwealth: A Handbook on the Methodsand Practice of Communication and Consultationbetween the Membersof the British Commonwealth of Nations. Compiled by G•.RAx•t> E. H. P•x•t•.x. With an introduction by ProfessorA. B•.RRmt)•r.•. KEITH on the constitutional development of the British Empire in regard to the dominionsand India from 1887to 1933. Issued under the joint auspicesof the Royal Institute of International Affairs and the Canadian Institute of International Affairs on behalf of the First Unofficial Conference on British Commonwealth Relations. Oxford University Press. 1934. Pp. lix, 264. (12s.6d.). TheHeritageof Freedom:The UnitedStatesand Canadain theCommunityof Nations. By JA•mST. SaOTW•.LL. (PearsonKirkman Marfleet Lectures at the University of Toronto.) New York: Charles Scribner'sSons. Toronto: 1934. The University of Toronto Press. Pp. xii, 136. ($1.50 post paid). A Record of a SecondStudyConference ontheStateand EconomicLife heldin Lon. donfromMay 29 toJune2, •933 andorganized bytheInternationalInstituteofIntellectual Co-operation in collaboration with the British Co-ordinatingCommittee for International Studies. (League of Nations Sixth International Studies Conference.) Paris, 2 rue de Montpensier, Palais Royal: International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation. 1934. Pp. xviii, 422. 415 416 ThE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW UnitedStatesisa vital featureof Commonwealth foreignpolicy" (p.12). There is a stimulatinginterplay of thesesrunning all throughtheseeight hundredpagesofmiscellaneous factsandideas,whichisitselfan historical phenomenon of great importance,and in a sensethe very homogeneity of outlook, "which includeswide divergencesof opinion", is a sort of proof of the solidarity of the civilization with which the writers are dealing. Imperial economy, a seriesof Beit lecturesby ProfessorFay, is a thoroughly delightful addition to the comparatively small number of studiesyet ma'deon the economichistory of the British Empire; it is crispin style, conversational in manner,witty, full of pith, and apt to be quoted. The first lecture "Americain the Old Empire" is really a study of Adam Smith asan economic force--not merelyan economist. He vigorouslyassaultedthe mercantilesystemand setup in its placethe doctrine of free trade, but he did sobecause"he is a realist" (p.18), and derived his theory of foreign trade, which is "internal trade internationalized", from the Englandof hisday with her growingdevelopment"of production in field, mine and factory". He was able to fit America into this free-tradeworldbecause in that country "labouris relativelyscarce to hand, cultivation is extensiveand slovenly,wagesare high, growth has a free hand" (p.20). To-day, however, this world...