Book Review: Canada at Geneva: An Historical Survey and its Lessons
| Date | 01 September 1947 |
| Published date | 01 September 1947 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070204700200309 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Book
Reviews
Though
Dr.
Carter's
handling
of
both
affairs
is
of
great
interest,
and
indicates,
for
example,
that
the
Ethiopian
experience
by
no
means
proved
the impracticability
of
sanctions,
though
it
was
generally
interpreted
as
so
doing,
perhaps
the
most
distinct
contribution this study
makes
to
a
knowledge
of
these years,
is
the assessment
of
the importance
of
the
Imperial
Conference
of
1937
and
of
Mr.
King's
visit
to
Hitler
following
it.
The
League now
ended
as
an
agency
of
security,
the
Commonwealth
reverted
to
joint
action
in
a
common
emergency,
and
the
Conference
gave
assurance of
that
joint
action,
warning
of
which was conveyed
by
Mr.
King
to
Hitler
(pp.
277-279).
On
this
basis
the
nations
of
the
Commonwealth
jointly
and
severally
went
to
war,
with
the
exception
of
Ireland,
in
1939.
At
the
war's
end
three
alternatives
faced
them:
a
unified
Commonwealth
and
Empire
as
a
third
super-power,
independence
translated
into
separatism,
a
combina-
tion
of
Commonwealth
association
with
a
new
international
organization.
The
choice
of
the
third
was
determined
by
the
past
and
the
nature
of
the
Commonwealth
(p.
316),
and
in
the
new organization
participation
by
the
Dominions
will
not
weaken the United
Nations
as
their immature
nationalism
and
need
of
creating
the
Commonwealth did
the
League
(p.
312).
One
slight
error
caught this
reviewer's
eye.
On
page
79,
line
22,
it
is
not
correct
to say
that
France
had
alliances
with
the
Little
Entente
countries
in
1922.
The first
alliance,
that
with
Czechoslovakia,
did
not
come
until
1924.
Attention
is
called
to
this
isolated
slip
in
part
because
doing
so
serves
to
illuminate
rather
than detract
from
a
work
of
great
utility
and
exceptional
merit.
University
of
Manitoba
W.
L.
Morton
CANADA
AT GENEVA:
AN
HISTORICAL
SURVEY
AND
ITS
LESSONS.
By
S.
Mack
Eastman.
1946.
(Toronto: Ryerson
for
C.I.
I.A.
Contemporary
Affairs
pamphlet
No.
20.
ll7pp.
75c,
members
60c)
The
perspective
that
the late
war
and
Canada's
outstanding
part
in
international
collaboration
during
the
two
years
since
San
Francisco
have given
one
is
utilized
to
-the
fullest
advantage
in
this
survey
of
Canada's
relations
with
Geneva.
Dr.
Eastman
is
a
Canadian
historian
who
worked
at
Geneva
from
1925
to
1940,
during the
League's
most
critical years, and
who
writes
with
an
engaging
style.
The complete
swing-about
in
Canadian
policy
from isolation
and
mere insistence
on
recognition
of
Canada's independent
nationhood
to
the
position
taken
today
is
described step
by
step,
with
all
the
sense
of
drama
that
it
deserves:
"Whereas,
in
1919
at
Geneva,
Canada
was preoccupied
with
the
assertion
of
her
sovereign
equality
and
rights
and
the
avoidance
of
unwelcome
obligations
under
the Covenant,
in
1945
at
San
Francisco
she
was
ready for
wise
derogations
from
national
sovereignties,
and
intent
upon
strengthening
and
clarifying
the
requirements
of
the
263
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