Book Review: Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs
| Published date | 01 September 1959 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205901400309 |
| Date | 01 September 1959 |
| Author | D. J. McDougall |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
219
wealth,
now
overwhelmingly
Asian in
population
and
with
a
new
republican
formula;
and,
above
all,
the
vast
and
uncalculable
effects
of
nuclear
fission,
and
of
the
Communist
triumph
in
China.
China,
indeed,
was
a
new
and
puzzling
area
in
Canadian
calcula-
tions,
but
Israel,
the
Arab
World,
and
the
Near
East
were
also
looming
above
the
horizon.
In
all
these
baffling
changes,
Canada
found
herself,
not
in
the
"Middle-Power"
position
of
her
war-
time
partnership
with
its
understandable
if
heavy
obligations,
but
in
the
much
more
frustrating
position
of
a
small
power
meshed
into
the
ruthless
complications
of
a world
threatened
with
polarization.
Of
this
development,
the
increasing
problems
of
Canadian-American
relations
were
only
one
evidence.
Professor Harrison
in
nine
carefully
documented
chapters
has
traced
in
considerable
detail
not
only
the
reactions
of
Canadian
policy,
but
much
of
the
background lying behind
them.
It
has
not
been
his
intention
to
probe
the
intriguing
general questions
lying
behind
the
record,
such
as
the
bases
of
the
practically
unanimous
support
given
by
the
Canadian
peoples
to
the
important
decisions
of
this
period, or
the
nature
of Canada's
role
in
the
international
scene.
That
Canada
had
a
distinctive
role,
much of
it
behind
the
scenes,
there
can
be
no
question.
Canada, said
Mr.
St.
Laurent
in
1949
(page
108),
exerted
an
influence
far
out
of
proportion
to
her
population;
and
anyone
familiar
in
any
degree
with
the
influence
of
Lester
Pearson
at
the
United
Nations,
for
example,
will
support
this
judgement.
But
documentation
and proof
are
not
readily
available,
and
certainly
not
in
the
official
records.
Perhaps,
indeed,
the
story
of
such
a
role
can
never
fully
be
told.
Professor
Harrison's
record and
analysis of
these years
is
a
useful
one,
and
adds
to
the
value
of
this
series,
now
so well
established.
Department
of
History,
GEORGE
W.
BROWN
University
of
Toronto
SURVEY
OF
BRITISH
COMMONWEALTH
AFFAIRS.
Problems
of
War-
time
Co-operation
and
Post-War
Change,
1939-1952.
By
Nicholas
Mansergh.
1958.
(Toronto:
Oxford,
xvi,
469pp.
$9.50.)
For
the
nations
of
the
Commonwealth,
individually and
collectively,
the
Second
World
War
was
the
most
searching
test
to
which
they
have
ever
been
subjected. There
were
many
in
those dark months
before
September,
1939,
who
seriously
doubted
their
ability
to
meet
that
test.
They
did
not
question
the
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