Book Review: The Liquidation of the British Empire
| Author | D. J. McDougall |
| Date | 01 June 1962 |
| Published date | 01 June 1962 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206201700227 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
184
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Sir
Charles
pays
a
warm tribute.
He
has
no
illusions
about
the
extent
of
the
achievement,
but
he
is
cautiously
optimistic.
At
least
settlements
have
been
reached,
without
violence,
with
little
or
no
recrimination,
and,
as
this
account
shows,
with
a
remarkable
amount
of
understanding
and
good
humour
on
both
sides.
That
is a
good
augury
for
the
future.
University
of
Toronto
D.
J. McDoUGALL
THE
LIQUIDATION
OF
THE
BRmsH
EMPME.
By
C.
E.
Carrington.
1961.
(Toronto:
Clarke, Irwin
&
Co.
96pp.
$3.00.)
There
is
very
little
in
these
lectures
that
calls
for
special
comment.
They contain
a
good
deal
of
information
which
was
no
doubt
of
some
interest
to
those
who
heard
them,
and
who
were able
to
take
part
in
the
discussion.
In
their
present form
they
are
disappointing. Professor
Carrington
seems
to
have
attempted
too much,
with
the
result
that
his
book
is a
strangely
disjointed
commentary
on
a
great
variety
of
matters
pertaining
in
general
to
the
history
of
the
Empire
and
Commonwealth.
Liquidation
turns
out
to
mean nothing more
than
transition
from
colonial
dependency
to
national
autonomy
or
independence
in
Canada,
India,
Malaya
and elsewhere.
Such
unity
as
can
be
discovered-
and
that
is
very
little-
is
provided
by
the
theory
upon
which
the
whole
interpretation
is
based.
This
change,
wherever
it
has occurred,
is
explained
as
the
product
of
a
"continuous
constitutional
process",
inaugurated
by
Pitt
in
1791,
and
directed
by
successive
generations
of
British statesmen,
inspired
by
a
sense
of
'mission'
to
bring
the blessings
of
self-government and
inde-
pendence
to
all
the
peoples
over
whom
they
rule. The
theory
is
carried
at
times
to
surprising
lengths.
Sir
Winston
Churchill's
well
known
statement
about
liquidation
of
the
Empire
is
interpreted
as
meaning
that
the
"colonial
system
was
to
be
retained,
and
lost
territories
re-
covered,
in
order
that
the
whole
might
proceed
smoothly
along
the
well
worn
path
from Empire
to
Commonwealth".
One
consequence
of
this
mode
of
interpretation
is
that
the
part
played
by
leaders
of
reform or
nationalist
movements
in
the
colonies
is
reduced to
negligible
proportions.
Even Lord
Durham,
whose
role
has
too
often
been
exaggerated
by
English writers,
is
dismissed
in a
single
line.
He
merely "hit
upon
the
device
of
responsible
government".
A
second
result
is
that
the
differences,
political,
social
and
economic,
in
the
various
communities
where
these
changes
have
taken
place
are
almost
entirely
disregarded.
A
brief
comparison
of
federation
in
Canada
with
the
establishment
of
union
in
Nigeria
leads
to the
somewhat
surprising
conclusion
that
"the
historical
analogy
is
perfect".
On
some
other
matters
Professor Carrington's
comments
are
more
interesting
and instructive.
That
is
especially
true
of
the
chapter
on
the
African
dependencies,
where
geography
imposes
a
measure
of
unity
that
is
lacking
in
other
parts
of
the
book.
The
opening
section
of
the
book
contains
a
strongly
worded
criticism
of
the
ignorance
of
Americans,
presumably
including
American
scholars,
about
the
true
nature
of
British
imperialism,
and
of
the
Commonwealth.
There
is
no
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