political biographies available. G. M. Wrong’s “The Earl of Elgin” (1905), John Lewis’s “George Brown” (1906), W. L. Grant’s “The Tribune of Nova Scotia” (“Chronicles of Canada”, 1915), J. Pope’s “Memoirs of the Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald”, 2 vols. (1894), J. Boyd’s “Sir George Etienne Cartier” (1914), and O. D. Skelton’s “Life and Times of Sir A. T. Galt” (1919), cover the political developments from various angles. A. H. U. Colquhoun’s “The Fathers of Confederation” (“Chronicles of Canada”, 1916) is a clear and impartial account of the achievement of Confederation; while M. O. Hammond’s “Canadian Confederation and its Leaders” (1917) records the service of each of its chief architects.
For the years since Confederation biographies again give the most accessible record. Sir John S. Willison’s “Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party” (1903) is the best political biography yet written in Canada. Sir Richard Cartwright’s Reminiscences (1912) reflects that statesman’s individual and pungent views of affairs, while Sir Charles Tupper’s “Recollections of Sixty Years” (1914) and John Castell Hopkins’s “Life and Work of Sir John Thompson” (1895) give a Conservative version of the period. Sir Joseph Pope’s “The Day of Sir John Macdonald” (“Chronicles of Canada”, 1915), and O. D. Skelton’s “The Day of Sir Wilfrid Laurier” (“Chronicles of Canada”, 1916) between them cover the whole period briefly. L. J. Burpee’s “Sandford Fleming” (1915) is one of the few biographies dealing with industrial as distinct from political leaders. Imperial relations may be studied in G. R. Parkin’s “Imperial Federation, the Problem of National Unity” (1892) and in L. Curtis’s “The Problem of the Commonwealth” (1916), which advocate imperial federation, and in R. Jebb’s “The Britannic Question; a Survey of Alternatives” (1913), J. S. Ewart’s “The Kingdom Papers” (1912-), and A. B. Keith’s “Imperial Unity and the Dominions” (1916), which criticize that solution from different standpoints. The “Reports” of the Imperial Conferences of 1887, 1894, 1897, 1902, 1907, 1911, 1917, are of much value. Relations with the United States are discussed judiciously in W. A. Dunning’s “The British Empire and the United States” (1914). Phases of Canada’s recent development other than political are covered best in the volumes of “Canada and its Provinces”, a History of the Canadian people and their institutions, edited by A. Shortt and A. G. Doughty.
A useful guide to recent books dealing with Canadian history will be found in the annual “Review of Historical Publications Relating to Canada”, published by the University of Toronto (1896 to date).