The Canadian Historical Review, 1921, Vol. 2

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Excerpt from The Canadian Historical Review, 1921, Vol. 2: New Series of the Review of Historical Publications Relating to Canada (Founded 1898)Identity of language-which is popularly confused with identity of race - has undoubtedly contributed to nation building, but he would be a fool hardy historian who would call it an essen tial element. The Scottish people are a nation, though they speak both English and Gaelic. The Belgians are a nation though they speak both French and Flemish. The Swiss are a nation, though actually tri-lingual.The diversity of tongues does not discount the reality, of American nationalism. We can dismiss identity of language along with a common religion. The latter has brought its gifts to the building of nations, but religious varieties have often been most prominent where nationalism has been strongest and most vigorous.Nor can we explain nationalism by common economic interests. These lie behind much in'human history, and examples are not wanting of their in¿uences in nationalist movements. Their in¿uences can be seen indirectly at work in the American Civil War, and more directly we can find them at work in the Zollverein, with Prussia at its head, which laid the foundations of the modern German Empire. On the other hand, it would be hard to find common economic interests at work in the fusion of the Thirteen Colonies out of which the American nation was born. Indeed the nation, as an economic unit, largely exists artificially through the in¿uence of protective tariffs.It would be possible to examine common history and common traditions and to find that they are not the common factors which we have been seeking. The nationalism of the North American continent, for example, owes little to the past. Nor will common political ideals satisfy our inquiry - they have not been essential. Legitimists, Bonapartists, Republicans and Socialists have Shed their blood impartially in the cause of French nationalism - to save the French nation.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.