John Baird: Canada's freedom agenda - Diplomat Magazine

BOOKS|DELIGHTSLibrary and Archives Canada, Raymond Gibson Collection, 1977-157, C-91766Soldiers in 259th battalion, led by Brig.-Gen. Bickford, second-in-command of the Siberian force, disembarking at Egersheld, Vladivostok, in 1919.In the Crimea (where his first-handreportage caused an unknown FlorenceNightingale to take up battlefield nursing),Russell didn’t shy from reportingthe true horrors that he saw. He assumedthe same tone in America. He preferred atent full of common soldiers to a secondedfront parlour full of generals. As one colleaguecommented, “He is a good chapto get information, particularly from theyoungsters.” So naturally his employer,The Times of London, sent him to Americawhen war broke out there. The newspaperlater recalled him, however, on thegrounds that he was too sympathetic tothe South, or at least not sympatheticenough to the North. Curiously, the samepaper had no qualms about Francis Lawley,its reporter who followed the Southernarmies and was outrageously blind totheir every flaw and misstep. As a reader,I’m delighted to find that Dr. Foremandiscusses Edward Dicey, who promotedthe Northern armies for the Spectator andwrote what is still an endearing pro-Unionmemoir, Six Months in the Federal States.It is not to be confused with, but simplycontrasted to, Three Months in the SouthernStates (April, May and June 1863) by LieutenantColonel Arthur J.F. Fremantle of theColdstream Guards. He took leave fromthe service to travel in all 11 Confederatestates, using letters of introduction fromone official or another (even Jefferson Davis)to gain an audience with the next generalon his list. Studying the Confederatearmy through the eyes of a professionalsoldier left him with solid collegial respectfor his hosts. His handsomely writtenbook is still in print as a 1991 paperbackedition (University of Nebraska Press,US$18.95). Dr. Foreman uses this one, too,to good effect.To state the matter as simply as possible,then, the most important diplomaticquestion of the American Civil War waswhether to take sides in a divorce (in waras in real life, always a risky proposition).A similar situation, one involving Canadaand its numerous allies arose near the endof the First World War and continued onfor a time afterwards. In 1917, the yearof both the February and October revolutions,Russia deposed the czar (who wasexecuted the following year) and ranthrough two prime ministers. The countrywas a shambles of starvation and unrest.diplomat and international canada 63