Chapter 8

Procter. Jeffrey, Byron, Carlyle and Beddoes are the chief correspondents quoted. Those from Byron are strongly Byronesque, but give us no new points, unless in the high moral tone he assumes in defending _Don Juan_. That poem does, he avers, no injustice to the English aristocracy, which he maintains to have been at that time the most profligate in Europe. The prominent details of the queen's trial and others like it would "in no other country have been _publicly_ tolerated a moment." Was it Byron's theory, then, that all kinds of morality are merely relative, and the outgrowth of local conditions?

The materials at the command of the editor of this book were obviously very meagre. Yet it has undoubted value. If neither a corner-stone, a voussoir nor a capital, it has at least its place in the edifice which forms the literary history of the nineteenth century. Beyond that value it has merit as the simple record of a life enriched by the charms of poetry and elegant taste and the social and domestic charities.

Turkey. By James Baker, M.A., Lieutenant-Colonel Auxiliary Forces, formerly Eighth Hussars. New York: Henry Holt & Co.

The announcement of this book as "a companion volume to Wallace's _Russia_" provokes a comparison greatly to its disadvantage. The qualities most conspicuous in Mr. Wallace's work, thoroughness of exposition, skillful arrangement, breadth of view and mastery of details, are wholly wanting in Colonel Baker's _Turkey_. The information which it gives from the author's personal observation is fragmentary and disappointing; the matter gleaned from other sources is chiefly surplusage; the expressions of opinion indicate positiveness rather than keen insight or impartial judgment; and, what renders the contrast still more striking, the book as evidently owes its dimensions, if not its existence, to the immediate interest of the subject as Mr. Wallace's work was the slowly-ripened fruit of long and patient study, and its opportune appearance a fortuitous advantage that added little to its attractiveness. It is, however, no ground for condemning a book that it has been written to supply information for which there is a present demand; and if Colonel Baker had confined himself to telling us what he knew, and his publishers had refrained from exciting undue expectations, the contribution might have been accepted thankfully for what it was worth, without special complaint in regard to its deficiencies. About half the book is readable, and this includes some portions which, besides being interesting, derive a special value from the author's qualifications for speaking authoritatively on the points discussed in them. He traveled somewhat extensively in Bulgaria; he purchased and cultivated an estate in the neighborhood of Salonica, and was thus brought into those relations of landlord, employer and taxpayer which entail a certain familiarity with the workings of the administrative machinery and with the habits and feelings of the rural population; and, finally, as a soldier, he writes with full comprehension and intelligence on the military resources of the country and the prospects of the war which was seen to be inevitable when his book went to press. In reference to the last point, he even sketches a plan of defence which it seems not improbable may be that which the government will adopt, if its own collapse or the intervention of other powers does not bring the struggle to a speedier termination or an unforeseen issue. He considers the Danube with its defences as offering no obstacle of importance to the overwhelming forces preparing to cross it. The Balkan affords numerous passes which may be traversed at all seasons except in the depth of winter, and no points of defence that may not easily be turned. But after crossing this range the Russians will be more than three hundred miles from their base, and all their supplies will have to be brought over the mountains. Their numbers will have been so diminished by sickness and by the large detachments necessary for masking the fortresses in their rear, that out of the four hundred thousand with which Colonel Baker supposes them to open the campaign, they cannot be expected to operate with more than one hundred thousand south of the Balkan. They will still have a difficult country before them, and from Burgas, on the Black Sea, where Colonel Baker proposes the establishment of an entrenched camp, to be constantly supplied and reinforced by water-transport from Constantinople, their flanks may be harassed and their communications threatened, making it impossible for them to march on Adrianople before ridding themselves of this danger. "It may be argued," says Colonel Baker, "that this plan of defence would be giving over a large portion of the empire to Russian occupation, but the answer is, that Turkey, being in command of the Black Sea, could strangle all Russian commerce in those waters until that power released her grip of the Ottoman throat." But whatever be the merit or the feasibility of this plan, it presupposes not only a design on the part of Russia to advance upon Constantinople, which is doubtful, but a degree of energy in the Turkish government and military commanders which it is almost certain does not exist. The Ottoman power is to all appearance perishing of inanition, and the mere hastening of its dissolution through external shocks is not to be deprecated. But it is puerile to imagine that this will be the only or chief result of the war now going on, if not arrested by intervention in one form or another. In the delicate and complicated relations of the European states the dismemberment of one empire and the aggrandizement of another are not such changes as can occur without affecting the whole system, and that harmony of action which it was found impossible to secure as a means of averting war is not likely to show itself when some decisive catastrophe shall have developed the possibilities to be hoped or apprehended, brought conflicting interests into play and suggested new combinations. Whether a different course, with joint action, on the part of the powers that now affect neutrality would have led to a more satisfactory result, is itself a mere matter of speculation; but out of England few persons will be disposed to agree with Colonel Baker in putting on Russia the whole responsibility both of the war and of the events which are pleaded as the justification of it. While conceding the corruption, apathy and general incompetence of the Turkish government, he contends that oppression is the exception, not the rule, that the chief mischiefs have sprung directly from Russian intrigue, that the country has been making rapid progress in many ways, and that time alone might safely have been trusted to bring about all desirable reforms. So far as the general condition of the people is concerned, his statements are entitled to weight. But beyond the limits of his own experience his boldness in assertion will not incline the reader to accept him as a safe guide. His book would have left a far more favorable impression had he confined himself to the description of what he saw and the relation of his own adventures, leaving Turkish history and political speculations to writers of a different class.

_Books Received._

The Music Reader; or, The Practice and Principles of the Art, especially adapted to Vocal Music. For the use of Schools, Classes and Private Instruction. By Leopold Meignen and Wm. W. Keys. Philadelphia: W. H. Boner & Co., Agts.

Standard Facts and Figures; or, What you Do Know! What you Don't Know!! What you Want to Know!!! (Revised and enlarged edition.) Edited by A. G. Sullivan. New York: Morton & Dumont.

The Divine Order of the Universe, as interpreted by Emanuel Swedenborg; with especial relation to Modern Astronomy. By Rev. Augustus Clissold, M. A. London: Longmans, Green & Co.

From Traditional to Rational Faith; or, The Way I came from Baptist to Liberal Christianity. By R. Andrew Griffin. (Town-and-Country Series.) Boston: Roberts Brothers.

The Life, Times and Character of Oliver Cromwell. (Half-Hour Series.) By the Right Honorable E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen, M. P. New York: Harper & Bros.

How to Teach according to Temperament and Mental Development; or, Phrenology in the School-room and the Family. By Nelson Sizer. New York: S. R. Wells & Co.

Rise of the People and Growth of Parliament, 1215-1485: Epochs of English History. By James Rowley, M. A. (Harper's Half-Hour Series.) New York: Harper & Bros.

Imaginary Conversations. By Walter Savage Landor. (Fourth Series.) Dialogues of Literary Men, of Famous Women, etc. Boston: Roberts Brothers.

Peru: Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas, By E. George Squier, M. A., F. S. A. New York: Harper & Brothers.

A Winter Story. By Miss Peard, author of "The Rose Garden." (Town-and-Country Series.) Boston: Roberts Brothers.

That Lass o' Lowrie's. By Frances Hodgson Burnett. Illustrated by Alfred Fredericks. New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co.

Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth. Edited, with Notes, by William J. Rolfe, A. M. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Aloys. By B. Auerbach. Translated by Charles T. Brooks. (Leisure-Hour Series.) New York: Henry Holt & Co.

Steam Injectors: Their Theory and Use. From the French of M. Léon Pochet. New York: D. Van Nostrand.

Academy Sketches, Exhibition of 1877. With Descriptive Notes by "Nemo." New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

Miss Nancy's Pilgrimage: A Story of Travel. By Virginia W. Johnson. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Mark Twain's Adhesive Scrap Book. By Samuel L. Clemens. New York: Slote, Woodman & Co.

Transmission of Power by Wire Ropes. By Albert W. Stahl, M. E. New York: D. Van Nostrand.

Dot and Dime. Two Characters in Ebony. By One who Knows all about them. Boston: Loring.

Hours with Men and Books. By William Mathews, LL.D. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co.

Bessie Lang. By Alice Corkran. (Leisure-Hour Series.) New York: Henry Holt & Co.

Annual Report of the Chief Signal-Officer for 1876. Washington: Government Printing office.

Will it Be? By Mrs. Helen J. Ford. (Loring's Tales of the Day.) Boston: Loring.

My Lady-Help, and What she Taught me, By Mrs. Warren. Boston: Loring.

A Modern Mephistopheles. (No-Name Series.) Boston: Roberts Brothers.