e 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 Broth