CURRENT LITERATURE.
The British Quarterly Review. April. (Hodder and Stoughton.)— The essay entitled " Reform in Turkey and Coercion" is an able resume" e the recent history and present condition of the Eastern Question. A quarterly reviewer dealing with a matter that changes its aspects almost daily is very likely to find himself left behind by the progress of events. It is to the credit of the writer of this article that it is not so with him. Briefly, his view may be stated by saying that reform is impossible in Turkey without coercion, and that coercion might be applied without difficulty. If we have a doubt about his views, it is whether he takes sufficient account of the Mahommedan mobs of the larger towns. That of Constantinople might be easily cowed, but it might go hard, were Mahommedan fury once reused, with the Christian population of Bagdad, Damascus, and Aleppo ; but whatever the risks of coercion, without coercion there is no hope. The first article in the number deals with a question which is certainly, to judge from many indications, coming to the front, that of secondary education in Scotland. Disbelievers in the benefit of endowments, and theorists who cling to faith in the all-sufficiency of the "supply and demand" principle, have here an instructive example. Secondary education is all.but unendowed in Scotland, and now that the surreptitious help it used to get from the primary schools, where the Deminie often had his Latin and Greek classes, is gone, it seems to be in sore straits. Where the money is to come from is a very serious question, which the writer, properly content with a very interesting statement of the case, does not grapple with. We may notice an appreciative review of Mr. Wood's labours at Ephesus, labours which have had a success as real, though not as brilliant, as the researches of Dr. Schliemann. The other con- tents of a number which is above the average in interest are articles on "The Genius of Islam," "The Public Works of India," "Across Africa," and "Russia," with the usual summary of contemporary literature.
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