The War Correspondence of the "Daily News,"1877. (Macmillan.)— These letters,
some of which are the most remarkable of their kind that have ever been written, well deserved to ho preserved in a more permanent and accessible form than is afforded by the columns of a newspaper. Mr. Archibald Forbes and Mr. MaeGahan have achieved the very highest reputation for courage, promptitude, and ability, for the knack of being in the right place at the right time, for 'the art of seeing whatever was to bo seen, and for the power of describing what they have seen. The volume includes the letters of " many other Special Correspondents in Europe and Asia." Indeed it is a striking testimony to the energy and enterprise with which the Daily News is conducted. In its war correspondence, this journal has repeated the singular success which it achieved during the Franco- German war. The letters are arranged in chronological order, with a connecting narrative between them, and the reader has conse- quently to transfer his attention from the European to the Asiatic campaign, and from Asia back again. We do not object to this,—indeed, while we are dealing with materials for history rather than history, the most literally exact arrangement is the best. Where so much is admirable, it is difficult to praise, but nothing in the volume is more striking than the narrative of the " correspondent with the Turks " of Mukhtar Pasha's defeat at Aladja Dagh and the flight to Kars.—The Narrative of an Expelled Correspondent, by Frederick Boyle (Bentley), comes to us commended by the name of the author, who is well known for his books of adventure. Mr. Boyle went to the Russian army as the correspondent of the Standard, but had the misfortune to offend the authorities, and was ordered to leave. The act seems to have been uncalled for, but commanders-in-chief are naturally touchy, especially when things are not going well with them. It would have been better if Mr. Boyle had briefly and calmly stated the cause of complaint against him, shown it to have been unfounded, and so dismissed the subject. His invective against the Grand Duke Nicholas may be all true, but it has the look of being suggested by personal offence. Mr. Boyle's letters are of course well worth reading. His sympathies are anti-Russian, but he is fair to the Russians at least. To the Bulgarians he is, we think, unjust, falling into the delusion, not indeed singular to him, that he had an opportunity of judging of their real character under circumstances which absolutely prohibited any such judgment. Among other notes, we find him observing that "those wounded in the limbs were feverishly full of fight, whilst body-wounds appeared to roll the victim over, leaving him no thought but of escape from the field."—The Armenian Cam- paign. By Charles Williams. (C. Regan Paul and Co.) Mr. Williams, who represented, we believe, the Morning Advertiser, accom- panied Mukhtar Paella during his campaign. He identifies himself completely with the Turkish cause, and indeed goes in his partisan- ship much beyond what may bo reasonably allowed to one who has shared, with one of the combatants, some of the perils of warfare. Of course, being an Englishman, he tells the truth, wherever he saw it, but then partisanship sometimes makes a man not see it. Ho confesses, for instance, the facts about the massacre of Bayazid, but we should like to have seen him account for the fact that the Turks, after months ■ of success, had no prisoners. We must find fault, too, with the apparent levity with which he occasionally speaks of the horrors of war. Semi- humorous equivalents for the word "kill," such as to "stretch on the grass," are not in good taste. Mr. Williams has a very poor opinion of the Turkish regimental officers. "Not many dozen regimental officers in the Ottoman Service are worth their rations."—Among the Turks, by Cyrus Hamlin (Sampson Low and Co.), is the interesting outcome of a very long experience, reaching over nearly forty years. Mr. Hamlin evidently knows the Turks well. We have never seen anything more graphic than the flank- tire which he took down from the life of " Chelibi Yorgaki, merchant of the palace under five Sultans : Hamad L, Solim HI., Mustapha IV., Mahmud II., and Abdul-Aziz." Chelibi Yorgaki was the grandson of a Greek, one Joannes Giaas, a bread-seller in Constantinople. Joannes had a Moslem neighbour, Ibrahim Tirttingi. The sons of the two con- tracted an intimate friendship. To break this off, the young Moslem was despatched to Bagdad, whore he rose to be Pasha. After a while, he returned as a Grand Vizier to Constantinople. How he renewed his old friendship and how he dealt with the young Joannes is, as Mr Hamlin says, like one of the "Arabian Nights." So, too, is the gloomier sequel, when darker days succeeded, and everything was at the mercy of such a wretch as Hulot Effendi. Mr. Hamlin'e work has been that of a missionary, but he is free from narrowness or prejudice, unless it be prejudice to think that Lord Dulling was the most mischievous am- bassador we ever sent to the Porte. Mr. Hamlin adds his testimony in favour of the Bulgarians.—Turks and Greeks. By the Hon. Dudley Campbell, M.A. (Macmillan.) Hore we have the notes of a tour made in Roumania, Bulgaria, Constantinople, Greece, &c., in the autumn of 1876. Mr. Campbell records his impressions pleasantly enough.
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