The Press.
London, England, 1854-08-05 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

WMaster fired a revolver at his assailant, the ball
passing over Mr. Meagher's shoulder. The police
apprehended the belligerents, who were both held to
bail to keep the peace. The casus belli was an article
in the Freeman's Journal reflecting on Mr. Meagher.
A destructive fire occurred at the village of Astoria
on the 20th, which had rendered forty or fifty fami-
lies houseless. Property to the value of about
15,000 dollars had been destroyed.
The mail steam-ship Franklin was still aground at
Morriche, Long Island, and expected to become a
total wreck.
The Hon: George C. Washington died at Washing-
ton city on the 18th of July. His death was sudden
and unexpected. Colonel Washington was one of
the few remaining relatives of General Washington.
He was about fifty five years of age, and resided at
Rockvillle, in Maryland, about fifteen miles from the
city of Washington.
AFRICA.
Cape of Good Hope papers to the 24th June have
arrived, but they contain no political news.
Sierra Leone was healthy, although the rains had
set in. The chiefs of the bordering territories had
threatened suspension of commercial interccurse, the
intended imposition of duty being obnoxious. A
brisk trade was springing up with Lagos.
By this mail we learn that cholera prevailed in the
Mauritius to a most alarming extent, the deaths
averaging 125 a day. The troops had suffered little
by the epidemic. Among the victims were Mr. Shelly,
assistant auditor; Mr. S. Childebank, clerk; and Mr.
Lacoste, manager of the theatre. Trade was in a
great measure paralysed, and privation and misery
were the necessary consequences,
WEST INDIES.
The Royal West India mail-packet Tamar arrived
at Southampton on Wednesday.
Advices from Barbadoes state that the cholera had
nearly disappeared in Bridgetown, but was still very
prevalent in many parts of the island. The mortality
has already reached near 13,000. The other islands
were pretty healthy.
The French commander•in-chief, Admiral du
Quesne, died at Ilavanna on the 3rd of July.

THE GREEK PIRATES.
THE following account of the pirates who lately committed
so many atrocities on the shores of Greece is given in
Wednesday's Moniker, on the authority of a letter dated

Athens, July 22:—
The chief of the pirates who murdered the crew of the
English vessel Harriet has made on board of the steam-
corvette Chaptal, where he was interrogated, the following

deposition
" In the course of the month of March last T left Con.
stantinople for Syra on board the Galaxid. On our arrival
at Syra, the Under Commissary of Police, Angerinos,
advised me, as well as another Samian, to go to Athens.
The next day the Commissary of Police, Strati, ordered
me to come to his house. I told him I had no money, and
that T wished to serve as a sailor on board a merchant
vessel. He replied that there was then no work for sailors,
but that if I would come and see him again in five days he
should have an important affair to propose to me.
" One day when I was with Strati he showed me a letter
he had received from Stamati. The first page of this
letter was addressed to Strati, but the other side was di-
rected to me. Stamati advised we to do whatever Strati
told me, and he added that I should one day become great,
and my children also. Strati forbade me to reveal anything
he told me. He advised me to go and make war in Thee-
saly, and to visit Chalcis. He recommended me to go in
the direction of Cape Douro, and to seize and sink all the
French and English vessels, as those two nations were
opposed to the enterprise of the Greeks.
" Strati hired a schooner, manned by five men, in which
I embarked with twenty-eight persons, of whom twenty-five
were Samians. The captain of this schooner was from
Styhda (Gulf of Zeituni). Strati gave me thirty drachmas
to pay for the freight of the schooner as far as Chalcis; but
none of the men received any pay. All they had was pro-
visions for two days. 1 was appointed chief of the expe-
dition, of which I alone knew the secret, but I did not
reveal it to my companions till after we left the port of
Syra, whence we sailed three hours after sunset. After
heating about all night and the next day, we found our.
selves towards evening at four or five miles from Gabrios,
on the coast of Andros.
" At that point we were becalmed till midnight. A breeze
then sprang up, and at three hours before daybreak we
perceived an English brig. I was asleep at the time, but
they awakened me. I ordered my twenty-eight men to
follow me, and I went with them towards the English
vessel, which we all boarded. On hailing the vessel, we
discovered that she was English and that her crew belonged
to the same nation. When we got on board we forced the
men to go down to the captain's cabin, and then demanded
the money they had on board. The English delivered up
to us three sovereigns. three crowns (thalaris), two watches,
a telescope, two compasses, a cask of rum, a sail, and four
oars. We then forced the sailors upon deck, where we
murdered them all with knives, and threw them into the
sea.
" I did not give any order to assassinate these men, and
I did not kill any of them. We wished to sink the brig, but
we abandoned this idea, from the fear of being seen by
other vessels. After the massacre we sailed towards Chalcis,
where I landed with my twenty-eight companions, and we