The Press.
London, England, 1854-09-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

expense attending these arrangements is ordered to
be charged on the credit voted by the Diet "for the
maintenance of an armed neutrality."
Advices from Chnstiania state that the formal
opening of the Norwegian railway took place on the
Ist inst. in the presence of the Ministers and chief
officers of the Government, the members of the
Storthing, and the principal merchants. This line
is forty-two miles in length, and runs from the port
of Christiania to Lake Miosem, where it connects
with steamers, which extend the communication a
further distance of seventy-seven miles. The cost
has been 450,0001., one half of which was subscribed
by English shareholders, and the other half by the
Norwegian Government. The shareholders are to
receive a preferential dividend of five per cent. before
the Government take anything, and when the Go-
vernment have received four per cent. the surplus is
to be equally divided. A partial working of the line
is stated to have been going on since the beginning
of the present year, with results that have exceeded
the original estimate.
Baron (Charles) von Hochscild, Swedish Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister l'lenipoteutiary at Berlin,
has been appointed Swedish representative to the
Court of St. James's. The baron, a veteran diplo
ma:ist, is brother-in-law to the present Danish
Minister at London, and father-in-law to the Danish
Envoy at Vienna.
A telegraphic despatch gives the following intelli-
gence, without date .
A royal message asks the Swedish Parliament for
a new Ministry, and credits for two and a hallmillions
banco.

The Norwegian Parliament was dissolved on the
13th.

GREECE.

Further particulars respecting the murder of Mr. and
Mrs. Leeves in Eubma have been received and will be
read with interest. The Government had appointed
commissioners to inquire into the circumstances of
the crime, through whose agency the murderers have
been arrested and confessed their guilt. The bodies
of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Leeves had been buried
twenty•four hours before the arrival of the commis-
sioners, at which ceremony it is a positive fact that
Anagnosti Papa Efstathio, the instigator and chief
perpetrator oi the murders, assisted, and, according
to the Greek custom, gave the corpses the last saluta-
tion, called the " kiss of peace !" This person is
only about twenty years of age, is the son of the
Greek village priest, and himself a candidate for
deacon's orders. He had been brought up from his
youth by the Leeves family, and frequently dined at
their table, out of respect to the sacred calling of his
father, although himself nothing more than a peasant.
This wretch, with two accomplices, climbed into a
low balcony, leaving two others to guard against
surprise. The bedroom window of Mr. and Mrs.
Leeves opened on this balcony, and was not secured
by the outside shutter; the glass only was closed,
and that not securely. There was, therefore, no
difficulty in obtaining access to their room. One of
them, Souras, rushed to the bed and held down Mrs.
Leeves, not, however, without alarming her husband,
who had time to reach the door, and seize one of two
loaded muskets which he kept in the passage, and
which he fired at Souras, but unfortunately the ball
merely grazed his shoulder. Taking up the other
gun, which it appears was merely loaded with very
small shot, he attempted to re-enter the bedroom,
but the light having been extinguished by the first
discharge, it is supposed he must have slipped and
fallen, discharging the gun without doing any injury
to the assassins. He was then immediately over-
powered, and, after receiving several wounds from a
knife, he was conducted into the other apartments,
and was compelled to open the drawers and cup-
boards, the keys of which were found in his hand.
Having thus obtained about twenty dollars, some
silver spoons and forks, two watches, and other small
articles, to the value altogether of about 401., they
brought Mr. Leeves back to his bedroom, and there,
finding that Anagnosti was recognised, they murdered
them both. They then took to flight, being alarmed
by the noise and firing outside, the alarm having
been given to the villagers. The steward, who slept
in a rcom in the court-yard, was too terrified to
render his master any assistance beyond firing his
gun from the window. The female servants took
refuge with him. It is some slight consolation to
know that this act was not caused by any motives of
private dislike or revenge, Mr. Leeves and his wife
being universally respected and beloved by his
villagers, who were so exasperated against the mur•
derers that they would have torn them in pieces if they
could have got at them. Two of these wretches,
Souras and Arvanitis, were returned patriots, men
who had escaped from the prison of Chalcis, where
they had been confined for robbery, had joined the
insurgents in Thessaly, and had afterwards been
amnestied. Mr. Leeves's house is on the aide of a
mountain, quite unprotected, and any of the doors
and windows could be easily forced open with the
hand. Mrs. Leeves was a Miss Fletcher, of Man-
chester, a very superior and pious woman, and it is

895

understood she brought her husband 4,0001. for the
purpose of improving this Eubcea estate. There is
no doubt but that the whole of the island of Eubcea
(Negropont) is in a very unsettled condition, and
that if the Greek Government really wishes to put
a stop to such crimes some very energetic steps must
be taken. It is to be hoped that the whole of the
perpetrators of these truly shocking murders will be
tried, condemed, and executed in such a public
manner as to deter others from such atrocities, and
to prove that the new executive Greek Government
under Mavrocordato will enforce the laws, and, as far
as in them lies, rescue Greece from the deserved
odium which has been attached to her name for so
many years past.
A private despatch from Athens, dated tho 15th,
says that:—
" The French commander asked leave to send 2,000
troops to Athens, but it is said the King refused, and that
he even declared he would quit his residence should the
Government grant the request. The Ministry remained
in deliberation ; nothing has as yet been decided. M.
Mavrocordato has intimated that he would follow the
King."