The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-20 00:00:00

GREECE.

ATHENS, May 7.—The Greek insurrection still
Continues, in spite of divers alternations of fortune.
At Peta the corps which was besieging Arta has
been attacked by the Turks and forced to aban-
don its pc sition. On the 24th of April the Greeks
had -descended into the plain, and bad bad
several engagements with the Turks, in all of
which they had been victorious. Their little
body of cavalry had even surrounded a body
of Albanian% whom they might have entirely
destroyed, when the Albanians began to make
the sign of; he cross, and to swear that they were
Christians, ilid that they belonged to the Greek
camp, by which stratagem, or rather perjury, they
saved their lives. The following night was ex-
tremely dark, and the rain fell in torrents, so that
the insurgents, taking it for granted that after a
long day's skirmishing, and with such bad weather,
they might take a night's rest in perfect security,
went to sleep without setting the usual watch. But
their negligence was fatal to them, as the Turks
fell upon them in the night and completely dis-
persed them, but without any great loss.

At the first attack of Arta the Turks had been
forced to evacuate .barracks which they occupied
on the Greek frontier. The major commanding the
royal troops put a garrison into it in order that this
important post might not be left unoccupied. But,
after the defeat of the insurgents, the Turks re-
deman.iled their barracks, which the Greek au-
thority imme;liately restored to them, making a
protocol of the transaction.

The Greeks were not more fortunate at Domoco,
in Thessaly. They were besieging the town nar
rowly, and already occupied several houses,
,when
four thousand regular Turkish troops marched
against them from Volos, with cavalry and artillery.
But the Greeks had taken their ground so badly
that the enemy was not only allowed to approach
nut even to penetrate between their entrenchments,
so as to isolate them. The nearest corps, that of
vangteli Contoganui, fought during the whole day
with extraordinary courage ; they stood Bevels.'
charges of the regulars without flinching, and their
1.(3 was so destructive that the Turkish officers
Were seen to strike their men with the flat of their
sabres to force them to advance. This unequal
struggle lasted till three in the morning, when the
Greeks, seeing that the rest of their army, from
which they were completely cut off, could not come
to their rescue, were obliged to decamp in the dark,
and the siege of Domoco was raised.
But these reverses have been compensated by
several advantages. The whole of Magnesia, of
of Thessaly, is in arms, and one corps has occupied
Position on Mount Ossa, not far from the River
.eneus. On the other side of the river, the
inha-
bitants
of Olympus, exasperated by the acts of
cruelty which they have been subjected to lately,
and by the destruction and pillage of their monas-
‘erY, have risen in the neighbourhood of the town
of Elaison.
General Hatzi Petro, who was marching against
T3ricala was attacked by Zeneil Pacha, but having
the
reinforced by those who had fled from Domoco,
lon Turkish corps was destroyed, and the Pacha
himself killed:

In another affair not less fatal to the Turks, and ,
1▪ 11• which the Greeks got possession of a great num- '
ter of guns with bayonets, Ismail Bey Frassari
,Wias killed—the military chief of all Roumelia, and
lbw terror of the country from his tyranny. The
whole of Macedonia is on fire. General Isami Cara-
tasao, at the head of 3,000 men—to whom the in-
nabitarits of all the villages 'where he passed have
joined themselves, and still more strengthened by
the synipathy of the monks of Mount Athos, who
made so desperate a resistance in the first Greek
revolution, and who have now furnished a thou-
Rand men and a sum of 10,000 piastres, was march-
ing on Thessalonica, where the Turks were in the
utmost' consternation. He had already beaten
several detachments in the Chalcidic promontory.
But the position of the Greeks in that part of the
Country is extremely dangerous, as they are com-
pletely isolated, and all succour sent them by their
obuntrymen is intercepted by the French and Eng-
lish cruisers.
In Athens the Ministry have closed the Chain-
Dors, from purely economical motives—as many of
the deputies natives of the insurgent provinces,
and others, out of sympathy for the cause, having
gone to the war—the number was no longer com-
plete, and the Chambers had for some tune paid
Without sitting. This measure is not of the smallest
political importance, since the Chambers had, by
a unanimous vote, approved of the policy of the
Cabinet on the great question of the day.
The. Hellenic subjects dismissed from Turkey
continue to arrive in great numbers in all parts of
the country, having lost all they possessed.
Mme. Tzavellas and family have been obliged
to leave Athens, iu order to avoid the indignation
of the people, who, on the news of the disaster at
Peta, caused by the negligence of the commander,
General Tzavellas, accused him of having betrayed
the national cause, and threatened to set fire to his
house, which was prevented by the police.

DREADFUL MURDER IN DEVONSHIRE.—A dreadful and
Mysterious murder has just been discovered near Tor-
Illigton, North Devon. E iris on Wednesday mottling,
the 17th inst., a farm labourer living in the village of
Taddiport, was proceeding to his work, and when about
a mile from Torrington, near the residelice of Sir Trevor
•Wheler, be heard a IoW moaning noise, and, on look-
!ilg round, he saw the body of a young woman lying
la a ditch, s'aockingly mutilated. He lifted her up,
and found that the poor creature still breathed, but
her head was one mass of cuts and bruises, and the
"Min was protruding through the top of the skull.
That a foul murder had been attempted there was
very little doubt, the cupidity of the perpetrator of the
crime being apparent from the fact that the poor girl's
pockets had been rifled of a few shillings, and a basket
4.11 d a bundle which she carried bad been stolen. On
Inquiries being instituted, it appeared that the victim of
this cruel outrage was a young woman named Richards,
employed as a glover is the neighbouring parish of Long-
tree. She had been to Torrington to take in her work
and receive her wages, and on Tuesday afternoon she
left Taddiport on her way home about 4 o'clock. The
place where she was found is an open shallow ditch,
about five minutes' walk from the village. The
attack must evidently have been made in the road
from the quantity of blood and hair upon the road
and the adjacent bank ; and it is probable that,
after becoming insensible, she was drag:zed to the
side of the highway and thrown into the ditch.
The young woman was removed to the nearest house,
where medical aid was procured, but she expired with-
_ out being able to give any particulars of her assassin.
The supposed murderer, a man who was seen following
the young woman through Taddiport, is a stranger to
the neighbourhood. The police traced his footmarks to
the aqueduct on the road to Bideford, where all further
clue was lost. On Thursday afternoon the police suc-
ceededin apprehending the
mansupposed
semurderer,en
following nd
the h e
has since been identified as the
deceased out of Taddiport on Tuesday afternoon. He
then wore a large pair of whiskers,- but when taken
into custody they seemed to have been recently shaved
off. The accused bas been removed to the lockup at
Torrington to await the result of the coroner's inquest.
BEQUEST TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM —The will of the
late Colonel Joliffe was proved on the 17th inst. It
contains, in addition to several private legacies from his
personal property, some valuable bequests to public in-
stitutions. The beautiful chimney-piece in the dining-
room at Ammerdown Park, Sotnersetahire, confessedly
the most perfect of its kind in England, is bequeathed
after the decease of his two nearest surviving relations,
to the British Museum. The su. ject of the chef d'oeuvre
is a graceful bust of the youthful Bacchus, crowned with
the fruit and foliage of the vine. • The compartments on
either side are elegant representations of the Cornucopia,
and the pilasters present in alto relievo an image of the
Thyrsus. The whole is an unrivalled specimen of the
Most chaste and finished sculpture,
THE AFRICAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION.—LIVERFOOL.
May 18.—The African exploring steamer Pleiad, built
by Mr. John Laird, of Birkenhead, took her departure
Yesterday afternoon for Dublin, whence she will pro-
ceed direct to Fernando Po. The Pielad will be under
the command of Captain Walker, and the object of the
expedition is to explore the rivers Niger and Tchadda.
Three medical gentlemen form part of the expedition,
which, it is believed, will be of great advantage to the
scientific world. The whole of the preliminary arrange
In-nts have been entrusted to Mr. M`Gregor Laird, well
known as an African traveller.
THE BEARSKIN ON THE BOSPHORUS. —Last Sunday
two of the Grenadier Guards, in their bearskin caps,
came over • from Scutari, and were followed about by a
crowd of people, who were all very anxious to find out
who or what they might be. They passed for generals
at the very least ; and I have a strong impresion that
the bulk of the population put them down as Prince
Napoleon and the Duke of Cambridge, taking a walk
b _tire dinner. The bearskin cap has more astonished
t e Turks than , the whole army that is encamped at
;Scutari. '"ishallah I what a hat ! What can it be l
C*o they take iv:dr—Letter from, Conot ointinople.