The great treason trial in Servia ended on Monday. The
Court held that as King Milan was heir to the-,throne, to com- pass his death was high treason, and that even to intend to commit high treason required exemplary punishment. The Judges considered that the guilt of twenty of the accused was proved, and therefore sentenced Knezevitch, who had actually fired at King Milan, to death ; ten others to penal servitude for twenty years ; M. Pasitcb, the Radical leader, and seven others to five years' imprisonment; and M. Taushano- vitch to seven years. Knezevitch was accordingly shot on the samm day in the Courtyard, asseverating with Ms latest breath the innocence of all the rest of the con- demned. It is believed that capital sentences would have been passed upon many more had not both the Russian and Austrian Governments intervened, but even as it is the extreme severity of the punishments has shocked opinion throughout the Continent, and may, it is rumoured, lead to a demand for the expulsion of ex-King Milan. That is improbable, as he represents Austrian influence in Belgrade, but great pressure will be brought to bear upon the Government to reduce or remit the sentences. M. Pasitch has already been pardoned, probably in consequence of some bargain, for he has written to King Milan a fulsome letter of contrition, and it is expected that other pardons will shortly follow, the condition, express or implied, being that the pardoned shall quit politics. King Milan has, therefore, for the moment succeeded in his design of reducing all prominent Radicals in Servia to a harmless silence.
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