The Express.
London, England, 1864-02-20 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(TIAN OMR OWN

PARLS, FRIDAY Emma.

I mentioned some days ago that M. Corte, a
member of the Corps Legit'LAU, was going to Mexico
on a special mission. This news (which I have
reason to know is very important) is now confirmed
by the Moniteur, which makes the announcement
in the following terms :
M. Corte embarked yesterday for Mexico, charged with
a minion confided to him by the government, during which
he will exercise a complete authority over all the French
meets and officials in the finance department. M. Oorts
had the honour before his &porton to be received by the
Emperor, when his Majesty deigned to thank him for
having accepted this temporary and gratuitous minion.
As to the "gratuitous" character of this mis-
sion, that is a little fiction destined to do
homage to the constitution, which provides ex-
pressly that no deputy must accept paid functions. '
But M. Corte would not be the good man of
business which I understand he is if be did not
find his own account in the mission. He gets the
trifle of 60,000 fr. to start with under the head of
"expenses of his voyage," and he has ample
powers to draw for more. Moreover, he has two
sons in the army, one a lieutenant, and the other
a captain, whose promotion has already been
rapid, and whose prospects are, doubtless, now at
least as good as they were. These are, however,
secondary considerations, only necessary to be
alluded to lest it should be too readily supposed
that the empire is served for nothing. I under-
stand that M. Corta's powers are very large
indeed, and I am happy to say that they
are to be exercised against the church party,
whose insolence has become insupportable. K
Corte will dismias every functionary who has taken
part with the Archbishop Labastide against General
Eta:eine ; and as to the archbishop himself, he has
authority, should he find him troublesome, to
transport him to Guadeloupe. If he cannot find
Mexican functionaries to suit him, he is not to
scruple to replace them by Frenchmen. What
will come of all this is hard to say. The situation
is very anomalous, for the intervention was made
at the Instigation of, and has hitherto been carried
on in co-operation with, that very clerical patty,
which M. Corte goes out to put down. Moreover,
the Archduke Maximilian, who, we are constantly
told, the whole country is dying to parses, was
fished out by this very clerical party, of whom
Almonte is the leader.

M. Aubdpin, the Advocate-General, addressed
the court to-day in the case of the Suez Canal Com-
pany against Nubar Bache. He expressed his
opinion that the publication of the opinion of MM.
Odillon Barrot, Anfaure, and Jules Fevre, was,
under the circumstances, libelous ; but concluded
against the plaintiffs upon all the other parts.
Judgment will be pronounced on this day week. It
should be stated that the opinion of the public
minister is in no way binding on the court, and
scarcely raises a presumption of what the judgment
will be ; decisions are given every day against the
judge-advocates' "conclusions."
The Bourse has been very heavy, although the
bullion in the Bank of France is understood to be
increasing. One of the papers says that speculators
are now " digesting " the late rise. Mobilier and
all its tributary securities declined considerably.