The Express.
London, England, 1865-06-16 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

The Royal Mail steamer Atrato has arrived here
with 212 passengers, 967,490 doh. in specie, and
2,074 packages of cargo, consisting chiefly of
cotton, coffee, cochineal, and cocoa.
She left St. Thomas on the 29th ult., and on
the following day her port engine became disabled,
and she made the voyage with one engine only.
The Spanish fleet in Chili had been heavily
reinforced by further arrivals, and coal and store
depots had been established for their use. Much
anxiety existed in Chili as to the position of affairs
in regard to the claims made by Spain. No official
information of the question at issue had been
made public, but one of the demands on Chili
was that they should salute the Spanish fleet,
which it was said the afflatus would not do.
The new customs tariffs met with strong opposi-
tion from the merchants of Valparaiso, and a com-
mittee which had been formed had framed an
amended tariff and offered it to the ministry as
superior to that coming into operation on the Ist
May. Business at Valparaiso was quiet. Exchange,
46 to 467 per dollar.
The revolution occupied public attention in Peru,
and the speedy crushing of the rebellion was anti-
cipated. On the Bth ultimo a simultaneous attack
by sea and land was made by the government forces
on the revolutionists at Arica. After a short struggle
the revolutionists abandoned the defences in con-
fusion and Arica was re-taken by the government
troops. The Spanish steam-ram NUMERIC* 6,000
tons, had arrived at Callao to reinforce the Spanish
squadron. Business was depressed. Exchange,
361 d. to 37d.
In Guatemala, Congress assembled on the Ist
May, and General Cerny was elected President by
a large majority. The republic was quiet.
The revolutionary rising in the department of
Olanoho, Honduras, continued.
In Salvador uneasiness prevailed on account of
an attempt made by the friends of Barrios to over-
throw the present administration. Trade and agri-
'culture were flourishing.
Nicaragua a plague of locusts had done great
damage to the cotton plantation. Congress bad ad-
journed till next year. •

A CAB STRIKE.
(rum one OWN comaronozirx.)
PARIS, Tistizani.! Evinnio.
A great and unprecedented event has occurred
to-day. There is not a single hackney coach
(Aim) upon any stand in Paris. The cabmen have
struck for wages. The new law, for reporting upon
which M. Emile 011ivier first lost the confidence of
his old friends, mitigated in terms the old severe
statutes against strikes, which are here called in-
differently "grdues," or "coalitions," and made
simultaneous cessation from labour possible without
committing a penal offence. But the government
little suspected that such a serious thing as
the present cab strike could occur. Very
stringent clauses were inserted against concert
and intimidation, and it was on account
of these clauses that Emile 011ivier was
accused of lending himself to the government to
bamboozle the working-classes by keeping the word
of promise to the ear and breaking it to the hope.
However, the result has been that the Paris ope-
ratives look upon the new act allowing strikes as a
privilege of which they are disposed to make large
use. There are few trades in which strikes have not
occurred within the last year, and there have been
scarcely any prosecutions under the penal clauses of
the 011ivier law. There was a strike of London cab-
men some years ago, and the accounts which I re-
member reading in the papers of the time give a
good idea of the immense amount of inconvenience
experienced by the Paris public this day. The
passengers by the early morning trains from all
parts of France were thrown upon the pavement
with their luggage, and there were no cabs to
transport them to their destination. In this city,
where there is ao much less individual initiative
than in England, and where people in difficulty
helplessly rely upon the police and authoritative
regulations, the effects of the strike must
have been much worse than in London. I must,
however, explain that there is a class of carriages
called voitures de remise, which does not exist in
your metropolis. These carriages are dearer than
the fiaeres, and better horsed. They are not allowed
to ply or to stand upon the stations ; but
are to be found under sheds and in doorways,
called remises. They cannot carry much luggage.
The insufficiency of the entire hackney-carriage ac-
commodation for Paris being notorious, these
"allures de remises only mitigated in a
slight degree the unparalleled inconvenience
which this population has been subjected to. I
understand that the eoitures de remises mean to
strike to-morrow. It is difficult to conceive that
the French people and the French government,
reciprocally accustomed to the regulation of com-
mercial transactions by authority, can let this
sort of thing go on many hours without
some sort of coup d'etot. I hope the
public, which has suffered enormously by
the disgraceful management of the public car-
riages of Paris, under the present monopoly,
I may be compensated for the present mishap
Iby free scope for competition which would
ensure better service. The number of hackney
carriages es suddenly stopped is about 2,600. The
demand of the drivers is that their pay shall be
raised from 3fr. to Mr. per day. They allege that
Mien& charges reduce their nominal pay of 3fr.
to Ifr. 90c., and that the gratuity called pourboire,
which they cannot exact but are allowed to receive,
has been in practice diminished by the raising of
the fares. The public they say give two
sons where they used to give five. The
men therefore, have made up their minds
that it would be better for them to have good fixed
wages and abolish the gratuity altogether. As one
lof the public, I should second their demand, were
it not for the fear that when they got the wages
they would, from the force of habit, expect the
pourboire as welL The unanimity of the strike is
really wonderful. Public meetings are not allowed ;
intimidation is punishable ; and yet so perfect
is the understanding that 1 have not seen a single
Aare in the streets to-day. I have heard a report of
one man having braved his comrades, and that he
received an ovation at the Bourse. If so, his
Bourse friends had better find him some other
trade.
The Bourse was very heavy. Rente fell 10c. both
for cash and account, and Mobilier Bfr. 75c. The
railways were all 2fr. or 3fr. lower. Mexican con-
tinues dull at 441. The Petites Voitures fell sfr.
The return of the Bank of France for the week
ending to-dry shows the following changes as
compared with the previous account :—Decrease:
Cash, 13 millions ; current accounts, 17 millions.
Increase : Commercial bills, 38 3-sth millions ; ad-
vances, million ; notes, 213} millions ; Treasury
balance, 16/ million'.

PLY-sours, Joss 16. —Her Majesty's ship
Gras arrived here to day from the West Coast of Africa,
having en board Yr. Dart, British Consul at Faysi, sad his
family.
The Prose states that on Saturday, when the
Emcees went to Fontainebleau to meet the Emperor on
his return from lager* her If sjeety, desiring to sive
Willa Rosa Bonham an exceptional mark of favour, pro-
ceeded incognito to the Chateau de By, and decorated the
artist.
" A topic of conversation in Paris sporting
oinks during the last few days," says a Paris letter in the
Journal de Rouen, " has been a duel at Ls Marche be-
testes two gentlemen well known on the turf in France.
The origin of the quarrel was the manner in which • bet
of io.ooofr. on the French Darby had been settled. The
I winner having left some previous bets unpaid, had been
I posted, and the loser on this occasion consequently paid the
money into the hands of the secretary of the betting club.
The winner claimed the payment to himself, and high
words ensued, followed by a hostile meeting, in which one
of the parties was seriously wounded. The other received
some slight seretehse only."
" An interesting incident in the great race of
Sunday." says the Preece, "is mations& Oladiateur sad
Le Mandarin had, as is known, run together to the last
turning, allowing themselves to be preceded by the other
four hones. At that place °Amebae, the jockey, felt he
had no more time to lose, so be gave Gladiateur a touch of
the whip. The bone, however. cootinned to gallop on but
without mending his pees, for being accustomed to run with
Ls Mandarin, his stable compteice, sad seen( that the
other did not advance more rapidly, he seamed unwilling
to part company. For a moment Grimahaw felt anew
Do gen ►is hones seemed and more severe eat of the whip.
Gladiatear then at last seemed to comprehend the neces-
sity of quitting the other home, and so bounding &men%
Ise pored, like an snow, all his rivals."