The Express.
London, England, 1862-03-31 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 31, l3

'ROO FROM P 4

(non sea owe coasssrososrrd • -
PARIS, Sunnis' tisons6.4
A long debate took place in the Senate WI
night on some petitions for the repeal of the usury
laws. M. Michel Chevalier very ably marshalled
forth all the well-known arguments in Jeremy
Bentham's " Defenoe of Usury ;" which celebrated '
work, by the way, he represented as being a piracy
from the French finance minister Turgot. He
dwelt upon the special absurdity of the Bank of
France being authorised to lend, as it has done, at
10 per cont. and upwards, while private individuals
could not lawfully take more than 6 per cent, and
insisted upon the example of England. M. Dupin
made a thoroughly retrograde speech, in
which he quoted Cato and the laws of
ancient Rome ; but he was reminded by K Pomade
de la Roquette, the ex-finance minister, that,
although a creditor might take 8 or 10 per cent.
from his debtor, he mould not at the present day
put him in irons or sell him to slavery, and that
Cato's remarks about usury were altogether in-
applicable. K Dupin's only sensible objection
was that it would be time enough for the Senate to
commit themselves in so serious a matter when a
bill should be brought before them, and that there
was no occasion for them to express a gratuitous
opinion on a petition. Acting on this consideration,
the Senate voted the order of the day upon the ques-
tion of usury in general ; but they referred to a oom-
mittoo a petition for the abolition of the usury laws
as affecting commercial people.
The Patric to-night, referring to the severe cri-
ticisms which its article about K de Lavalette has
met with, says, "It is possible that M. de Lava-
lette's presence in Paris may have other causes
besides those which we have mentioned ; but it
does not appear to us opportune to inquire into
them at present." This curious remands may, I
think, be fairly taken, under the surrounding cir-
cumstances, as an admission that there are serious
differences between K de Lavalette and General
de Goyou.
General Klapka writes to the Prase from Turin
to repudiate any notion of making a king of "the
French gentleman, Prince Crony, of Hungary."
The Hungarian patriots will be happy, when the
decisive moment comes, to receive the generous
support of the prince and his friends ; but if ever
the family traditions of the house of Crony should
be used by "presumptuous friends or malicious
enemies" as an excuse for setting up the "chival-
rous old man" as a pretender, the Hungarian emi-
gration will unanimously protest, and appeal to his
own loyalty, with the conviction that they will not
appeal in vain.

FARM SATMIDAT &wan.

There was much heaitation at the Bourse to-day,
and the operations for the approaching settlement
led to many fluctuations. Ultimately the Rents
gave way, falling 10c. for cash and 15c. for account,
the last prices being 69.66 and 69.60. The Four-
and-a-Half fell 20c., the last quotation being 97.30,
which figure offers small temptation to M. Foul
to redeem his threat to pay off what remains of that
stook at par. Mobilier fell 1.25. The Italian loan
rose 10c. In the railway market the principal
feature was a fall of 13.75 in Southern, owing to a
decision by a casting vote of eight to seven of the
council of bridges and highways in favour of grant-
ing the new line from Cette to Marseilles to the
Lyons Company instead of to the Southern. The
verdict of the council is not necessarily binding
upon the minister, but in practice it is generally
followed. Some think, however, that the Southern
Company would be better without the line than
with it. The Orleans Railway fell 6.25, Western
3.75, and Eastern 1.25. Northern and Lyons rose
1.25.
M. Mellinet, the newly appointed French consul
at Alexandria, was sent for to Paris by telegraph,
three days after arriving at his post. No reason
for this sudden recall has been made public.
Mgr. Franzoni, the archbishop of Turin, who was
banished in 1850 for refusing to perform • funeral
service for the minister Siocardi, and has ever since
been living at Lyons, died there this week, and was
buried this morning. Cardinal Bonald, the arch-
bishop, and the Bishops of Toronto, Valence, and
Bailey, attended his funeral. He desired by his
will to be buried privately, but the cardinal arch-
bishop insisted upon having him interred in the
nave of the cathedral, among the archbishops of
Lyons—until his remains can be removed to his ,
native land. Mgr. Franzoni was of an old patri-
cian family of Genoa, and numbers among his
ancestry two doges and two cardinals.
The ill-conceived Mexican expedition seems to be
all at sixes and sevens. It is very currently re-
ported that the Emperor, being dissatisfied with
Admiral Jurien de la Gremlin*, has recalled him,
and that General Lebreton, the senator, is to go to
Vera Cruz on a special mission. At the same time
we hear from Madrid that the Spanish government
accuses General Prim of having allowed himself to
be circumvented by General Doblado.