The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-07 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

THE CARNIVAL.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRERPONDENT.)
PARIS, SUNDAY EVENING.

The carnival revellers last night got home, most
of them in sorry plight, owing to a cold thaw which
set in half an hour after midnight. There was not
only (among many other bites) the usual Saturday's
masqued ball at the Opera, but Madame Haussmann
gave her first seine at the Hotel do Ville.
The streets all night were so slippery that
horses could not keep their footing in them.
Most of the hack carriages gave the matter up as a
bad job, and instead of plying on their usual
stands got home as best they could. Some private
coachmen had the precaution to get their horses
rough shod, and I have not heard that the Em-
peror and Empress, who were at the Opera
Comique, had any difficulty in getting back to the
Tuileries. But the vast majority of the public
which issued from the various haunts of pleasure
at any time between 1 and 5 in the morning not
only could find no carriages, but could scarcsy
walk home. Women in dominoes and white satin
shoes were in many places compelled to make a
painful progress by crawling on all-fours. The
few cabmen who, having horses well roughed,
were willing to try what they could do
with a fare asked two or three lonia for the at-
tempt. As day dawned on the Boulevards car-
riages with broken shafts were seen boneless, and
many horses were running about loose and bleed-
ing. The omnibuses did not begin to run till 9
this morning instead of 7, the usual hour. Now the
thaw is decided, and the streets, though slippery,
are everywhere practicable both for horse and foot.
The London mail, which should have arrived at 7
this morning, is behindhand. No London evening
or Sunday papers were delivered in Paris to-day.
The Appeal Court has confirmed the judgment
sentencing the Mitiserial Di plomatique to pay a fine
of 100 fr. for a libel upon the King of Prussia. The
decree of the superior court very shortly states that
" the taking away of the Lobkowitz flock of sheep,
described in the libel as a robbery, was represented
as resulting from the personal will of the King of
Prussia, that such an imputation was an undoubted
insult to the character, morality, and dignity of the
Prussian sovereign, and constituted an attack upon
his person." The high court is therefore of opinion
that the proper punishment for the offence so
described was, under the circumstances, that
awarded by the court below—namely, the
payment of 41. sterling. In France a person
convicted of a misdemeanour who appeals
always runs the risk of meeting with a more severe
sentence ; and in the present instance the court
might not only have increased the fine, but have
added a period of imprisonment had it thought
such severity necessary to meet the justice of the
came. But it did not.

Judgment was yesterday given by the Tribunal
of the First Instance of the Seine in an important
case, wherein Messrs. Emile and Isaac Periere were
defendants. The plaintiff, M. Boulard, formerly
a partner in a stockbroker's house, claimed from
them 715,000 fr., the balance of an account of
operations on the Bourse made by ono Crochard,
an insolvent. According to the plaintiff's allega-
tion, Crochard was a man of straw, to whom per
sonally no credit would have been given ; and as he
notoriously operated for the account of the
Perieres, the leading directors of the Credit Mobi-
lier, they were liable for his lames. The court,
after several days' argument, dismissed the action
with costs ; but as this judgment was given in the
teeth of the speech of the public minister, there
will certainly be either an appeal or a compromise.
M. Paul de Cassagnac, who had a place in the
Ministry of the Interior as attache to the Marquis
de Lavalette, has felt himself compelled to resign
in consequence of the way in which his name has
recently been brought before the public. The
Pays, in giving this news, says " our young contri-
butor will new, at the proper time, be able, without
engaging any other responsibility than his own, to
say openly of M. Gueroult what everybody thinks
of him." This announcement warns M. Gueroult
that very free use is likely to be made of the
" leave and license " which he has publicly pro-
claimed he gives to everybody to repeat and prove
the libel for which he has obtained a sentence of
one month's imprisonment against M. Paul de
Cassagnac.
The news of the disastrous earthquake in Algeria
has hastened the return of the Duke of Magenta