The Express.
London, England, 1867-04-05 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(ram OUR OWN CORRRIVONDZSIT.)
PARIS. THURSDAY EVIZENG.

At the sitting of the Corps Legislatif to-day,
M. Schneider read an imperial decree appointing
him president in the place of Count Walewski.
He addressed the following short speech to his
colleagues on the occasion :

Messieurs and dear colleagues—l am profoundly touched
by the testimony of affectionate sympathy with which
you have received the announcement just made, and
am proud and grateful for the eminent distinction which
the Emperor has conferred upon me by placing me at your
head. We are old acquaintances. I need not, I hope,
assure you of my impartial and complete devotion to the
duties of my office ; but I ask leave to say that I reckon
upon the continuation of the kindly sentiments which I
have always met with from you, and upon the support of
which you have given me so many proof!.

It was, I believe, originally intended not to fill
up the appointment of president this session, and
to leave M. Schneider to preside with only the
title and' emoluments of vice-president, as he did
for months after the death of the Duke de Morny ;
but he refused to be a warming pan a second time.
He is perhaps as good a man as could have been
named to the post, and far better than Baron
Jerome David, who was spoken of. The latter's
appointment as second vice-president was not an-
nounced to-day, and I should doubt whether it
would satisfy his ambition. By the way, the re-
actionary club in the Rue do l'Arcade, of which
this Baron Jerome David is the leading Mamelnke,
has received the cognomen of "Arcadia."
M. Rouland, in justifying himself in the Senate
on April 2, for having, when Minister of Public
Instruction, appointed M. Ronan to the Hebrew
Professorship in the College of France, alleged
that M. Renan had made promises as to the nature
of his lectures, which he ultimately did not keep.
M. Ronan now writes to the Temps to deny this ;
the only engagement, he says, which he could pos-
sibly have been understood to have made
was the one resulting from the character of the
chair ho was called upon to fulfil. That engage-
ment, he submits, he fulfilled. As to any written
or verbal promise limiting his discretion in the
composition of his lectures, he declares that
nothing of the sort was ever given.
This morning at half-past 10 a building in course
of construction and nearly finished, in the Chains&
Clignancourt, which was destined as a depot for the
omnibus company, came down with a crash, and
20 or 30 workmen wore buried in the ruins.
Thirteen have been got out in the course of
the day, some of whom were dead and
others seriously injured. This afternoon the
curd of Clignancourt Church, which is hard
by, mounted the highest point of the heap
of rubbish and gave absolution to the men
yet underneath. There is a good deal of
excitement in Montmartre in consequence of this
fatal accident, which the public possibly, without
any good reason, attributes to the parsimony of
the Omnibus Company.
Although the fall of the last three days led to
some very large purchases at the Bourse, and a
momentary rise in quotations, the closing prices
were lower than yesterday. Bente fell sc. for cash
and 71e. for account, closing at 68fr. 65c., and
68fr. 50c. Mobilier fell 2fr. 50c. ; Credit Foncier,
25fr. ; Italian, 50k. ; and railways from 2fr. 50c.
tv sfr.