The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-17 00:00:00

OUR PARIS LETTER.

(I,IIOX OUR OWN comarostmer.) •
PARIS, Truseaki Evinargo.•

The civil tribunal of the Seine has devoted
several days, interrupted by frequent adjourn-
ments, to the hearing of an action brought by
President Johnson against MM. Armen,
Erlanger, Voruz, Dubigeon, Joliet, Rabin, Maze-
line, and other shipbuilders, to recover a sum of
2,800,000 fr., which the United States allege were
public monies wrongfully received by them from
Jefferson Davis and his associates for the pu -pose
of building ships of war for the so-called Confe-
derate States, and which they ought now to restore
to the lawful government; Advocate-General
Chevrier yesterday pronounced his opinion against
President Johnson's claim, and the court has
taken a fortnight's time to consider its judgment.
M. Darricau, the head clerk in the Ministry of
War and a Councillor of State, died at his villa at
Versailles two days ago, aged 61. Not a fortnight
ago he appeared as a government commissary in
the tribune of the Corps Legislatif. It is believed
that the excessive heat of the chamber during
these premature dog days hastened his death.
Marshal Niel, in rising to discuss some articles of
his budget yesterday, spoke with great emotion of
the loss of M. Darricau, who was thoroughly fami-
liar with the subject, and whose place he was
compelled to fill at a short notice. The deceased
was the son of General Darricau, a baron of the
fast empire.
The Progres de r Algerie reports a trial for canni-
balism in Algeria. The prisoner's counsel read an
extract from a letter of Marshal M'Mahon to the
Archbishop of Algiers, in which the governor-
general pronounced an opinion, greatly contro-
verted, it will be remembered, by he bishop, that
all the cases of anthropophagy which had occurred
in the colony were attributable to certain circum-
stances which generated mental aberration. My
client, therefore, said the counsel, is mad on the
authority of the Duke of Magenta. The jury
adopted an argument coming from such high
authority, and acquitted the man-eater.
The Champs de Mars has again become the
brown, ugly, and (when not muddy) dusty plain,
which it was two years ago before the first iron
plate of the Universal Exhibition building of 1867
was laid. The Egyptian department in the garden
was the last to be removed, and the last remnants of
that unique fac-simile of some of the most charac-
teristic architecture of the Nile was carted away this
morning. In the course of the day the liquidators
of the Universal Exhibition formally gave the
Champs de Mars up to the proper authorities.
Marshal Niel may now drill his troops there, as
heretofore. I cannot help thinking it a thousand
pities that the building was not preserved, if only
as a relict of a world's fair, at least for some time,
and that the space was not kept as a public park
or garden in perpetuity.
The Emperor has given a license to keep a
tobacco shop (a lucrative privilege for which
colonels' widows so often seek in va'n) to
Madame Mochin, the widow of a working -man
who was lately killed by a 'tray bullet during ball
practice at Vincennes. The poor woman has
already received 3,500 fr. by public subscription,
so that the sad death of her husband has been the
making of her fortune.
The celebrated pastry-cook's shop in the Pas-
sage des Panoramas, with a second door abutting
on the Rue Richelieu, on which has been
inscribed ginen the beginning of the cen-
tury the name " Felix," is shut up. Several
fortunes have been made in the house. It
is said that the last purchaser of the
" good will " calculating too much on the tradi-
tional profits of the house, led the life of a man of
fashion a little too soon, and got into trouble;
that the landlord, his rent not being paid, took
the business into his own bandit ; that customers
found fault with the amateur pastry, and so the
end has come.

The Bourse was inanimate and quotations re-
ceded considerably. The Rente fell 20c for cash,
and 221 c. for account, dosing at 70fr. sc. and 70fr.
12ic. It will be observed that the pressure of cash
sales continued to keep the money price lower than
the speculative one for the end of the month. Italian
fell 40c. ; Mobilier, sfr. ; and Credit Foncier, 7fr.
50c. The opinion again prevails that the loan will
be certainly brought out in theflrat week in August.
The Emperor has told M. Schneider that he wishes
to prorogue the Chamber by the end of next week,
and as the deputies, owing to a new arrangement,
get no extra pay for this month, and are longing
to get away to the country, it is unlikely that they
will oppose his Majesty's wishes. The remaining
business of the session will probably be hurried
through in double quick time. The opposition
feel that they have said pretty well enough in the
Chamber, and are concentrating their efforts to in-
finance the country at the coming elections, when-
ever they may come.