The Express.
London, England, 1861-02-13 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(nos oui OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Tuzsokr Evextria.

According to a despatch received here, and which
is considered authentic, Gaeta must be at the last
extremity. Francis H. has asked for an armistice
of a fortnight to treat of the terms of a surrender.
General Cialdini, remembering the treacherous use
made of his last concession, has refused the armis-
tice, but is ready to treat. There is now every rea-
son to hope that the Sardinian flag will float on the
ruins of Gaeta before the. opening of the Italian
parliament.
The news that Mgr. de Merode has armed 470
Bourbonists and sent them across the Neapolitan
frontier is treated by the Pattie as a piece of folly
on the part of the Pope's ministers, which may
provoke a crisis extremely dangerous forhis holiness.
The P ruse finds it "difficult to understand how
under the eyes of the French army, that natural
guardian of non-intervention, the pontifical govern-
ment can so openly intervene as to arm and or-
ganise troops to fight against Victor Emmanuel in
behalf of Francis 11." It is certain that these pro-
ceedings give the Emperor an opportunity to tell
the Pope that the continuance of the French occu-
pation of Rome " gives rise to misconstruction."
The Patric pretends to know that Prussia and
Austria are prepared to vote with France and
Russia for a prolongation of the French occupation
of Syria, and, in the face of such a coalition, it
presumes that England will make no opposition in
the conference now about to be held in Paris.

The semi-official pamphlet of which I spoke
yesterday, and which Bedlier's Convitpundmice says
" is doubtless destined to direct opinion during
the coming debate in the Corps Legialatif," will not
be out till to-morrow.

Mardi Gras has been favoured by a fine day.
The procession, which, by the way, was poor as
compared with that of former years, paid the usual
visit to the Tuileries, and, as is also customary, the
little child dressed as Cupid, and its mother, had
the honour of being received by the Empress. A
photographic apparatus, which followed the pro-
cession, was put in requisition to make a group of
portraits of the Emperor, the Empress, the Im-
perial Prince, and their suite as they appeared in
the balcony of the Pavillon d'Horloge.
The Bourse recovered from the fall of yesterday
and left off rather firm, but the amount of business
done was small. The Rente rose 20c. for cash and
10e. for account, closing at 68fr. 55fr. in each case.
Mobilier rose 2fr. 50c. The Western Railway rose
sfr., and most of the other lines were lfr. 25c.
higher, but Southern fell 21r. 50c. There has
been an upward movement in Spanish Passive,
which was long stagnant at 17fr. and is now quoted
at lDfr.
A letter from Marseilles states that the intelli-
gence of the new corn bill to definitively suppress
the sliding scale, and replace it by a fixed duty,
has produced the best effect. The persons engaged
iu the corn trade expect that if the bill be adopted
it will give rise to a considerable extension of
business.

The erin.st des motifs on the bill for the modi-
fication of the law of limit for debt proposes that,
on account of the great iucrease in the price of
provisions, the monthly sums which the creditor is
obliged to allow his debtor for subsistence shall be
increired from the present amounts of 30fr. for
Paris and 25fr fur the departments to 451 r. and
40fr.

The Emperor is said to have suggested that
before any decision is come to with respect to the
projected new opera-house, models in boards shall
be made, at the cost of the state, of the three plans
which, out of the HO sent in, the judges way
think the beat, and that these models shall be
erected in the Champs Elysies for public inspec-
tion. This is a very good idea. It would be dan-
gerous to give an order to an architect merely on
the strength of a good drawing.
At the Tuileries guard mounting yesterday, the
usual parade was for the first time commanded by
one of the Sardinian officers who consented to be
" annexed" to France, together with Savoy and
Nice. The name of this officer is General Mollard.
He has been appointed aide-de-camp to the
Emperor.