The Express.
London, England, 1861-05-14 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(ROW OUR OWN

PARIS, MONDAY EVIIIING.

The Opinion Nationals and Temps receive with-
out question, and hail m good news, the statement
of the Indepesidance that Piedmontese troops will
shortly occupy Rome jointly with the French army,
by way of a transition which is to result in the en-
tire evacuation of the latter. But, unfortunately,
the Pays and Patric are instructed to discredit this
welcome intelligence. The first of these journals
says, "in answer to assertions, repeated for the
hundredth time :"
Our information enables us to state positively that no
measures have been taken to change the statu quo.

The Patrie simply treats the story of the joint oc-
cupation as "entirely inexact."
The Emperor and Empress paid a flying visit of
a few hours to Fontainebleau the other day, and it
now appears to be quite settled—but arrangements
of this kind are constantly subject to change—that
the court will remove there on May 20. Prepara-
tions for stag hunts on an unusually grand scale
have been made. The invitations will include not
only the Corps Diplomatique, but members of the
Corps Legislatif and other personages who have not
usually been asked.
The Bourse was very firm during the greater part
of the day under the influence of higher prices from
Vienna. Towards the close of business the Rents
was a little weaker, but Saturday's quotations were
maintained—there was even a rise of Sc. for ac-
count. Mobilier was without change. The Western
Railway fell Mr., and Eastern, 2fr. 50c. ; but tho
other lines were about lfr. 25c. higher.
The puffing system is now carried to such an
extent among French tradesmen that it must
shortly—not break down, for that, I suppose, it
will never do—but assume some entirely new form.
It is impossible that public credulity can longer
support the strain put upon it by the generality of
the advertising houses. They all profess to sell
immensely under the real value, and 30, 40, and 50
per cent. cheaper than any other house. The common
form is this :—" Selling price, 29fr. 30c. the dross ;
instead of slfr. 90c., the rail value." But besides
the fabulous cheapness " fabulous " is the
favourite and most appropriate word—of these
houses, they love to dazzle the eyes of the multi-
tude by pretending to be in possession of a fabu-
lous quantity of goods. A petty shop, not bigger
than a modest house in Camberwell New-road, ad-
vertises that it has behind its counter, and all ready
for immediate sale at a tremendous sacrifice, more
merchandise than the Palace of the Louvre would
hold ; and the aggregate value of which, accord-
ing to the figures given, amount to a sum
which Rothschild or Baring would be pox_
sled to find. I see before me at this
moment a costly advertisement occupying half
of a side of a newspaper, which sets forth that a
certain establishment, which I don't choose to

name,has now on hand a vast variety of items, from
which I select two only :—lat. 260,000 ladies'
dresses, at from 22fr. to 39fr. Here we have repre-
sented at least a quarter of a million sterling. And
2nd, 14,800,000 yards of English barege. How con-
scientious it is not to say fifteen millions, and what
strong moral evidenoe the fractional figure affords
of the correctness of the astounding total ! The
following note bete at the foot of the advertisement,
ostentatiously displaying the compassion which the
gigantic firm in question feels for minor houses, is
a gem in its way :
Means.— andeo., having bought up very nearly all the
" Foulards mils et imprimes, liareges Ambit, and tissue
divers" existing in all the wholesale houses in Paris and
the manufacturing districts, hereby inform their brother
shopkeepers in Paris and the departments, that, out of desire
to be agreeable to them and in order not to paralyse their
business, they are prepared to supply them according to the
quantities desired, at prices very much lower than the
above.

To-morrow the column of the journal which con-
tains the above will be occupied by an equally
taking announcement from a rival house.
Le Temps says that a physician, talking of the
great number of lunatics that have lately been ar-
rested at the porter's lodge of the Tuileries, gave it
as his opinion that the particular farm of mono-
mania developed in the case of these individuals,
who all wanted to speak to the Emperor, is attribu-
table to the concentration of all governmental
responsibility in a single hand. " Every ambitious
and every discontented man looks to the Emperor
for satisfaction or redress, and the instances of
madness so frequently recorded by the Gazette des
Tribunaux are but aggravated cases of a disease
now chronic among Frenchmen."