The Express.
London, England, 1853-03-21 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS,' MONDAY EVENING

MR. EWART AND THE FRENCH MINISTER
1 OP HARING.

Mr. Swart, M.P., has published a correspondence
between kismet( sad the French Minister of Marine, for
the parposaof shooing the pacific dispositiosts 01 France.
The following letter contains all that is essential in the
eserespoudence

"Minietry of Marine, Paris, Feh. 2.5.
"Sir.—The questions which you do me the honour to
put ia your letter of the 19th of February might perhaps
appear to me unusual if my mind really entertained the
strange ideas which some persons appear to ascribe to me
in England. But, far from considering these questions in-
discreet or inopportune, I rejoice at them, because they
afford me an opportunity of giving you the complete
&tearoom of my peaceful sentiments. I should consider
it as the greatest of misfortunes if a-serious misunder-
standing should break out between the two na-
tions ; sad I desire with all my heart that the
best intelligence may continue to prevail between them.
Your newspapers make much stir about our presumed wrr
like preparation.. I confine myself to declaring to you
that I Dave not armed • single gunboat, stirred a single
cannon, or equippedcannon, a single soldier. I remain the calm
spectator of the enormous tepees,' which you are ranking
to conjure away an imaginary danger; and I admire the
facility with which you augment your budget when no real
necessity prescribes it. If the members of your parliament,
who are so pre-occupied with ourpr.jeet of invasion, wt old
give themselves the trouble of paying us a short visit, they
would be more surprised than I am myself, perhaps, at the
extreme readiness with which this rumour (almost amount-
ing to • pleasantry) of our supposed warlike preparations
has been reecived among you. I thank you, sir, for allow-
ing me to establish • certain degree of intercourse between
us, and I beg you to accept the espres.ion of my mog distin-
guished sentiments.—THEUDOUE DeCOS.—Monsittlf EWArt,
Membre de la Chambre des Communes, &c."

IRELAND.

Donau, Natter 18.
The action brought by Birch, the proprietor of the
late World newspaper, against the proprietors of the
Freeman's Josernal, for libel, and which was to have
been tried at the present assizes in Naas, broke down
to day, owing to an informality on thu part of the
plaintiff, the abstract of his voluminous pleas being
deemed insufficient by the Court. The Lord Chief
Justice declined, under these circumstances, to allow
the case to proceed, and it has thus dropped for the
present, the result having the same effect ass " non-
suit."

The weather of the past week has, it is to be
feared, been anything but favourable to our agricultu-
rists. It has certainly had the effect of throwing
back the spring work by so many days, for with the
heavy rains in the early part of the week and the
subsequent full of snow the work done in the tields
has been almost nit and it is doubtful whether the'
fertilising effects attributed to snow will be sufficient
to counterbalance the delay which, with so unprece-
dentedly late a season, must be very serious. Last
nifht there was a severe frost ; and, judging from the
extreme bitterness of the weather at present, it
seems likely that we shall have more to-night, so that
the close of the month of March has been, so far as
the weigher is concerned, transformed into mid-
winter. In the south the season has been more ge-
nial, and the accounts received from Cork make no
mention of any Lill of snow; while, where it
has even been most severe, the farmers appear
on the whole to be rather well pleased with the visi-
tation, as they consider that their land will be better
prepared, and also that it will be cleared of insects,
while they hope by greater exertions than usual to
make up for the lost time.
The once noisy national festival of Patrick's-day
has passed off this year in a most orderly manner.
The Dublin police of never exhibited less activity
than since Thursday last, and if we may rely on the
accounts from the country, the same sober and im-
proved conduct on the part of the people seems to
have been general. In Belfast the occasion was ce-
lebrated by a dinner, at which several protestant*
and presbyterians, as well as Roman catholica were
present, but the chairman, who was a laymen, chose
to propose the health of the Pape before that of the
Queen, a course for which the Northern lirlsiy
reads him, or whoever was to blame for it, a severe
reproof.
The Lord Chancellor has this day, after two days'
argument, confirmed the order of the Master of the
Rolls in an injunction preventing the Grand Canal
Company from expendiug any of its capital in car-
rying out the project of leasing the canal to the
Midland Great Western Railway Company.
The ladies of Dublin who had the privilege of
frequenting the Irish court during the period when
the Earl of Clarendon held the vice-regal throne in
Dublin Castle, having recently presented his amiable
couute s, with an exquisite jewelled shrine, or casket,
of Irish workmanship, as a memorial, her ladyship
has addressed the following very graceful acknow-
ledgment to the gentlemen who were commissioned
to get the casket manufactured aad transmitted:
Lady Clari ndon presents her compliments to Mr. Cores-
wall and Mr. Isaac, and begs to inform them that she has
this morning received the gift from her Irish friends, and
cannot express sufficiently either the gratitude she feels or
her esteems admiration of the beatiful eatikvt, which is the
most perfect specimen of taste and workmanship she has
ever seen. She is proud to number so many friends in a
country when she spent five happy years, anti requests
Mrs. Cornewall and Mrs. Isaeke to hays the goodness to
communicate to the ladies who have done her this great
kindness her warmest thanks, and to tell them how deeply
this memento of their affectionate regard will ever be va-
lued by her.
Oroevenor-crescent, March 5,1863.

DESPERATE 017TRAGE.—As Mr. Samuel E. Collins,
of Brooksville in this county, was sitting in his drawing-
room, about eight o'clock on Friday evening, the 4th inst.,
two shots were tired on the lawn in front of his house, and
several bullets and slugs passed through the glus of the
window near where he sat. Mr. Collies has lately come to
reside in this county, keeps a mill, and gives eatentive em-
ployment. The reason asaigned fur this attempt to alarm,
if not to assassinate, Mr. Collin,, has been in consequence
of a dispute be has had as to the right of ttarbery.—King's
01,1111111 CAroniek.
SERIOCS

At the Carrick races on
Tuesday, Captain King, of the 49th Regiment, now sta-
tioned here, whilst leaping his horse over • fence, the
animal fell upon him with great force, which caused seriosui
injury to the rider. Ile was immediately conveyed to the
hotel, where he now lies a dangerous state. The gallant
officer is only 26 or 27 years of age.—Waterford New.

MUSIC.