The Express.
London, England, 1867-03-01 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE REPRESE.

818,—Th° inhabitants of the group of valleys
extending from the foot of Windermere to the head of
Longdale have been looking in vain for some notice in the
newspapers of the earthquake which startled them out of
their sleep at about a quarter past 1 on Saturday morning
last ; and rather than let such en event pass altogether
without public notice, I now send you en account of as
much as is known about it in the neighbourhood from
which I write.

Friday night was fine —a brilliant starlight night, and
perfectly calm. At the time I have mentioned, a sound
like a prolonged clap of thunder—only too loud and too
long-continued for thunder in this country—seemed to till
the valley of the Botha, while the houses—even those
built into the rock—shook as in a hurricane. A dead still-
ness followed for a considerable time ; and then the wind
rose. In the morning it appeared that the in-
habitants of Ambleside had undergone the usual
alum" occasioned by earthquake. Children's cots had
been shaken, and the babies awakened : crockery
and window-sashes had rattled, aged people and invalids
had risen from their beds ; one lady believed there had
been an explosion within her house ; the people at the
I. bbin.mill in the glayll had dressed, and come down the
bill ; and so forth.
The first conjecture was that the powder-mills at Elter.
water had blown up ; but it was presently known that the
inhabitants there were as wonder-stricken as ourselves,
Everybody at Grasmere got up, and the alarm was very
great throughout Langdale, and not less at Windermere.
How much further it was felt we hope to hear some day.
Persons who have experienced earthquakes in volcanic
countries declare that there can be no question of the cha-
racter of this phenomenon, though nobody seems to have
heard of any preceding visitation of the sort in this dia-
.. ..

trict.—l am, Lc.,
Ambleside, Feb. 27.

H. M.

CIIrRCH AND STATE IN CANADA.—Archdeacon
Bethune was consecrated Coadjutor B Lop at Toronto on
the Vith ult., without either patent or mandate from the
crown. The sermon was preached by Archdeacon Patten,
who, referring to this innovation, and the severince
which it denotes, mid in his avenue' :—" Brought
about by the good providence of God, and by the
immediate action of the authorities at hone., we may
well receive it as a boon, and may heartily rejoice in our
perfect deliveranoe from the trammels of a state cab.
'writer, which having ceased to be protective and lumen-
' cis!, its continuance had ceased to he desirable. The sepa-
ration is the lees to be regretted in view of the recent
dcci-
sloes of the highest tribunals in the unhappy t olenso moo
and others, which present most unaatisfa,toly ,osoplica-
tiona and results deeply to be deplored. We nave cause,
therefore, to rejoice that, by the severance of the ties
which bound our branch of the church to the state, we
escape the poesibility of such scandals occuning here ; our
position being now so independent that we can .peal with
any offences that may arise by prompt and immediate ac-
tion under laws of our own enacting. . . . It is on
severance of our civil orpolitical relation* to the crown of
the empire, for never did the hearts of Canadian church-
men throb with more devoted loyalty to our 1 closed
Queen than now. Nor is it a sever nee from our mother
church that we rejoice in. God forbid. We gr.! as one
with her as ever. But henceforth our union will be per-
fectly spiritual. It will be a union of love, a union of
faith, and of intercommunion in all the offices of our
Divine religion."

1

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