The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-07 00:00:00

future legislators of the British provinces will have
but too much reason, as they swelter on a day such
as this, in the unshaded streets of their dusty capital,
to deplore that the -contemporaries of Colonel By
were too busy with the axe, and the men of to-day
too indifferent or too ignorant to repair the evil they
inflicted.
The actual population of Ottawa is about 14,000,
which will probably be increased by another 1,000
or 1,500 when the Legislature, together with the
clerks and employes of the various public depart-
ments remove into the city, as they are expected to
do within the next six weeks. Notwithstanding the
sparseness of the people, compared with the extent
of ground occupied, the indications are strong that
the profesSional and educated classes, always hard
pressed for an opening, expect the city to grow and
expand to the height and size of its pretensions.
Several monster hotels after the American pattern
are built but unoccupied, patiently awaiting the
flush of business which is to enrich their lucky pro-
prietors. In addition to these are a score, more or
less, of minor hostelries, of various degree of excel-
lence(and the reverse) alone sufficient to accommodate
a travelling public thrice as numerous as is ever
likely to need them. And still, after the American,
rather than after the slower English fashion, two
daily newspapers are pOlinhed in the place, to com-
pete for 0:16 political influence and the advertising
business which every capital city is supposed to
afford. The medical profession is so largely repre-
sented that if one-half of-the practitioners whose
signs meet the eye, 2nd whose advertisements cla-
mour for notice on the hoardings and dead walls of
the city and in the columns of the newsapers, are
enabled to earn a decent subsistence, the people of
Ottawa must be among the most credulous and per-
sistent valetudinarians in the world. And as for
the barristers and attorneys (the one resolving into
the other at will, as in the United States), who are
attracted to the capital in the hope of future busi-
ness, Edinburgh itself, where no one can tell where
so many advocates and writers to the signet con-
tinue to make both ends meet, must be considered
a very desert of the legal fraternity as compared
with Ottawa. In anticipation of the future develop-
ment of the place, the price of land has gone up so
extravagantly as to defeat the calculations of the
too sanguine or too sordid proprietors, and to leave
upon their hands many valuable " lots" which with
more moderation on their parts might long ago have
been disposed of at handsome profits. Ottawa is
well lighted with gas, but though it stands on the
bank of a river, which at the magnificent falls of
the Chaudiere possesses a water power only second
to that of Niagara, its inhabitants have no other
water than that which the roofs of their houses sup-
ply from the rain, or which they pump from the
private' wells in their gardens. It does not appear
any steps have yet been taken to remedy this seri-
ous defect, though it is obvious to the meanest capa-
city that, if nothing be done in this respect, Ottawa
will never be a great city, or deserve to become one.
The Parliament House and the two Departmental
Buildings, the pride and ornament of Ottawa, are
rapidly approaching completion. The foUndation
stone was laid in 1860 by his Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales, and the works have since been
pushed vigorously forward. The original estimate
of cost was $900,000; but it was found necessary
to expend nearly the whole of that sum in the
foundations, and the subterranean buildings and
apparatus necessary for the warming, the ventila-
tion, and the water supply of the three edifices.
Upwards of two millions of dollars have already
been exhausted, and it is calculated that when all
the bills are paid the sum of three millions, or about
£600,000 sterling, will not be found much more than
sufficient for the purpose. The Government offices
are so far advanced as only to need furniture to be
ready for occupation, and it is the present intention
of the heads of the several departments to migrate
from Quebec to the new capital, in October or
November. The Houses of Parliament are not in
the same state of forwardness ; but as they will not
be required until February or March, there is ample
time to prepare them for the ensuing Session. The
two Halls or Chambers for the Legislative Council
and the Legislative Assembly are alike in size and
design, and are simple and massive, rather than
gaudy, or even ornamental in appearance. Both are
of the exact dimensions of the House of Commons
in the New Palace at Westminster, from which fact
it may be inferred, without error, that the members,
who are not likely, even in the case of Confedera-
tion, to exceed 200 or 250 in number, will have
abundance of elbow room. In Canada, as in other
parts of America, the representatives of the people—
ultra-democratic as they are—have a more aristo-
cratic regard for their Parliamentary comfort than
their compeers in the old country. The member of
the nritish Parliament, aristocratic as he may be in
heart and sentiment, is content with a very demo-
cratic amount of luxury and convenience. If the
House be crowded, it is not without difficulty that
he can obtain a seat, except
in the gallery, and on
all occasions he has no other place for his papers,
memoranda, and documents, than his pockets, his
lands, or perhaps his hat. But not so in
the United States and Canada. Each repre-
sentative of the democracy has ample room and a
private desk, provided with writing materials, and
stowage for twenty times the amount of documents
which Mr. Gladstone might need to refer to in the
introduction of his Budget. In this manner a
Canadian legislator occupies three or four times as
much space in the House as a British member of
Parliament ; and for this reason the Parliamentary
buildings at Ottawa are none too large for the gen.
tlemen who are to occupy them.
It might be supposed that at Ottowa, if anywhere
in British America, public opinion would be unani-
mous on the necessity and advantage of a Confede-
ration of the Provinces. Such, however, is not the
case. Many of the citizens have a vague mis-
giving, notwithstanding all the money that has been
spent,as it were, on the very
outskirts not be a very con-
venient capital for a Confederation of which such
that their
wilderness,c city,
remote countries as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
k rt s of the
Prince Edward's Island, and Newfoundland, must
form parts. They anticipate, and not without
reason, that the Maritime Provinces, if ultimately
they waive all other objections to the projected
union, will agitate in favour of some more agree-
able and more accessible capital, such, for instance,
as Montreal, which is and will continue to be the
real metropolis of British America, in spite of all
that legislation may do to create artificial rivals to
it. Were Confederation defeated, or indefinitely
postponed, Ottawa would be the capital of Canada,
and perform all the functions for which it was
selected. It would be enriched to the full extent
anticipated from the annual presence of the Legis-
lature, and the perennial residence of the func-
tionaries and employes of the Government, and if
it did not expand so much as the proprietors of
the soil and its other projectors desired, it would
certainly grow more rapidly than it would have
done had it remained, which may be called a pri-
vate rather than a public City. There are other

reasons of a similar kind that induce many of the
people of Ottawa to look somewhat coldly on the
idea of Confederation. If Ottawa, on account of
its beautiful public buildings and the money spent
retained as the capital of
tuhpeo n t
new h eumn, i snh, o
itud w
obuel d
cease
to be the capital of
Upper and Lower Canada, each of which would
have a capital of its own, the one at Toronto and
the other at Quebec, for the transaction of its local
business. The Ottawa people - have consequently
begun to reckon whether it would not be more to
their pecuniary advantage to accommodate the
Legislatures of the two Canadas, as was originally
intended, than to part with that source of profit,

and content themselves with the emoluments to be

distributed among them and the dignity to be con-,
ferred upon their city, by the assembled Legislatures
of all the provinces. The calculation is no doubt