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

THE SUN, LONDON, THITIttsDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 7, 1865.

GREAT ST. JAMES'S-HALL—WORLD of
MAGIC, Second Sight, and " Begone, Dull Care,"
every evening at 8. A Day Performance, Saturday, at 3.
" The most varied entertainment in the metropolis."—Vide
the Press. Admission, is.

PROFESSOR and the Misses ANDERSON.—
Farewell season. —World of Magic. Second Sight, and
the oziginal Indian Basket Trick, in conjunction with Fre-
deric (the great) Maocabe, the unrivalled ventriloquist, mimic,
and character actor.

VREDERIC MACCABE, Ventriloquist, Mimic,
&e., in his oriinal entertainment, "Begone, Dull Care,"
" Miss Mary May," " Early in the Morning." Balcony, 2s. ;
reserved seats, 3s. ; stalls, 55. ; at Mr. Austin's office, St.
James's • hall, 28, Piccadilly.
A, NIMBI% Acting Manager.

T lIE
X F O R D.
6, OXFORD STREET. W.
The Oxford and Canterbury Hall Company (limited).
SIXTY-SIX, by U. Offenbach, performed by
Misses Russell, Barrie, Walmesley, Tyrell ; Messrs. A. St.
Albyn, Husk, and Green, with full Band and Chorus.
Conductor, Mr. F. Jonghmans.
Bane'', Comedy, Burlesque, &c., by the celebrated D'Au-
bans, Messrs. Dnriah and Davis, and the Misses TESSY
and SARA. 'GUNNISS.
NONCE —The Oxford has been entirely Redecorated,
Altered, Newly Lighted, and Ventilated, and now is one of
the most agreeable places of resort in the kingdom.—OPEN
EVERY EVENING at Eight o'clock.
The Classical Ballet, entitled THE BRIDAL of BEAUTY,
in which Miss TESSY GUNNISS will make her re appear-
ance THIS EVENING.
Admission—Area, 6d.; stalls and balcony, is. ; private
boxes, 10s. 6d.

CANTERBURY HALL.
KO KO RI KO.
This wonderful entertainment, having proved the greatest
hit ever made, will be repeated EVERY EVENING, in ad-
dition to the Operatic Belestions, supported by the whole
talent of the establishment.

Comedy, Burlesque, and Ballet by Mrs. and Mr. Randall,
Messrs. Duriah and Davies, the D'Aubans, and Arthur
Lloyd.

Director, Mr. F. Jongmans.
All visitors to London at this season should pay a visit to
the above establishment

N[ADAME TUSSAUD'S EXHIBITION.-
Established 30 years, at the Bazaar, Baker-street.
NEW ADDITIONS.—In accordance with the season, the
Exhibition has been entirely re-embellished. The whole of
the ancient Court Dresses of the most costly description,
faithfully copied from the most minute pictures, have been
renewed. Modern Court Dresses of the most splendid de-
scription, selected from the first houses in Paris and London,
and probably never equalled or surpassed, are now on view.
Life-size Models of DOCTOR E. W. PRITCHARD and
CONSTANCE KENT are now added.

Open from 11 a.m. till 10 p.m.
Admittance, One Shilling; Extra Rooms, Sixpence.

ARGYLL ROOMS, Great Windmill-street
Piccadilly, will RE-OPEN for the Season on SATUR,
DAY, Sept. 9. The above Rooms have been entirely re.
decorated by Herr Rubardt and assistants.

Musical Director, M. LUIGI CURTI.
Manager, Mons. GRENET.

- _
Doors open at half-past 8 o clock ; close live minutes to 12
o'clock.

Admission to Promenade, One Shilling.

STARCH MANUFACTURERS
TO H. R. H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES.
GLENFIELD PATENT STARC
Used in the Royal Laundry,
AND AWARDED THE PRIZE MEDAL, 1862.
Sold by all Grocers, Chandlers, &c.
WOTHERSPOON and CO., Glasgow and London.

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 employe's 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 published in the place, to com-
pete for the 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, and 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 valemdinarians 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 oeetipation, azs it is-the prSgent 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 British 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
hands, 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, that their city, lying, as it were, on the very
outskirts of the wilderness, will not be a very con-
venient capital for a Confederation of which such
remote countries as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
Prince Edward's Island, and Newfoundland, must
feayritaimnteicippraote and not without
Provinces,
ces,
other objections to the projected
in favour of some more agree-
able and more accessible capital, such, for instance,
a
s.
if ultimately
theyufnform
reason,an,wpwaa thatirilvt theae agT
agitate
e '
l
isßraintisdhwAillmerica, in spite of all
continue to be the
trlhealatlegislationmetropolisMontreal,
hof i
mayh do to create artificial rivals to
it.postponed, Ottawa would be the capital of Canada,
and lpVeerrfeormConfaeldlertahteionfulecfteioanteds
' or indefinitely
for which it was
selected. It would be enriched to the full extent
anticipated from the annual presence of the Legis-
perennial residence of the func-
of the Government, and if
tlaiotnuraer,iesaanndd temp
ioyes
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
upon theni, should be retained as the capital of
the new Union, it would 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 for the transaction of its local
business.
people have consequently
T Quebec,
Ottawa
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

mercenary and mean ; but the poor Canadas and
the rich United States are equally sensitive to sor-
did influences, and the writer who would faithfully
record the state of public feeling with regard to any
great subject. such as this, cannot justly omit to
mention even the lowest of the motives which may
mould the actions of a community and affect the
course of public policy.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

WENSUM VALLEY.

IThe adjourned half-yearly meeting of this com-
pany was held yesterday at the office, Poet's Corner,
Westminster, Mr. W. P. Greenfield in the chair.
The report stated that the directors were not in a
position to report that effective progress had been
made with the railway entrusted to them to carry out.
The circumstances causing the delay had been be-
yond the control of the board. With regard to the
prominence given to the case in the recent discus-
sions between sections of the Great Eastern Board,
they state that the proposal to construct the Wen-
sum Valley Railway, often broached, was submitted
to Parliament by independent promoters in the Ses-
sion of 1864 ; the line constructed was universally
supported by the landowners, and was in every sense
a landowner's line. It had been carefully laid out
by engineers of character and experience, who fixed
the capital in the usual way in the bill. The only
opposition with which the bill was ever threatened
in Parliament was that of the Great Eastern Com-
pany ; and in March, 1864, the directors of that com-
pany finding that there was no reasonable ground
for opposing its construction, adopted, of their own
spontaneous will and without solicitation from the
Wensum Valley directors, the following resolution :
"Parliamentary Committee, March 11, 1864.—Wensum
Valley Railway.
"Resolved,—That Mr. Maynard be instructed to offer to
the Wensum Valley Railway Company the following

terms :
" That the Great Rastern Railway Company aro prepared
to contribute one-third of the capital, and to work their line
at 50 per cent., and will be prepared to concede, through
booking from Lynn to Norwich, on the undertaking that
they get corresponding through booking arrangements
from March to Lincoln over new line."
Negotiations followed, and a formal agreement was
drawn up and executed in the usual manner, and
scheduled in the Act, which passed without opposi-

tion. The agreement thus concluded gave the Great
Eastern Company the perpetual and exclusive use of
the line—thus for all defensive and strategical pur-
poses constituting them owners of the line for one-
third of its cost. The Wensum Valley Company
were to complete the line of works to the reasonable
satisfaction of the engineer of the Great Eastern
Company. • On subscribing one-third of the capital
the Great Eastern were to appoint two directors at
the Wensum Valley Board. The agreement also
contained provisions for arbitration. In August,
1864, the Great Eastern Company unanimously
agreed to subscribe one-third of the capital, and in
the following October the Great Eastern Board ap-
pointed two of their body to sit at the board of the
Wensum Valley Company. The report states that
all subsequent proceedings of the Wensum Valley
Board took place with the assent and in the
presence of Great Eastern representatives. It was
when the subscription of the Great Ens4tern Com-
pany was pressed for that, for the first time, excep-
tion was taken to the nominal cost of the railway.
Discussions ensued, explanations were given, the
serious contingencies as to land and other matters
which the contract embraced were explained, and
eventually the directors, while dissenting from its
expediency, consented to obtain a fresh arrangement
with the contractors, limited to works, excluding land,
legal, en.gineering,Parliamentary and other exprises.
This proposal was accepted, a new contract so
limited' was submitted to Mr. Sinclair, arid dis-
cussed between him and this company's engineer ;
the differences between them were narrowed by a
comparative trifle, and would doubtless have been
entirely removed by further examination and ex-
planation, when Mr. Sinclair was instructed by his
board to suspend all action in the matter. It had
also been stated in evidence before a Parliamentary
Committee, by an influential member of the Great
Eastern direction, that the directors had agreed to
pay in cash, shares, and debentures for completion
of the railway £293,000, whereas Mr. Sinclair's es-
timate was only £1.80,000. How far there was
ground for charging (on Mr. Sinclair's or any other
authority) extravagance in the arrangement Contem-
plated by the directors might be estimated by the
fact that on two several occasions, and as to two
distinct contracts, this company's engineer and Mr.

Sinclair had been on one occasion in actual accord,
on the other at a point so approximate as to have
insured that ultimately there would be no real diffe-

rence between them. The report concluded by
stating that the directors had been reluctantly com-
pelled to take proceedings at law to enforce payment
of the Great Eastern subscription.

On the motion of the CIIAIIMAN, seconded by Mr.
QUICK, the report was unanimously adopted, and a
vote of thanks to the chairman concluded the pro-
ceedings.