The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-31 00:00:00

I._
~~~

CANADA.

‘QIIEBEC, March 11.—The Government have defini-
ti v ely engaged for the service of Parliament a new
b a ilding, in course of erection, or rather of completion,
n • the Sisters of Charity, a religious body of nuns,
v rk iose objects and devotion to their self-assumed and ar-
du one 'duties are most useful and praiseworthy. A
8( tool, hospital, and chapel, with numerous apartments
fo r the accommodation of 'the sisters, are comprised in
tl ii s building, affording ample space and good accommo-
d sa%ion for the sittings of both Chambers, for the library,
tl is numerous clerks,-and writers of the establishment.
T. hi j style of architecture is Gothic, the building of stone
as id very massive, the whole structure forming a very
heal 1, various, and beautiful architectural ornament to
the city. Through the good-will of the Roman Ca-
th o'lic archbishop and ecclesiastical confreres this advan-
ta g e has been obtained to the country, not, however,
foe-getting the readiness of the sisters to comply with
Cie wish expressed to them. The rent of the building
is :fixed at 1,0001. currency per annum, and it will be
rowdy for Mr. Speaker to take the chair in the course of
a couple of months. The judges and lawyers, who sub-
mit ted with a good outward grace but much inward re-
lu,cl ance to the parliamentary writ of ejectment from
th,eir" dingy court-house, are much rejoiced at the re-
covery of their familiar walls. The new building stands
about 50 yards down the slope of a hill which becomes
steep and abrupt as it progresses, and just outside St.
Job n's Gate. In the chapel the sittings of the Assem-
bly will be held, and this room is said to have a decided
family resemblance to your St. Stephen's Chapel, wherein
the parliamentary gatherings of the mother country have
been used in times gone by to be held. The resemblance
may perhaps stop here ; but if it be said thal our people
do not talk as well nor as much to the purpose as yours
de,, we may at least stand upon our wind, and safely
a'ffirm that if we do not talk better, we certainly can
talk longer than you de.
In stating in my last that 1,500 miles of railway were
in progress in this country, I underrated the extent by
one-third. There are 2,000 miles in progress. The
(.3-reat Western Railway, from Niagara Suspension-bridge
to Windsor, facing Detroit, on the St. Clair River, a
distance over 200 miles, was completed and came into
operation on the Ist of January last. I perceive by the
western papers that the passengers by the train exceed
500 per diem both ways, making the passenger traffic
1,000 daily. It is even now scarcely possible to carry
the freight offered. All this travel is to or from the
Atlantic sea-board. When the Grand Trunk Railway
shall be completed from its western terminus to Port-
land on the Atlantic, covering a distance of 900 miles,
which may be traversed without transhipment in less
than 30 hours, the amount of traffic, if at the rate just
named, will exceed all the calculations yet made upon it.
The opening of the Grand Trunk will take place, it is
believed, early in the spring of 1856.
With reference to our direct steam navigation from
Liverpool to Quebec, and in winter to Portland, you are
aware that a series of disasters and disappointments have
nullified the contract entered into by the Canadian Go-
vernment with some estimable gentlemen in Liverpool
the year before last. These gentlemen made promises
and came under obligations, in perfect good faith, no
doubt, to establish a line of first-rate steamers for the
accommodation of the travellers, the merchants, and emi-
grants passing to and fro, and transmitting goods be-
tween the two countries. The want of regularity, infe-
riority of the vessels, accidents at sea, long passages, and
sometimes no passages, in painful contrast with every
other line between the two hemispheres, has certainly
broken down the hopes of all concerned on this side the
water, as it has worked the forfeiture of the contract,
if the Government should think fit to terminate the
-connection. It would be difficult to restore confidence
in such a quarter ; and this is the less to be regretted
because the native resources of the commercial men of
Canada are about to fill our waters with vessels of supe-
rior build, speed, and safety,, with which few, if any,
others in the world may compete. In the present sea-
son of navigation a Canadian firm, of eminence, and in
connection with capitalists and practical men at home,
will place on the Quebec and Liverpool route three iron
screw steamers of 2,000 tons burden, travelling at an
average speed of 12 knots an hour. By the opening of
this navigation in 1855 these three vessels will be joined
by two others of equal or superior pretensions. The
Government, thus finding that every week a reliable
vessel will leave. these shores for England, will be
enabled, without any contract or monopoly, to send
their mails at a price which will sufficiently remunerate
the carriers and answer all the ends of the senders.
We have no news yet from,your side of any encounter
between the flags of France and England and the Rus-
sians ; but our people are talking of offering a Canadian-
built frigate, fully armed and equipped for the service of
the present war to the mother country.
The home military authorities, I understand, are about
to erect batteries on the islanll of Orleans, the better to
command the approach by the river to Quebec.
The weather has moderated within the last few days,
but we have ten feet of snow in and about the city.—
Corresponeckg of Morning 014rohick,