The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 5, 1860,

TOBIA

TUB OPENING OF THE VI
BRIDGE, CANADA.
(Frnm the Montreal Herald,)
_ On Saturday, the 17th of December, the Victoria
Bridge, the greatest in the world, was finally
opened for traffic. Holding in mind the formal
opening by the company next spring, Mr.
Hodges, the agent and representative of the
contractars,• did not intend to make the
occasion a grand celebration. Yet he felt that he
could not allow the opening of the bridge for traffic
to pass without inviting his friends to cross it in
the first train, and partake of a collation. Nearly
a thousand 11fontreallers, members of the Govern-
ment, &c., wended their way to the Point St.
Charles depot. A train of 14 carriages was made
up for their accommodation. The engines were
gaily decorated with flags and, evergreens, as was
the entrance to the bridge. Shortly after 1 o'clock
the signal was given, and the train started. We
noticed just ere entering the tube two cars laden
with cotton, brought through from Cairo by this
route for shipment, or for New England factories.
In two or three minutes the bridge was reached,
and we plunged • into the twilight which reigns in
the interior of the great tubes, rendering the light-
ing of lamp necessary within the carriages. Nine
minutes were consumed in ,crossing from abutment
to abutment. On arriving at the St. Lambert side
the train paused, to allow people to examine the
end of the structure, and enjoy the view of the city
the embankment there affords, and again at the
crossing over the Champlain Railway. Over the
entrance to each abutment wall is engraved :
ERECTED MDCCCLIXi ROBERT STEPHENSON
AND A. McK. ROSS, ENGINEERS.
Over the entrance to each tube the names of the
contractors and of Mr. Hodges find their appropri-
ate place.
From the end of the bridge the train proceeded
to Charrons, where the new line connects with the
old leading to Longueuil. Thence after a short
delay it returned, an the passengers being again
landed on the north side, went thence to the mas-
sive stone entrance built above the abutment, which
had been roofed in and prepared as a banquet hall
for the occasion.
Mr. Hodges presided here as representing the
contractors, having on his right his lordship the
Anglican bishop of the diocese, the Hon. J, Rose,
Mrs. Fulford, Mrs. Holland, Mrs. Hodges and seve-
ral other ladies ; on his left his Excellency the COWL-
mander of the Forces, Mr. A. McK.Ross, the Hon.
John Young, Mr. Bruce, C.E., Mr. Stikeman, C.E.,
the Hon. John Ross, president of the company, and
several other ladies and gentlemen. The band of
the Royal Canadian Rifles occupied the tempo-
rary orchestra. Due justice having been done to
the edibles.
Mr. HODGES, in rising to propose the first toast,
was very warmly received. He said—l desire,
before givinyou a toast, to make one little ex-
planation. When I proposed to ask the presence
of a few of my friends here to-day, I did not expect
to meet so large a number as are now assembled.
The number is so great that I am afraid this may
be considered a public opening of the bridge. But
it is no such thing, and anticipating something that
will take place very much grander than this, I wish
it to be understood that this is not the opening of
the bridge, and I would like the yress to note the
fact. (Hear, hear.) I have much pleasure in pro-
posing to you her Majesty's health, standing as we
do in this tremendous structure, the strength of
which has been tested by having to withstand the
pressure of millions of tons of ice, such as no other
structure in the world has had to resist. (Cheers.)
,The health of her Majesty has been drank in many
an extraordinary place, but I question if it bas ever
been drunk before in a place like this, through
which a locomotive has passed a few minutes ago,
drawing a train with nearly a thousand souls in it.
(Cheers.) Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to drink
the health of " The Qaeen."
The toast was drunk with three rounds of loyal
cheers, and the band played the Royal Anthem.
Mr. HODGES, in proposing the next toast, said
he was sure it would be responded to as warmly by
every loyal subject of her Majesty, as had been the
toast 'which had just been honoured. Ho begged
to give—" The Prince Consort, the Prince of Wales,
and the Royal Family." (Cheers.) He might take
this opportunity of mentioning that, in the antici-
pation of a visit from the Prince of Wales at the
time when the formal inauguration of the bridge
would take place, one of the stones of this great
work had been left unset, the stone which might be
seen at the entrance, so that upon his Royal High-
ness might devolve the task of completing the
work. (Cheers.)
Band—" Prince of Wales's Band March."
Mr. HODGES next proposed " The Governor-
General."
Band—" Old English Gentleman."
Mr. HODGES then gave " The Army."
Mr. HODGES, in giving the next toast, said he
felt it quite unnecessary to accompany it with a
single word of comment—" The Grand Trunk Rail-
way Company."
Band—" Grand Trunk Celebration Polka."
Hon. JOHN Ross responded. He said—Ladies
and gentlemen, as President of the Grand Trunk
Railway Company, I am very much obliged to you
for the very kind manner in which you have been
pleased to receive this toast. In replying to it, I
feel that I shall best consult your comfort and
wishes by saying as little as possible on this occa-
sion. Mr. Hodges has stated that this is not the
formal opening of the Grand Trunk, that it is but
a private meeting of his own friends whom he has
called hero to-day to celebrate this event—which
is a most important event to the company which I
have the honour to represent. It is a most impor-
tant event to the company because it enables us to
send on the traffic which is crowding upon us in
thousand of tons, and which we would have been
unable to carry had not the bridge been completed
just at the time when the cold of winter was closing
the natural channel. And I accept your cheers as
showing your conviction that it is not only a great
event for the company, but a great event for this
province, nay for the world—(cheers)--that so
splendid a structure should in the short space of
time which has been employed in its construction,
be reared before us in all its magnitude and mag-
nificence. No one can look at it without being
grateful to the Almighty for the way in which it
has been carried through by the skilful heads and
able hands which have been entrusted with its exe-
cution—those of Mr. Hodges and the engineers
who have acted with him. (Cheers.) I trust you
will excuse me if I do not trespass longer on your
attention, and I conclude by again thanking you for
the
manner in which you have received this toast.
Mr. HODGES again rose and said—l have now a
sad task to perform. I have to ask you to drink
in silence the memory of the greatest man in the
engineering professiOn that ever lived. (Ifear,
hear.)
It 3 scarcely more than six years since
he visited this country, accompanied by
my friend.
Mr. Ross, and standing on the banks of this
river, not a hundred yards from where we now
stand, he saw in his vivid imagination the bridge
as you see it now, and these two great men pro-
ceeded to plan the structure such as it now
stands before you. Unhappily, only one of them is
left to witness the realisation of those plans. I am
sure you all join me in the deep regret that we can-
not drink the health of those two great men toge-
ther. But respect to the deceased requires that we
should drink to his memory in silence. The way
be was received, when he was himself amongst you,
showed how much you respected him. I ask you to
drink to the memory of Robert Stephenson, the
greatest engineer the world ever saw.
Drunk is solemn silence. Band—" Dead March
in Saul."
Mr. HODGES—I give the next toast with great
pleasure. The man -whose health I am to propose
is before you. You all know him well, for his
works speak for him—(cheers)—and it is unneces-
sary that I should pronounce upon him any eulogy.
It is enough that I give you his name—Alexander
Mackenzie'Ross, the engineer who assisted in plan-
ning, and who has superintended. the carrying out,
of this mighty structure on which we stand. (Loud
cheers.)
Band--" Scots wha hae."
air. A. M. 'toss, on rising to respond, was loudly
cheered. Ile thanked the assemblage most cordially
for the complialsos raid to bins in the way his
health had been
a received on this most interesting
occasion. Takingetrospective view of the part
he had borne in this work,much pleasure.
expression of their
approbation gave him
mind pleasure. At the same
time, having present to hisn d
have
,golden rule,
" Do unto others as you
would c
others do to
yon," he must say that,
with the
had had, his task had been an easy
cue,
so far at
co-operation he
least as the duties pertaining to his own
special*
call-
ing had been concerned. Yet it wouldgse bee
too much to have expected that a work like this,n
conducted in the face of the more than ordinary
conflicting elements of a rig'oro'us climate, could
have been accomplished without some difficulties
and drawbacks. These difficulties, however, had
only served to draw out into action otherwise latent
energies, and he must say that the respected and
talented agent of the contractors, who had been in-
vested with the responsibility of carrying out this
great and important work to its present perfection,
had never been found wanting. (Cheers.) The re-
sources of his mind were at all times equal to
the exigiencies of the case, and so far from incur-
ring any reproach, the result had been such as to
win for Mr. Hodges the unrningled approbation of
all who were acquainted with what had been done.
(Cheers.) He hoped the completion of 'the bridge
would serve still more closely to 'cement that bond
of union which should exist between man and man.
(Cheers.) Mr. Ross went on to refer to the oppo-
sition which the Grand Trunk bad met with from

various parties, and the charges which had been
brought against those connected with its manage-
ment. If we understood the line of his argument
correctly, he attempted to meet these charges by
instancing the admirable qualities which had been
displayed in carrying out the work, and quoted a
remark which he remembered to have heard Mr.
Hincks make some years ago—" Prudence, the first
of virtues, never could be used in the cause of vice."
He concluded by expressing a hope that this coun-
try had entered on a splendid career, in which the
results that would flow from the event of this day,
the opening of the Victoria-bridge, would play no
unimportant part. (Cheers.)
Mr. G. B. BRUCE said he had been asked to pro-
pose a toast, and it afforded him great pleasure to
do so. The company already had the melancholy
pleasure of drinking the memory of the late Robert
Stephenson ; and he must now congratulate the
people of Canada on having among them so worthy
a relic as the bridge of that great man's genius.
He must also congratulate them on having enjoyed
the services of his friend Mr. A. M. Ross, a name
eminent from the commencement of railway enter-
prise, and one which was connected with this un-
dertaking from the beginning. It afforded him the
greatest pleasure, as an old pupil of Mr. Stephen-
son, to be seated that day by the side of Mr. Ross,
within the province of Canada. He remembered,
when in India, reading the report of a speech de-
livered in this city by Mr. Stephenson, in which that
gentleman spoke of a certain class of men whose
exertions, :talents, and skill, left to the en-
gineers nothing but the " poetry of engi-
neering." The idea struck him as a beautiful
one, I and beautifully expressed; and if ever
there was a company who_ by their exertions,
skill, capital, and enterprise, left to the engineers
nothing but the " poetry of engineering," it was the
firm of Peto, Brassey, and Co., who were so well
represented here by Mr. Hodges. He only repeated
what he had heard from Mr. Stephenson and Mr.
Ross, that much of the success of this undertaking
had, been owing to the skill, energy, and unfailing
resources in difficulty of Mr. Hodges. He had ex-
amined closely and critically every part of that
work, the opening of which, whatever Mr. Hodges
might say, they were met to celebrate. No iron
tubes were ever put together over which passengers
might more safely pass. No masonry was every
heaped stone on stone with greater art, or with
more precaution to secure solidity and durability.
Ho was, therefore, justified in proposing on this
occasion the health of Messrs. Peto, Brassey, and
Co., and in coupling with it that of Mr. Hodges.
Before concluding, he would express his earnest
hope that the future of Canada might be typified
, by the grandeur of this enterprise, and the rapidity,
of her improvement equal that which had distin-
guished the construction of the bridge. (Cheers.)
Band—" For they are jolly good fellows."
Mr. HODGES replied on behalf of the contractors.
He said—lt gives me great pleasures to convey to
you my appreciation of the feeling With which this
toast was given and received by you. In carrying
out this great work over which you have this day
passed, we have had to encounter many difficulties
which are not apparent to you ; the greatest of
which, perhaps, has been caused by financial diffi-
culties consequent upon the period during which
this great work has been carried on. But, owing
to the skill and reputation of the contractors, the
work, notwithstanding these financial diffiulties,
has been brought to its present successful termina-
tion. And perhaps it would be well for me to say
that this work will last as. a monument of their
ability to perform to the utmost whatever they may
undertake. On their behalf I thank you most
heartily and cordially for the way in which you
have drunk this toast. _ _ _

His Lordship the Anglican Bishop of MONTREAL
then rose and said—l wish to be very brief in what
I have to say. Mr. Bruce has very properly joined
in the health which you have just drunk to the
honour of Messrs. Peto, Brassey, and Betts, the
name of Mr. Hodges, but it should also be given
separately, and I have claimed from him the right
to propose the toast. Of course Ido net speak here
as a politician, or take part in political controver-
sies, but in viewing the great and gigantic work
this day inaugurated, whatever politicians may say
of disunion, I cannot but think that this great iron
road is clasping the covtry closer together, and is
'a proof and pledge of the unity of the interests of
this great country, whatever politicians in their
party squabbles may, say to the contrary. Mr.
Hodges has laid out in this work at the rate of
about a thousand pounds a day during the last
seven years. Almost the whole of that money has
come from other countries than Canada. And when
we can show the great capitalists of Europe that
as a people we can be depended upon as reliable and
trustworthy, and as adequate to the erection of such
lasting works as this, and when we look at the rate
of interest in this country compared with what can
be obtained in the old country, the capital of Europe
must as necessarily flow into this country as the
St. Lawrence flows into the sea. For the rest, I
have only to say that I came here to-day, not merely
because I have taken a great interest in watching
this gigantic work of which you have heard, in
watching each pier in its erection, or in watching
the multitudinous rivets which have connected the
vast tubes together—not merely because I wished
to join with you in celebrating its opening, but be-
cause I wished to pay personal respect to Mr.
Hodges, who in after years will be remembered
with pride—remembered for his integrity, honesty,
and ability, and the Christian principle with which
he has endeavoured to provide for the education of
the young and the spiritual supervision of all the
people connected with the works in which he was
engaged. I look upon that as a noble example that
all employers of large numbers of men ought to
follow, they having no business to congregate to-
gether large bodies of men and not provide for their
spiritual welfare. And when the greatest works
existing, of which this is one, shall have crumbled
away—when, as our great English poet says,

"The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherits, shall dissolve,"
—the integrity of character, the honourable prin-
ciple, the Christian philanthropy which has actuated
Mr. Hodges will remain. These things have their
record through all eternity. I propose to you indi-
vidually, as he deserves, the " Health of Mr.
Hodges!'
This toast was drunk with the, greatest enthusi-
asm and applause, and followed by, music from the
band.
Mr. HODGES, in reply, said—l can only thank
you—more I cannot say, and then resumed his seat.
He then rose again and said—l seem by soma means
to have gained the esteem of most of you, arid-I
hare gained it at the expense of others. (Cries of
" No, no.") The staff I have had under me have
Bono the work—l have done nothing. I had hoped
and intended to say a great deal in their behalf,
but little time remains for me td do so, as I mean to
ask the ladies to promenade in this tube, for the
last time they will have the opportunity of doing
so. But I wish to perform a duty to those to whom
lam so much indebted. And I will say this, that
whoever will engage any of the staff, whether en-
gineers, whether foremen, whether sub-contractors
or mechanics, they may think themselves happy in
having secured the services of honest and talented
men, second to none in the world. I give you,
with all my heart and soul, "The staff—engineers,
foremen, sub-contractors, mechanics, and staff at
Birkenhead."

Drunk with the usual honours, and the band
having played a march,
Mr. DUNCAN, C.E., replied on behalf of the staff.
He said that they would soon probably be dis-
persed, some of them moving to lands beyond the
sea; but they would never forget the pride and
satisfaction with which they had worked under
these contractors and Mr. Hodges. They would
never forget the kindness and sympathy which had
been shown them, the very kind way in which Mr.
Hodges had proposed their healthond the manner
in which that large and distinguished assemblage
of the people of Montreal had drunk it.
Mr. HODGES then told the ladies he hoped they
would prdmenade through the tube as this would bo
the last opportunity for them to do so. He then called
upon all, previous to dispersing, to join with him
in drinking the last toast, and concluded by giving
" The Ladies."

The good old toast was drunk with no lack of
enthusiasm, after which the band struck up " Here's
a health to all good lasses."

After the collation and speeches were over, acon•
siderable number of the guests walked for some
distance down the tube, some of them as far as the
centre tube. Here the opening was large enough
to enable them to pass through, a
nd to look down
upon the river rushing below with its surface of
broken ice, upwards on one side to. the Nuns Isle,
Laprarie, Sec., and on the other to St. Lambert, St.
Helen's Island, and the city, of the front of which
One gets perhaps the best possible' view from this
point. Here, too, one gets the best idea of the
.im-
mense Hong loenx tent of the work, looking in eitherdirec-
tiona. line of nearly a mile of iron tubes.
Before closing this account of the virtual opening
of the Victorial Bridge,' t will not be out of place
to state that the bridge has been sill-joy-tot?, by the
English engineers, as we understand, to the most
severe tests. Waggons loaded with stones to their
utmost capacity have been drawn over it by three
locomotives attached. together, and a strain produced
equal to three or four times that which can be pro-
duced by ordinary freight trains. It is after such
a tat Mr. Bruce declares that no better or stronger
work can be found anywhere. We feel we may
congratulate Mr. Hodges, the contractors, the en-
gineers, the company, the city, or rather the whole
country, that this truly gigantic undertaking is
thus triunivhautly eclmpleted—that the immense

expenditure of money upon it has at last achieved
a practical result.
The immense importance of the Grand Trunk
Railroad is beginning to be realised by the people
of the United States. The Chicago Tribune com-
mences an able article on this subject with the fol-
lowing glowing introduction :—" The Jesuit mis-
sionaries, who first penetrated the central portions
of the American continent, were possessek of indo-
mitable energy and magnificent conceptions. De-
riving their ideas from the grandeur of the lakes,
and the rivers, and the prairies which they were the
first to explore, they established a cordon of military
posts between Quebec and New Orleans, and for
years cherished the sublime scheme of grasping the
entire continent. The commencement of the year
1860 will witness Quebec and Ncw Orleans con-
nected by bands more powerful and enduring than
were dreamed Of by those old exploring heroes. In
the comparison, military posts are but as cobwebs,
and for all time to come commerce will bind, as by
hooks of steel, Quebec and New Orleans to Chi-
cago, the great central city of the continent. The
magnificent Conception of the old Jesuits will soon
be more than realised."

ge, The road is completed to Sarnia, and is now in
good running order, with the exception of the Vic-
toria Bridge, which, however, will be ready for
trains to pass over it in the early part of December,
The Tribune says :

"No man would dare to estimate the advantages
which the opening of this road will confer upon the
West. The first thing to be noticed is the esta-
blishment of a weekly mail between Chicago and
Liverpool and London. A contract with our Go-
vernment has already been obtained, and the first
mail between Chicago and London is to be made up
on Wednesiay evening, Nov. 23, and will leave this
city on Thursday morning, Nov. 24,'at eight o'clock,
connecting with the Royal Mail steamer which is to
leave Portland on Saturday morning, the 26th. The
European mail will leave this city thereafter every
Thursday morning, connecting with Saturday
morning's steamers from Portland. Passengers
leaving with the mail on Thursday morning will
be sure of the connection at Portland, as the steamer
wilne delayed till the mail train arrives. There
will be but one change of cars, after the Victoria-
bridge is finished, between this city and Portland.
In the above paragraph we have spoken only of
Portland. In the summer cars will run to Quebec,
and the ocean steamers will sail from that city.
The distance from Chicago to Portland is 1,129
miles; time only 48 hours."
Turning to the South, the editor says that only a
small rail of 24 miles requires to be finished on the
"Mississippi Central," and this is to be done before
the Ist of January, when there will be all rail, via
Chicago, between New Orleans, Quebec, and
Portland : _ _

" The locomotive will run from the mouth of the
St. Lawrence To the mouth of the Mississippi, and
the distance which it took the old Jesuits in their
bark canoes weary months to accomplish will be
made in less than four days. Who can doubt that
the opening of this great line from gulf to gulf will
work a vast change in the business of the continent ?
Who can doubt that Chicago, situated at the head
of our magnificentiinland seas, on the dividing ridge
between the valleys of the Mississippi and the St.
Lawrence, and near the centre of this great thorough-
fare, will reap immense advantages from its comple-
tion ? It will be interesting to put the distance and
the time between Portland and New Orleans in
tabular form :

Miles. Hours.
Port'ant to Chicago 1129 .. 48
Chicago to Cairo
Cairo to Columbus 25 . . 1i
Columbus to New Orleans 526 .. 26

Total . 2045 93i
It will be seen that the time between New Orleans
and Chicago will be less than two days ; between
New Orleans and Portland about four ; and fourteen
days will suffice for the passenger to pass from New-
Orleans, through the heart of the American coati•
nent, and across the Atlantic to the capital of the
British empire. Was ever Arabian tale more truly
strange and astounding ?"
The Boston Transcript has also an article on
the same road, from which we take the following
extract :

" Some few weeks ago, our readers may remem-
ber, in the telegraph despatch of the day, a state-
ment that representations had been forwarded to
the State Department at Washington, in regard
to the efforts being made at the West, by the
agents of the Canadian roads, to attract freight
from our own roads, via Canada; and, judging by
the quantity of freight brought by the Portland
steamers, we doubt not the statement referred to
was correct. The boats of the Portland Steam
Company have landed at Central Wharf about
1,400 barrels of flour per day for the last few weeks,
with immense quantities of other merchandise. To-
day we saw landing a lot of cotton, which had
been shipped from Memphis to Boston via Mon-
treal and Portland, at a cost, as we learned, of about
4 dols. per bale. So large has been the increase
of freight from the Grand Trunk road, that the
Portland Steam Company have found it necessary
to increase the number of boats • and also, we learn,
they have leased another berth of the Central Wharf
Company, and are now erecting a large warehouse
to accommodate their increasing business. When
the great bridge across the St. Lawrence at Mon-
treal shall have been finished, which will probably
be accomplished during the presont month, freight
will then come from St. Louis to Portland with but
two transhipments, and must, we think, prove a
very popular route from the west to the east. "

THE GREAT ST. LAWRENCE VICTORIA

BRIDGE.

A great event has just occurred in Canada. The
Victoria-bridge, the greatest work of Robert
Stephenson, has been opened for traffic. We be-
lieve that seven years and upwards have been con-
sumed in the construction of this wonderful. bridge,
and at last a train has passed over it, and the St.
Lawrence is no longer an obstacle to free communi-
cation between the Canadas and the United States.
This bridge is the most magnificent work of the
kind in existence ; for, although within our own
island we have the bridge across the Menai Straits,
yet in every point the Victoria-bridge is far superior.
The St. rawrence, as may readily be seen by a
reference to the map, together with the great chain
of lakes, actually divides North America in two,
from the Rocky Mountains to New Brunswick.
There is, indeed, an admirably planned wooden
bridge at Niagara, but it is not to be mentioned
as a rival of the stupendous achievement at
Montreal. The provinces of the North American
Union are now so intimately connected by iron
lines that all that was wanting to bring the
Union into close communication with Canada
was to span the St. Lawrence, and this has now
been done. It seems a prosaic test to apply to
a work which appears to have been inspired by
the very poetry of engineering, but to us there
seems something very prophetic of the future in
the simple statement of freight carried over the
Victoria-bridge during five nights after it had been
opened for traffic. We read that from west to east
there passed 162 cars, containing 11,723 barrels of
flour, 1,552 barrels of pork, 140 bales of cotton, and
110 tons of general goods. From cast to west there
passed 130 cars, containing 524 tons of general
goods, 170 tons of iron; and 39,000 feet of lumber.
Now, this looks very prosaic and commonplace, but
let us see what it means. Here we have evidence
that the corn-growers, the provision merchants, and
the cotton-planters of the United States are ready
land eager to avail themselves of this opening for
I traffic. On the other hand, and on the Canadian
side, all persons engaged in the timber and iron
trades, and, as we may presume, the general mer-
chants in this mother country, are nothing loth to
meet the producers of the Union half-way. This
simple register of commercial transactions, which
at the first glance reads like a mere invoice, is more
significant than any of the considerations which
were urged with exuberant rhetorical power by the
speakers at the opening banquet.
It must be remembered that, independently of
the engineering difficulties of this undertaking, the
work had to be carried on in a climate whic for
many months of the year is almost Arctic in its
severity. It is said., however, that no iron tubes,
despite of these drawbacks, have ever been put to-
gether more scientifically or securely, and that eever
has stone been heaped upon stone with greater
care to insure durability than in the case of the
Victoria-bridge. It is, indeed, to be doubted if
ever a monument has been raised by human hands
which can offer a prouder memorial of the race
which reared it than the Victoria-bridge. To
Robert Stephenson is due the merit of its concep-
tion ; to Messrs. Peto and Brassey the praise which
belongs to the contractors for such a work when
successfully executed. We believe that the great
bulk of the money which has been employed upon
the construction of the line and the bridge has
cone from the' pockets of British capitalists.
The opening of the Victoria-bridge will, as we
all trust, prove the commencement of a new era
in the prosperity of the Canadee. An epoch of
steady industry and an absence of political turmoil
and squabbles are all that is needed to place the
provinces of British America in as favourable a
position as their most fortunate rivals of the United
States. What is mainly required is that they
should inspire confidence in the honest manage-
ment of their finances and in the industrial deve-
lopment of their country, We confess, however,
we cannot read of this opening. of the Victoria-
bridge without a pang of regret. Alas for Robert
Stephenson ! Alas for the great engineer who a
few year back looked down upon the ice-drift of

the St. Lawrence, and spanned the river in his
thought! His presence at Montreal the other day
was all that was needed to make the festival day
of the St. Lawrence as brilliant in all its particu-
lars as it will, we trust, prove an augury of prospe-
rity and happiness to the Canadian dominions of
the Crown.—Tigzea.

VOIUNTEER CORPS.

THE QUEEN'S.

Yesterday evening about 200 effective members
of the above corps assembled at Westminster-hall,
for the purpose of forming the corps into companies,
in accordance with the resolution agreed upon at
'the meeting held on Tuesday at Pimlico—namely,
that of sizing the volunteers. Earl Grosvenor,
M.P., assisted by Mr. Russell, Mr. Swift, and two
sergeants, conducted the operation of sizing, the
tallest members when sorted being made to form
No. 1 company, and so on with the rest, until eight
companies were formed, consisting of 60 members
each, and all those who join the corps in future
will, according to their size, be draughted into com-
panies. The volunteers, after the operation of
sizing, were put through the usual drill, which
they performed in a most creditable manner. The
question of facings has not yet been decided by the
committee appointed to decided upon the dress for
volunteers.

they employed to pursue the necessary drill, and
gain some insight into military details.
Mr. HERMANN seconded the motion.

Mr. MARCHMONT (au ensign in the West Kent)
then gave an explanation with reference to the
misunderstanding between, their corps and
the 11. t Surrey. They had thought the latter
corps in recruiting in the district of Dept-
ford for their own body had somewhat over-
stepped their own boundary, but the question had
been treated on each side in a conciliatory and gen-
tlemanly spirit, and, while they hoped to maintain
the ancient supremacy of Kent, they would cor-
dially support the Ist Surrey.
The resolution was then carried unanimously.

The Rev. Mr. MONEY, incumbent of St. John's,

)eptford, proposed the second resolution :

" That the organisation on an extensive scale of volun-
teer corps in aid of her Majesty's regular forces ought to be
earnestly promoted, and, as the Ist Surrey, or South Lon-
don Rifle Battalion, is a thoroughly organised regiment,
this meeting pledges itself to use every exertion to promote
the formation of a company for Hatcham. new-cross, and
the vicinity, in connexion with that regiment."
The Rev. Mr. EVANS seconded the motion.

Captain ItOGERS supported the resolution, and
explained the misconception which had arisen be-
tween their corps and the West Kent.
Th 9 resolution, on being put from the chair, was
carried by acclamation. Several other gentlemen
afterwards delivered addresses, and the meeting,
which had been an unusually enthusiastic one,
separated after the usual compliment to the chair-
man.