The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-11 00:00:00

ORNINO, AUGUST 11, i 846.

HOW TO REBUILD QUEBEC?
(From the Sentinel.)
We are not about to enter into the mysteries of bricklaying
or masonry ; we have no present concern with granite or
cement ; neiths rlit we we any opinion to offer on styles of archi-
tecture. Our business is to show in what manner the destroyed
city of Quebec may be restored without private subscriptions
or Parliamentary grants, without costing one shilling either to
Canada or Britain. What Oriental fiction fabled of Aladdin's
lamp, plain common sense can realise without incantation or
magic. Nothing is wanting to an end but adequate means,
and certainly the means to ends have long existed, though in
latent forms, before they have been discovered by philosophy
or applied by science. Need we cite such familiar examples as
gas or steam? As these had a beginning, so also must we
have a commencement to the true system of productive power
—even to the power which can raise a tired city from its ashes
by a new combination of intelligence and industry. We take
it for granted that the materials of construction exist in
Canada—bricks, stone, lime, timber, tiles, iron, &c. ; and that
there are architects to design, and labourers to execute
what is designed. We want no other elements to rebuild Que-
bec. " What !" exclaims the sceptic, " can you do this great
thing without funds?" " And pray," we ask in reply, " what
do you mean by funds?" " Gold," answers the sceptic;
" ounces, aye, tons of gold." It is quite natural that men of
the old school should talk thus. Living in an atmosphere of
illusions' and muddled by prejudices, they suppose, that gold
must be dug cut of the mines before labour can build a house,
construct a ship, or ;lough a field, forgetful that society must
necessarily have made very considerable progress "in many of
the useful arts before the precious metals were discovered ;
for surely man acted on the surface of the earth before he ex •
Oared its interior. If the possessis n of gold must precede all
other forms of property in the order of time, and be the antece-
dent to their creation, so that gold is the efficient cause of all
the realised wealth scattered over the face of the globe,
how did man contrive to emerge from barbarism and pass
the boundaries of the nomadic state? Does not testi-
mony and fact contradict this doctrine? Nay, more; is it
not true that the countries possessing the geld and silver
mines have ever ,been inferior to those possessing coal and
iron? And does not history certify, that, when Spain began
to import the precious metals, she began to deciine both in
the powers of production and national defence? Or, must
we mount up to the traditions of Greece and bring forward
the apologue of Midas, in refutation of the falacies of Jones
Loyd and the mystifications of Capel Court ? We beg attention
to the following facts. Those who doubt them may consult
official documents, living witnesses, and the very edifice itself
of which we are about to speak. If the facts are admitted,
thee., we shall ask, where is the difficulty of rebuilding Quebec
without private subscriptions, Parliamentary grant, or any the
slightest conceivable mode of taxation ? These, then, are the
facts. The States or Parliament of Guernsey, about the
year 1821 (we have forgotten the exact date), determined
to. build a meat market, at the cost of 4,000/. ;
but, not possessing gold, they issued symbols of their national
wealth in the shape of one-pound paper notes, not bearing in-
terest. With these they paid the contractor, who dischasecti
wages with them, and other debts due for the materials he used.
In due course of time the edifice was completed, and thus, with
these symbols, a substantial reality was created, without the
assistance of a single grain of gold. 'I his market was divided
into shops, which were let to butchers, and the rental amounted
to 4001. per annum. At the end of the first year of tenancy,
the holders of the symbols or notes, numbered from I to 400
inclusive, brought them to the treasurer of the States, and
received for them the rents of. the butchers; the notes were
then burnt, and, by repeating this operation, all the symbols
were destroyed in ten years, while the market remained,
and still does remain, affording great accommodation
to the inhabitants,_ and yielding an annual revenue
to the States. Now, where is the difficulty of ap-
pleing this system to the rebuilding of Quebec? What
is there to hinder our creating a reality with a
symbol? Let not the plan be condemned because it is novel,
for there was a time when gold coin was a novelty; let it not
be rejected because it militates against preconceived opinions,
for wisdom will always be ready to revise opinions when pre-
sumptive evidence is offered that they are wrong. If the
symbols of Guernsey. guaranteed by the whole tangible pro-
perty of Guernsey, could construct a market, why should not
the symbols of England, guaranteed by the whole tangible pro-
perty of England, build up a city? No Guernsey man was
fool enough to refuse giving his commodities for the market
notes. What Englishmen or what Canadian would be so sense-
less as to reject the city of Quebec notes, in exchange for what
he had to sell? When Quebec is rebuilt, and its houses
tenanted, what can be easier than to cancel the symbols out
of the proceeds of the rents ? To effect this mighty good, we
need not a grain of gold ; we shall not have to pay any money-
monger a farthing of interest, nor impose a feather of taxation
either on the present or future generation. This is Alad-
din's lamp. Who can possibly opp• se so simple, so efficient,
so costless a p'an ? None but the holders of gold, the dealers in
money, discounters. usurers, loan contractors—mere wh r say,
"We will lend you the means of rebuilding the city of
Quebec." We answer, that it can be built without the means
these gentry proffer, and for the lean of which they make a
charge. We undertake to do it without their intervention,
without any payment whatever for interest. We want no third
party, no middle-man, between Parliament and labour. Let
Parliament vote the symbols, and we will erect the streets and
squares without setting foot in Lombard-street or the
Bank parlour. But it may be said, " Charity begins at home ;
and, if you can effect these things in Canada, why not convert
the mud cabins of Ireland into comfortable de ?" No-
thing easier; and, by the same plan, we could bringall the waste
lands of Ireland into cultivation. In fact, was Glasgow built
with gold or with symbols? or, was the soil of Scotland ren-
dered fertile by the precious metals or by paper ? Every one
knows that the banking system of North Britain made North
Brit.tin what she is. However, instead of the symbols of
Joint-stock Comsanies, as in Scotland, we would use national
symbols, by which means we should save interest charges, anti
prevent the possibility of a run,—since he who did run would
run against himself, The millions would not be debtors to the
hundreds ; there would be no division into bees and drones ;
no lazy fundholders exacting tribute from active industry. He
who produced most, would get hold of mast of the symbols,
and, through the symbols, most of the realities which the
symbols would create ; while, on the contrary, the property of
the idle would depreciate, just as the labour of the industrious
would be appreciated. If gold be the necessary antecedent of pro-
duction, then are the holders of gold the absolute masters of
all the producing classes, and British industry is the slave, the
bondsman of a foreign metal. The Duke of Wellington insists
that we must not be dependent on foreigners for corn, but up-
holds a law which makes us dependent on the presence in the
Rank cellars of a foreign metal. When the metal is shipped
off to Ilamburgh by speculators in currency, or to Dantzic by
buyers of wheat, masters go into the Gazette, and workmen
into the unions. This shows the power of the yellow metal,
as the master of industry ; its withdrawal paralyses the brawny
arm of labour, just as the withdrawal of air produces suffoca-
tion in the body natural. Let us, then, emancipate ourselves
from this idol which our folly has enshrined in the temple of
"Mammon, for the sole benefit of the Priesthood of Usury. Let
us make money our servant, not our master, and then Just as
the wise Guernsey-men built theirenarket, so may we rebuild
Quebec, houtte, feed, and clothe our people, and make this
globe what God intended it to be, an earthly Paradise, where
all may live within the pale of plenty and virtue.

WESTMINSTER-BRIDGE.
We are happy to find that the ruinous state of this
bridge was brought before the House on Monday last by
Sir R. IL Inglis. The opinion Of some of the mo-t emi-
nent engineers is in favour of its removal, and the total
failure of those repairs which have bu,.! I bestowed
upon it is a strong proof in favour of their opinion.
Sir Robert Peel promised that after the labours of the
House are over the communications from the Commis-
eioners of Westminster• bridge should und,rgo full- can-
sideration by the Government. We only hope that this
subject will receive more attention than mest holyday
tusks usually do. The only improvement that has yet
been accomplished is the reduction of the steep ascent,
but even that advantage is nearly counteracted by the
narrowing of the roadway into a deep trough, and the
deep holes which are to be found all along the surface,
and threaten to introduce the passengers to a closer ac-
quaintance with the water-level. We confess we
anticipated some greater improvements from the
long and expensive repairs to which this briege
has been subjected, and we now begin to ap-
prehend that it is in vain to hope that any patching or
alteration will ever again make this bridge efficient for
the public convenience. Its appearance can never be
altered sufficiently to make it correspond with any
building of the present age. On the one side, the new
Houses of Parliament are rising rapidly into notice in all
the florid beeuties of their design ; on the other side, the
Suspension-bridge creates a favourable impression by its
light and novel appearance ; while this ugly mass of
stone protrudes between them, and affords a revolting con-
trast to the beauty of the one and the utility of the other.
The subject is well discussed in a 'brief pamphlet,
entitled Metropolitan Bridges and Westmin ter Improve-
ments According to the writer—
" A glance at a map will show the length and breadth
and vastness of the metropolitan region which requires a
direct communication, by-Hung:Tford, or Northumber-
landstreet, with Charing-gross, Pall-mall, the Haymar-
ket, Piccadilly, Oxforlstreet, and all the upper part
of the town ; and the expediency of resolving the
termini of all the existing and projected railways
leading to the south, south-east, and south-west,
into one main terminus, near the end of a sub-
stantial carriage bridge, censtructed at llungerford or
Northumberlai,d- street, or somewhere thereabouts—an
arrangement vastly more convenient than if the main
terminus were established at Waterloo or Blackfriars-
bridge ; because the traffic from either, to Charing-
cross, would have to pals by the Strand and other streets
too narrow for the immensity of the movement which
already crowds and frequently chokes them.
" Westminster-bridge cannot be made to harmonise in
position, or in taste, with the adjacent beautiful building,
whether by an improved or by a new superstructure on
the existing piers. Whatever else be done, it is absolutely
necessary that the roadway be considerably enlarged.
" From this the piers have le,en extended, in exe-
cuting the very ingenious expedients, still in progress,
to endeavour to secure the old foundations from
further subsidence. This has been attempted by
driving rows of sheet piling into the blue clay,
about the old caissons, to prevent the materials of
the natural bed of the river from being underwasbed by
the current, or squeezed out by the weight of the bridge
into the gradually deepening watercourses ; but these
expedients- having failed, notwithstanding the skill and
ability with which they have been devised and executed
by an eminent engineer, and the removal of an immense
quantity of material from the roadway and parapets, it
way safely be pronounced that it is beyond the resources
of science or art to strengthen those foundations
sufficiently to bear the weight of an enlarged roadway.
" A new bridge cannot be constructed on the present
site without previously removing the old one ; this
woall incur an expense of at least 50,0001 or 60,000/. in
erecting a temporary bridge, or step the communica-
tion between the aitough and Westminster altogether,
whilst the new work is proceeding. Again. there is no
room for a new bridge between the Pailiamentary
Palace and the present bridge, for they are alreaiy
in contact ; and the construction of a bridge any-
where- below the present site, say from Mundslay's
premises to illanchester-buildings, would occasion a
very great outlay in providing-new approaches. But it;
leaving Westminster- bridge in its present state, as a
temporary cominunication, a new bridge were con-
structed from Lambeth-stairs to the nearest part of
the opposite bank, no expense for new approaches
would be incurred, a direct communication with West-
minster would be established, and a magnificent en-
trance into the capital formed at an interesting and
venerable part. The river-face of the new edifice
weuld be seen to great advantage ; and, no longer
disfigured and obscured on the other flank, when
tne distasteful structure which now deface it shall have
been removed, the Parliamentary Palace, ettiudiag gine.