2-982-338 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ottawa, the Proposed Capital of Canada, 1858. 'The selection of this place as the seat of Government for Canada has not proved satisfactory, though possibly the choice of any one of the other rival cities would have given umbrage to a still larger party. The difficulty, or rather the impossibility, of providing a seat of Government that should satisfy Upper and Lower Canada at the same time caused the question to be referred to the home [ie British] Government, and, after a careful consideration of the claims of the respective cities soliciting this honour, Ottawa was declared the most fitting candidate...An engraving of a city which is the subject of such grave dissensions in the Canadian Legislative Assembly will doubtless be of interest to our readers. The suspension-bridge in the foreground of the Illustration, spanning the foaming chasm at the Chaudière Falls...unites Upper and Lower Canada. In the centre the towers of the Roman Catholic Cathedral are distinctly visible above the mass of buildings. The high ground to the right is the destined site for Government offices, in the event of Ottawa being the seat of Government'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.