Appeal Is Allowed In Criminal Cases; But As Far
As I Could Learn Such Power Of Appeal Is Held To Be Both
Troublesome And Useless.
In Lower Canada the old French laws are
still administered.
But the University is the glory of Toronto. This is a Gothic
building, and will take rank after, but next to, the buildings at
Ottawa. It will be the second piece of noble architecture in
Canada, and as far as I know on the American continent. It is, I
believe, intended to be purely Norman, though I doubt whether the
received types of Norman architecture have not been departed from
in many of the windows. Be this as it may, the college is a manly,
noble structure, free from false decoration, and infinitely
creditable to those who projected it. I was informed by the head
of the college that it has been open only two years; and here also
I fancy that the colony has been much indebted to the taste of the
late Governor, Sir Edmund Head.
Toronto as a city is not generally attractive to a traveler. The
country around it is flat; and, though it stands on a lake, that
lake has no attributes of beauty. Large inland seas, such as are
these great Northern lakes of America, never have such attributes.
Picturesque mountains rise from narrow valleys, such as form the
beds of lakes in Switzerland, Scotland, and Northern Italy; but
from such broad waters as those of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and
Lake Michigan, the shores shelve very gradually, and have none of
the materials of lovely scenery.
The streets in Toronto are framed with wood, or rather planked, as
are those of Montreal and Quebec; but they are kept in better
order. I should say that the planks are first used at Toronto,
then sent down by the lake to Montreal, and when all but rotted out
there, are again floated off by the St. Lawrence to be used in the
thoroughfares of the old French capital. But if the streets of
Toronto are better than those of the other towns, the roads around
it are worse. I had the honor of meeting two distinguished members
of the Provincial Parliament at dinner some few miles out of town,
and, returning back a short while after they had left our host's
house, was glad to be of use in picking them up from a ditch into
which their carriage had been upset. To me it appeared all but
miraculous that any carriage should make its way over that road
without such misadventure. I may perhaps be allowed to hope that
the discomfiture of these worthy legislators may lead to some
improvement in the thoroughfare.
I had on a previous occasion gone down the St. Lawrence, through
the Thousand Isles and over the Rapids, in one of those large
summer steamboats which ply upon the lake and river. I cannot say
that I was much struck by the scenery, and therefore did not
encroach upon my time by making the journey again.
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