The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-24 00:00:00

MR. CRAUFURD, 211. P., AT AYR.

On Tuesday night Mr. Craufurd, M.P. for the
Ayr district of burghs, who has lately been visit-
ing his constituents in the different towns which be
represents, addressed the electors of Ayr in the
Queen's Rooms. There was a large attendance both
of the franchised and the unfranchised. Mr. Crau-
furd, who was accompanied on the platform by a
number of local gentlemen, was warmly received.
Provost M'Neill occupied the chair, and in the
course of a few observations introduced the hon.
member to the meeting.
Mr. CRAUFURD was greeted with much applause.
He commenced by stating that during the last 15
years there had been no more momentous period in
the political history of the country than that
through which we are now passing. It was momen-
tous alike for the character of public men and the
interests of the country. During those years the
question of reform had been repeatedly discussed,
till it had become little less than a shuttlecock be-
tween one party and another. The public, how-
ever, waited patiently while Liberal members were
returned by large majorities. Yet still the question
remained unsettled, and the Liberal party had
done their duty to the public. The hon. gentle-
man then recapitulated the various reform bills since
that of 1832, the opposition offered to them by
Tories, and dwelt on the inconsistency of that party
in now accepting household suffrage. The Govern-
ment said, introducing the bill, that this was no
party question, and invited the House of Commons
to join in a reel of Tullochgorum, as they were will-
ing to do anything to keep their seats. lle, how-
ever, approved of the conduct of Gen. Peel and
Lord Cranborne in adhering to their principles.
The speech of Lord Derby at Manchester was, he
thought, the most impudent ever made by any
public man—(hisses and disorder)—but the public
were not to be bamboozled by it. Mr. Disraeli
was, he said, a great political juggler, who hal p:r-
formed the wonderful feat of jumping down his own
throat.. lie maintained that the present Reform
Bill, instead of being that of Lord Derby's Govern -
ment, was Mr. Gladstone and the Liberal party's.
He thought the bill was a good one, with one or two
exceptions, such, for instance, as the representation
of minorities, which he objected to ; but it would, ho
predicted, be swept away at the first meeting of a
reformed Parliament. The present bill was as great
a step in advance of that of 1866 as the previous bill
was in 1832. lie then proceeded to show that if
the same bill were passed for Scotland it would in-
crease the constituency of the Ayr burghs one-and-
a-half beyond what it was at present. Mr. Disraeli
had, he considered, shown great ability in taking his
" great party" through the mire, and they had fol-
lowed him admirably. It was said that Mr. Dis-
raeli would soon throw off the mask and come out as
a Radical; but he did not think the Libe:als would
go into the wilderness under such a Moses. There
was, indeed, only one man entitled to lead the Libe-
ral party—Mr. Gladstone—whose faults were faults
of an honourable man who would not compromise
his principles for place. He did not think there
would be any great difficulty with the Scotch bill;
and the Scotch members would, he believed, look
pretty well after their own interests. A great mat-
ter in that bill as printed last session was the redis-
tribution scheme. But that scheme would never
reappear, and Scotland had only to make its voice
heard to have it entirely expunged. In his opinion
the only way to restore the balance of representa-
tion was to take members from England, instead of
adding to the present number in the house. He
then referred to the law of hypothec, which had
not been satisfactorily dealt with ; but he antici-
pated that the new Parliament would deal with
that and many other things. It was dangerous,
perhaps, to prophesy what would be the course
of legislation in the new Parliament, but it
appeared to him that two great questions loom-
ing in the distance were the Irish Church
and education. He was glad that the former was
forcing itself on public opinion, and he thought that
the public mind was ready for change. As to the
education question, it lay between the voluntary and
compulsory. His opinion had always been in
favour of a national system, and if those who were
quarrelling between secular and religibus systems
forced that matter, he would say, " Let us have the
secular rather than the denominational system."
A vote of confidence was subsequently awarded
the hon. gentleman, after which the meeting sepa-
rated.

HOSPITAL FOR CONSUMPTION, BROMPTON.—On
Sunday morning, a sermon in Whiff of this Charitf, was
preached at St. Margaret's church, Westminster, by Rev.
Canon Conway, the rector, who stated that he had been
led to commend this excellent institution to the sympathy
of his congregation by the circumstance that more of the
deaths of adults in the parish were caused by consumption
than by any other disease, and that many of their poor
had enjoyed the benefits of the hospital. It was stated
that about one-fifth of the mortality of adults in England
and Wales was due to this terrible malady ; and as the
duration of the disease, taking one case with another, was
about two years, there would be 78,000 persons constantly
suffering from consumption. The Brompton Hospital
contained 210 beds ; and the number of applications for
admission always far exceeded the accommodation. During
last year 1,212 persons were under treatment as in-patients,
and 8,625 as out-patients. Notwithstanding the absence
from town at this season of many of the wealthier mem-
bers of the congregation, the collection in the morning
amounted to .£lB Us. Collections were also made in the
afterno.m and evening.
DISASTERS AT SEA. —At the Liverpool Under-
writers'-room yesterday another long list of shipping die-
asters was posted up. The ship Schleswig Bride, bound
from the Clyde to Bombay, is reported to have experienced
fearful weather off the Cape of Good Hope, and shifted her
cargo. In order to lighten the ship 500 tons of railway
iron hail to be throwd overboard, and the vessel is reported
to be very much strained. The Bonin, a Wes'. African
trod,r, whilst on the homeward voyage from &min to
Liverpool, got on shore ou th 3 French coast, but was
driven off Durande Rock by a storm on the 19th inst., and
became a total wreck; 300 casks of palm oil have boon
washed ashore. Thu Wellington, of Waterford, foundered
off the &aces on the le,th inst.., but the crew were for-
tuuately- picked up and landed safely at Waterford. The
ship Oriental, bound to Conway from Qaebec, is high and
dry near Penzance ; the copper sheathing is being stripped
off, and the cargo will shortly be removed. In the course
of the next spring tidos it is oxprctod that the vessel will
be floated. _ _

A new theatre has been completed in AleinPliim
Bvl,lo Boyd is to be the &et star,