The Sun.
London, England, 1837-06-12 00:00:00

PROCLAMATION FOR CONGRESS.

DT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Whereas, great and weighty matters claiming the eon-

sideration of the CengreSs of the United States, for an ex-
traordinary occasion for conV,enin,,,,,thern, I do, by th,2se pre-
sents, appoint the first Monday of September next, for their
meeting at the ci:y of Washington ; hereby requiring- the
regpective Senators and Representatives then and there to
assemble in COngtess, in order to receive such communica-
tions as may then be made to them, and to consult and de-
termine on such measures as in their wisdom may .ho
deemed meet for the welfare of the ,United States.
it in tePtitrony whereof, 1 have caused the zeal of the
(L. s.) United Otateß hereunto affixed, and signed
the same with my hand.
" Done at the city of Washington, the 15th day of May,
in the year of our Lord, .1837, and of the Independence
of the United States, the 61st.
" M. VAN BUREN."
" By the I'cosi&lft."

THE MONEY MAnKET —Bank post notes were yester-
dly in grctt demand at 12 per cent, per annum, and at the
close of business they were not to be had at over 10 per
cent. Money was effered also on stock securities at 12
per cent., and we know that some of the banks had not so
much satislactory paper offered as they had in.:ans to dis-
count. The indications now arc, that money will soon be
plenty at 7 per cent. If so, it will be a distant day before
it will be scarce again.
THE TlMES.—There was a very great change for the
better in the feelings of business men yesterday. What has
been done at Albany and Washington aibrds a guarantee
that suitable measures will be taken to adjust all the parts
of the new order of things to one another.
The following statement of the officers of the Bank on
Saturday night has been handed us by the Directors of that
institution :
Bills discounted dols. 811,784 63
Bills receivable, including good bonds and
mortgages and temporary loans
Protested notes
Specie
Due from country banks 52,063 26 t 82,095' 13
City ditto ... 30,026 87
Real estates, consisting of banking-houses,
27 Wall-street, and corner Avenue D
and 10th street, railway and engine, to-
gether with several valuable buildings,
and 267 lots of ground, valued at

456 272 18
10,588 90
15 705 22

504,446 93

dols. 1,830,893 04

Capital Stock 420,000
Bank Notes in circulation
Due Treasurer U. States
State New York 140,000 •
Individual depositors
Dividends unpaid . . .
Country Banks ..261,599 62 }
,
583,107 28 1 '92 789 75
City ditto ...316,507 60

Surplus

dots. 287,003 29

UNITED STATES.

STEAM-BOAT BURNT-ONE HUNDRED AND
FIFTY LIVES LOST. _

(From the New York Papers received last night.)
All the New Orleans papers bring to us the particulars
of one of the most horrible catastrophes it has ever been
our duty to record. The steamer Ben Sherrod, Captain
Castleman, left New Orleans on Sunday morning, May 7th,
bound to Louisville ; and on the night of the Bth, when
about thirty miles below Natchez, she was found to be en-
veloped in flames, and out of near two hundred persons on
board only about fifty or sixty were saved. In a few minutes
after the fire was discovered the whole boat was enveloped
in flames. The fire is believed to have originated from the
wood used for fuel being piled up near the boiler. The
story of the disaster was related to us by a young man
who was a cabin passenger ; it is awfully interesting,
and his own escape almost miraculous. • When he awoke
he put on his clothes and leaped into the yawl, which
was hanging at the stern, and was followed by about
forty other men, one of whom cut the rope connecting
the stern of the steamer to the bow• of the yawl, and
the latter canted over and hung in a perpendicular posi-
tion, the bow towards the water. All on board were pre-
cipitated into the water, and are believed to have been
drowned, with the exception of the narrator, and he saved
himself by clinging to the thwarts. In a few minutes
twenty of the crew made their way to the stern of the
steamer and placed themselves in the boat, suspended as
she was. One of them imprudently took out his knife
and cut the rope which attached the steamer to the stern
of the yawl, and she plunged, as might have been expected,
full twenty feet under water. All that had been hanging
to her were missing, except four, and the individual who
relates the story. He says, when he rose to the surface
he found himself under the yawl, and she was lying bottom
up. Being strong, active, and expert at swimming, he
worked his way from underneath and mounted on her bot-
tom, where he was soon joined by the four other men who
had saved themselves, and in this situation they floated
twelve miles down the river before they were picked up by
the Columbus.
One gentleman, Mr. Cook, floated down the ricer some
miles before lie was picked up. He hailed a wretched and
despicable character who had put off in a yawl from the
shore, and begged his assistance. The infamous scoundrel,
who wasintent only on picking up boxes, &c., asked, with
the utmost salty froid, " Hove much will you give me ?"
To the entreaties of others for help he replied, " Oh, you
are very well off there. Keep cool, and you'll come out
comfortable I" Whether the Captain of the Alton deserves
the censure that bag been heaped upon him we know not,
nor will we pretend to say positively until we have seen
his statement ; but it does appear to us that if the Captain
of the Columbus had acted in a similar manner to that of
the Alton, there would not have been half a dozen souls
left to tell the tale of the calamity.
One scene Was distressing in the extreme. A young and
beautiful lady, whose name at present we cannot learn, on
hearing the cry of fire, rushed cost of the ladies' cabin, in
her loose dress, in search of her husband, at the same time
holding her infant to her bosom. In endeavouring to go
forward her dresi caught fire, and was torn from her back
to save her life. After witnessing her husband fall into the
flames in the forward part of the boat, unable to reach him
she leaped with her child into the water, seized a plank, reed
was carried by the current within eighty yards of the co-
/embus ; but, just as she had seized a rope thrown from the
steam-boat, both mother and child sunk to rise no more.
Our limits preclude the possibility of enumerating the va-
rious heart-rending sights that this calamitons affair occa-
sioned. The Captain, for instance, saved his wife, but saw
his two children perish. Mr. Smith saved his wife and one
child, and saw the nurse rush madly through the flames with
his daughter, and both perished. Mr. aamble's wife, we
understand, was burned to death. lie escaped, although
very badly burned. One young man, who bed reached
the hurricane deck in safety, heard the cries of his sister,
rushed back to the cabin, Clasped her in his arms, and both
were burned to death. One of the clerks, one of the pilots,
and tile first mate were burned up. All the chambennaids
and women employed in the boat perished. Out of 25
negroes that were known to have been on board only two
escaped alive. The Ben Sberrud had the largest crew of
any boat on the river, and, by reference to the above list
of names, it will be seen that out of the 50 saved over 30
belonged to the boat ; and out of .1.:(1 60 or 70 cabin pas-
sengers there are about 10 or 12 left One of the
officers or the boat assured us that, in additint; to the cabin
passengers, there were at least 60 or more deck p,gs„Ners,
of whom scarce six arc saved.
Altogether this has been one of the most serious disas-
ters that has happened in the annals of Missis,ippi steam•
boats ; there being at least one hundred and fifty families
deprived by it of some dear and beloved member—over one
hundred beings hurried by it out of time into eternity, with
scarce a moment's warning. And amongst those who are
saved many are said to be.severely burnt, some so much so
that their recovery is very doubtful.
We understand that eight different explosions took place
on board the boat whilst burning : first, barrels of whisky,
brandy, &c., then the boilers blew up with a fearful ex-
plosion,, and lastly, thirty-nine barrels of gunpowder ex-
ploded, which strewed the surface of the river with
fragments.
A large quantity of specie was in the boat, on its way
to the Tennessee banks ; this was lost ; one gentleman
placed his pocket-book, containing 38,000 dollars, under
his pillow, and though he escaped with life he lost all his
money. A great many more persons on board had very
large amounts of money with them, the most, or all of
which, in the confusion, was lost.

A rich- vocal entertainment was given by the non.
Mrs. Phillips on Friday evening, at her noble mansion in Hill-
street, 80-kelev-square, to a large party of the nobility and
gentry. The distinguished vocalists engaged included Mes-
dames Grisi and Pasta, with Signori Rubini, Tamburini, and
Lablache.

The Earl and Countess of Jersey gave a grand
dinner on Saturday evening in Berkeley-square, to Lord
Lyndhurst, the Marquis of Abercorn, the Marquis and Mar-
chioness of Londonderry, Lord and Lady Beresford, the Earl
and Countess of Surrey, Lord Stuart de Rothsav, Earl
Bathurst, Count and Countess Emanuel de Tichy, the Earl
nod Countess of Vernlam, Sir Charles Bagot, and the Earl
and Countess of Falmouth. The Countess also received a
small evening garty ; among whom wera the Duke of Wel-
lington, Prince Esterhazy, and Prince Nicholas, Count Pozzo
di Borgo, Count de Matuszewic, &c.
Mr. -Urquhart has proceeded on his journey to
Vienna and London. He has received from great houses at
Constantinople letters of recommendation to Belgrade, which
have secured him a most favourable reception. All the ac-
counts from Rudschut respecting the Sultan's visit to that
place are highly gratifying. The Sultan was extremely pleased
with the reception that he every where met, and his liberality
was generally extolled. He seems to intend to undertake in
tilg autumn another journey more extensive than the present.