The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-27 00:00:00

AMERICA.

LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY.
The Cunard screw steam-ship Alps (of the Havre
and New York line) arrived this morning from
New York with advices to the 14th inst. and 3,150
doll. specie on freight. The Alps made the run
from New York to Liverpool in 11 days 11. hours.
Her outward passage from Havre to New York
was made in 12 days 17 hours.

The screw steam-ship City of Manchester has
also arrived from New York, whence she sailed on

the 12th ult.
The City of Baltimore, hence, arrived at New
York on the 12th inst. The Europa, hence, at
Halifax on the 14th inst. The Anglo Saxon,
hence, at Portland, on the 13th.
The Cunard Company will despatch the Alps on
Wednesday next, the 4th of March, the day on
which the United States steam-ship Baltic should

have sailed with the mails.
The Senate had taken part with the House of
Representatives in opening and counting the votes
for President and Vice-President of the States.
The event, says the Washington correspondence of
the Journal of Commerce, is not without interest
and dignity even upon an occasion when, happily
for the peace of the country, there was neither doubt
nor dispute as to the choice of the people as ex-
pressed through the electoral colleges. It says
the time may come when again, as in 1801, there
might arise a eerious difficulty in carrying out the
purposes of the constitution. Though one source
of danger was removed by a constitutional amend-
ment, others might be imagined as of possible de-
velopment in case of a close and doubtful result of
a Preeidential election coinciding with an in-
flamed condition of the popular mind. Upon the
return of the senators from the house, the teller of
the Senate reported the result of counting the elec-
toral votes, and added the fact that the electors of
Wisconsin had not assembled, and cast the vote of
that State till the day atter the time prescribed by
law. Mr. Weller offered a resolution that a com-
mittee, to consist of one member of the Senate and
two members of the house, be appointed to inform
Messrs. Buchanan and Breckenridge of their elec-
tion. Mr. Crittenden moved as an amendment, in
substance that the vote of Wisconsin ought not to
be included in the list of electoral votes, and that
any member of either house had the privilege to
object to the counting of said votes ; and t'. at it was
competent for the Senate and house alone to decide
that question. Pending the question an adjourn-
ment took place.
In the House of Representatives Mr. Barbour
had moved the reconsideration of the vote by which
the Senate Submarine Telegraphic Bill had been
referred to the Committee on Post-offices. The
proceedings in reference to opening and counting
the votes of the electors of the several States for
President and Vice-President were commenced by
the President announcing their object, and stating
that they were pursuant to law and in obedience to
the concurrent orders of the two Houses. When
the certificate from Wisconsin was read, the re-
marks made iu the Senate relative to the vote having
been cast on the wrong day were repeated. A
short discussion upon this point occured, at the
conclusion of which the President announced the
state of the vote in detail, and in further execu-
tion of the concurrent order of the two Houses,
announced that James Buchanan and John C.
Breckenridge were duly elected President and
Vice-President for the term prescribed by the con-
stitution, commencing on the 4th of March next.
Some Californian capitalists had contracted with a
New York shipbuilder for the construction of two
steamships, each of 7,000 tons. They are to carry
3,000 passengers and accomplish the trip to the
Isthmus in 15 days. The dimensions for these
steamers are as follows:—Length, 440 feet; breads h
of beam, 55 feet Ldepth of hold, 34 feet.
In the New York money-market the demand
was active, and rates had advanced to 9 to 10 per
cent. for prime paper according to maturity, and 7
to 8 per cent. on call. In exchange but little had
been done, and prices in general were flat. The
rates were 8i to 8i per cent. premium on London;
from sf. 231 c. to 51. 22tc. Paris; sf. 21tc. to sf. 20c.
Antwerp ; and 36a to 36i Hamburg. The stock
market had continued to decline. Freights firm,
but quiet, but expected to improve from the re-
opening of the southern and western harbours.
To Liverpool, 7-3211. to id. for cotton, including
Sea Island at Id. ; 2s. 3d. fer flour, and, nominally,
7d. to 72,d. for grain. To London, 3s. per 2831 b.
for spirits of turpentine, 2s. nd. to 2s. 10d. for
flour, and Bd. per bushel fur corn.
NEW ORLEANS, l'Eu. 12.
Cotton is firm ' • sales to-day 9,500 bales. Mid-
dling is quoted atl2ie. to 1210. Sugar firm. Flour
very dull. Pork quiet. Lard quiet, at 12c. in
tierces. Freights to Liverpool, id. to 9-161
Sterling exchange, 61 prem.
CHARLESTON, FEB. 12.
Sales of cotton to-day, 1,900 bales ; of the week,
10,000 bales. The market closed at an advance of
c. to ic. on the week. Good middling is quoted
at 13e.

THE LUNDHILL COLLIERY _EXPLOSION

LIINDHILL, WEDNESDAY, 7 P. M.

The works at Lundhill were not visited by so
large a company as upon the previous days, still
there was a considerable number present. The
temperature of the air shaft was about the same as
on Monday and Tuesday, ranging from 72 degrees
to 75 degrees. A Davy lamp was put down the
shaft, but was extinguished almost immediately on
its descending. About six o'clock this evening, on.
Messrs. Webster and Maddison trying the tempera-
ture, in company with Mr. Morton, inspector, a crash
was heard in the vicinity of the cupola, which had:
the effect of sending the people running t' a con-
siderable distance, as it was believed that a second
-explosion had taken place. The noise, however,
appears to have been caused by a fall of stone in
the cupola. Shortly before six o'clock, Messrs.
Maddison and Webster having reported as to their
proceedings with regard to the colliery since the
last meeting, the same was taken into consideration
by the gentlemen present,—Messrs. Nicholas
Wood, J. W. Day, Holt, Elliott, and Woodhouse.
After a lengthy consultation,
The Chairman (Mr. Nicholas Wood), in stating
the conclusion arrived at, alluded to what had been
done by Messrs. Webster and Maddison, and
others, since the last meeting ; a day or two after
which the following letter was addressed to Messrs.
Wood, Elliott, 'Woodhouse, and Holt :
" Gentlemen,—We, the proprietors of the Lund-
hill colliery, request and authorise you to under-
take the entire direction and responsibility of re-
opening the pit and recovering the bodies therein ;
and you are hereby empowered to engage and in-
cur any expense in our behalf.—Yours, &c.,
" W. TAYLOR, Jun., and Co."
On receiving the above application, although it
would cause them great inconvenience, yet they
thought it their duty to undertake the responsi-
bility. They would engage to procure an able,
efficient staff for carrying out their intentions, so
that no time should ba lost in carrying out such
measures as would tend to the opening of the pit
and the recovery of the bodies. With regard to
the measures already adop` ed, they did not
consider them satisfactory ; so that they
thought the only course now to be adopted was
to fill the pit with water. They had opened the
down-cast shaft, which had become, in fact, an up-
cast shalft, showing that the water had already
stopped the communication between the two. The
up-cast shaft they found still open, the temperature
of which was 99 degrees at the bottom, which was
40 degrees more than it should be, a proof that the
fire was still raging. The going-down shaft was
rendered impracticable by the water filling to the
bottom of the downcast shaft. They were una-
nimously of opinion that any attempt, at' pre-
sent, to get into the pit, would be attended with
great danger. They had under consideration
the filling of the pit with water, to extinguish the
burning matter. That, however, was open for dis-
cussion, ana would be brought to a conclusion that
night—that is, whether it would be adopted or not
Mr. Wood then instanced a case of a colliery with
which he was connected, which has only one shaft,
and having bean kept six weeks covered after a si-
milar occurrence fire still existed ; and it was not
till eight weeks after (making a total of 14 weeks),
that it could be safely opened. They considered
that it would be a vast saving forthem to continue
the running of the water into the pit. They had
under consideration the desirability of tutning the
brook adjoining the works. into the pit, so as to
fully quench the fire, as by drowning the pit you
may make sure of extingu'sbing the fire. That,
however, was not decided on by the gentlemen who
had undertaken the task of opening the pit.
Mr. Morton (inspector) expressed his concurrence
in all that had fallen from Mr. Wood; he
also concurred in the measure that had been
adopted, as also the change that had taken place
that day, in placing the management in such able
hands. The measures proposed for the extinguish-
ing of the fire appeared to him to be the most likely
to effectually carry out that object and restore the
bodies of the men with the least possible risk to
those on whom will devolve the duty of searching
for the bodies—these will be the works of difficulty
and danger, and must be carried out in the most
skilful and ab!e manner, so as to preserve those who
undertake the painful duty.

THE UNE3IPLOYED. Yesterday afternoon another
meeting of the unemployed was held on the site of the
Smithfield-market, for the purpose of giving some infor-
mation relative to the system of poor law relief, and also
with regard to free emigration to the colonies. About
2,500 persona were present.