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Show OUR LONDON LETTER miction Excitement over A .."(, ao Fire Kmiiiu unil the ' Bear.' (Special Corroajjondonoo of tho Uf.rald.) London, Feb. 1G, 187-1. Tho hustle and excitement of the general election is over, and tlie country is again Hetthng down to its usual quiet and monotony. The large Conservative majority has taken the Liberal parly ly surprise, and it is universally believed that the Glad-bLouo Glad-bLouo government will havo resigned before tho meeting of Parliament. Had the Premier been content to wait till the oLh of March, ho would doubtless havo prolonged his tenure of of lice, as, besides tho largo reduction reduc-tion of debt and the surplus of -j,000,-000, ho could have announced iho near approach, if not the actual conclusion con-clusion of the Ashantee War. it now seems almost beyond doubt that Coomnssic is doomed to fall, and that Gen. Wolseley will soon be able Lo report the entire subjection of King Codec and bin warriors. Tlie hardy British soldiers and sailors aro looking look-ing forward with joy to their approach- of the Gold Coast, and when they, shaking the dust of Ashantee from ,0(1 their shoes, again tiiko their 'Ash ian' tea in a more congenial clime. London lias again been visited by a most destructive lire; tho Pantechnicon, Pantechni-con, a huge warehouse or repository, five stories in height and covering two acres of ground, has fallen a troy to tho devouring clement. This immense im-mense building was used for storing furniture, goods of every description, descrip-tion, pictures, plate, jewels, articles, uf virtu, pianos, carriages, etc., etc. Tlie paintings belonged to SirBichard Wallace, Sir Seymour Fitzgerald and Mr. Winn Ellis, valued at X5j0,O00, were totally destroyed. Tho en tiro loss is estimated to bo between three and five million pounds sterling, or between fifteen and twoiity-livo millions mil-lions of dollars. it remains to be seen whether the pl.tto and jewels t-lored in the vaults and reported to be of very great value, havo also been destroyed, thus adding to tho above mentioned figures. H iH stated that had there been Hiillieient water nt band in the beginning, tlie lire could liayc been subdued with littlo loss. As it was, over 2' Mj firemen, with twenty strainers and hand-engines, were forced to look on in a st:ilo of inactivity inac-tivity until the water ciiinc. Aft'T twelve hours hard labor the lire- wan (.t under control ai.d only a few of Lhu neighboring houses were injured. The panic on tho Stock Exchange in regard to the Emma shares has not yet subsided ; the Bears appear to bo confident that the shares will go below one pound within three months. Largo sums of money havo been lost during tlie past week, and a few of thr smaller operators have been irretrievably irre-trievably ruined. Prices to-day arc as follows: Emma, .Co to Flag-stall', Flag-stall', X2'J to C6; Last Chance, l to XI; Richmond, XoA; Tecoma, 'i; o ; you see that iho fall in Emma lias alloc ted all mining shares more or less. Ci'stos MomjM. |