The Virginia Gazette

NEW YORK, January 3.

We hear from Charlestown, South Carolina, that the sending back the Tea Ship having been, by Accident or Design, delayed till the Expiration of the twenty Days, after which, by the Act, the Duties are to become payable, the Tea was then seized by the Customhouse Officers, and landed in their Custody. We have no circumstantial Account of the Affair, nor by what Means the patriotick Designs which by our last Accounts were so warmly and unanimously pursued by the Carolinians were defeated, nor what is likely to be the Consequences of landing the Tea. It has been reported, that a Difference had arisen between the Merchants and the Planters; and that, through private Animosity, publick Duty was neglected. It is, however, conjectured that both Parties will recover their Senses before it be too late, and unite in Support of the Rights and Liberties of their Country. If the Tea should be destroyed in the Hands of the Customhouse Officers, they will doubtless be liable both for the Duties and Value of the Tea, which otherwise would have gone back safe to the Owners; and, in such a difficult Case, their Officiousness was inexcusable, not only as it may prove the sole Cause of the Loss of the Tea, but as it may call the Authority of the Customhouse itself, Courts of Admiralty, Post Office, &c. into Question. While they operate merely as Regulators of Trade, for publick Convenience, People are not disposed to examine their Foundations; but as soon as they begin to appear as Instruments of Tyranny, to deprive the Colonies of their Rights, it is Time to consider the Authority on which they are established among us.