Alexandria Daily Gazette, Commercial & Political

From the Albany Balance.

Non-Importation --In proportion as British
goods become scarce in this country, the
inducement to run them in, must of course
multiply and gain strength; and in the same
proportion may the vigilance and watchfulness
of the officers and servants of the government
in detecting infractions of the law, be supposed
to increase.-Suspicion is now excited by
circumstances which, in almost any other
state of our affairs, would be deemed too trivial
to deserve notice. So strong have these suspicions
grown, that half our merchants and
traders have become smugglers & law-breakers-that is, they have become so in the eyes
of the persons in the employ of the custom-house, who by the closeness of their scrutiny.
would almost induce one to believe that they
expect to find British manufactures concealed
in a nutshell. Under these circumstances,
some vexatious proceedings will undoubtedly
take place. The officers, in many cases, may
be unnecessarily particular and rigid. Goods
may be improperly seized; and the innocent
may sometimes suffer wrong. The western
papers, I perceive, complain of numerous instances of hardship and oppression. Boats,
waggons and stores, have all been searched,
and goods seized which are alledged to have
been legally imported; and I am informed,
verbally, that the northern stages are compelled
to stop and submit to a search--that the
passengers' trunks are opened-and portmanteaus, knapsacks, and ladies' hand pockets,
(or indispensables) rummaged, under the pretext of searching for smuggled goods. All
this must of course excite much clamor and
discontent. The officers will receive much
censure and abuse; and there is reason to
fear that they will in some cases be opposed
and their authority resisted. It is to be hoped
however that this will not happen. The non-
importation law was designed to operate upon
a foreign power. Whether it was well or ill
calculated to have that effect, is not a question at present to be discussed. But since it
is considered as a measure of retaliation against Great-Britain, it ought to be rigidly &
pertinaciously enforced. To suppose that
such a law could not be carried into effect,
would be to suppose the American people ready
once more to put on a British yoke;
and such an idea, no man in his senses can for
a moment entertain.

On the subject of the important seizure in
this city and vicinity. it would be improper to
remark at present. The amount of goods seized
is very great (rumor says too,000)-the
house implicated is one of the most respectable in the city--and the whole affair must
undergo a judicial investigation. Of the
thousand idle tales that are already in circulation
on this subject, at least nine hundred and
ninety-nine are entirely false, and it is hardly
probable that even the remaining one is entirely true.-"Time is a tell-tale," that will
explain the whole affair.