Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-08-18
ALEXANDRIA. !,

-, o. ALEXANDRIA, -
It was high praise which Clarendon bestowed
:. upon Lord Falkland, one of the best and purest
OF the statesmen Of England 10 the times of
Charles the First, when he wrote that There
. were two things which, while. he was Secretary
:. 81 State he could never bring himself to, and
for which he vas contented to. be. reproached.
The one, employing spies, or giving any coun-
!: tensace or! entertainment to them. vi 7 do not
mean. says Clarendon, such =emissaries as with
danger would venture to view the eneny's
camp, and bring intelligence of their number,
&C., but those who, by communication Of guilt,
or assimilation Of manners, worm themselves
. into such trusts and secrets as enable them to
make discoveries The other; the liberty OF
opening letters, upon a suspicion that they
might contain matter of dangerous conse:
sequence" How. this contrasts with the
course and conduct Of those who have. conduct.
ed pube,afairs IN this country for thelast few
+. years |. The leading feature Of the policy of
Mt. Stanton, formerly Secretary of War, was,
this spy system, which Clarendon tells us, was
rejected With SO much. loathing and contempt
by the yirtuous Falkland in the. most, difficult
and trying, times, and whilst a. civil;war was
- impending and even raging in England: Down
to this Day, it appears that spies and detectives
sre employed in this country, to hunt the5 lives
4 of innocent. men, and "work mp cases against
them Witness The exposure recently made Of
~ the !Ashburn case in Georgia. And, as for
=. opening LETTERS it Yves but few weeks ago..
{ that Butler, at the head of a Committee Of the
House Of Representa- iYes, seized aud opened
the kilograms sent by private Individuals With.
out warrant or authority Of law We repeat
what we said the, other day, chat it would ap,
pear that all that is vile recorded in the pages.
Of history has been reproduced on this side OF
! the Atlantic since the year 1861. 1T was not
for purposes of public defence, or iorlegitimate,
i war purposes, that Stanton inangurated and
kept up his spy systenl-but it was for the OPP
+ preston and ruin Of, 'unofendi1g people Who
could be caught 10 the clutches Of his myrmi.
dons like Baker, and Morton, and others of
that stamp Some Of these Eretches made
fortunes. Their victims pined in prison, or
were fastened to their graves. -. .s,.5 = -,
oa The failure OF the, Senate to act finally upon
nominations has left vacant some impor tant
Offices. The Government of the United States
: Is nov without representatives at, Nenezu ella
and Ecuador; the responsible place of collector
of customs at New Orleans is without an in
cumbent Vacancies in the internal revenue
service are left in some important districts, and
the administration Of the bureau has been; con-
tinued in, the hands of Commissioner Rollins
PostoGces also remain without postmasters, I.
as at Fredericksburg, Virginia, where. the re-.
moval was for cause;' at Millcdgeville, 'Geor-
gia, and at. Augusta, in the same State. 81,
In the last statement of the Director Of the
Bureau of Statistics, that officer says that our
: agricultural interests have been sensibly dc.
pressed, and still continue So, as indicated bya
q wheat crop Of increasing disproportioD to popu-
lation, by large falling off in the wheat cx:
ports, and by the continued nigh prices OF this
and other agricultural staples. These pheno.
mena are attributed mainly to- the war and its
attendant circumstances. The gradual tenden-
cy Of the population to desert the pursuit OF.
husbsndry is due to other causes, but,
whatever the cause, It is to be seriously de-
plored. o:o,,'2.,. q ..!at-...1 &E.,a-o9s.,
: The National Intelligencert ys;:-The rate
at which we are going to ruin--the astounding
sums of money drawn by the tax gatherer from
the hard labor ofthes people,, and spent -can
be better understood when We say that during
~ the seventy:three years proceeding the war las
q estimated recently the whole expenditure of
the Government amounted to less than four
teen hundred millions Of dollars: while the
Radical party in the one year of 1865 spent
. nearly : nineteen hundred million dollars.
Attorney Eyarts sent yesterday his written
opinion to the Secretary of the Treasury in
reference. to the New Orleans and Alaska col
lectorships, declaring that these offices were
vacant, and that the President could make
temporary appointments to fill them. ,>..I ''' =