"Information was a short time ago received by His Majesty's Board of Customs that it was contemplated to smuggle a very large quantity of silks, and the necessary steps were taken to counteract the efforts of the adventurers, who were, we understand, men of high repute for extensive dealings in the trade. The movements of certain parties were watched both by land and by water, in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, and in several seaport towns. At length Mr. Donne, an officer of the Customs, who was for some time occupied in the search, received information in the early part of last week that a lodgment of the expected property had been effected in the city of London, at the houses of some of the first people in the trade. It was not, however, stated that the leading men in the establishments were aware that the goods were contraband. "Mr. Donne despatched, after having ascertained beyond a doubt that the silks had been warehoused without the payment of the duty, three officers of the Excise to three houses, one of which is in Newgate Street, another in a lane near Cheapside, and the third in a court in Fleet Street. At three o'clock each of these officers contrived to lay his hands upon silks of a very valuable description, upon which the duty had never been paid. The value of the seizure is estimated at not less than £10,000. It had been thought proper by the purchasers in the first house to take in a little brandy, without going through the usual ceremony of paying the duty, and two kegs of very fine Cognac were found on the premises and carried off by the officers, along with the more valuable goods. "The silks were, it has been ascertained, smuggled from France; but no clue has as yet been found as to the manner in which they had been landed. They were packed up with great care in twenty-four large cases, which were evidently made in this country, and are such as Manchester goods are usually packed in. Upon being taken to the King's warehouses they were unpacked and examined. The gauzes are of a most beautiful kind. The officers will have the whole of the profits arising from this enormous seizure, the King having some time ago, as appears from the Order of the Lords of the Treasury issued at the commencement of his reign, given up all claim to any advantages arising from seizures of this description." We are afterwards told in the _Times_ of December 16, 1831, that the culprits were Messrs. Leaf, Cole and Co., in Old Change, and