18. Went up to Alexandria & returnd in the Afternoon Mr. Magowan with me. My Brothr. went in the Morning.
GW went to Alexandria for a meeting of the Fairfax nonimportation committee, which had been asked by Alexander Henderson and William Balmain to judge two new shipments of goods. Only 12 hats sent by mistake of the manufacturer were found to be unacceptable, and the committee was convinced that Henderson and Balmain had “strictly adhered to the spirit and intention of the association” for their part. But the two merchants complained “that they found so little regard paid to the association by others . . . that they should think themselves obliged for the future” to protect their businesses by sending “their orders in the same manner with other importers; restraining themselves only from importing tea, and other taxed articles” (Va. Gaz., R, 18 July 1771).