A TAX IMPOSED ON TEA. 301 XXVI. to pay all its duties in England, and then export it at CHAP. their own risk. This would remove the difficulty, as there would then be no collections of the duty in American 1772. ports. But the king was unwilling to sacrifice his maxim, and Lord North seems to have been incapable of comprehending, that the Americans refused to pay the duty on tea, not because it was great or small, but because they looked upon a tax thus imposed as unjust. He therefore virtually proposed to the company to pay three-fourths of the duty in England; to save the king's maxim, the government would collect the other fourth, or three pence on a pound, in America. It was suggested to North, that the Americans would not purchase the tea on those conditions. He replied: "It is to no purpose the making objections, for the king will have it so. The king means to try the question with the Americans." Meantime public opinion in the colonies was becoming more and more enlightened, and more and more decided. "We must have a convention of all the colonies," said Samuel Adams. And he sent forth circulars inviting them to assert their rights, when there was a prospect of success. He saw clearly that the king and Parliament were resolved to see whether the Americans would or would not acknowledge their supremacy. When the conditions became known on which tea was to be imported, the people took measures to prevent its being either landed or sold. In Philadelphia they held a meeting, and requested those to whom the tea was consigned "to resign their appointments." They also denounced "as an enemy to his country," "whosoever shall aid or abet in unloading, receiving, or vending the tea." Similar meetings were held in Charleston and New York, and similar resolutions were passed. A ship, making a quick passage, arrived at Boston, with intelligence that several vessels laden with tea had sailed. Five thousand men immediately assembled to de 1773 XXVI. Nov. 3. CHAP. liberate on the course to be pursued. On motion of Samuel Adams, they unanimously resolved to send the 1773. tea back. "The only way to get rid of it," shouted some one in the crowd, "is to throw it overboard." Those to whom the tea had been consigned were invited to meet at Liberty Tree, and resign their appointments. Two of the consignees were sons of Governor Hutchinson, who, at that time, was peculiarly odious on account of his doubledealing. This had been brought to light by a number of his letters to persons in England. These letters had fallen into the hands of Dr. Franklin, who sent them to the Speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly. They disclosed the fact, that nearly all the harsh measures directed against the colony, had been suggested by Hutchinson. Nov. 30. According to law, a ship must unload within twenty days, or be seized for non-payment of duties. Presently a ship laden with tea came into the harbor. By order of the committee, it was moored at a certain wharf, and a company of twenty-five men volunteered to guard it. The owner promised to take the cargo back, if the governor would give his permit. Meantime came two other vessels; they were ordered to anchor beside the first. The committee waited again upon the consignees, but their answer was unsatisfactory. When the committee made their report to the meeting, not a word was said; the assemblage silently broke up. The consignees were terribly alarmed. That silence was ominous. Hutchinson's two sons fled to the fort, to the protection of the regulars. The father went quietly out of town. His object was to gain time till the twenty days should expire; then the ships would pass into the hands of the Commissioners of Customs, and the tea would be safe for his sons. Another meeting of the people was protracted till after dark; on the morrow the twentieth day would expire, and the tea would be placed beyond their reach. At THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEA. 303 XXVI. length the owner of the vessel returned from his mission CHAP. to the governor, and reported that he would not give the permit for the ships to leave the port. "This meeting," 1773. announced Samuel Adams, "can do nothing more to save the country." 18. Immediately a shout, somewhat like a war-whoop, arose from a band of forty or fifty "very dark complexioned men, dressed like Mohawks," who were around the door. This band moved hastily down to the wharf where lay the tea ships. Placing a guard to protect them from Dec. spies, they went on board and took out three hundred and forty-two chests, broke them open, and poured the tea into the water. In silence the crowd on shore witnessed the affair; when the work was accomplished, they quietly retired to their homes. Paul Revere set out immediately to carry the news to New York and Philadelphia. At New York, a tea ship was sent back with her cargo; the captain was escorted out of the city by the Committee of Vigilance, with banners flying and a band playing God save the king. Eighteen chests of tea, found concealed on board another vessel, were thrown into the dock. In Charleston tea was permitted to be landed, but was stowed in damp cellars, where it spoiled. The captain of the vessel bound for Philadelphia, when four miles below the city, learned that the citizens would not. permit him to land his cargo; he prudently returned to England. At Annapolis, a ship and its cargo were both burned; the owner, to allay the excitement, himself applying the torch. Meantime the various committees of correspondence were making preparations to hold a congress composed of representatives from all the colonies. Yet they said, and no doubt honestly, that "their old good-will and affection for the parent country were not totally lost.” "If she returned to her former moderation and good humor, their affection would revive.". Dec. 25. XXVI. CHAP. When it became known in England that the audacious colonists would not even permit the tea to be landed, 1774. the king and ministry determined to make their power felt; and especially to make an example of Boston. Accordingly a bill was introduced and passed in Parliament, four to one, to close her port to all commerce, and to transfer the seat of government to Salem. Though her June. citizens offered remuneration for the tea destroyed, yet Massachusetts must be punished; made an example, to deter other outbreaks. Parliament immediately passed a series of laws which violated her charter and took away her privileges. The Port Bill, it was complacently prophesied, will make Boston submit; she will yet come as a penitent, and promise obedience to British laws. Parliament went still further, and passed other laws; one for quartering soldiers, at the people's expense, on all the colonies, and another in connection with it, by which officers, who, in enforcing this particular law, should commit acts of violence, were to be taken to England, and tried there for the offence. This clause would encourage arbitrary acts, and render military and official insolence still more intolerable. To these was added another law, known as the Quebec act; it granted unusual concessions to the Catholics of Canada-a stroke of policy, if war should occur between the colonies and the mother country. This act revived much of the old Protestant feeling latent in the minds of the people. These laws, opposed by many in Parliament as unnecessary and tyrannical, excited in America a deep feeling of indignation against the English government. Everywhere Boston met with sympathy. The town of Salem refused to accept the proffered boon of becoming the seat of government at the expense of her neighbor, and Marblehead offered her port, free of charge, to the merchants of Boston. In that city great distress was experienced; multitudes, who depended upon the daily BOSTON MEETS WITH SYMPATHY. 305 XXVI. labor they obtained from commerce, were out of employ- CHAP. ment, and their families suffered. The different colonies sent to their aid provisions and money; these were accom- 1774. panied by words of encouragement, to stand firm in the righteous cause. The ordinary necessaries of life came from their neighbors of New England. "The patriotic and generous people" of South Carolina sent them two hundred barrels of rice, and promised eight hundred more, but urged them "not to pay for an ounce of the tea." In North Carolina "two thousand pounds were raised by subscription" and sent. Virginia and Maryland vied with each other in the good work. Washington presided at a meeting of sympathizers, and subscribed himself fifty pounds; and even the farmers on the western frontiers of the Old Dominion sent one hundred and thirty-seven barrels of flour. These patriots were determined "that the men of Boston, who were deprived of their daily labor, should not lose their daily bread, nor be compelled to change their residence for want."' Even the citizens of Quebec, French and English, by joint effort sent them more than a thousand bushels of wheat, while in London itself one hundred and fifty thousand dollars were subscribed for their benefit. Notwithstanding all this distress no riot or outbreak occurred among the people. General Gage was now Commander-in-chief of the British army in America, and had been recently appointed governor, in place of Hutchinson. He was sadly at a loss how to manage the Bostonians. If they would only violate the law, he could exercise his civil as well as his military authority. They held meetings, from time to time, and freely discussed their public affairs. They were under Bancroft, vol. vii, p. 75. |