University of California Berkeley JOSEPH M.BRANSTEN COFFEE & TEA COLLECTION Acquired in memory of JOSEPH M. BRANSTEN DESTRUCTION OF THE TEA IN BOSTON HARBOR, 1773. TEA LEAVES: BEING A COLLECTION OF LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE SHIPMENT OF TEA TO THE AMERICAN COLONIES IN THE YEAR 1773, BY THE fewt 3nbta NOW FIRST PRINTED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT. WITH AN INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE BOSTON TEA PARTY, BY FRANCIS S. DRAKE. BOSTON : A. O. CRANE. 1884. COPYRIGHTED. Entered according to Act of Congress, at Washington, D C. By A. O. CRANE, Boston, Mass. SMITH & PORTER, PRINTERS, BOSTON. PREFATORY NOTE. The collection of letters and documents which has occa- sioned the preparation of the present volume, though it has been so long buried in obscurity, appears to have been orig- inally made with a view to publication. It was for many years, and until his decease, in the possession of Mr. Abel Bowen, a well-known engraver and publisher, of Boston, sixty years ago, and was obtained by him from a person who pro- cured it in Halifax, N.S., whither many valuable papers, both public and private, relating to New England, were carried, when in March, 1776, the British and Tories evacuated Boston. It contains interesting information relative to the tea troubles that preceded the American Revolution, much of it new to students of that eventful period. To the kindness of Mrs. Benjamin Phipps and Mrs. Charles G. Butts, of Chelsea, daughters of Mr. Bowen, the publisher is indebted for permission to make public this valuable contribution to American history. PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. When contemplating the publication of "Tea Leaves," we issued a circular, stating our intention, and that, judging from the material then in our possession, the book would contain about two hundred and fifty pages, with six illustrations, three of them portraits. We are happy to announce on the completion of the work, not only fulfillment of our promises, but much that is additional thereto. Included in its four hundred pages are twenty portraits, taken from family paintings, (one-half never before published,) eight other illustrations, fifty autographs, one hundred and twelve names of members of the Tea Party, (fifty-eight more than have been heretofore publicly known), and ninety-six biographies of the same. Our circular called for a subscription book. All our paper-covered copies have been subscribed for. The balance of the edition is nicely bound in cloth, with embellished covers. Price, (as before), five dollars. The publisher will welcome all new matter relating to the Tea question, and will be especially grateful for any hitherto unpublished portraits. Such material is desired for possible publication in a companion work to " Tea Leaves." All who desire the Portraits and Illustrations separate from this volume, to be used in works on American history, can obtain them from the Publisher. In conclusion, we thank our friends who have kindly assisted us, and if we have not given all credit by name, the neglect has been unintentional. A. O. CRANE, 2169 WASHINGTON ST., BOSTON, MASS. INTRODUCTION. Among the causes which led to the American Revolution, the one most prominent in the popular judgment is the "tax on tea," imposed by Great Britain on her American colonies. The destruction, in Boston harbor, in December, 1773, of the cargoes of tea sent to that port by the East India Company, was undoubtedly the proximate cause of that memorable event, and in view of this fact, the occurrence, " by far the most momentous in the annals of the town," says the historian Bancroft, merits a more thorough and particular considera- tion than it has yet received. The silence necessarily preserved by the actors in this daring exploit, respecting their connection with it, has ren- dered this part of the task one of no little difficulty. Their secret was remarkably well kept; and but for the family traditions which survive, we should know very little of the men who composed the famous Boston tea party. Nevertheless, the attempt to gather up the scattered frag- ments of personal reminiscence and biography, in order to give a little more completeness to this interesting chapter of our revolutionary history, is here made. The fortunate recovery, by the publisher of this volume, of the letters of the vi INTRODUCTION. American consignees to the East India Company, and other papers shedding light upon the transaction, affords material aid in the accomplishment of our purpose. When King Charles II. had finished that first cup of tea ever brewed in England, the gift of the newly-created East India Company, no sibyl was at hand to peer into the monarch's cup and foretell from its dregs, the dire disaster to his realm, hidden among those insignificant particles. Could a vision of those battered tea chests, floating in Boston harbor, with tu doces, in the legible handwriting of history, inscribed upon them, have been disclosed to him, even that careless, pleasure-loving prince would have been sobered by the lesson. It was left for his successor, George III., who failed to read the handwriting on the wall, visible to all but the willfully blind, to realize its meaning in the dismember- ment of an empire. A survey of the progress of the revolution up to the be- ginning of the year 1773, will help us to understand the political situation. Ten years of constant agitation had edu- cated the people of the colonies to a clear perception of their rights, and also to a knowledge that it was the fixed purpose of the home government to deprive them of the one they most valued, namely, that of being taxed with their own consent, through their local assemblies, as had always been the custom, and not at the arbitrary will of the British parliament a body in which they were not and could not be represented three thousand miles away. The strange thing about this is, that the people of Great Britain should not have seen in the light of their own past history what they have INTRODUCTION. vn since seen clearly enough that the Americans were only contending for principles for which their own ancestors had often fought, and which they had more than once succeeded in wresting from the grasp of arbitrary and tyrannical sover- eigns. Their difficulty seems to have been that they looked upon the Americans, not as equals, but as inferiors, as their subjects, and as having no rights that an Englishman was bound to respect. Even the celebrated moralist, Dr. Johnson, could say of the Americans, " They are a race of convicts, and ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short of hanging." King George III., that obstinate but well-meaning monarch, and his ministers, no doubt honestly believed that the re- publican tendencies of the colonists endangered British supremacy. Perhaps they were right in this, for it was the kind and degree of supremacy that was really in question. But in entertaining the belief that these tendencies could be eradicated at a blow, they were, as the event proved, grievously mistaken. Another moving cause for the new policy toward the colo- nies was the heavy taxation at home, a result of the late war. >" Some of this burden they hoped to transfer from their own shoulders to those of their transatlantic brethren. The stamp act of 1765, repealed in the year following, was in 1767, succeeded by Charles Townshend's revenue acts, imposing duties on paper, painters' colors, glass and tea. The Americans opposed this measure with the only weapon at their command the policy of non-importation. This policy, while causing much inconvenience to themselves, yet helped them materially in two ways. In the first place it stimulated vni INTRODUCTION. home manufactures, and accustomed the people to do without luxuries, and in the second place by distressing British mer- chants and manufacturers, it brought the united influence of these two powerful bodies to bear upon parliament for a change in its policy. The people of the colonies everywhere seconded the non- importation movement, entering at once upon a course of rigid self-denial, and their legislatures commended the scheme. An agreement, presented in the Virginia House of Burgesses, by Washington, was signed by every member. For more than a year, this powerful engine of retaliation waged war upon British commerce, in a constitutional way, before minis- ters would listen to petitions and remonstrances ; and it was not until virtual rebellion in the British capital, born of commercial distress, menaced the ministry, that the expostu- lations of the Americans were noticed, except with sneers. Early in the year 1770, the obnoxious act was repealed, except as regarded tea. This item was retained in order that the right of parliamentary taxation of the colonies might be upheld. The liberal leaders of parliament did their best to prevent this exception, and the subject was fully and ably discussed, but they were overruled. Besides these acts, which had aroused in the colonies a sentiment of union, and embodied an intelligent public opin- ion, there were others which had contributed to the same result. Such were the royal instructions by which, among other things, accused persons were to be sent to England, for trial. Still another, was the publication of a collection of letters from Governor Hutchinson, and other prominent co- lonial officials, revealing their agency in instigating the obnox- ious measures. These and other aggravating causes had at INTRODUCTION. ix length brought about that, without which, no revolution can succeed, organization. Committees of correspondence, local and general, had been created, and were now in full operation. One thing more was essential to the success of the colo- nists, union. Instead of pulling different ways, as from a variety of causes they had hitherto done, the different colonies must bring their combined efforts to bear in order to effect the desired result. This was brought about by the destruction of the tea in Boston harbor, and by the Boston port bill, and other coercive measures, its immediate consequence. The impolitic reservation of the duty on tea produced an association not to drink it, and caused all the merchants, except a few in Boston, to refuse its importation. Three hundred women of Boston, heads of families, among them many of the highest standing, had, as early as February, 1770, signed an agreement not to drink any tea until the impost clause of the revenue acts was repealed. The daugh- ters of liberty, both north and south, did the same. The young women of Boston followed the example of their mothers, and subscribed to the following pledge : " We, the daughters of those patriots who have, and do now appear for the public interest, and in that principally regard their posterity, as such do with pleasure engage with them in denying ourselves the drinking of foreign tea, in hopes to frustrate a plan that tends to deprive a whole community of all that is valuable in life." From this time forth tea was a proscribed beverage through- out the colonies. " Balsamic hyperion," made from the dried leaves of the raspberry plant ; thyme, extensively used by the women of Connecticut; and various other substitutes came into general use. The newspapers of the day abound with details of social gatherings, in which foreign tea was totally discarded. x INTRODUCTION. They also voiced the public abhorrence for it, or what it represented, by applying to it all the objurgatory and abusive epithets they could muster and their vocabulary was by no means limited such as "detestable," "cruel," "villainous," "pernicious," "fatal," "devilish," "fiendish," etc. Of course there were those who would not deny themselves the use of tea, drinking it clandestinely in garrets, or pre- paring it in coffee-pots to deceive the eye, resorting to any subterfuge in order to indulge in the use of their favorite beverage. These people, when found out, did not fail to receive the condemnation of the patriotic men and women, who, from principle, abstained. There was still a considerable consumption of tea in America, as the article could be obtained more cheaply from Holland than from the English East India Company, and on arrival here could easily be smuggled ashore. It was supposed that of the three millions of inhabitants of the colonies, one-third drank tea twice a day, Bohea being the kind preferred ; and it was estimated that the annual consumption, in Massachusetts alone, was two thousand four hundred chests, some eight hundred thousand pounds. Tea continued to arrive in Boston, but as no one would risk its sale, it was stored. The " Boston Gazette," in April, 1770, said: " There is not above one seller of tea in town who has not signed an agreement not to dispose of any tea until the late revenue acts are repealed." John Hancock offered one of his vessels, free of charge, to re-ship the tea then stored in Boston. His offer was accepted, and a cargo despatched to London. So strict was the watch kept upon the traders, that many of those suspected of illicit dealings in tea, among whom was Hancock himself, found INTRODUCTION. xi it convenient to publish cards declaring their innocence. Governor Hutchinson wrote at this time (April, 1770,) to Lord Hillsborough, the English secretary, " That the importers pleaded that they should be utterly ruined by this combination, but the Boston zealots had no bowels, and gave for answer, ' that if a ship was to bring us the plague, nobody would doubt what was necessary to be done with her;' but the present case is much worse than that." Theophilus Lillie, who was selling tea contrary to the agreement, found, one morning, a post planted before his door, upon which was a carved head, with the names of some tea importers on it, and underneath, a hand pointing towards his shop. One of his neighbors, an in- former, named Richardson, asked a countryman to break the post down with his cart. A crowd gathered, and boys threw stones and chased Richardson to his house. He fired into them with a shotgun, and killed a German lad of eleven years, named Snider. At his funeral, five hundred children walked in front of the bier; six of his school-fellows held the pall, and a large procession moved from liberty tree to the town- house, and thence to the bury ing-place. This exciting affair, preceded by a few days only, the memorable " Boston massa- cre" of March 5, 1770. The application of the East India Company to the British government for relief from pecuniary embarrassment, occa- sioned by the great falling off in its American tea trade, afforded the ministry just the opportunity it desired to fasten taxation upon the American colonies. The company asked permission to export tea to British America, free of duty, offering to allow government to retain sixpence per pound, as an exportation tariff, if they would take 'off the three per xii INTRODUCTION. cent, duty, in America. This gave an opportunity for con- ciliating the colonies in an honorable way, and also to procure double the amount of revenue. But no ! under the existing coercive policy, this request was of course inadmissible. At this time the company had in its warehouses upwards of seventeen millions of pounds, in addition to which the impor- tations of the current year were expected to be larger than usual. To such a strait was it reduced, that it could neither pay its dividends nor its debts. By an act of parliament, passed on May 10, 1773, "with little debate and no opposition," the company, on exportation of its teas to America, was allowed a drawback of the full amount of English duties, binding itself only to pay the three- pence duty, on its being landed in the English colonies. In accordance with this act, the lords-commissioners of the treasury gave the company a license (August 20, 1773,) for the exportation of six hundred thousand pounds, which were to be sent to Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Charleston, S.C., the principal American ports. As soon as this became known, applications were made to the directors by a number of merchants in the colonial trade, soliciting a share of what promised to be a very profitable business. The establishment of a branch East India house, in a central part of America, whence the tea could be distributed to other points, was sug- gested. The plan finally adopted was to bestow the agency on merchants, in good repute, in the colonies, who were friendly to the administration, and who could give satisfactory security, or obtain the guaranty of London houses. The company and its agents viewed this matter solely in a commercial light. No one supposed that the Ameri- cans would oppose the measure on the ground of abstract INTRODUCTION. XTII principle. The only doubt was as to whether the company could, merely with the threepenny duty, compete successfully with the smugglers, who brought tea from Holland. It was hoped they might, and that the difference would not com- pensate for the risk in smuggling. But the Americans at once saw through the scheme, and that its success would be fatal to their liberties. The new tea act, by again raising the question of general taxation, diverted attention from local issues, and concentrated it upon one which had been already fully discussed, and or which the popular verdict had been definitely made up. Right and justice were clearly on their side. It was not that they were poor and unable to pay, but because they would not submit to wrong. The amount of the tax was paltry, and had never been in question. Their case was not as in most revolutions that of a people who rose against real and palpable oppression. It was an abstract principle alone for which they contended. They were prosperous and happy. It was upon a community, at the very height of its pros- perity, that this insidious scheme suddenly fell, and it immedi- ately aroused a more general opposition than had been created by the stamp act. " The measure," says the judicious English historian, Massey, "was beneficial to the colonies; but when was a people engaged in a generous struggle for freedom, deviated by an insidious attempt to practice on their selfish interests ? " " The ministry believe," wrote Franklin, " that threepence on a pound of tea, of which one does not perhaps drink ten pounds a year, is sufficient to overcome all the patriotism of an American." The measure gave universal offence, not only as the enforcement of taxation, but as an odious monopoly of xiv INTRODUCTION. trade. To the warning of Americans that their adventure would end in loss, and to the scruples of the company, Lord North answered peremptorily, " It is to no purpose making objections, the king will have it so. The king means to try the question with America." How absurd was this assertion of prerogative, and how weak the government, was seen when on the first forcible resistance to his plans, the king was com- pelled to apply to the petty German states for soldiers. Lord North believed that no difficulty could arise, as America, under the new regulation, would be able to buy tea 1 from the com- pany at a lower price than from any other European nation, and that buyers would always go to the cheapest market. Before receiving intelligence of the passage of the new act, in the summer of 1773, political agitation in the colonies had in great measure subsided. The ministry had abandoned its design of transporting Americans to England for trial ; the people were prosperous ; loyal to the king ; considered themselves as fellow subjects with Britons, and indignantly repelled the idea of severing their political connection. The king, however, was obstinately bent upon maintaining the supreme authority of parliament to make laws binding on the colonies " in all cases whatsoever." He was unfortunate in having for his chief adviser, Lord North, who sought to please the king even against his own better judgment. He was still more unfortunate in North's colleagues, Mansfield, 1 Dr. Holmes, the annalist, says, that (now Carver,) Mass., between 1760 and tea began to be used in New England 1765. When ladies went to visiting par- in 1720. Small quantities, must, how- ties, each one carried her tea-cup, saucer, ever, have been made many years before, and spoon. The cups were of the best as small copper tea-kettles were in use china, very small, containing about as in Plymouth, in 1702. The first cast- much as a common wine-glass, iron tea-kettles were made in Plympton, INTRODUCTION. xv Sandwich, Germaine, Wedderburne and Thurlow, violent or corrupt men, wholly unfit for the grave responsibilities they had assumed. Governor Hutchinson 1 asserts that "when the intelligence first came to Boston it caused no alarm. The threepenny duty had been paid the last two years without any stir, and some of the great friends to liberty had been importers of tea. The body of the people were pleased with the prospect of drinking tea at less expense than ever. The only appar- ent discontent was among the importers of tea, as well those who had been legal importers from England, as others who had illegally imported from Holland, and the complaint was against the East India Company for monopolizing a branch of commerce which had been beneficial to a great number of merchants." The circular-letter of the Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence of October 21, 1773, by which time the public sentiment against the new regulation had been thor- oughly aroused, said of it: " It is easy to see how aptly this scheme will serve both to destroy the trade of the colonies and increase the revenue. How necessary then it is that each colony should take effectual methods to prevent this measure from having its designed effects." One of the Boston consignees writing to London, says, under date of i8th October: "But what difficulties may arise from the disaffection of the merchants and importers of tea to this measure of the East India Company, I am not yet able to say. It seems at present to be a matter of much specu- lation, and if one is to credit the prints, no small opposition will be made thereto. . . . My friends seem to think it will 1 Hist, of Mass., iii. 422. xvi INTRODUCTION. subside ; others are of a contrary opinion." Another, under date of October 3oth, gives it as his opinion that the un- easiness is fomented, if not originated, by persons concerned in the Holland trade, a trade which, he is informed, is much more practiced in the Southern governments than here. In a letter dated New York, November 5th, Abraham Lott, one of the New York consignees, says, that if the tea arrives subject to duty, " there will be no such thing as selling it, as the people would rather buy so much poison, as they say it is calculated to enslave them and their posterity, and are there- fore determined not to take what they call the nauseous draught." The tenor of these letters and of the American newspapers, must have given the British public an inkling of what was to come. It was thought by all the colonies that this was the precise point of time when it was absolutely necessary to make a stand, and that all opposition to parliamentary taxation must be for ever given up, if this critical moment was neglected. The only practical way open to defeat the measure seemed to be through popular demonstrations. The press now became more active than ever in its political discussions. As to the mode of payment of the tea duty, it said : " We know that on a certificate of its being landed here, the tribute is, by agreement, to be paid in London. The landing, therefore, is the point in view, and every nerve will be strained to obtain it." It was asked in New York, "are the Americans such blockheads as to care whether it be a hot red poker, or a red hot poker which they are to swallow, provided Lord North forces them to swallow one of the two ? " " All America is in a flame on account of the tea exporta- tion," wrote a British officer at New York to a friend in Lon- INTRODUCTION. xvn don. " The New Yorkers, as well as the Bostonians and Philadelphians, it seems, are determined that no tea shall be landed. They have published a paper in numbers called the ' Alarm.' It begins, ' Dear countrymen,' and goes on exhort- ing them to open their eyes, and then, like sons of liberty, throw off all connection with the tyrant the mother country.' They have on this occasion raised a company of artillery, and every day almost, are practicing at a target. Their inde- pendent companies are out, and exercise every day. The minds of the townspeople are influenced by the example of some of their principals. They swear that they will burn every tea-ship that comes in ; but I believe that our six and twelve pounders, with the Royal Welch Fusileers, will prevent anything of that kind." Philadelphia, the largest town in the colonies, led off in the work of opposing the plans of the home government. In a handbill signed " Scaevola," circulated there, with the heading, " By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall," the factors ap- pointed, by the East India Company were characterized as " political bombardiers to demolish the fair structure of liberty ; " and it was said that all eyes were fixed on them, and they were urged to refuse to act. At a large meeting held at the State House on October 18, resolutions were passed declaring that the duty on tea was a tax imposed on the colonists without their consent, and tended to render assemblies useless ; that the shipment by the East India Company was an attempt to enforce the tax, and that every one who should be concerned in the unloading, receiving or vending the tea, was an enemy to his country. In accordance with one of the resolutions of the meeting, a committee was appointed to wait on the consignees in that xvin INTRODUCTION. city, to request them, from regard to their own characters and the public peace, and good order of the city and Prov- ince, immediately to resign their appointment. The Messrs. Wharton gave a satisfactory answer, which was received with shouts of applause. Groans and hisses greeted the refusal of another firm to commit themselves, until the tea arrived. So general and so commanding was the movement, however, that in a few days they also resigned. " Be as- sured," wrote Thomas Wharton, one of the consignees, " this was as respectable a body of inhabitants as has been to- gether on any occasion, many of the first rank. Their pro- ceedings were conducted with the greatest decency and firmness, and without one dissentient voice." A few days after the action of Philadelphia, a meeting was held at the city hall, New York, (October 26,) when the tea consignees were denounced, and the attempted monopoly of trade was stigmatized as a " public robbery." The press was active, and handbills were circulated freely among the people. A series of these called the " Alarm," has been already mentioned. '' If you touch one grain of the accursed tea you are undone," was the sentiment it conveyed. " Amer- ica is threatened with worse than Egyptian slavery. . . . The language of the revenue act is, that you have no property you can call your own, that you are the vassals, the live stock, of Great Britain." Such were the bold utterances of the New Yorkers. Within three weeks the New York agents withdrew from the field. It was thereupon an- nounced that government would take charge of the tea upon its arrival. The New York Sons of Liberty at once reorganized; owners and occupants of stores were warned against harboring the INTRODUCTION. xix tea, and all who bought, sold or handled it, were threatened as enemies to the country. Handbills were issued, notifying the " Mohawks " to hold themselves in readiness for active work. At the very moment when the tea was being des- troyed in Boston, handbills were circulating in New York calling a meeting of " all friends to the liberties and trade of America," for one o'clock the next day, at the city hall, " on business of the utmost importance." John Lamb, one of the most active of the Sons of Liberty of New York, afterwards a colonel of artillery in the Revo- lutionary army, was the speaker at the meeting, and the large assembly unanimously voted that the tea should not be landed. The governor sent a message to the people by the mayor, engaging upon his honor that the tea should not be sold, but should remain in the barracks until the council advised to the delivery of it, or orders were received from England how to dispose of it, and that it should be delivered in an open manner at noon-day. The mayor hav- ing asked if the proposals were satisfactory, there was a general cry of ' no ! no ! " The people were at length quieted with the assurance that the ship should be sent back. It was at Boston, the ringleader in rebellion, that the issue was to be tried. It was then the most flourishing o commercial town on the continent, and contained a popula- tion of about sixteen thousand, almost exclusively of English origin. Though there were no sidewalks in the town, and, except when driven aside by carts or carriages, every one walked in the middle of the street, "where the pavement was the smoothest," an English visitor had twenty years before pronounced it to be, "as large and better built than xx INTRODUCTION. Bristol, or any other city in England except London." The only land communication between Boston and the surround- ing towns at that period, was by way of the narrow neck at its southern extremity. Her inhabitants were industrious, frugal and enterprising, and were equally distinguished for their pertinacity and independence. They were nearly all of the same church, and were strict in the observance of Sunday. Though many had acquired a competence, few were very rich or very poor, and their style of living had little diversity. In her free schools all were taught to read and write. A score of enterprising booksellers, among them Henry Knox, imported into the colony all the standard books on law, politics, history and theology, while a free press and town meetings instructed her citizens in political affairs. Her mechanics, many of whom were ship-builders, were ac- tive in all town meetings. Ever jealous of her rights, she had grown up in their habitual exercise, and was early and strenuous in her opposition to the claims of parliamentary supremacy. Even her divines, many of whom were distin- guished by their learning and eloquence, gave the sanction of religion to the cause of freedom. For these reasons Boston was the fittest theatre for the decisive settlement of the grave question at issue. Two men of very different metal were especially promi- nent in Boston at this time, Thomas Hutchinson, the royal governor, and Samuel Adams, the man of the people. Both were natives of the town, and graduates of Harvard College. Hutchinson, during a public life of over thirty years, had held the offices of representative, councillor, chief justice and lieutenant-governor. No man was so experi- enced in the affairs of the colony, no one so familiar with its INTRODUCTION. xxi history, usages and laws. As a legislator and as a judge he had manifested ability and impartiality. Unfortunately for his peace of mind, and for his reputa- tion, he set himself squarely against the popular movement. He advised altering the charters of the New England pro- vinces; the dismemberment of Massachusetts; the establish- ment of a citadel in Boston; the stationing of a fleet in its harbor; the experiment of martial law; the transportation of " incendiaries" to England, and the prohibition of the New England fisheries, at the same time entreating of his corres- pondents in England to keep his opinions secret. For these errors of judgment he paid dearly in the oblo- quy heaped upon him by his countrymen, and his exile from his native land, in which he earnestly desired that his bones might be laid. The recent publication of his diary and letters shows that he not only acted honestly and conscien- tiously in opposing the popular current, but that he, at the same time, used his influence to mitigate the severe measures of government. He counselled them against the stamp act ; against closing the port of Boston, and against some features of the regulating act, as too harsh and impolitic. It was his sincere wish that his countrymen would admit the suprem- acy of parliament, and he believed that such a result could be attained without bloodshed. He was courteously received in England, where his course was very generally approved, and offered a baronetcy, which, however, he declined on the score of the insufficiency of his estate. His judgment in American affairs, though often sought by the ministry, seems to have been seldom followed. Candor requires that in the light of his letters and diary, in which his real sentiments xxn INTRODUCTION. appear, the harsh judgment usually passed upon Hutchinson, should be materially modified. His opponent, Samuel Adams, the great agitator, possessed precisely those qualities that the times required. His polit- ical creed was, that the colonies and England had a com- mon king, but separate and independent legislatures, and as early as the year 1769, he had been a zealous advocate of independence. He was the organizer of the Revolution, through the committees of correspondence, which he initiated, and was one of those who matured the plan of a general congress. A genuine lover of liberty, he believed in the capacity of the Americans for self-government. It was Samuel Adams who, the day after the "massacre" of March 5, 1770, was chosen chairman of the committee, to demand of the governor the immediate removal of the troops from the town of Boston. The stern and inflexible patriot clearly exposed the fallacy of Hutchinson's reply to the demand, and compelled the governor to yield. No flattery could lull his vigilance, no sophistry deceive his penetration. Difficul- ties did not discourage, nor danger appall him. Though poor, he possessed a lofty and incorruptible spirit, and though grave and austere in manner, was warm in his feel- ings. His affable and persuasive address, reconciled con- flicting interests, and promoted harmonious action. As a speaker he was pure, concise, logical and impressive, and the energy of his diction was not inferior to the depth of his mind. As a political writer he was clear and convincing, and was the author of able state papers. No man had equal influence over the popular mind with Samuel Adams, vrho has been aptly styled, "the last of the Puritans." At Boston, where the feeling against receiving the tea INTRODUCTION. xxm was strongest, the consignees were, " by a singular infelicity," either relatives of the hated governor, or in sympathy with the odious administration. Two of them were his sons. Richard Clarke was his nephew. One of Clarke's daugh- ters married Copley, the painter, and became the mother of Lord Lyndhurst, the future lord-chancellor of England. Benjamin Faneuil and Joshua Winslow were respectable merchants. All but Faneuil were connected by marriage. They were well aware of the temper of the people, and of the proceedings in Philadelphia and New York ; and would doubtless have yielded to the popular demands, but for Hutchinson. Public sentiment was stimulated against them by representing them as crown officers, whereas they were only factors. They were thus put upon the footing of the obnoxious stamp officers. The North End Caucus, 1 composed mostly of mechanics, met frequently to consider what should be done, and voted (October 23d,) that they would oppose with their lives and fortunes, the vending of any tea that might be sent to the town for sale by the East India Company. " We were so careful," says Paul Revere, " that our meetings should be kept secret, that every time we met, every person swore upon the Bible not to discover any of our transactions, but 1 This body, which originally consisted the committees of public service were of sixty-one members, with Dr. Thomas formed, and measures of defence, and Young for its president, was organized by resolves for the destruction of the tea, Dr. Joseph Warren, who, with one other discussed. It was here, when the best person, drew up its regulations. Its mode of expelling the regulars from usual place of meeting was at William Boston was under consideration, that Campbell's house, near the North Bat- John Hancock exclaimed, " Burn Boston, tery, though its sessions were sometimes and make John Hancock a beggar, if the held at the Green Dragon tavern. Here public good requires it." xxiv INTRODUCTION. to Hancock, Warren or Church, and one or two more leaders." The Caucus and the Long-Room Club were local organi- zations, and were all included in the larger and more im- portant one, known as " The Sons of Liberty." This association pervaded nearly all the colonies. It was first known in Boston as the " Union Club," and gained its later name from the phrase employed in the British parliament by Col. Barre, in his famous speech. It was formed in 1765, soon after the passage of the stamp act, and had among its members most of the leading patriots of the day. Their organization was secret, with private pass-words, to protect them from Tory spies. On public occasions, each member wore, suspended from his neck, a medal, on one side of which was the figure of a stalwart arm, grasping in its hand a pole, surmounted with a cap of liberty, and sur- rounded by the words, " Sons of Liberty." On the reverse was a representation of Liberty Tree. It was under this tree, in the open space known as " Liberty Hall," at the junction of Newbury, Orange and Essex Streets, that their public meetings in Boston were held. The Sons of Liberty issued warrants for the arrest of suspected persons ; arranged in secret caucus the prelimin- aries of elections, and the programme for public celebrations ; and in fact were the mainspring, under the guidance of the popular leaders, of every public demonstration against the government. In Boston they probably numbered about three hundred. The i4th of August, the anniversary of the repeal of the stamp act, was celebrated by them for several years, with grand display and festivity. Under date of January 15, 1766, John Adams says, in his INTRODUCTION. XXV diary : " I spent the evening with the Sons of Liberty, at their own apartment, in Hanover Square, near the Tree of Liberty. It is a counting-room, in Chase & Speakman's dis- tillery; a very small room it is. There were present, John Avery, a distiller, of liberal education ; John Smith, the brazier; Thomas Crafts, 1 the painter; Benjamin Edes, 2 the printer ; Stephen Cleverly, brazier ; Thomas Chase, distiller ; Joseph Fields, master of a vessel ; Henry Bass ; George Trott, jeweller ; and Henry Welles. I was very cordially and respectfully treated by all present. We had punch, wine, pipes and tobacco, biscuit and cheese, etc. They chose a committee to make preparations for grand rejoicings upon the arrival of the news of a repeal of the stamp act." The counting-room of which Adams speaks, could, from its small size, have been the committee-room of the body only. Governor Bernard wished to send some of the leading Sons of Liberty to England, for trial, but did not dare do so. New York was the centre of the organization, to which all 1 Thomas Crafts was, in 1789, a painter and japanner. opposite the site of the great tree (corner of Boylston and Washington Streets). He became a member of the Masonic Lodge of St. Andrew in 1762. 2 Benjamin Edes, journalist, born in Charlestown, Mass., Oct. 14, 1732; died in Boston, December 11, 1803. In 1755, he began, with John Gill, the publica- tion of the " Boston Gazette and Coun- try Journal," a newspaper of deserved popularity, unsurpassed in its patriotic zeal for liberty, the chosen mouth-piece of the Whigs. To its columns, Otis, the Adamses, Quincy and Warren, were 4 constant contributors. Their printing- office, on the corner of Queen (now Court) Street and Dassett's Alley (now Franklin Avenue), was the place of meeting of a party of the " Mohawks," on the after- noon of December 16, 1773. During the siege of Boston, the " Gazette " was is- sued at Watertown. It was discontinued September 17, 1798. At the opening of the war, Mr. Edes possessed a handsome property, which was wholly lost by the depreciation of the currency. Edes was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1760, and a promi- nent " Son of Liberty." XXVI INTRODUCTION. communications from the. other colonies were sent. A cor- respondent in London kept them informed of the proceed- ings and designs of the British ministry. At one o'clock in the morning of the 2d of November, 1773, the consignees were aroused from their slumbers by a violent knocking at their doors, and a summons was left for them to appear at Liberty Tree on the following Wednesday, to resign their commissions ; and not to fail at their peril. A handbill was, at the same time, posted about the town, notifying the people of Boston and the vicinity to be present at the same time and place, to witness their resignation. On the appointed day, a large flag was hung out at Liberty Tree. The public crier announced the meeting, at the top of his voice, and the church bells, were rung for an hour. At noon, five hundred persons assembled. Samuel Adams, John Hancock and William Phillips, representatives of Boston, were present, with William Cooper, the patriotic town clerk, and the board of selectmen. The consignees failing to appear, a committee, consisting of William Molineux, William Dennie, Dr. Joseph Warren, Dr. Benjamin Church, 1 Henderson Inches, Edward Proctor, Nathaniel 1 Dr. Benjamin Church, physician, orator and poet, grandson of the famous Indian fighter of the name ; born in New- port, R. I., August 24, 1734; was lost at sea in May, 1776. He graduated at Har- vard College in 1754; studied medicine in London, and after his return to Bos- ton, became eminent as a surgeon. For several years previous to the Revolution, he was a conspicuous and leading Whig. He was a representative, a member of the Provincial Congress of 1774, and physician-general to the patriot army. Pecuniary embarrassment is supposed to INTRODUCTION. XXVII Barber, Gabriel Johonnot, 1 and Ezekiel Cheever, waited on them at Clarke's warehouse, at the foot of King (now State) Street, where they, together with a number of their friends, had assembled. As they passed the town house, still stand- ing at the head of this street, Hutchinson, who saw the procession, says that " the committee were attended by a large body of the people, many of them not of the lowest rank." Molineux was the spokesman. " From whom are you a committee ? " asked Clarke. " From the whole people," was the reply. " Who are the committee ? " "I am one," said Molineux, and he named the rest. " What is your request ? " " That you give us your word to sell none of the teas in have led to his defection from the cause of his country. In September, 1775, an intercepted letter of his, in characters, to Major Cain, in Boston, was deciphered ; and October 3, 1775, he was convicted by a court martial, of which Washington was president, of "holding a criminal correspondence with the enemy." Con- fined in jail at Norwich, Conn., he was released in May, 1776, on account of failing health ; sailed for the West Indies, and was never afterwards heard from. 1 Gabriel Johonnot, born in Boston, 1748; died in Hamden, Me., October 9, 1820. Zacharie, his father, a Huguenot, was a distiller and merchant. His dwell- ing-house and store was on Orange Street, and his distillery on Harvard Street, directly opposite. At the bottom of the street was his wharf, wooden distillery, storehouses, etc. The mansion house and store were burned in the great fire, 2oth April, 1 787. Gabriel was a member of St. John's Lodge, Boston, 1780, and a charter member of Hancock Lodge, Castine, Me., 1794. He was chairman of a committee appointed by the company of Cadets, of Boston, August 15, 1774, to proceed to Salem, and return to Governor Gage, the standard presented to them; and was Lieutenant-Colonel of the I4th Regiment of the Massachusetts line, known as the Marblehead regiment, com- manded by Colonel Glover. He removed to Castine, Me., soon after the Revolu- tionary war ; took a prominent part in town affairs, and at one time represented the town of Penobscot in the Massachu- setts Legislature. xxvin INTRODUCTION. your charge, but return them to London in the same bottoms in which they were shipped. Will you comply ? " " I shall have nothing to do with you," was the rough and peremptory reply, in which the other consignees, who were present, concurred. Molineux then read the resolve, passed at Liberty Tree, declaring that those who should refuse to comply with the request of the people, were " enemies to their country," and should be dealt with accordingly. When the committee reported the result to the crowd outside, the cry was raised, " Out with them ! out with them ! " Those within attempted to close the doors ; but the people unhinged them, and carried them off. Justice Nathaniel Hatch, who, in the king's name, now commanded the peace, was hooted at and struck, when the people were persuaded to desist. The committee returned to Liberty Tree,- where they reported to the meeting, which quietly dispersed. Of those composing this gathering, the consignees wrote to the East India Company, as follows : " They consisted chiefly of people of the lowest rank ; very few respectable trades, men, as we are informed, appeared amongst them. The selectmen say they were present to prevent disorder." There can be little doubt that the political assemblies of that day, as do those at the present time, fairly represented the body of the people. The mechanics of Boston, whatever their rank in the social scale, were the active patriots of the revolutionary period. The Sons of Liberty having failed, and the Tories asserting that the meeting at Liberty Tree was irregular, petitioners for a town meeting declared that the people were alarmed at a report that the tea had been shipped to America, and feared that the tribute would be exacted, and that the liberties, for INTRODUCTION. xxix which they had so long contended, would be lost to them and their posterity. A meeting was therefore called by the selectmen for the next day, at ten o'clock in the forenoon. That night a threatening letter was placed under the door of Mr. Faneuil, one of the consignees, warning them that a much longer delay in complying, would not fail to bring upon them " the just reward of their avarice and insolence." The town meeting, held on the 5th of November, was fully attended, and was presided over by John Hancock. After due consideration, it adopted the resolves of the Phila- delphians of October 18, declaring that freemen have an inherent right to dispose of their property ; that the tea tax was a mode of levying contributions on them without their consent ; that its purpose tended to render assemblies use- less, and to introduce arbitrary government ; that a steady opposition to this ministerial plan was a duty which every freeman owed to his country, to himself, and to his posterity ; that the East India Company's importation was an open attempt to enforce this plan ; and that whoever countenanced the unloading, vending or receiving the tea, was an enemy to his country. A committee, consisting of the moderator, Henderson Inches, Benjamin Austin, and the selectmen of the town, were chosen to wait on the consignees and request them, from a regard to their own characters, and the peace and good of the town and province, immediately to resign their appointment. At this meeting, a Tory handbill, called the " Tradesmen's Protest," against the proceedings of the merchants on the subject of tea importation, was introduced. After the read- ing, without comment, the tradesmen present were desired to collect themselves at the south side of the hall, where xxx INTRODUCTION. the question was put whether they acknowledged the " Trades- men's Protest," and the whole, amounting to at least four hundred, voted in the negative. The paper, its printer, and those who circulated it, were denounced as base, false and scandalous. This gave a finishing blow to the " Protest," of which nothing more was heard. . After voting that it was the just expectation of the town that no one of its merchants should, under any pretext whatever, import any tea liable to duty, the meeting adjourned until three o'clock. At that hour there was again a full assembly. The com- mittee reported that they had communicated the resolves of the town to the Messrs. Clarke and Mr. Faneuil, who in- formed them that they must consult Thomas and Elisha Hutchinson, the other consignees, who were at Milton, and could not give an answer until the following Monday. Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, and Molineux were then desired to acquaint Messrs. Clarke and Faneuil, that the town expected an immediate answer from them. This was very soon received, and pronounced unsatisfactory, by a unanimous vote. John Hancock, John Pitts, Samuel Adams, Samuel Abbott, Joseph Warren, William Powell, and Na- thaniel Appleton, 1 were chosen a committee to wait on the 1 Nathaniel Appleton, Commissioner Street, son of Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Apple- of Loans for the State of Massachusetts, ton, of Cambridge; died in June, 1789, a resident of Atkinson (now Congress) aged 66. INTRODUCTION. xxxi Hutchinsons, and request an immediate resignation, and the meeting adjourned until the next day. On Saturday, Faneuil Hall was again crowded. The committee reported that it could not find Elisha Hutchin- son, either at Milton or Boston. Thomas Hutchinson, Jr., informed them, in a letter, that when he and his brother were appointed factors, and the tea arrived, they would be sufficiently informed to answer the request of the inhabitants. This reply stirred up some of the hot blood in the assem- bly, and a cry of " to arms ! to arms ! " was received with applause and clapping of hands. Discretion, as usual, prevailed, and the meeting voted that the replies were " daringly affrontive " to the town, and then dissolved. The governor tried to collect evidence of the inflammatory speeches that had been made, but could find no person willing to give it. A quiet week followed. The tea-ships were nearing the harbor, and the journals were filled with political essays generally, strong, well put, and elevating in tone. Locke, in the " Boston Gazette," said : " It will be considered by Americans whether the dernier ressort, and only asylum for their liberties, is not an American Commonwealth." It was evident to the leaders on both sides, that a crisis was at hand. Hutchinson foresaw that this " would prove a more difficult affair than any which had preceded it ; " and in his letters admits that the mass of the people acted in the conviction that their rights were invaded. Believing the supremacy of parliament was in issue, he determined, though standing almost alone, and in opposition to the advice of his political friends, to make no concession. In a letter written at this period, to Lord Dartmouth, Secretary for the xxxii INTRODUCTION. Colonies, he describes, with minuteness, the state of political affairs. He says : . . . "At present, the spirits of the people in the town of Boston are in a great ferment. Everything that has been in my power, without the Council, I have done, and continue to do, for the preservation of the peace arid good order of the town. If I had the aid, which I think the Council might give, my endeav- ors would be more effective. They profess to disapprove of the tumultuous, violent proceedings of the people, but they wish to see the professed end of the people in such proceedings attained in the regular way ; and, instead of joining with me in proper measures to discourage an opposition to the landing of the teas expected, one and another of the gentlemen, of the greatest influence, inti- mate that the best thing that can be done to quiet the people, would be the refusal of the gentlemen to whom the teas are consigned, to execute the trust ; and they declare they would do it if it was their case, and would advise all their connex- ions to do it. Nor will they ever countenance a measure which shall tend to carry into execution an act of parliament which lays taxes upon the colonies, for the purpose of a revenue. The same principle prevails with by far the greater part of the merchants who, though in general they declare against mobs and violence, yet they as generally wish the tea may not be imported. The persons to whom the teas are consigned, declare that whilst they can be protected from violence to their persons, they will not give way to the unreasonable demands which have been made of them. I wish the vessels bound to New York may arrive before those designed to this Province. Governor Tryon I know to be well disposed to do his duty, and the people there are less disposed to any vio- lent proceedings, as I have reason to think, than they are here, and an example of peace and good order there may have its influence here." Samuel Adams, Hancock, Warren, Molineux and Young, the most prominent of the popular leaders, apprehended fully the responsibilities of the hour. They had a great principle to maintain, and the courage to uphold it. They knew that, though the people were with them, the failure to obtain the resignation of the consignees had inspired doubt in other quarters, as to whether Boston would meet the expectations of the patriots of other colonies. To such as questioned whether it was not premature to push matters to extremities, they replied, that if fidelity to the common INTRODUCTION. xxxm cause was likely to bring on a quarrel with Great Britain, this was the best time for it to come. " Our credit," they said, " is at stake ; we must venture, and unless we do, we shall be discarded by the Sons of Liberty in the other colonies, whose assistance we may expect, upon emergencies, in case they find us steady, resolute and faithful." With men like these " to the fore," though independence was scarcely dreamed of, revolution was a foregone conclusion. Thomas Mifflin, an active patriot of Philadelphia, sub- sequently a general, and governor of Pennsylvania, when in Boston, said to some of these men, "will you engage that the tea shall not be landed ? if so, I will answer for Phila- delphia." And they pledged their honor that its landing should be prevented. On November n, Hutchinson issued the following order: " Massachusetts Bay. By the Governor. To Colonel John Hancock, Captain of the Governor's Company of Cadets, &c. The Cadet company, under your command, having signalized itself heretofore upon a very necessary occasion, and the late tumultuous proceedings in the town of Boston requiring that more than usual caution should be taken at this time for the preservation of the peace, I think it proper that you should forthwith summon each person belonging to the company to be ready, and to appear in arms at such place of parade as you think fit, whensoever there may be a tumult- uous assembly of the people, in violation of the laws, in order to their being aiding and assisting to the civil magistrate as occasion may require." This company, which was immediately under the govern- or's orders, had been of service during the stamp act riots, and had often been complimented for its discipline. The evident intent of this order, to use military force to suppress public assemblages, and the stationing of companies of Brit- ish troops in the neighboring towns, augmented the uneasi- ness already felt. There was now, besides the soldiers at xxxiv INTRODUCTION. the castle, a considerable naval force in the harbor, under Admiral John Montagu. On the morning of November 17, a little party of family friends had assembled at the house of Richard Clarke, Esq., known as the " Cooke House," near the King's Chapel, on School Street, to welcome young Jonathan Clarke, who had just arrived from London. All at once the inmates of the dwelling were startled by a violent beating at the door, accompanied with shouts and the blowing of horns, creating considerable alarm. The ladies were hastily bestowed in places of safety, while the gentlemen secured the avenues of the lower story, as well as they were able. The yard and vicinity were soon filled with people. One of the inmates warned them, from an upper window, to disperse, but getting no other reply than a shower of stones, he dis- charged a pistol. Then came a shower of missiles, which broke in the lower windows, and damaged some of the furniture. Influential patriots had by this time arrived, and put a stop to the proceedings, and the mob quietly dispersed. The consignees now called on the governor and council for protection. During the day, an arrival from London brought the news that three ships, having the East India Company's tea on board, had sailed for Boston, and that others had cleared for Philadelphia. A petition for a town meeting was at once presented to the selectmen, representing that the teas were shortly ex- pected, and that it was apprehended that the consignees might now be sufficiently informed on the terms of its consignment, INTRODUCTION. xxxv to be able to give their promised answer to the town. A meeting was therefore appointed for the next day. John Hancock was the moderator of the last town meeting, in which public sentiment was legally brought to bear upon the consignees. It was held on the i8th. The meeting was quiet and orderly, and its business was speedily transacted. A committee was appointed to wait on the consignees for a final answer to the request of the town, that they resign their appointment. This was their reply : "BOSTON, November 18, 1773. Sir, In answer to the message we have this day received from the town, we beg leave to say that we have not yet received any order from the East India Company respecting the expected teas, but we are now further acquainted that our friends in England have entered into general engagements in our behalf, merely of a commercial nature, which puts it out of our power to comply with the request of the town. We are, sir, your most humble servants, RICHARD CLARKE & SONS, BENJ. FANEUIL, JR., for self and JOSHUA WINSLOW, Esq., ELISHA HUTCHINSON, for my Brother and self." Immediately on receiving this answer, the meeting, without vote or comment, dissolved. " This sudden dissolution struck more terror into the consignees," says Hutchinson, " than the most minatory resolves ; " and but for his efforts, they would have followed the example of those of Phila- delphia, who had resigned six weeks before. Next day (November 19), the consignees, in a petition to the governor and council, asked leave to resign themselves, and the property committed to their care, to his Excellency and their Honors, as guardians and protectors of the people, and that means might be devised for the landing and secur- xxxvi INTRODUCTION. ing the teas, until the petitioners could safely dispose of them, or could receive directions from their constituents. Their action was the cause of much comment in the news- papers, and debate in the council. It was urged in oppo- sition to the scheme, that it was no part of the legitimate functions of this body to act as trustees and storekeepers for certain factors of the East India Company. In a letter to a friend, dated November 24, Hutchinson thus expresses his views of the situation. He says : " When I saw the inhabitants of the town of Boston, assembled under color of law, and heard of the open declaration that we are now in a state of nature, and that we have a right to take up arms ; and when in a town meeting, as I am informed, a call to arms was received with clapping and general applause ; when a tumultuous assembly of people can, from time to time, attack the persons and the property of the king's subjects ; and when assemblies are tolerated from night to night, in the public town hall ; to counsel and determine upon further unlawful measures, and dark proposals and resolutions are made and agreed to there ; when the infection is industriously spreading and the neighboring towns not only join their committees with the committee of Boston, but are assembled in town meetings to approve of the doings of the town of Boston ; and, above all, when upon repeated summoning of the Council, they put off any advice to me from time to time, and I am obliged to consent to it, because all the voices there, as far as they declare their minds, I have reason to fear, would rather confirm than discourage the people in their irregular proceedings, under all these circumstances, I think it time to deliberate whether his majesty's service does not call me to retire to the castle, where I may, with safety to my person, more freely give my sense of the criminality of these proceedings than whilst I am in the hands of the people, some of whom, and those most active, don't scruple to declare their designs against me." And he concludes this doleful story with the question, " What am I in duty bound to do ? " His position was cer- tainly a very uncomfortable one. Frequent conferences with the consignees were held by the selectmen of Boston. " Though we labored night and day in the affair, all our efforts could not produce an agree- INTRODUCTION. xxxvn ment between them and the town." So wrote John Scollay, 1 chairman of the Board of Selectmen, who also informs us, in a letter written December 23, that there was a way by which the consignees might have avoided trouble. " Had they," writes he, " on the terms of first application to them, offered to have stored the tea, subject to the inspection of a committee of gentlemen, till they could write their principals, and until that time (agreed that) no duty should be paid, which no doubt the customs officers would have consented to, I am persuaded the town would have closed with them." The selectmen told the consignees plainly that nothing less than sending the tea back to England would satisfy the people. Some of their Tory friends also urged them to arrange matters in this way, but they would only agree (Nov. 27) that nothing should be done in a clandestine way; that the vessels should come up to the wharves, and that when they received the orders that accompanied the teas, they would hand in proposals to the selectmen, to be laid before the town. They meant only to gain time. They were determined to make the issue with the popular leaders 1 The Scollays were an old Scotch one of Scollay's daughters. Col. William family. A John Scollay, the first men- Scollay, apothecary and druggist, son of tion of whom is found here, in 1692 John, resided at first on or near the leased the Winnisimmet ferry for one spot where the Museum stands, and his year. John, whose name is conspicuous garden extended back to Court Square, in the early Revolutionary records of He was associated with Charles Bulfinch Boston, was a merchant, and was chair- and others, in the improvement of Frank- man of the Board of Selectmen, from lin Place, now Franklin Street, where 1774 to 1790. His portrait, by Copley, they erected the first block of buildings represents a portly, florid man, with a in Boston. Col. William was commander powdered wig, seated, his hand resting of the Independent Company of Cadets, on a ledger. Thomas Melvill married xxxvin INTRODUCTION. on this question. They were backed by the governor and the influential Tories, and no doubt believed that they could carry their point. On Monday, the 22d, the committees of correspondence of Dorchester, Brookline, Roxbury and Cambridge, met the Boston committee at the selectmen's chamber, Faneuil Hall. They resolved unanimously to use their joint influence to prevent the landing and sale of the teas ; prepared a letter to be sent to the other towns, representing that they were reduced to the dilemma, either to sit down in quiet, under this and every burden that might be put upon them, or to rise up in resistance, as became freemen ; to impress the absolute necessity of making immediate and effectual oppo- sition to the detestable measure, and soliciting their advice and co-operation. Charlestown was " so zealous in the cause," that its committee was added to the others. This body continued to hold daily conferences, " like a little senate," says Hutchinson. The "Gazette" of November 22, said: "Americans! defeat this last effort of a most pernicious, expiring faction, and you may sit under your own vines and fig trees, and none shall, hereafter, dare to make you afraid." On the 26th, the men of Cambridge assembled, and after adopting the Philadelphia resolves, " very unanimously" voted, " That as Boston was struggling for the liberties of their country, they could no longer stand idle spectators, but were ready, on the shortest notice, to join with it, and other towns, in any measure that might be thought proper, to deliver themselves and posterity from slavery." On Sunday, the 28th, the ship " Dartmouth," Captain Hall, (From f/tt- original, in fhe possession of GEORGE H. ALLAN, Boston.) /7 JTQ - /000, INTRODUCTION. XLI owned by the Quaker, Francis Rotch, l arrived in Boston harbor, with one hundred and fourteen chests of tea, and anchored below the castle. As the news spread, there was great excitement. Despite the rigid New England ob- servance of the Sabbath, the selectmen immediately met, 1 Francis Rotch, a Quaker merchant, part owner of the " Dartmouth " and the " Beaver," was born in Nantucket, Mass., 30th September, 1750, and died in New Bedford, in May, 1822. Joseph, his father, the founder of a family of eminent merchants, was born in Salis- bury, England, in 1704, and died in New Bedford, 24th November, 1784. In early life he settled in Nantucket, and rose from poverty to affluence by his indus- try, energy and enterprise, gaining, at the same time, universal esteem for his integrity. These characteristics he trans- mitted to his sons, William, Joseph and Francis, especially to William, whose commercial transactions were of the most extensive character. All were largely concerned in the whale fisheries of Nantucket, of which they may almost be said to have been the founders. Francis was in England for a short time in 1773, but had returned home before his tea ships arrived. This affair was a very troublesome one for a young man of twenty-three to manage, as there was a tremendous pressure brought to bear upon him by Samuel Adams, and other influential patriots, to return the teas to England. He yielded temporarily to this pressure, promising the meeting of 6 November 3oth, that the tea should go back ; but, probably after consultation with his counsel, Sampson Salter Blowers and John Adams, decided to withdraw his promise. Rotch pleaded that a com- pliance would ruin him, and as he could not obtain a pass for his ships, they would either have been sunk by the British batteries, or captured and con- fiscated under the revenue laws. He succeeded eventually in escaping loss in the affair, as the East India Company paid him the freight due on the cargoes of teas. His ship, the " Bedford," if, said to have been the first to display the American flag on the Thames, after the war. The family settled in New Bedford, in 1768. He married his cousin, Nancy Rotch, who, at the time of her death, 24th April, 1867, was nine-two years of age. The accompanying portrait is copied from a silhouette, by Miers, pro- file painter, in Strand, London, ap- parently about 1795. It is very delicately painted, on a hard plaster surface. The features are well marked, and the lace ruffle at the bosom, and the queue, are exceedingly well done. It is now in the possession of Mr. George H. Allan, who received it from his uncle, A. A. Rotch. XLII INTRODUCTION. and remained in session until nine o'clock in the evening, in the expectation of receiving the promised proposal of the consignees. These gentlemen were not to be found, and on the next day, bidding a final adieu to Boston, they took up their quarters at the castle. Hutchinson advised the consignees to order the vessels, when they arrived, to anchor below the castle, that if it should appear unsafe to land the tea, they might go to sea again, and when the first ship arrived she anchored there accordingly, but when the master came up to town, Mr. Adams and others, a committee of the town, ordered him at his peril to bring the ship up to land the other goods, but to suffer no tea to be taken out. The committee of correspondence, who also held a session that day, seeing that time was precious, and that the tea once entered it would be out of the power of the consignees to send it back, obtained the promise of the owner not to enter his ship till Tuesday, and authorized Samuel Adams to summon the committees and townspeople of the vicinity to a mass meeting, in Boston, on the next morning. The invitation read as follows : " A part of the tea shipped by the East India Company is now arrived in this harbor, and we look upon ourselves bound to give you the earliest intimation of it, and we desire that you favor us with your company at Faneuil Hall, at nine o'clock to-morrow forenoon, there to give us your advice what steps are to be immediately taken, in order effectually to prevent the impending evil, and we request you to urge your friends in the town, to which you belong, to be in readi- ness to exert themselves in the most resolute manner, to assist this town in its efforts for saving this oppressed country." The journals of Monday announced that the "Dartmouth" had anchored off Long Wharf, and that other ships with the poisonous herb might soon be here. They also contained INTRODUCTION. XLIII a call for a public meeting, as announced in the following handbill, already printed and distributed throughout the town : " Friends ! Brethren ! Countrymen ! That worst of plagues, the detested tea, shipped for this port by the East India Company, is now arrived in this harbor; the hour of destruction or manly opposition to the machinations of tyranny stares you in the face ; every friend to his country, to himself, and posterity, is now called upon to meet at Faneuil Hall, at nine o'clock this day, (at which time the bells will ring,) to make a united and successful resistance to this last, worst and most destructive measure of administration. Boston, November 29, 1773." ^ At nine o'clock the bells were rung, and the people, to the number of at least five thousand, thronged in and around Faneuil Hall. This edifice, then about half as large as now, was entirely inadequate to hold the concourse that had gathered there. Jonathan Williams, 1 a citizen of character and wealth, was chosen moderator. The selectmen were John Scollay, John Hancock, Timothy Newell, Thomas Newhall, Samuel Austin, Oliver Wendell, 2 and John Pitts. The patriotic and efficient town clerk, William Cooper, 3 1 Jonathan Williams, a distinguished merchant and patriot, captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- pany, in 1751; died March 27, 1788. Jonathan, his father, was a member of the Artillery Company in 1711. 2 Judge Oliver Wendell, son of Hon. Jacob Wendell, was born in Boston 5th March, 1733; died, isth January, 1818. Harvard College, 1753. His daughter, Sarah, married Rev. Abiel Holmes, the father of the poet, Oliver Wendell Holmes. William Cooper, son of Rev. William, and brother of Rev. Samuel, of the Brattle Street Church, and forty-nine years town clerk of Boston ; died November 28, 1809; aged 89. The brothers were both active patriots of the Revolution. XLIV INTRODUCTION. was also present. Samuel Adams, Dr. Warren, Hancock, Dr. Young and Molineux took the lead in the debate. The resolution offered by Adams, " that the tea should not be landed ; that it should be sent back in the same bottom to the place whence it came, at all events, and that no duty should be paid on it," was unanimously adopted. On hearing of this vote the consignees withdrew to Castle William. For the better accommodation of the people, the meeting then adjourned to the Old South Meeting House. The speeches made at the Old South have not been pre- served. Some were violent, others were calm, advising the people by all means to abstain from violence, but the men in whom they placed confidence were unanimous upon the question of sending back the tea. Dr. Young held that the only way to get rid of it was to throw it overboard. Here we find the first suggestion of its ultimate fate. Both Whigs and Tories united in the action of the meeting. To give the consignees time to make the expected proposals, the meeting adjourned till three o'clock. Of this assembly Hutchinson says : " Although it consisted principally of the lower ranks of the people, and even jour- neymen tradesmen were brought to increase the number, and the rabble were not excluded, yet there were divers gentlemen of good fortune among them." With regard to the speeches he observes : " Nothing can be more inflam- matory than those made on this occasion ; Adams was never in greater glory." And of the consignees he says : " They apprehended they should be seized, and may be, tarred and feathered and carted, an American torture, in order to compel them to a compliance. The friends of old Mr. Clarke, whose constitution being hurt by the repeated attacks INTRODUCTION. XLV made upon him, retired into the country, pressed his sons and the other consignees to a full compliance." A visitor from Rhode Island who attended the meeting, speaking of its regular and sensible conduct, said he should have thought himself rather in the British senate than in the promiscuous assembly of the people of a remote colony. At the afternoon meeting in the Old South, it was re- solved, upon the motion of Samuel Adams, " that the tea in Captain Hall's ship must go back in the same bottom." The owner and the captain were informed that the entry of the tea, or the landing of it, would be at their peril. The ship was ordered to be moored at Griffins' wharf, and a watch of twenty-five men was appointed for the security of vessel and cargo, with Captain Edward Proctor as captain that night. It was also voted that the governor's call on the justices to meet that afternoon, to suppress attempted riots, was a reflection on the people. Upon Hancock's representation that the consignees desired further time to meet and consult, the meeting consented, "out of great tenderness to them," and adjourned until next day. This meeting also voted that six persons "who are used to horses be in readiness to give an alarm in the country towns, when necessary." They were William Rogers, Jeremiah Belknap, Stephen Hall, Nathaniel Cobbett, and Thomas Gooding, and Benjamin Wood, of Charlestown. The guard for the tea ships, which consisted of from twenty-four to thirty-four men, was kept up until December 16. It was armed with muskets and bayonets, and proceeded with military regularity, indeed it was composed in part of the military of the town, and every half hour during the night regularly passed the word " all 's well," like sentinels XLVI INTRODUCTION in a garrison. It was on duty nineteen days and twenty- three hours. If molested by day the bells of the town were to be rung, if at night they were to be tolled. We have the names of those comprising the watch on November 29 and 30. They are : For November 29. Captain, EDWARD PROCTOR. Henry Bass. Foster Condy. John Lovell. John Winthrop. John Greenleaf. Benjamin Alley. Joshua Pico. James Henderson. Josiah Wheeler. Joseph Edwards. Jonathan Stodder. Stephen Bruce. Paul Revere. Moses Grant. Joseph Lovering. Dr. Elisha Story. Thomas Chase. Benjamin Edes. Joseph Pierce, Jr. Captain Riordan. John Crane. John McFadden. Thomas Knox, Jr. Robert Hitchborn. November 30. Captain, EZEKIEL CHEEVER. 1 Thomas Urann. William Dickman. Samuel Peck. Thomas Bolley. John Rice. Joseph Froude. Obadiah Curtis. George Ray. Benjamin Ingerson. Adam Collson. Daniel Hewes. Joseph Eayres. William Sutton. Ebenezer Ayres. William Elberson. Benjamin Stevens. James Brewer. Rufus Bant. William Clap. Nicholas Pierce. Thomas Tileston. Richard Hunnewell. 1 Ezekiel Cheever, the great grandson of the famous schoolmaster of that name, in the early days of New England, was born in Charlestown, Mass., in May, 1720. He was by trade a sugar-baker (confectioner), and from 1752 to 1755 Slam ac Uu Battle of B-unKer s Hfll .Tune ~a ."y*KBtp (Copied from the Boston print of 1782, it being from the London print previous to this date.) " May our land be a land of liberty, the seat of virtue, the asylum of the oppressed, a name, a praise in the whole earth." JOSEPH WARREN. March 5, 1772. INTRODUCTION. XLIX Hancock and Henry Knox were members of this volunteer guard. Volunteers were, after the first night, requested to leave their names at the printing-office of Edes and Gill ; the duty of providing it having devolved upon the com- mittee of correspondence. Obadiah Curtis, born in Roxbury, Mass., in 1724; died in Newton, Mass., November 11, 1811. He was a wheelwright by trade, and his wife, Martha, kept an English goods store, at the corner of Rawson's Lane, (now Bromfield Street,) and Newbury (now Washington) Street, and accumulated a handsome estate. Be- coming obnoxious to the British authorities, Mr. Curtis removed with his family to Providence, remaining there until after the evacuation of Boston. A person who saw him at this time thus describes his appearance : " He was habited according to the fashion of gentlemen of those days, in a three-cornered hat, a club wig, a long coat of ample dimensions, that appeared to have been made with reference to future growth, breeches with large buckles, and shoes fastened in the same manner." James Henderson was a painter, in Boston, at the beginning of this century. Daniel Hewes, a mason by trade, resided on Purchase Street, where he died July 9, 1821 ; aged 77. He was a brother of George Robert Twelves Hewes. Robert Hitchborn was a cooper, on Anne Street, in 1789. Thomas Knox, Jr., a branch pilot, died in" Charlestown, Mass., in April, 1817; aged 75. He joined the Masonic Lodge of St. Andrew in 1764. In 1789 his residence was on Friend Street. Joseph Lovering was a tallow chandler. He lived on the corner of Hollis and Tremont Streets, opposite Crane and the Bradlees. Joseph Lovering, Jr., held the light by which Crane and others disguised themselves in Crane's carpenter's shop, on the evening of December 16. Lovering was^a prominent member of the Charitable Mechanic Association, was many years a selectman and a fireward under the old town government of Boston, and was also a member of the first Board of Aldermen, under Mayor Phillips. He followed his father's business, and was some years a partner in the firm of J. Lovering & Sons. was a selectman of Charlestown. Re- of the war. His brother, David, also a moving to Boston he joined the Sons of prominent Son of Liberty, was appointed Liberty, and was active in the ante- moderator of the Old South meeting of revolutionary movements of the town, December 14, but declined. Ezekiel was and prominent in its public meetings. a member of the Committee that waited He was appointed commissary of artillery on the consignees and requested their in the army before Boston, May 17, 1775. resignation. He died a few years after the conclusion L INTRODUCTION. Joshua Pico, a cooper, on Sheaffe Street, residing on Clarke Street; died in January, 1807. Joseph Pierce, Jr., was a merchant, at 58 Cornhill, in 1799. Nicholas Pierce was a bricklayer, on Back (Salem) Street, in 1800. John Rice was deputy-collector at Boston, 1789. Benjamin Stevens was a tailor, at 33 Marlboro' Street, in 1789. Jonathan Stodder was a member of St. Andrew's Lodge of Freemasons, in 1779. Thomas Tileston, born September 21, 1735, was a carpenter on Purchase Street, in 1789. His father, Onesiphorous Tileston, also a housewright and a man of wealth, was captain of the Artillery Company in 1762. John Winthrop resided in Cambridge Street, and died February 12, 1800; aged 53. The power and influence of the Boston committee of correspondence, which played so important a part in the tea affair, can best be estimated by a glance at the list of names of its members. They were, Samuel Adams, James Otis, Joseph Warren, William Molineux, Dr. Benjamin Church, William Dennie, William and Joseph Greenleaf, Dr. Thomas Young, William Powell, Nathaniel Appleton, Oliver Wendell, Josiah Quincy, Jr., John Sweetser, Richard Boynton, John Bradford, William Mackay, Nathaniel Barber, Caleb Davis, Alexander Hill, and Robert Pierpont. After the dissolution of the meeting of November 29, the committee met, and called on the committees from other towns to join them on all necessary occasions. Be- sides sending accounts of these events to all the towns, they also wrote to the committees of Rhode Island, New Hamp- shire, New York and Philadelphia, explaining their course, acting, as they said, "in the faith that harmony and con- currence in action uniformly and firmly maintained, must finally conduct them to the end of their wishes, namely, a full enjoyment of constitutional liberty." They received cheering replies and encouraging assurances from all quarters. At the meeting next morning, a letter to John Scollay INTRODUCTION. LI from the consignees, containing their long-delayed proposals, was read. They expressed sorrow that they could not re- turn satisfactory answers to the two messages of the town, as it was utterly out of their power to send the teas back, but said they were willing to store them until they could communicate with their constituents, and receive their fur- ther orders respecting them. This letter irritated the meet- ing, and it declined to take action upon it. Before taking final leave of these obstinate gentlemen, I make a few citations from the recently published volume of " The Diary and Letters of Thomas Hutchinson." Writing to his son at the castle on November 30, Hutchinson says : " The gentlemen (consignees), except your uncle Clarke, all went to the castle yesterday. I hope they will not comply with such a monstrous demand." Hancock and Adams, he says, were two of the guard of the tea ship. Thomas Hutchinson, Jr., to his brother Elisha: "CASTLE WILLIAM, December 14, 1773. . . . T imagine you are anxious to know what the poor banished com- missioners are doing at the castle. Our retreat here was sudden, but our enemies do not say we came too soon. How long we shall be imprisoned 'tis impossible to say. ... I hear there is a meeting of the mobility to day, but don't know the result. I hardly think they will attempt sending the tea back, but am more sure it will not go many leagues. The commissioners are all with us, and we are as comfortable as we can be in a very cold place, driven from our families and business, with the months of January and February just at hand. p.S. Our situation is rendered more agreeable by the polite reception we met with from Col. Leslie, and the other gentlemen of the army." And on January 9, 1774, he writes: " The Bostonians say we shall not return to town without making concessions. I suppose we shall quit the castle sometime this week, as we are all provided with retreats in the country. I have had a disagreeable six weeks of it, but am in hopes the issue will be well." LII INTRODUCTION. And again, on January 21, dated Milton: " I wrote you some time ago I was in hopes our harassment was drawing to a close, and that we should leave the castle last week. Mr. Faneuil and myself coming off caused a supposition that we intended for Boston, which was the cause of Saturday's notification which I sent you. 1 Mr. Faneuil is since returned to the castle, and I am really more confined than if I was there, as I keep pretty close to my home. Mr. Jonathan Clarke sails in a few days for England, of which I am very glad, as it may prevent misapprehension of our conduct on that side of the water. A proclamation from the governor was brought in to the meeting by Sheriff Greenleaf, which he begged leave of the moderator to read. Objection was made, but at the suggestion of Samuel Adams the meeting consented to hear it. The governor charged that the meeting of the previous day " openly violated, defied and set at naught the good and wholesome laws of the Province, and as great numbers were again assembled for like purposes, I warn," he said, " exhort and require you, and each of you, thus unlawfully assembled, forthwith to disperse, and to surcease all further unlawful proceedings at your peril." The read- ing was received with general and continued hisses, and a vote that the meeting would not disperse. Mr. Copley, the son-in-law of Mr. Clarke, inquired whether the meeting 1 Probably the following handbill is of Boston ! I therefore give you this referred to : early notice that you may hold your- " Brethren and Fellow Citizens ! selves in readiness on the shortest You may depend that those odious warning, to give them such a reception miscreants and detestable tools to minis- as such vile ingrates deserve, try and government, the TEA CONSIGN- (Signed), JOYCE, Junior, EES, (those traitors to their country Chairman of the Committee for butchers who have done and are doing Tarring and Feathering. everything to murder and destroy all that fl^p 3 If any person shall be so hardy shall stand in the way of their private as to tear this down, he may expect interest,) are determined to come (from my severest resentment, the castle) and reside again in the town J., Jun." INTRODUCTION. LIII would hear the Messrs. Clarke, and whether they would be safe while coming to and returning from the meeting, and whether two hours would be allowed him in which to con- sult with them. The request of Copley, who was sincerely desirous of effecting a peaceful solution of the difficulty, was granted, and the meeting then adjourned until two o'clock. The proceedings of this afternoon briefly stated were, the promise of Rotch, the owner, and Hall, the captain of the " Dartmouth," and the owners of the two other vessels ex- pected with teas, that that article should not be landed, but should go back in the same ships, and the apology of Mr. Copley for the time he had taken, he having been obliged to go to the castle, where the consignees decided that it would be inexpedient for them to attend the meeting, but added to their former proposal that the tea should be sub- mitted to the inspection of a committee, and also saying that as they had not been active in introducing the tea, they should do nothing to obstruct the people in returning it. This was voted unsatisfactory. Resolves were then passed to the effect that all who imported tea were enemies to the country ; that its landing and sale should be prevented, and that the tea should be returned to the place whence it came. And the meeting also voted to send these resolves to every seaport in the colonies and to England. The committee of correspondence was charged to make provision for the con- tinuation of the watch, and " the brethren from the country" were thanked for their " countenance and union," and desired to afford their assistance on notice being given, and it was also declared to be " the determination of this body to carry their votes and resolves into execution at the risk of life and property." LIV INTRODUCTION. Speaking of this meeting, Hutchinson says : " A more determined spirit was conspicuous in this body than in any of the former assemblies of the people. It was composed of the lowest as well, and probably in as great proportion, as of the superior ranks and orders, and all had an equal voice. No eccentric or irregular motions were suffered to take place. All seemed to have been the plan of a few, it may be of a single person." And in a private letter, dated December i, Hutchinson writes : " While the rabble was together in one place, I was in another, not far dis- tant, with his majesty's council, urging them to join with me in some measure to break up this unlawful assembly, but to no purpose. I hope the consignees will continue firm, and should not have the least doubt of it if it was not for the solicitation of the friends of Mr. Clarke. If they go the lengths they threaten, I shall be obliged to retire to the castle, as I cannot otherwise make any exer- tions in support of the king's authority." The committee of correspondence omitted no step that prudence or caution could suggest to carry out the determ- ination of the town. A letter from Philadelphia, just then received, said : " Our tea consignees have all resigned, and you need not fear, the tea will not be landed here nor at New York. All that we fear is that you will shrink at Boston. May God give you virtue enough to save the liberties of your country ! " A second and a third vessel soon arrived, and the select- men gave peremptory orders, to prevent clandestine landing of the tea, and directed them to be anchored by the side of the " Dartmouth," at Griffin's Wharf. One guard answered for the three vessels. As the time drew near for the land- ing or return of the tea, the excitement of the community increased. " Where the present disorder will end," wrote INTRODUCTION. LV Hutchinson, " I cannot make a probable conjecture ; the town is as furious as in the time of the stamp act." " The flame is kindled," so wrote the wife of John Adams, " and like lightning, it catches from soul to soul. . . . My heart beats at every whistle I hear, and I dare not express half my fears." Twenty days after her arrival in the port, a vessel was liable to seizure for the non-payment of duties on articles imported in her, nor on landing a portion of her cargo, could she be legally cleared. On official advice from the governor to Colonel Leslie, commander of the castle, and Admiral Montagu, the latter ordered the ships of war, " Active " and " King Fisher," to guard the passages to the sea, and permit no unauthorized vessels to pass. " The patriots," said Hutchinson, " now found themselves in a web of inextricable difficulties." " But where there is a will there is a way," and the patriots had more resources than the governor dreamed of. Rotch, the owner of the " Dartmouth," was summoned before the committee (December n), and was asked by Samuel Adams, the chairman, why he had not kept his pledge, to send his vessel and tea back to London. He replied that it was out of his power to do so. He was advised to apply for a clearance and a pass. " The ship must go," said Adams, "the people of Boston and the neigh- boring towns absolutely require and expect it." The journals of the day are filled with items concerning the tea question. Little else was now thought of. They contained the resolves of the Massachusetts towns, encourag- ing Boston to stand firm, and assuring her of their support, and accounts from Philadelphia and New York of the determ- LVI INTRODUCTION. ination to nullify the tea act, and of the declination of the consignees in the latter place. The " Gazette," of December 1 3, editorially says : " The minds of the public are greatly irritated at the delay of Mr. Rotch, to take the necessary steps towards complying with their peremptory requisition." On this day an important session of the committee of the five towns already named took place at Faneuil Hall. " No business transacted matter of record," is the brief but suggestive entry as to its doings. Dorchester, in legal town meeting, declared that, " should this country be so unhappy as to see a day of trial for the recovery of its rights by a last and solemn appeal to Him who gave them, they should not be behind the bravest of our patriotic brethren." Marblehead affirmed that the proceed- ings of the brave citizens of Boston, and of other towns, in opposition to the landing of the tea, were rational, generous and just; that they were highly honored for their noble firmness in support of American liberty, and that the men of the town were ready with their lives to assist their breth- ren in opposing all measures tending to enslave the country." Under date of December 3, the people of Roxbury voted that they were in duty bound to join with Boston, and other sister towns, to preserve inviolate the liberties handed down by their ancestors. Next day the men of Charlestown de- clared themselves ready to risk their lives and fortunes. Newburyport, Maiden, Lexington, Leicester, Fitchburg, Gloucester, and other towns, also preferred their aid when needed. The " Gazette," under date of Salem, December 7, has the following : " By what we can learn from private intelligence, as well as the public proceedings of a number of principal INTRODUCTION. LVII towns contiguous to the capital, the people, if opposed in their proceedings with respect to the tea, are determined upon hazarding a brush, therefore those who are willing to bear a part in it in preserving the rights of this country, would do well to get suitably prepared." This looked like business. On the morning of December 14, the following handbill appeared in Boston : Friends ! Brethren ! Countrymen ! The perfidious act of your reckless ene- mies to render ineffectual the late resolves of the body of the people, demands your assembling at the Old South Meeting House, precisely at ten o'clock this day, at which time the bells will ring." The meeting thus called was largely attended. Samuel Phillips Savage, 1 of Weston, was chosen moderator. Bruce, the master of the " Eleanor," promised to ask for a clear- ance for London, when all his goods were landed, except the tea, but said that, if refused, "he was loth to stand the shot of thirty-two pounders." Rotch, accompanied by Samuel Adams, Benjamin Kent, and eight others, applied to the collector of the port for a clearance, and reported, on his return, that the collector desired to consult with the comp- troller, and promised an answer on the following morning. The meeting then adjourned until Thursday. Next day Rotch, with the Committee, proceeded to the Custom House. Harrison, the Collector, and Comptroller 1 A merchant and a former selectman tion, and from Nov. 2, 1775, till his of Boston, member of the Provincial death, a Judge of the Court of Common Congress, President of the Massachu- Pleas for Middlesex County. He died setts Board of War during the Revolu- at Weston in December, 1797; aged 79. LVIII INTRODUCTION. Hallowell, were both present. The owner said that he was required and compelled at his peril by the meeting to make the demand for the clearance of his vessel for London, with the tea on board, and one of the committee stated that they were present only as witnesses. The Collector unequiv- ocally and finally refused to grant his ship a clearance until it should be discharged of the teas. The result was reported to the meeting on the following morning. The eventful Thursday, December 16, 1773, a day ever memorable in the annals of the town, witnessed the largest gathering yet seen at the Old South Meeeting House. Nearly seven thousand persons constituted the assembly. Business was laid aside, and notwithstanding the rain, at least two thousand people flocked in from the country for twenty miles around. This time there was no need of handbills there were none. No effort was required to bring together the multitude that quietly but anxiously awaited the outcome of the meeting. The gravity of the situation was universally felt. Immediate action was neces- sary, as the twenty days allowed for clearance terminated that night. Then the revenue officials could take possession, and under cover of the naval force land the tea, and opposi- tion to this would have caused bloody work. The patriots would gladly have avoided the issue, but it was forced upon them, and they could not recede with honor. The committee having reported the failure of its appli- cation for a clearance, Rotch was directed to enter a protest at the Custom House, and to apply to the governor for a pass to proceed on this day with his vessel on his voyage for London. He replied that it was impracticable to comply INTRODUCTION. LIX with this requirement. He was then reminded of his prom- ise, and on being asked if he would now direct the "Dartmouth" to sail, replied that he would not. The meeting, after directing him to use all possible dispatch in making his protest and procuring his pass, adjourned until three o'clock. At the afternoon meeting, information was given that several towns had agreed not to use tea. A vote was taken to the effect that its use was improper and pernicious, and that it would be well for all the towns to appoint com- mittees of inspection "to prevent this accursed tea" from coming among them. " Shall we abide by our former resolution with respect to the not suffering the tea to be landed ? " was now the question. Samuel Adams, Dr. Thomas Young and Josiah Quincy, Jr., 1 an ardent young patriot devotedly attached to the liberties of his country, were the principal speakers. Only a fragment of the speech of Quincy remains. Counselling moderation, and in a spirit of prophecy, he said : " It is not, Mr. Moderator, the spirit that vapors within these walls that must stand us in stead. The exertions of this day will call forth the events which will make a very different spirit necessary for our salvation. Whoever supposes that shouts and hosannas will terminate the trials of the day, entertains a childish fancy. We must be grossly ignorant of the importance and value of the prize for which we contend ; we must be equally ignorant of the power of those who have combined against us ; we must be blind to that malice, inveteracy and insatiable revenge which actuates our enemies, public and private, abroad and in our bosom, to hope that we shall end this controversy without the sharpest, the sharpest con- flicts ; to flatter ourselves that popular resolves, popular harangues, popular accla- mations, and popular vapor will vanquish our foes. Let us consider the issue. 1 Quincy visited England in 1774, and a lawyer, and in conjunction with John died on the passage home, in sight of Adams, defended the perpetrators of the his native land, April 26, 1775. He was "Boston Massacre." 8 LX INTRODUCTION. Let us look to the end. Let us weigh and consider before we advance to those measures which must bring on the most trying and terrific struggle this country ever saw." But the time for weighing and considering the business in hand had passed. Time pressed and decisive action alone remained. " Now that the hand is at the plough," it was said, " there must be no looking back." At half-past four it was unanimously voted that the tea should not be landed. An effort was now made to dissolve the meeting, but it was continued at the request of some of those present from the country, who wished to hear the result of Rotch's application to the governor. It was an unusual time of the year to be at a country seat, but Governor Hutchinson was found at his Milton residence by Rotch, who renewed his request for a pass. Questioned by the governor as to the intentions of the people, Rotch replied that they only intended to force the tea back to England, but that there might be some who desired that the vessel might go down the harbor and be brought to by a shot from the castle, that it might be said that the people had done everything in their power to send the tea back. " Catching at this straw, with the instinct of a drowning man," Hutchinson offered Rotch a letter to Admiral Montagu, commending ship and goods to his pro- tection, if Rotch would agree to have his ship haul out into the stream, but he replied that none were willing to assist him in doing this, and that the attempt would subject him to the ill will of the people. Hutchinson then sternly repeated his refusal of a pass, 1 as it would have been " a direct countenancing and encouraging the violation of the 1 Lord Mahon, a candid British historian, thinks this concession unwisely denied. "Who knows how tea will mingle with salt water?" JOHN ROWE. Old South Church, Boston, Dec. '773- INTRODUCTION. LXIII acts of trade." Thus closed the last opportunity for con- cession. It is only fair to say that the performance of what he honestly believed to be his duty was as vi-tal a consideration with Thomas Hutchinson, the royal governor, as opposition to measures which he believed to be hostile to the liberties of his country was to Samuel Adams, the popular leader. We can at this day well afford to mete out this tardy justice to a man whose motives and conduct have been so bitterly and unscrupulously vilified and maligned as have been those of Thomas Hutchinson. When Rotch returned and told the result of his applica- tion, it was nearly six o'clock. Darkness had set in, and the Old South, dimly lighted with candles, was still filled with an anxious and impatient multitude. " Who knows," said John Rowe, 1 "how tea will mingle with salt water?" 1 John Rowe, a prominent merchant and patriotic citizen of Boston, died February 17, 1787; aged 72 years. He was many years a Selectman, Overseer of the Poor, and representative to the General Court, and was chairman of the committee chosen June 16, 1779, to fix the prices of merchandise, and to bring to punishment all offenders against the act against monopoly and forestall- ing. He was a member of the First Lodge of Freemasons, Boston, in 1740; master of the same Lodge in 1749, and fifth Provincial Grand Master in 1768. When, in 1766, Rowe was proposed for representative, Samuel Adams artfully suggested another, by asking with his eyes on Mr. Hancock's house " Is there not another John that may do better ? " The hint took, and the wealth and influence of Hancock were secured on the side of liberty. Rowe's mansion, subsequently that of Judge Prescott, father of the historian, stood on the LXIV INTRODUCTION. The people hurrahed vehemently, and the cry arose, " A mob ! a mob ! " A call to order restored quiet. Dr. Young then addressed the meeting, saying that Rotch was a good man, who had done all in his power to gratify the people, and charged them to do no hurt to his person or property. To the final question then put to him, whether he would send his vessel back with the tea in her, under the present circumstances, he replied, that he could not, as he " appre- hended that a compliance would prove his ruin." He also admitted that if called upon by the proper persons, he should attempt to land the tea for his own security. Adams then arose and uttered the fateful words, " This meeting can do nothing more to save the country." This was doubtless the preconcerted signal for action, and it was answered by the men who sounded the war-whoop at the church door. The cry was re-echoed from the gallery, where a voice cried out, " Boston harbor a tea-pot to-night ; hurrah for Griffin's wharf ! " and the " Mohawks " passed on to cut the Gordian knot with their hatchets. Silence was again commanded, when the people, after " manifesting a most exemplary patience and caution in the methods they had pursued to preserve the property of the East India Company, and to return it safe and untouched to its owners," perceiving that at every step they had been thwarted by the consignees and their coadjutors, then dis- solved the meeting, giving three cheers as they dispersed. Meanwhile a number of persons, variously estimated at from twenty to eighty, (their number increasing as they spot lately occupied by Dr. Robbins' friend of his country, but the wharf alone church, in Bedford Street. A wharf and retains the title. Since 1856, Rowe Street street once bore the name of this true has been absorbed in Chauncy Street. INTRODUCTION. LXV advanced,) some of them disguised as Indians, and armed with hatchets or axes, hurried to Griffin's (now Liverpool) wharf, boarded the ships, and, warning their crews and the customs officers to keep out of the way, in less than three hours time had broken and emptied into the dock three hundred and forty-two chests of tea, valued at ,18,000. The deed was not that of a lawless mob, but the deliberate and well-considered act of intelligent, as well as determined, men. So careful were they not to destroy or injure private property, that they even replaced a padlock they had broken. There was no noise nor confusion. They worked so quietly and systematically that those on shore could distinctly hear the strokes of the hatchets. As soon as the people learned what was going forward, they made their way to the scene of operations, covering the wharves in the vicinity, whence they looked on in silence during the performance. The night was clear, the moon shone brilliantly, no one was harmed, and the town was never more quiet. Next day, the Dorchester shore was lined with tea, carried thither by the wind and tide. The serious spirit in which this deed was regarded by the leaders, is illustrated by the act of one who, after assisting his apprentice to disguise himself, dropped upon his knees and prayed fervently for his safety, and the success of the enterprise. Among the spectators of the scene were Dr. John Prince, of Salem ; John Andrews, and Dr. Hugh Williamson, who afterwards underwent an examination respecting the affair before the British House of Commons. Where is. now the wide Atlantic Avenue, the old footpath under Fort Hill, known as Flounder Lane, and afterwards as Broad Street, wound around the margin of the water. LXVI INTRODUCTION. Sea Street was its continuation to Wheeler's Point (the foot of Summer Street). Opposite where Hutchinson (now Pearl) Street entered Flounder Lane, was Griffin's Wharf. The laying out of Broad Street and Atlantic Avenue, and the consequent widening and filling in, have resulted in obliter- ating Griffin's Wharf, although in Liverpool wharf it has a legitimate successor. The old dock logs were found near the centre of the avenue. The coal office of the Messrs. Chapin now occupies the site rendered memorable by the exploit of the Boston tea party. The destruction of the tea is said to have been planned in the " Long Room," over Edes & Gills' printing-office, on the easterly corner of Franklin Avenue and Court Street, where the "Daily Advertiser" building recently stood. In their back office some of the party it is said were disguised. Among the members of the " Long Room Club," as those who usually met here were styled, were Samuel Adams, Hancock, Warren, Otis, Church, Samuel Dexter, Dr. Samuel Cooper, and his brother, William Cooper, Thomas Dawes, Samuel Phillips Savage, Royal Tyler, Paul Revere, Thomas Fleet, John Winthrop, William Molineux, and Thomas Melvill. A similar claim is also made for the " Green Dragon " tavern, then known as the " Freemasons' Arms," which stood near the northerly corner of Union and Hanover Streets, where the Masonic Lodge of St. Andrew held its meetings. The honor belongs equally to both. In both, the consulta- tions of the popular leaders were undoubtedly held and their plans laid. Prominent members of this Lodge, who were also active " Sons of Liberty," and members of the tea INTRODUCTION. LXVII party were, Paul Revere, Edward Proctor, Thomas Chase, Adam Collson, Samuel Peck and Thomas Urann. Its later members, also identified with the tea party, were Samuel Gore, Daniel Ingersoll, Henry Purkitt, Amos Lincoln, James Swan, Robert Davis, Abraham Hunt, Eliphalet Newell and Nathaniel Willis. Other prominent Free Masons active in the tea affair were Dr. Warren and John Rowe. The tradi- tion of the Lodge is, that the preliminaries of the affair were arranged here, and that the execution of them was committed mainly to the North End Caucus, with the co- operation of the more daring of the " Sons of Liberty." The committee of safety also met here. The record book of the lodge, under date of November 30, 1773, says: " Lodge met and adjourned. N. B. The consignees of the tea took the brethren's time." And on the eventful :6th of December: " The Lodge met and closed on account of the few members in attendance. Adjourned until to-morrow evening." Three different parties, one or two of whom were dis- guised, had been prepared beforehand for this event, by the leaders. Certain it is that there were several squads in different parts of the town, who disguised themselves at their own or their neighbors' houses, and who then rendez- voused at points previously designated, before going to the wharf. Quite an Indian village was improvised at the junction of Hollis and Tremont Streets. John Crane, Joseph Levering, and the Bradlees occupied opposite corners of this locality, the house and carpenter shop of Crane adjoining the refidence of the famous Dr. Mather Byles. Captain Thomas Bolter and Samuel Fenno, also of the tea party, were near neighbors of Crane, and like him, were carpenters. LXVIII INTRODUCTION. Joseph Levering, Jr., related that he held the light for Crane and some of his neighbors, to disguise themselves, in Crane's shop. The four brothers Bradlee, and a brother-in-law, were prepared for the occasion at their house opposite. Perhaps the best contemporaneous account of the affair is the following, from the " Massachusetts Gazette," of December 23 : " Just before the dissolution of the meeting," says the ' Gazette,' a number of brave and resolute men, dressed in the Indian manner, approached near the door of the assembly, and gave a war-whoop, which rang through the house, and was answered by some in the galleries, but silence was commanded, and a peaceable deportment enjoined until the dissolution. The Indians, as they were then called, repaired to the wharf, where the ships lay that had the tea on board, and were followed by hundreds of people, to see the event of the transactions of those who made so grotesque an appearance. The Indians immediately repaired on board Captain Hall's ship, where they hoisted out the chests of tea, and when on deck stove them and emptied the tea overboard. Having cleared this ship, they pro- ceeded to Captain Bruce's, and then to Captain Coffin's brig. They applied them- selves so dexterously to the destruction of this commodity, that in the space of three hours they broke up three hundred and forty-two chests, which was the whole number in these vessels, and discharged their contents into the dock. When the tide rose it floated the broken chests and the tea insomuch that the surface of the water was filled therewith a considerable way from the south part of the town to Dorchester Neck, and lodged on the shores. There was the greatest care taken to prevent the tea from being purloined by the populace ; one or two being detected in endeavoring to pocket a small quantity were stripped of their acquisitions and very roughly handled. It is worthy of remark that although a considerable quantity of goods were still remaining on board the vessel, no injury was sustained. Such attention to private property was observed, that a small padlock belonging to the captain of one of the ships being broke, another was procured and sent to him. The town was very quiet during the whole even- ing and the night following. Those who were from the country went home with a merry heart, and the next day joy appeared in almost every countenance, some on account of the destruction of the tea, others on account of the quietness with which it was effected. One of the Monday's papers says the masters and owners are well pleased that their ships are thus cleared," INTRODUCTION. LXIX Another Boston paper says : " The people repaired to Griffin's wharf, where the tea vessels lay, proceeded to fix tackles and hoist the tea upon deck, cut the chests to pieces, and throw the tea over the side. . . . They began upon the two ships first, as they had nothing on board but the tea, then proceeded to the brig, which had hauled to the wharf but the day before, and had but a small part of her cargo out. The captain of the brig begged they would not begin with his vessel, as the tea was covered with goods belonging to different merchants in the town. They told him ' the tea they wanted, and the tea they would have, but if he would go into his cabin quietly, not one article of his goods should be hurt.' They immediately proceeded to remove the goods, and then to dispose of the tea.'" From the "Evening Post" of Monday, December 20, 1773: " Previous to the dissolution, a number of persons, supposed to be the aborig- inal natives, from their complexion, approaching the door of the assembly, gave the war-whoop, which was answered by a few in the galleries of the house, where the crowded assembly was convened. Silence was commanded, and prudent and peaceable deportment again enjoined. The savages repaired to the ships which contained the pestilential tea, and had begun their ravages previous to the dis- solution of the meeting." Extract from the log-book of the " Dartmouth : " " Thursday, December 16. This twenty-four hours rainy weather, terminating this day. Between six and seven o'clock this evening, came down to the wharf a body of about one thousand people, among them were a number dressed and whooping like Indians. They came on board the ship, and after warning myself and the custom-house officers to get out of the way, they undid the hatches and went down the hold, where was eighty whole, and thirty-four half chests, of tea, which they hoisted upon deck, and cut the chests to pieces, and hove the tea all overboard, where it was damaged and lost." John Andrews, an eye-witness, in a letter to a friend relates particulars not elsewhere mentioned. While drinking tea at his house he heard " prodigious shouts," and went to the Old South Meeting House to ascertain the cause : " The house was so crowded," he says, " that I could get no further than the porch, when I found the moderator was just declaring the meeting to be dissolved, which caused another general shout out-doors and in, and three cheers. What with that and the consequent noise of breaking up the meeting, you'd thought 9 LXX INTRODUCTION. the inhabitants of the infernal regions had broke loose. For my part, I went contentedly home and finished my tea, but was soon informed what was going forward. Not crediting it without ocular demonstration, I went and was satisfied. They mustered, I'm told, upon Fort Hill, to the number of about two hundred, and proceeded, two by two, to Griffin's wharf, where Hall, Bruce and Coffin lay. . . . The latter arrived at the wharf only the day before, and was freighted with a large quantity of other goods, which they took the greatest care not to injure in the least, and before nine o'clock in the evening every chest on board the three vessels was knocked to pieces and flung over the sides. They say the actors were Indians from Narragansett ; whether they were or not, to a transient observer ' they appeared as such, being clothed in blankets, with their heads muffled, and copper-colored countenances, being each armed with a hatchet or axe, or pair of pistols, nor was their dialect different from what I conceive these geniuses to speak, as their jargon was unintelligible to all but themselves. Not the least insult was offered to any person save one Captain Connor, a letter of horses in this place, not many years since removed from dear Ireland, who had ript up the lining of his coat and waistcoat under the arms, and watching his opportunity, had nearly filled them with tea, but being detected, was handled pretty roughly. They not only stripped him of his clothes, but gave him a coat of mud, with a severe bruising into the bargain, and nothing but their utter aversion to making any disturbance preyented his being tarred and feathered." Many interesting details are supplied by the reminiscences of the actors themselves, long afterwards. In the " Recol- lections of a Bostonian," published in the " Centinel," in 1821-22, the writer says he spent the night but one before the destruction of the tea as one of the guard detached from the new grenadier corps, in company with Gen. Knox, then one of its officers, on board one of the tea ships. He heard John Rowe suggest to the meeting in the Old South, " Who knows how tea will mingle with salt water ? " a sug- gestion received with great applause. He further states that when the answer of the governor was reported to the meeting " An Indian yell was heard from the street. Mr. Samuel Adams cried out that it was a trick of their enemies to disturb the meeting, and requested the people to keep their places, but the people rushed out and accompanied the INTRODUCTION. LXXI Indians to the ships. The number of persons disguised as Indians is variously stated, none put it lower than sixty, nor higher than eighty. The destruction was effected by them, and some young men who volunteered. One of the latter collected the tea which fell into the shoes of himself and companions, and put it in a phial and sealed it up, now in his possession. . . . The hall of council is said to have been in the back room of Edes' printing-office, at the corner of the alley leading to Brattle Street Church, from Court Street." In 1827, Joshua Wyeth, of Cincinnati, related the follow- ing particulars of the affair to Rev. Timothy Flint. Wyeth, then sixteen years old, was a journeyman blacksmith in the employ of Watson and Gridley. He says : ' Our numbers were between twenty-eight and thirty. Of my associates I only remember the names of Frothingham, Mead, Martin and Grant. Many of them were apprentices and journeymen, not a few, as was the case with myself, living with Tory masters. I had but a few hours warning of what was intended to be done. We first talked of firing the ships, but feared the fire would communicate to the town. We then proposed sinking them, but dropped that project through fear that we should alarm the town before we could get through with it. We had observed that very few persons remained on board the ships, and we finally concluded that we could take possession of them, and discharge the tea into the harbor without danger or opposition. One of the ships laid at the wharf, the others a little way out in the stream, with their warps made fast to the wharf. To prevent discovery, we agreed to wear ragged clothes and disfigure ourselves, dressing to resemble Indians as much as possible, smearing our faces with grease and lamp black or soot, and should not have known each other except by our voices. Our most intimate friends among the spectators had not the least knowl- edge of us. We surely resembled devils from the bottomless pit rather than men. At the appointed time we met in an old building at the head of the wharf, and fell in one after another, as if by accident, so as not to excite sus- picion. We placed a sentry at the head of the wharf, another in the middle, and one on the bow of each ship as we took possession. We boarded the ship moored by the wharf, and our leader, in a very stern and resolute manner, ordered the captain and crew to open the hatchways, and hand us the hoisting tackle and ropes, assuring them that no harm was intended them. The captain asked what we intended to do. Our leader told him that we were going to unload the tea, and ordered him and the crew below. They instantly obeyed. Some of our number then jumped into the hold, and passed the chests to the tackle. As they were hauled on deck others knocked them open with axes, and others raised them to the railing and discharged their contents overboard. All who were not needed LXXII INTRODUCTION. for discharging this ship went on board the others, warped them to the wharf, when the same ceremonies were repeated. We were merry, in an undertone, at the idea of making so large a cup of tea for the fishes, but were as still as the nature of the case would admit, using no more words than were absolutely neces- sary. We stirred briskly in the business from the moment we left our dressino-- room. I never worked harder in my life. While we were unloading, the people collected in great numbers about the wharf to see what was going on. They crowded around us so as to be much in our way. Our sentries were not armed, and could not stop any who insisted on passing. They were particularly charged to give us notice in case any known Tory came down to the wharf. There was much talk about .this business next morning. We pretended to be as zealous to find out the perpetrators as the rest, and were all so close and loyal, that the whole affair remained in Egyptian darkness." In 1835, a small volume appeared, entitled " Traits of the Tea Party," with a memoir of G. R. T. Hewes. From it we glean the following incidents. Mr. Hewes thinks that among the speakers at the meet- ing on the afternoon of December 16, was John Hancock, who said that " the matter must be settled before twelve o'clock that night." Hewes positively affirms that he recog- nized Hancock, who worked by his side in the destruction of the tea, not only by his ruffles, which were accidentally exposed, and by his figure and gait, but by his voice and features, notwithstanding his paint, and the loosened club of hair behind. In this he was undoubtedly mistaken. Neither Hancock, Adams nor Warren were among the disguised Indians. There were enough who were competent for the business without them. Just before the meeting dissolved, some one in the gal- leries (Mr. Pierce thinks it was Adam Collson) cried out with a loud voice, " Boston harbor a tea-pot to-night ! Hur- rah for Griffin's wharf ! " This is probably the disorder checked by the chairman, and which was in response to the INTRODUCTION. i.xxm war-whoops outside. Three cheers were given by the meet- ing as it broke up. The disguise of the Indians was hastily prepared. Many of them arrayed themselves in a store on Fort Hill. The original number of one of the parties was fifteen or twenty. Many others joined in the act of breaking up the boxes, who disguised themselves as best they could, and some, chiefly extempore volunteers, were not disguised at all. Hewes himself, while the crowd rushed down Milk Street, made his way to a blacksmith's shop, on Boylston's wharf, where he hastily begrimmed his face with a soot-able prepa- ration, thence to the house of an acquaintance near Griffin's, where he got a blanket, which he wrapped around his person. When he reached the wharf, there were many there, but no crowd. The moon shone brightly. From one hundred to one hundred and fifty were engaged. The whole were divided into three equal divisions, with a captain and boat- swain for each. Hewes's whistling talent a matter of public notoriety procured him the position of boatswain in the party, under Captain Lendall Pitts, which boarded the brig. Many were fantastically arrayed in old frocks, red woolen caps or gowns, and all manner of like habiliments. One of Pitts's first official acts was to send a message to the mate, who was in his cabin, for the use of a few lights and the brig's keys, so that as little damage as possible might be done to the vessel. The keys were handed over without a word, and he also provided candles. The three parties finished their separate tasks nearly at the same time, and without unnecessary delay. A number of sailors and others had joined them from time to time, and aided them in hoisting the chests from the hold. LXXIV INTRODUCTION. Collecting on the wharf, which was now covered with spectators, a fresh inspection was instituted, and all the tea men were ordered to take off their shoes and empty them, which was supposed to be done. Pitts, who was a military man, and a prominent Son of Liberty, was appointed com- mander-in-chief ; the company was formed in rank and file by his directions, with the aid of Barber, Proctor, and some others, and " shouldering arms," such as they had, toma- hawks included, they marched up the wharf, to what is now the east end of Pearl Street, back into town, and then separated and went quietly home. All was done in plain sight of the British squadron, which lay less than a quarter of a mile distant. Admiral Montagu witnessed most of the affair from a more convenient point the house of a Tory, named Coffin, on Atkinson Street, near the head of the wharf. Raising the window as they came along, he said, " Well, boys, you have had a fine, pleasant evening for your Indian caper, hayen't you? But mind, you have got to pay the fiddler yet ! " ' Oh, never mind ! " shouted Pitts, " never mind, squire ! Just come out here, if you please, and we'll settle the bill in two minutes." This caused a shout, the fife struck up a lively air, the admiral put the window down in a hurry, and the company marched on. When Hewes reached home he told his wife the story. " Well, George," said she, " Did you bring me home a lot of it ? " The only tea known to have been brought that night from the wharf was in the shoes of Thomas Melvill. A sample gathered on the Dorchester shore by Dr. Thad- deus M. Harris, is now preserved in the cabinet of the Antiquarian Society, at Worcester. o S ajutti Bacteiv DIAGRAM SHOWING THE ROUTE TAKEN FROM THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH TO THE WHARF. (See dotted lines.) INTRODUCTION LXXVII One O'Connor, an Irishman, formerly a fellow apprentice with Hewes, attempted to secrete some of the tea. Hewes noticed a suspicious movement of his hands along the lining of his coat, and informed Pitts. Catching him by the skirts of his coat, he pulled him back as he was trying to escape, and he was quickly relieved of his cargo, as well as the apparel which contained it, and a few kicks were applied to hasten his retreat. Early on the morning of the i 7th, a long "windrow of tea, " about as big as you ever saw of hay," was seen extending from the wharves down to the castle. A party of volun- teers soon turned out in boats, and stirred it up in the "pot" pretty effectually Those who undertook to preserve any of the poisonous herb were sharply looked after by the patriots. A Boston paper of January 3, 1774, says: " Whereas, it was reported that one Withington, of Dorchester, had taken up and partly disposed of a chest of the East India Company's tea, a number of the Cape or Narragansett Indians went to the house of Captain Ebenezer Withington, and his brother Phillip, last Friday evening, and thoroughly searched their houses, without offering the least offence to any one. Finding no tea, they proceeded to the house of old Mr. Ebenezer Withington, at a place called Sodom, below Dor- chester Meeting House, where they found part of a half-chest, which had floated, and was cast up on Dorchester Point. This they seized and brought to Boston Common, where they committed it to the flames." Benjamin Simpson, a bricklayer's apprentice, says : " After the meeting in the Old South was over, there was a cry in the gallery of ' every man to his tent.' We repaired to the wharf. I went on board both ships, but saw no person belonging to them. In a few minutes a number of men came on the wharf, (with the Indian pow-wow,) went on board the ships, then lying at the side of the wharf, the water in the dock not more than two feet deep. They began to throw the tea into the water, which went off with the LXXVIII INTRODUCTION. tide till the tea grounded. We soon found there was tea on board the brig also. A demand being made of it, the captain told us the whole of his cargo was on board ; that the tea was directly under the hatches, which he would open if we would not damage anything but the tea, which was agreed to. The hatches were then opened, a man sent down to show us the tea, which we hoisted out, stove the chests and threw tea and all overboard. Those on board the ships did the same. I was on board the ships when the tea was so high by the side of them as to fall in, which was shovelled down more than once. We on board the brig were not disguised. I was then nineteen years old; I am now (1830) seventy-five." Peter, the son of Benjamin Edes, the printer, in a letter to his grandson, Benjamin C. Edes, written in 1836, says of the tea party : " I know but little about it, as I was not admitted into their presence, for fear, I suppose, of their being known. ... I recollect perfectly well that in the afternoon preceding the evening of the destruction of the tea, a number of gen- tlemen met in the parlor of my father's house, how many I cannot say. As I said before, I was not admitted into their presence ; my station was in another room, to make punch for them, in the bowl l which is now in your possession, and which I filled several times. They remained in the house till dark, I suppose to disguise themselves like Indians, when they left the house, and proceeded to the wharves where the vessels lay. Before they reached there they were joined by hundreds. I thought I would take a walk to the wharves as a spectator, where was collected, I may say, as many as two thousand persons. The Indians worked smartly. Some were in the hold immediately after the hatches were broken open, fixing the ropes to the tea-chests, others were breaking open the chests, and others stood ready with hatchets to cut off the bindings of the chests and cast them overboard. I remained till I was tired, and fearing some disturb- ance might o \ ; """""%. "*H P*r/ rrTTT ~* \ Liverpool N.Whf. {.. \ ; J 3 2 4 3 75 d- d- 345.9 d- .... 17 5 9 257 149 10 o Primage, 5 pr cent, ... 7 10 o Freight of Tea Jhipped on the William, for Bofton : feet. 58 chefts meafure 585.11, at is. 4d. pr foot, ^39 i 3 L. M. Primage, .... 19 6fterl g - Freight of 698 chefts Tea on the Nancy, for New York : feet. 698 chefts meafure 9264.8, at 25. 3d. pr foot, is Currency, ,1042 5 4 Sterling, ,30 8 2 Primage, 5 pr ct. . 52 2 3 ^"1094 7 7 Freight of^fj^. chefts Tea on the Eleanor, for Bofton : feet. 114 chefts meafure 1383.4, at is. 4d. . .,92 4 5 L. M. Primage, . . . . $ 9 o Freight of 112 chefts Tea on the Beaver, for Bofton : feet. 112 chefts meafure 1375, at is. 4d., is . ^91 13 IOL.M. 34^ tons at 25. pr ton primage, . ^317 o 29 258 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. Whitehall, Dec r 17* 1773. Lord Dartmouth prefents his compliments to Mr. Wheler, and requefls the favor to fee him at his office, at Whitehall, on Monday morning next, at eleven o'clock, on the fubjecl of fome advices Lord Dartmouth has lately re- ceived from America, refpecling the importation of tea from England. LETTER TO SUNDRY AMERICAN MERCHANTS. Sir: The Com tee of Warehoufes of the E. I. Com y defire you would pleafe to inform them whether you have receiv d any advices from Bofton relative to the faid Com?- 5 exporta- tion of tea to that colony, and if you have, to communicate the purport thereof to the Committee. I am, fir, Your moft obe. fer 1 WM. SETTLE. Eaft India Houfe, 20* Dec r 1773. To Mr. Wm. Palmer, \ R # > Bo/ton. Brook Watfon, j Wm. Greenwood,) c ,, ^ r > >outh Carolina. J- Nutt, I }n' Blackburn, ) A7 - v , w v 11 f New York " Wm. Kelly, ) Fred k Pigou, Jun r New York & Philadelphia. Geo. Browne, ) D , , , ,., > Philadelphia. Sam 1 Wharton, ) LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 2 59 LETTER TO SUNDRY AMERICAN MERCHANTS. 1 Sir: The Comm 1 . 6 . 6 of Warehoufes defire the favor of an anfwer under your hand to my letter of yefterday, relative to the exportation of tea to Bofton. I am, fir, Your moft obd 1 fervant, WM. SETTLE. Eaft India Houfe, 2i s * Dec r 1773. Brook Watfon, Efq r - Bofton. Wm. Greenwood, Efq r> } ~ ,/ /- / > bouth Carolina. John Nutt, Efq r - j John Blackburn, Efq r - New York. Geo. Browne, Efq r - Philadelphia. LETTERS FROM SUNDRY AMERICAN MERCHANTS, WITH ENCLOSURES OF ADVICES FROM THE SEVERAL COLONIES. BOSTON. From Mr. Palmer. Mr. Palmer has received no material advices from Bofton fmce the confignment has taken place, but has letters of as late a date from thence as the 3 d of Novem r , one of which mentions there was no tea then to be bought. Eaft India Houfe, 2ift Dec r 1773 1 These two letters following each anxiety of the Company, in reference other so closely, plainly manifest the to their shipments of tea to Boston. 260 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. Garlick Hill, 22d Decem r 1773. To the Handle the Committee of Warehoufes, Eajl India Houfe. Gent m: In compliance with your requefl, we fend you en- clofed extracts from the letters which we have lately received from Boflon relative to the Com 5 ;? teas fent there. We are, gent n Your moft hum. ferv ts WATSON & RASHLEIGH. Extraft of a Letter dated Bofton, i8 th Otto r " 1773 : " But what difficulties may arife from the difaffection of the merchants and importers of tea to this meafure of the India Company, I am not yet able to fay. It feems at prefent to be a matter of much fpeculation, and if one is to credit the prints, no fmall oppofition will be made thereto. However, I am in hopes it will be otherwife, and taking it for granted that the tea mould arrive, and no obftacle happen to prevent its being landed and difpofed of, agree- ably to the inftructions of the Company, then I am to add that you may be affured I mail ftricHy conform to the inftruclions which I may jointly receive refpecling it, paying all due regard to the contents of your letter. " I know not how to write more fully hereon until the tea arrives, and what may pombly be the confequences attending it. My friends feem to think it will fubfide ; others are of a contrary opinion." LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 261 Extract of a Letter dated Bofton, jo Ol r -' 1773: " I omitted a letter to you in particular when I wrote to your houfe the io th infl., becaufe I thought it was probable, both from the contents of your letter then received, as well as from the public reports, that the tea you mention as coming from the India Com y might every day be expected to arrive, as you fay 4 Aug 1 - they intended fhipping 300 chefts immediately, but by my letter, this day received by a veffel from London, it is not to be fent. " I perceive by the prints, that the clamour is ftill con- tinued againft this meafure of the India Company, and feems to be purfued with rather more warmth in fome of the Southern Colonies than in this. For my own part I am not fufficiently ikilled in politicks to fee the pernicious con- fequences which 'tis faid muft arife therefrom. If they would prevent the Tea A61 being enforced, or the payment of the revenue arifmg therefrom to Government, methinks they mould either not import any tea, or rather not confume any, and then the end would be anfwered at once. But while there is fuch a vaft quantity exported every year by fo con. fiderable a number of perfons, who all pay the duty thereof on its arrival, I do not fee why every importer, nay, every confumer thereof, do not as much contribute to inforce the Tea Act as the India Comp y themfelves, or the perfons to whom they may think proper to confign their tea for fale. Nor can I but be of opinion that the uneafmefs is fomented, if not originated, principally by thofe perfons concerned in the Holland trade, and thereby introduce large quantities of tea, which, paying no duty, by that means they can afford to underfell thofe who do pay it, and this trade, I am in- 262 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. formed, is much more practiced in the Southern Govern- ments than this way. " To what lengths the oppofition to this tea's being brought or landed, or difpofed of, may be carried, muft be left to time to determine." ExtraEl of a Letter dated BoJIon, 4 Nov r -' 1773 : " Thus far I had wrote you with intentions to forward by firft conveyance, when I found there was to be a mufter of the people, to demand that the perfons who are to be em- ployed as agents for difpofing of the tea which may come from the India Company, would refign their commiffions & fwear (under Liberty Tree) to return the tea by the fame or firfl veffels for London, &c. You will be fully acquainted of their unreafonable proceedings. After the time had elapfed which was fixed upon for the gentlemen to appear and refign, on their not complying with the order, they marched down in a body to Mr. Clarke's ftore, where we were, and not receiving fuch an anfwer as they demanded, they began an attack upon the ffcore and thofe within, break- ing down doors, flinging about mud, &c., for about an hour, when they began to difperfe, and a number of gentl n , friends of thofe agents coming to their affiftance, they left the ftore and went upon change, but met with no further infult, tho' there is much threatening. As the tea is not arrived, and it is uncertain when it may, I purpofe to write you again fpeedily. " In the interim, I am, &c." gMjgi - g ?.'<< *Tfes">J | j<2i;M| ^^1 _ J* jt A A A iS^fr AixS. \ I /.$ lJhT-%? S h*% X. js * d C ^ ^ LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 267 SOUTH CAROLINA. Letter from Mr. Greenwood. Sir: In anfwer to your letter of the 2O th inft., I beg you would be pleafed to inform the Com*?. 6 of Warehoufes that I have yet received no advices from South Carolina, relative to the Comp y>s exportation of tea. When I do, they may depend I will take the earlieft opportunity to communicate the fame to them. I am, fir, Your moft obe 1 ferv 1 WM. GREENWOOD Queen Street, 22 d Dec r> 1773. Mr. Settle. From Mr. Nutt. Gentlemen : In compliance with your defire, intimated to me by Mr. Settle, reflecting any information received from South Carolina, concerning the teas exported by the Eafl I. Com y to that Colony, I have the honor to acquaint you that the veffel in which they were fhipped did not fail from England before the i8 th October, and the lateft dates from thence are 268 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. only the I st Nov r- ' fo that we cannot expect for fome time to hear of her arrival. I have the honor to be, gent n -> Your moft obed 1 hum. ferv t-> JOHN NUTT. Broad Street, 22 nd Decem r> 1773. To the Com 4 " of Warehoufes, &c., &c., &c. NEW YORK. Letter from Mr. Blackburn. Sir: I am honored with your two letters of the 2O th & 2 1 ft curr 1 , defiring me to inform the Com 1 - 6 . 6 of Warehoufes if I have received any advices from New York relative to the Com' 8 exportation of tea to that Colony. The veffel wherein the tea was fhipped was not arrived when the laft letters were difpatched from thence, confe- quently no precife judgment can be formed whether or not it would be permitted to be landed ; but I flatter myfelf from the difpofition of the principal gentle 11 of New York, who are men of moderation, candour and prudence, and as firmly attached to the Government and laws of this Kingdom as any of his Majefty's fubjecls ; that they will, by their example and influence, be able to fupprefs every riot and difturbance occafioned by the oppofers of this meafure. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 269 I expect; a fhip from New York, which was to depart about the 26 th Novem r> by which I mall receive fome frelh intelligence relative to this bufmefs, and if I mould be furnifhed with any advices that regard the intereft of the Company, I mail not fail to wait on the Directors immedi- ately. I have the honor to be, fir, Your moft obed 4 & hum. fer* JOHN BLACKBURN. Scots Yard, 22 nd Dec r> 1773. Mr. Wm. Settle. Extract of a Letter from a merchant in New York, to Wm. Kelly, of London, dated 5 th Nov r > 1773 : " The introduction of the Eaft India Comyany's tea is violently oppofed here, by a fet of men who fhamefully live by monopolizing tea in the fmuggling way." Extract of a Letter from Abraham Lott, Efq r ~' of New York, to Wm. Kelly ^ of London, dated New York, $ th Nov r '' /77J, & received with the above mentioned Extract of Mr. Kelly, 22 d Dec r -> " Herewith you will receive feveral papers relating to the importation of the India Com y .'. s tea. If it comes out free of a duty here on importation, things I believe may go 1 William Kelly is, I suppose, the pp. 75, 76. " A certain Mr. Kelly, former person referred to in the following par- resident of the city, (New York,) then agraph in Leake's " Life of John Lamb," in London, and canvassing some one of 30 270 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. quiet enough, tho' you will obferve much is faid againft it even on that fuppofition. But if it fhould be fubjecl; to a duty here, I am much in doubt whether it will be fafe, as almoft every body in that cafe fpeaks againft the ad- miffion of it, fo that, altho' I am well affured that the Governor will not fuffer the laws to be trampled on, yet there will be no fuch thing as felling it, as the people would rather buy fo much poifon, than the tea with the duty thereon, calculated (they fay) to enflave them and their pofterity, and therefore are determined not to take what they call the naufeous draft. A little time will determine how matters will terminate, that is, if the tea comes out. If it does, I hope it may come frree of duty, as by that means much trouble arid anxiety will be faved by the agents. I do affure you they have all been very uneafy, tho' at the fame time determined to do their duty, but in the moft prudent & quiet manner. It is now two o'clock, P.M., when I received the paper figned Caffius, in which you will find Mr. L R de handfomely complimented, and yourfelf feverely handled, on a fuppofition that you mould have fpoken words to the import, as afferted in the paper. Mr. the Ministerial Boroughs for an elec- had shown his energy in putting down tion to Parliament, ridiculed the appre- insurrectionary movements in North hensions of those who refused to insure Carolina. The Committee of Vigilance the cargoes of tea from destruction, took note of these offensive declarations, and declared that if animosities should and on November 5, called a meeting rise as high as during the time of the at the Coffee House. The people as- Stamp Act, the tea might safely be sembled, denounced Kelly, and burnt shipped and securely landed. That his effigy, and after the representative then the Colony had an old man to was consumed, a gentleman observed deal with (Golden); but now they would that it was matter of regret that the have to contend with a vigorous principal could not be dealt with in the military governor, (Tryon, ) one who same summary and exemplary manner." LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 271 R e's name is not mentioned, but there is no doubt but he is the perfon alluded to, as upon the arrival of the Lon- don mips, who refufed to bring the tea. It was currently reported that he had wrote his partner nearly in the fame words as mentioned in the paper. You are the beft judge of the truth of the affertion, but whether true or not, his conduct is ungenerous and mean. If the paper fpeaks truth, that he was offered part of the confignment of tea, he muft be a man of great influence to have fo great an offer made him, when fo many other people of weight were applying for it and could not obtain it." From. Mr. Fred k Pigou, Jun r - Sir: Pleafe to acquaint the Com'- 6 of Warehoufes of the Hon'ble the Eaft India Company, that from the advices I have received from Philadelphia, I Ihould be of opinion the tea fent to that place will, if landed, meet with much diffi- culty in being difpofed of. At New York, I am of opinion it will meet with lefs oppofition, and may poffibly be fold in that city. It would have been fortunate if the New York veffel could have arrived as foon or before the Philadelphia fhip. I am, fir, your moft hum. ferv 1 FRED'K PIGOU, Jun r Mark Lane, 21 ft Dec r " 1773. To Mr. Settle. 272 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. PHILADELPHIA. Letter from Mr. Geo. Browne. Sir: The advice I have from my brother at Philadelphia, relative to the Com 5 :'. 8 confignment of tea, is, that it was very doubtful how it would be received there, the meafure being looked upon in an unfavorable view in general. He had only jurt received an account (from another hand) of his being nominated one of the agents, and refers me to the public prints for an account of the resolutions entered into by the people in oppofition to it. I am, fir, Your moft obedi' fer* GEO. BROWNE. Mr. Settle. From Mr. Sam 1 Wharton. Sir: I underftand that Mr. Walpole, of Lincolns Inn Fields, had received fome advices from my brother, reflecting the teas fent to Philadelphia. I applied to him for them, and he requefted that I would fend them to you, with what intelligence I had myfelf received. I am, fir, Your very hum. ferv 1 SAMUEL WHARTON. Argyle Street, Decem r 23, 1773. Mr. Settle. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 273 Extract of a Letter from Thomas Wharton^ Efq r of Philadelphia, dated Oft. 5, ///J, to Sam 1 Wharton, in London : " I have clofely attended to the courfe of your arguments, and think they are of great weight, but you know it is impoffible always to form a true judgment from what real motives an oppofition fprings, as the fmugglers and London importers may both declare that this duty is flamping the Americans with the badge of flavery, and notwithftanding the Directors of the Eaft India Company have a juft right to fend their teas where they think proper, yet the Ameri- cans allege they may and ought to refufe to purchafe and use it. " A little time after the fhip's arrival we mall know what is to be done, and I expect we mail before that time have a conference with the agents from New York, which I pro- pofed, that our conduct might be uniform, and as much as poffible anfwer the end of our appointment? 1 Thomas Wharton was a wealthy and later period was proscribed as an enemy influential merchant of Philadelphia, and to his coun.ry, and lost his estate, of the sect called Quakers. In the under the Confiscation Acts of Pennsyl- enterprise of Galloway and Goddard to vania. His son, Thomas Wharton, Jr., establish the " Chronicle," a leading was a distinguished Whig, and Presi- newspaper, he was their partner, and dent of Pennsylania. In the early part the parties supposed that Franklin, who of the Revolution, and indeed until the was a correspondent of Wharton's, on time when blood was shed, father and his return from England, would join son acted together, and were members them. In 1777, he was apprehended, of the same deliberative assemblies and and sent prisoner to Virginia, and at a committees. 274 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. Extracts of two Letters from Tho s - Warton, Efq r - f of Phila- delphia, dated Ol. 5 and Off. 30, //7J, to the Horible T/w s - Walpole, of London : " About a week before the arrival of the September mail, a letter reached this city, informing us that particular perfons (tho' not all of them the proper ones) were nomi- nated agents for the Eaft India Directors. This gave the inhabitants a knowledge of the intention of the Directors, and fome perfons immediately declared, that as the duty was ftill retained, that, tho' fmall, yet it as implicitly fixed the power and eftablifhed the badge of flavery, as if it had been greater. The fame fentiments, I am told, are expreffed in letters from New York. At prefent, therefore, it is impoffible to fay what meafures the people will take on this occafion, but I mould expect they will not hinder the tea being landed, if they infift on its not being fold, till the duty is taken off by Act of Parliament, or the Eaft India Directors fatisfy the Commiffioners of the Cuftoms in Lon- don. For, notwithftanding, it may juftly be urged that the Directors of the Eaft India Comp y have a right to export their teas to North America, yet, as it is faid, the inhabi- tants have alfo a right of judgment reflecting the purchafe and confumption. I mould expect, that if the opposition takes place, it will reft with their adherence to an engage- ment of this kind. " I can have no doubt that the India Com y would find their fales lucrative, and that an extenfion of trade would certainly take place, by comprehending the articles of pepper, LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 275 fpices, and filks in their exports ; great quantities of the two firft articles have certainly been introduced in the Continent from Holland and thro' the Weft Indies, and therefore it is that I apprehend the London merchants are miftaken when they fay they already fhip as much as the Continent can confume, for through them are imported only fuch quantities of fpices, &c., as the merchant here can vend, after the run goods are fold, they being imported cheaper than thofe from England, are naturally firft fold. But if the Eaft India Company mould think proper to ex- tend their trade, I cannot doubt it would in a great meafure put a flop to the importation from Holland and the Dutch Iflands, and large fums would annually pafs from America to London for thofe commodities. But perhaps little more mould be faid until it is known in what manner our fellow countrymen mail view this fcheme of trade." "Philadelphia, Oct. 30, 1773. " I fhall endeavor to communicate a more full ftate of the fentiments of my fellow citizens than I could in my laft letter. I could then only conjecture what might be the refult of their judgments refpecling the Hon'ble the Direct- ors of the Eaft I. Com y fending their teas to this Continent. A communication of fentiments, taking place between the New Yorkers & the Philadelphians, foon produced a number of pieces in the public prints and otherwife, moft abfolutely afferting the rights of the Americans, and denying the power of Parliament refpecting the internal taxation of the Colonies, which led into many comparifons, endeavoring to (hew that 276 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. the agency of the tea was equally odious & dangerous as the execution of the Stamp Act would have been. I may fay with great truth, that I do not believe one man in a hundred was to be met with who approved of the fending the tea, while the duty was to be paid here. Yet a great number of people acknowledged the right of the Eaft India Directors to export their teas to America, and declared that nothing lefs than a confirmed belief that the admitting this mode of taxation would render the affemblies of the people mere cyphers, could have induced them to proceed in the manner they have done; for when it was mentioned to them that by refufmg to admit the tea to be landed, they did as much deprive the India Company of the natural rights of Englifh merchants, as the fubjecting us to the payment of duty poffibly could affect us, they replyed that the Acl; of Parliament hindered the tea from being landed until the duty was firft paid or fecured, and confequently as the Directors knew this, and the oppofition heretofore given by the Ameri- cans, they muft take what followed. " You will perceive by the refolution formed and entered into on the iS 1 -' into what a fituation the agents were driven, there being no poffibility of perfuading the people to wait till we knew the real ftate of facts. The meeting at the State Houfe confifted, (it is faid) of 6 or 700, and be affured, they were as refpectable a body of inhabitants as has been together on any occafion ; many of the firft rank. The whole of their proceedings were conducted with the greateft decency and firmnefs, and without one diffenting voice. After the refolution had paffed, they appointed a Com 1 - 6 of 12 perfons, who, on the 18'- inft., about 12 o'clock, LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 277 called on James and Drinker, and then came down to my houfe, where they conducted themfelves with great decency, read the refolution, and informed me they were appointed by their fellow citizens to demand of Tho s> & Ifaac Wharton, whether we would execute the truft if the duty was to be paid here ? We told them it involved us in a difficulty which we could not folve, becaufe we had not received the lea/I intimation from the Directors, and therefore it was im- poffible to know the exact ftate the tea was to be fhipped in, but that we would, on being acquainted with the fituation under which it came, openly communicate the fame, and that we would do nothing to injure the property of the India Com y or enflave America. This anfwer they received with great fatisfaclion, and in the evening they reported to a unanimous body of citizens the anfwers they had received, who gave Tho s - and Ifaac Wharton very evident marks of their approbation for the candid anfwer they gave. " Should the tea be fent fubject to the payment of the duty, I am fatisfied it will not be fuffered to be landed, and that it muft return to London, (unlefs the India Direcl- ors have in fuch cafe directed the captain where to proceed with it,) which intimation may be in time to fecure the property by infurance mould they incline." Copies of the above advices were, by order of the Com 4 -? 5 of Warehoufes, fent to Lord Dartmouth in the manner directed by their minute of the 278 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. BOSTON. LETTER FROM MR. JONATHAN CLARKE TO EDWARD WHELER, ESQ R Bofton, New England, 17* Nov r - 1773. Sir: After a long detention in the Englifh channel, and a pretty long paffage, I arrived here this morning from England, and there being a veffel to fail for London within a few hours, gives me an opportunity of writing you a few lines on the fubjecl of the confignment of tea, made to our houfe by the Hon'ble Eafl India Company, in which I had your friendly affiilance, and of which I mail always retain a grateful fenfe. I find that this meafure is an unpopular one, and before my arrival fome meafures have been taken to oblige my friends to make a jrefignation of the trufl, which they have not thought fit to comply with. They have wrote to our friend, Mr. Abraham Dupuis, very particularly, refpe6ling the meafures that have been adopted, and to that account I muft beg leave to refer you, as I have not time to repeat it by this opportunity, but I fhall keep the Company fully advifed in future. I fully fee that we fhall meet with difficulty in executing this truft, but our utmoft endeavors fhall be exerted to fulfill the orders we may receive from the Company. I am, very refpeclfully fir, your mofl obliged h'ble ferv 1 Edward Wheler, Efq r - JON* CLARKE. Received from the Deputy Chairman, 5 th Jan 1 ?- 1774. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 279 LETTER TO MR. ABRAHAM DUPUIS. Sir. Mr. Wheler, chairman of the Eaft India Company, having received a letter from Jonathan Clarke, Efq n> dated Bofton, 1 7 th November laft, wherein he begs leave to refer him to you for the meafures that have been adopted at Bofton, relative to the Company's exportation of tea to that Colony, I am directed by the chairman to defire you would be pleafed to communicate to him the advices you have received from Meffrs. Clarke & Sons, for the information of the Court of Directors of the Eafl India Company, which will be a favor conferred on him. I am, fir, Your moft obd 1 ferv l> WM. SETTLE. Eafl India Houfe, 5* Jan y> 1774. Abraham Dupuis, Efq r-i Gracechurch Street. LETTER FROM MESSRS. CLARKE & SONS, AT BOSTON TO MR. ABR*? DUPUIS, Referred to in Mr. Clarke s Letter to the chairman, of the if h Nov r ' 1773. Bofton, Nov r -'-' 1773. Mr. ABRAHAM DUPUIS. Sir: We now embrace the firft leifure we have, to give you an account of the proceedings of fome of the inhabitants 280 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS of this town, relative to the expected importation of teas into this port from the Hon'ble Eaft India Company. As foon as it was known here that the Company had deter- mined on this meafure, and that certain gentlemen of this town were fixed upon as factors, there appeared a diffatif- faction in many perfons. But at firft there did not appear any refentment againft the fuppofed factors, nor was there, as far as we ever heard, any mention made of a defign to bring them under any obligations not to execute their truft, but the general voice among the oppofers of the Company's plan was, that the teas muft not be landed, or, if landed, not fold. About three or four weeks ago, a printed anony- mous addrefs to the Company's factors was brought to this place by the poft, either from New York or Philadelphia, but whether it was fabricated at either of thofe places, or this, we cannot determine. The defign of it was, to repre- fent a number of gentlemen, who cannot juftly be confidered in any other light than commercial factors, as Crown officers, and they, in the faid paper, are exprefily put on the fame footing with the late ftamp officers, doubtlefs with a defign to render them odious to the people, and much is faid in it to diffuade or intimidate them from executing their expected truft. .Soon after this, a fecond anonymous addrefs, but much more inflammatory, appeared here in one of the newf- papers from New York. Both thefe were printed in one or more of the newfpapers of this town, and feveral other pieces were alfo publifhed here, to roufe the people to an oppofi- tion to the Company's defign, and their rage againft us and the other gentlemen, factors for the Company in this place. As things were then circumftanced in this place, we judged it might tend to undeceive many perfons that were milled, LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 28l to publifh fome obfervations on the Company's plan, to anfwer the objections that were made againft it, and to point out fome of the beneficial confequences attending the execu- tion of it. Accordingly we, by the affiftance of a friend, got printed in Meffrs. Fleet's Evening Pofl, of the 24 th October, a piece figned Z 1 , in which this affair is canvaffed with as much freedom as the temper of the times would bear, and altho' this was penned in hafte, and under the reftriclion of the afore-hinted fhackle, we have the fatisfaclion to find, that in the opinion of the moft judicious amongft us here, every objection that has been flarted againft the Company's plan is fully anfwered, and altho' this publiih- 1 A portion of this article, which fairly represents the views of the consignees on the vexed tea question, is as follows : " The objectors say the tea duty will be a means of supporting the Parlia- ment of Great Britain in raising money from us. How it can affect this matter I am utterly at a loss to comprehend. Have not large quantities of tea for some years past been imported into this Province from England, both on account of the dealers in tea there and the merchants here, all which have paid the American duty ? How in the name of common sense does it differ, unless it be in favor of America, for a New England merchant to have his tea shipped from Great Britain, on his own account, or receive it on commission from the grocers there, and on its arriv- al, paying the customary duty, than if it had been shipped by the East India Company, who were the original im- porters ? What consistency is there in making a clamour about this small branch of the revenue, whilst we si- lently pass over the articles of sugar, molasses and rum, from which more than three-fourths of the American rev- enue has and always will arise, and when the Act of Parliament imposing duties on these articles stands on the same footing as that respecting tea, and the moneys collected from them are applied to the same purposes ? Many of us complain of the Tea Act, not only as it affects our liberties, but as it affects our purses, by draining us annu- ally of a large sum of money. But if it be considered that by this step the East India Company have taken of sending their tea to market themselves at their own cost, and the saving that is thereby made to the merchants here of commissions, freight and charges of importing it, which will be equal to the whole annual tax that has yet been paid, it must silence that complaint." " Z." 282 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. ment does not feem to have had its defigned effect as yet, it is to be hoped, when the people s temper is become more cool, that the aforefaid piece, with what has fmce, and may hereafter be publimed on this fubjecl, may not entirely fail of the defign propofed. Befides thefe paper fkirmifhes, we would inform you that we were told that there were about two or three weeks fmce, feveral nightly meetings, held in various parts of the town, of a large number of perfons, to confult and conclude on fome method to prevent the execution of the Company's plan, but what was fixed at thefe meetings we could not learn. But we were not loft in this uncertainty long, for in the morning of the 2"? inftant, about one o'clock, we were roufed out of our fleep by a violent knocking at the door of our houfe, and on looking out of the window we faw (for the moon fhone very bright) two men in the courtyard. One of them faid he had brought us a letter from the country. A fervant took the letter of him at the door, the contents of which were as follows : " Bofton, i ft Nov., 1773. Richard Clarke & Son : The Freemen of this Province underftand, from good authority, that there is a quantity of tea configned to your houfe by the Eaft India Company, which is deftructive to the happinefs of every well-wifher to his country. It is therefore expected that you perfonally appear at Liberty Tree, on Wednefday next, at twelve o'clock at noon day, to make a public refignation of your commiffion, agreeable to a notification of this day for that purpofe. Fail not upon your peril. O. C." LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 283 Two letters of the fame tenor were fent in the fame manner to the other factors. On going abroad we found a number of printed notifications ported up in various parts of the town, of which the following is a copy : " To the Freemen of this and the other Towns in the Province. Gentlemen : You are defired to meet at Liberty Tree, next Wednefday, at twelve o'clock at noon day, then and there to hear the perfons to whom the tea, fhipped by the Eaft India Company, is configned, make a public refignation of their office as confignees, upon oath. And alfo fwear that they will refhip any teas that may be configned to them by the faid Company, by the firft veffel failing for London. Bofton, Nov r - ist, 1773. O. C., Secre y - " : In this you may obferve a delufory defign to create a public belief that the factors had confented to refign their truft on Wednefday, the 3 d inft., on which day we were fummoned by the above-mentioned letter to appear at Liberty Tree, at 1 1 o'clock, A.M. All the bells of the meeting- houfes for public worfhip were fet a-ringing and continued ringing till twelve ; the town cryer went thro' the town fummoning the people to affemble at Liberty Tree. By thefe methods, and fome more fecret ones made ufe of by the authors of this defign, a number of people, fuppofed by fome to be abont 500, and by others more, were collected at the time and place mentioned in the printed notifica- tion. They confided chiefly of people of the loweft rank, 284 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. very few reputable tradesmen, as we are informed, appeared amongft them. There were indeed two merchants, reputed rich, and the felectmen of the town, but thefe laft fay they went to prevent diforder. The gentlemen who are fup- pofed the defigned factors for the Eaft India Comp y , viz : Mr. Tho s - Hutchinfon, Mr. Faneuil, Mr. Winflow & Meffrs. Clarke, met in the forenoon of the 3 rd inftant, at the latter's warehoufe, the lower end of King Street. Mr. Elifha Hutchinfon was not prefent, owing to a mifunder- ftanding of our intended plan of conduct;, but his brother engaged to act in his behalf. You may well judge that none of us ever entertained the leaft thoughts of obeying the fummons fent us to attend at Liberty Tree. After a confultation amongft ourfelves and friends, we judged it beft to continue together, and to endeavour, with the af- fiftance of a few friends, to oppofe the defigns of the mob, if they mould come to offer us any infult or injury. And on this occafion, we were fo happy as to be fupported by a number of gentlemen of the firft rank. About one o'clock, a large body of people appeared at the head of King Street, and came down to the end, and halted oppofite to our ware- houfe. Nine perfons came from them up into our counting- room, viz : Mr. Molineux, Mr. Wm. Dennie, Doctor Warren, Dr. Church, Major Barber, Mr. Henderfon, Mr. Gabriel Johonnot, Mr. Proctor, and Mr. Ezekiel Cheever. Mr. Molin- eux, as fpeaker of the above Com 1 - 6 , addreffed himfelf to us, and the other gentlemen prefent, the fuppofed factors to the Eaft India Com y> and told us that we had committed an high infult on the people, in refufmg to give them that moft reafonable fatisfaction which had been demanded in the summons or notice which had been fent us, then read a LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 285 paper propofed by him, to be fubfcribed by the factors, im- porting that they folemnly promife that they would not land or pay any duty on any tea that mould be fent by the Eafl I. Com y> but that they would fend back the tea to England in the fame bottom, which extravagant demand being firmly refufed, and treated with a proper contempt by all of us, Mr. Molineux then faid that fmce we had refufed their mofl reafonable demands, we mull expect to feel, on our firft appearance, the utmoft weight of the people's refentment, upon which he and the reft of the Com 1 - 6 left our counting- room and warehoufe, and went to and mixed with the multitude that continued before our warehoufe. Soon after this, the mob having made one or two reverfe motions to fome diftance, we perceived them haftening their pace to- wards the ftore, on which we ordered our fervant to fhut the outward door ; but this he could not effect, although affifted by fome other perfons, amongft whom was Nathaniel Hatch, 1 Efq-' one of the Juftices of the inferior Court for this country, and a Juftice of the Peace for the county. This gen 1 ? made all poffible exertions to ftem the current of the mob, not only by declaring repeatedly, and with a loud voice, that he was a magiftrate, and commanded the people, by virtue of his office, and in his Majefty's name, to defift from all riotous proceedings, and to disperfe, but alfo by affifling in perfon; but the people not only made him a return of infulting & reproachful words, but prevented his endeav- 1 Nathaniel Hatch, of Dorchester, 1 776 ; was proscribed and banished in graduated at Harvard University, in 1778, and in 1779 was included in the 1742, and subsequently held the office Conspiracy Act, by which his estate of Clerk of the Courts. He accom. was confiscated. He died in 1780. panied the British troops to Halifax, in 32 286 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. ors, by force and blows, to get our doors fhut, upon which Mr. Hatch, with fome other of our friends, retreated to our counting-room. Soon after this, the outward doors of the ftore were taken off their hinges by the mob, and carried to fome diftance ; immediately a number of the mob rufhed into the warehoufe, and endeavored to force into the count- ing-room, but as this was in another ftory, and the flair-case leading to it narrow, we, with our friends about twenty in number by fome vigorous efforts, prevented their ac- compliming their defign. The mob appeared in a fhort time to be difperfed, and after a few more faint attacks, they contented themfelves with blocking us up in the ftore for the fpace of about an hour and a half, at which time, perceiving that much the greateft part of them were drawn off, and thofe that remained not formidable, we, with our friends, left the warehoufe, walked up the length of King Street together, and then went to our refpeclive houfes, without any moleftation, faving fome infulting behavior from a few defpicable perfons. The night following, a menacing letter was thruft under Mi*. Faneuil's door, to be communi- cated to the other confignees, with a defign to intimidate them from executing their truft, and other methods have fince been made ufe of in the public papers and otherwife, for the fame purpofe. The next day, being the 4 th inft., a notification was fent thro' the town, by order of the felecl;- men, for the inhabitants of the town to meet on this affair the next day, a tranfcript of which, and the proceedings of the town thereon, at their meetings on the 5 th and 6 th inft., you have a full account of in the enclofed newfpapers, which, being long, we fhall only copy the meffage of the town to us, and our anfwer, which are as follows : JOHN HANCOCK'S REPLY TO WASHINGTON'S LETTER TO CONGRESS, RECOMMENDING THE BOMBARDMENT OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON. "It is true, sir, nearly all the property I have in the world is in houses and other real estate in Boston; but if the expulsion of the British army from it and the liberties of our country require their being burnt to ashes, issue the order for that purpose immediately." LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 289 " Voted, That a Com 1 ?. 6 be immediately chofen to wait on thofe gentle who, it is reported, are appointed by the Eafl India Com y to receive and fell faid tea, and requeft them, from a regard to their own character, and the good order and peace of the town and province, immediately to refign their appointments. And the following gent m , viz. : the Moderator of the Meeting, Mr. Henderfon Inches, Benj n Auftin, Efq r -' and Mr. John Mafon, & the felecl men of the town, were appointed a com 1 - 6 - 6 accordingly." Thefe gent n> all except Mr. Mafon, came to our houfe about one o'clock, P. M., but not having an authenticated copy of the Town's vote, we defired to be favored with one, which was accordingly fent us, in a fhort time, from the moderator, John Hancock, Efq r - to which we returned the following anfwer, viz. : " Bofton, Nov r 5, 1773. Sir: It is impoffib|e for us to comply with the requeft of the Town, fignified to us this day by their Com 1 ?. 6 , as we know not on what terms the tea, if any of it mould be fent to our care, will come out, nor what obligations, either of a moral or pecuniary nature, we may be under to fulfil the truft that may be devolved on us. When we are acquainted with thefe circumftances, we mail be better qualified to give a definite anfwer to the requeft of the Town. We are, fir, your moft humble fervants, RICH D CLARKE & SONS, BENJ N FANEUIL, for felf & JOSHUA WINSLOW, Efq r - Hon'ble John Hancock, Efq r-> Moderator of a Town Meeting at Faneuil Hall." 290 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. This anfwer, you'll fee by the enclofed news paper, was unanimoufly voted to be not fatisfactory to the Town, and the next day, on Mr. Hutchinfon's fending into the Town Meeting an anfwer of the fame purport, both his and ours were voted to be daringly affrontive to the Town, but upon what reafons this vote was founded they have not been pleafed to declare. You may obferve that the Town has refolved that they will, by all means in their power, prevent the fale of the teas exported by the Eaft India Company, and in the preamble to this vote it is afferted that the quantities of teas imported into this place fmce a certain agreement, which we prefume they defigned mould be under- ftood to commence in the fall of 1770, at which time the non-importation agreement ceafed, had been very frnall in proportion to what had been ufual before faid agreement, and that by a few perfons only. In order to fet thofe facls in a clear light, we obtained from the cuftom houfe an account of teas imported into this place from the beginning of the year 1768, at which time the firft teas that paid the American duty arrived to this time, and got the fame printed in the enclofed news paper, by which it appears that the fact has been groffly mifreprefented, efpecially confidering that this year's importation would probably be encreafed at the end of the year two or three hundred chefts, if the expected exportation on account of the Eaft India Company had not prevented it. Befides the public tranfaclions relative to this affair, before recited, we have repeated accounts of the con- tinual nocturnal meetings of the leaders of the mob, and we are informed that they are determined to make the utmoft efforts to prevent the fale of the teas ; that their prefent fcheme> or part of it, is to endeavor, by all methods, even LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 291 the moft brutal, to force the confignees to give up their truft, and if they fhould fail in this, it is by fome perfons publickly afferted that the tea fhall not be landed, or if it fhould be, that it fhall be burnt. 1 In our prefent unexpected and difficult fituation, we have only to defire you to affure the gentlemen, who may have configned any part of the Company's teas to our houfe, whom we cannot at prefent write to, as we have not been advifed who the gentlemen are, that we fhall make ufe of the befl advice, and exert our utmoft endeavors to carry into execution the Company's defign, which, as far as we are acquainted with it, we judge to be beneficial to the Colonies, and to this Town and Province efpecially, but whether it will finally be in our power to accomplim our defign, we are not at prefent certain. We beg the favor of you, fir, to communicate the foregoing to the gentlemen who may have had the direction of this affair. We are, with the greateft efteem and higheft fenfe of our obligations to them and you, fir, Your moft obedient & moft humble fervants, RICHARD CLARKE & SONS. P. S. Mr. Faneuil writes to his friend, Mr. Brook Watfon, by this opportunity, advifing him of the tranf- actions relating to this affair. In cafe of mifcarriage of his letter, we defire you to communicate this letter to Mr. Watfon. 1 The proposition to burn the tea is referred to by Wyeth. See ante p. LXXI. 292 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. EXTRACT OF MR. FANEUIL'S LETTER TO BROOK WATSON, ESQ R MENTIONED IN MR. CLARKE'S POSTSCRIPT. Mr. Faneuil, after giving an account of the proceedings of the inhabitants of the 3 rd inftant, entirely agreeing in fubflance with Mr. Clarke's relation, goes on " By comparing this account with what Mr. Clarke writes his friend, Mr. Dupuis, of London, you will come at the exact flate of the affair. The Governor has given my Lord Dartmouth an account of the conduct of his Council. I will only fay that next day they voted that the Attorney- General be ordered to profecute the perfons concerned in this riot. The confequence, I fuppofe, will be, the grand jury will not find a bill againffc them, and there the affair will end." On Thurfday, a letter, of which the following is a copy, was found in my entry: " Gentlemen : It is currently reported that you are in the extremefl anxiety reflecting your ftanding with the good people of this Town and Province, as commiffioners of the fale of the monopolized and dutied tea. We do not wonder in the leaft that your apprehenfions are terrible, when the mofl enlightened humane & confcientious community on the earth view you in the light of tigers or mad dogs, whom the public fafety obliges them to deftroy. Long have this people been irreconcilable to the idea of fpilling human blood, on almoft any occafion whatever ; but they have lately feen a penitential thief fuffer death for pilfering a few LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 293 pounds from {battering individuals. You boldly avow a refolution to bear a principal part in the robbery of every inhabitant of this country, in the prefent and future ages, of every thing dear and interefting to them. Are there no laws in the Book of God and nature that enjoin fuch mif- creants to be cut off from among the people, as troublers of the whole congregation. Yea, verily, there are laws and officers to put them into execution, which you can neither corrupt, intimidate, nor efcape, and whofe refolution to bring you to condign punimment you can only avoid by a fpeedy imitation of your brethren in Philadelphia. This people are ftill averfe to precipitate your fate, but in cafe of much longer delay in complying with their indifpenfable demands^ you will not fail to meet the juft rewards of your avarice & infolence. Remember, gent n> this is the laft warning you are ever to expe6l from the infulted, abufed, and moft in- dignant vindicators of violated liberty in the Town of Bofton. Thurfday evening, 9 o'clock. Nov. 4, 1773. O. C, Sec y> pr order. 1 To Meffrs. the Tea Commiffioners. Direded to B F Efq r - " On Friday we had a Town Meeting. What was done there, together with our anfwers and their refolves, you'll 1 This letter, with all its extravagance lar leaders. These, however strongly and exaggeration, undoubtedly expresses they felt in relation to ministerial ag- the popular feeling, the public senti- gression, were, though direct and forci- ment of the time. It is easy to see ble in their utterances, invariably dis- from its style, as well as from the creet and temperate in their tone and sentiments it contains, that it could language, have emanated from none of the popu- 294 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. fee in the enclqfed news paper. Juft before the meeting broke up, feveral gent n> on my telling the purport of our anfwer, advifed me to leave the town for that night ; but I have not yet flept out of my own houfe, nor do I propofe to do it, till I find it abfolutely neceffary. I thought it beft, however, to conceal myfelf for two or three hours. But nothing took place more that evening than is ufual on the 5 l Nov r- On Friday, we received an information, which was repeated yefterday, that a number of picked men are determined to break into our houfe one night this week. I can hardly believe it, but thefe continued alarms are very difagreeable. I am, gentlemen, Your moft obed* ferv 1 , BENJ N FANEUIL, Jun r. 1 1 Benjamin Faneuil, Jr., was the son of Benjamin, a merchant of Boston, (born, 1701 ; died, 1785,) and a nephew of Peter Faneuil, to whom Boston is indebted for her " Cradle of Liberty." His place of business was in Butler's Row, and he resided in the Faneuil mansion, on Tremont Street. Before the building of Quincy Market and South Market Street, Butler's Row entered Merchants Row, between Chat- ham and State Streets. With the other tea consignees, Faneuil fled to the Cas- tle, in Boston harbor, November 30, 1773, and being a loyalist, went to Halifax, when Boston was evacuated, in March, 1776. In the following spring he was in London, and subsequently resided in Bristol, Eng., where he died. His wife was Jane, daughter of Addington Daven- port. While in London, in lodgings in the Strand, almost opposite Somerset House, he wrote as follows to a friend: " As soon as the Xmas holidays were over, the tea consignees presented a petition to the Lords of the Treasury, praying a support until the affairs in America were settled. We are told we LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS 295 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON, ON THE 5 & 6T NOVEMBER, 1773, Referred to by MeJJrs. Richard Clarke & Sons, & Benj n Faneuil, Jun r ~' in their above mentioned Letters, from the news papers enclofed. [From the Massachusetts Gazette of Thursday, Nov. ri, 1773.] The following notification was iffued on Thurfday laft: The freeholders and other inhabitants of the Town of Bofton, qualified as the law directs, are hereby notified to meet at Faneuil Hall, on Friday, the 5 th day of November inftant, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, then and there to confider the petition of a number of the inhabitants, fetting forth, "that they are juflly alarmed at the report that the Eaft India Company, in London, are about fhipping a cargo or cargoes of tea into this and the other Colonies, and that they efteem it a political plan of the Britifh adminiftration, whereby they have reafon to fear, not only the trade upon which they depend for fubfiftence, is threatened to be totally deftroyed, but what is much more than any thing in life to be dreaded, the tribute laid on the foundation of that article will be fixed and eftablimed, and our liberties, for which we have long ftruggled, will be loft to them and their poflerity, shall be allowed ; 1 50 a year. This is a When we shall be able to return to fine affair, and we can by no means live Boston I cannot say, but hope and be- upon it, but there are such a confounded lieve it will not exceed one year, for parcel of us to be provided for, that I sooner or later America will be con- am told no more will be allowed. . . . quered, that you may depend on." 33 296 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. and therefore praying that a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants, may be immediately called, that fo the fenfe of the matter may be taken, and fuch fteps be purfued as to their fafety and well being (hall appertain." By order of the Sele6l men, WILLIAM COOPER, Town Clerk. Bofton, Nov r 4 1 ! 1 .- 1773. On Friday laft there was a very full meeting of the free- holders, and other inhabitants of this town, in Faneuil Hall, agreeable to a notification iffued by the Select men, when the Hon'ble John Hancock, Efq r> was chofen moderator, and the Town, after due deliberation, came into the following refolutions, viz. : Whereas, it appears by an Act of the Britifh Parliament, paffed in the laft feffion, that the Eaft India Company, in London, are by the faid Act allowed to export their teas into America in fuch quantities as the Lords of the Treafury mail think proper. And fome perfons, with an evil intent to amufe the people, and others thro' inattention to the true defign of the Act, have fo conftrued the fame as that the tribute of three pence on every pound of tea is to be ex- acled by the deteftable tafk matters here. Upon the due confideration thereof, Refolved, That the fense of this Town cannot be better expreffed than in the words of certain judicious refolves, lately entered into by our worthy brethren of Philadelphia. Wherefore, Refolved, That the difpofal of their own property is the inherent right of freemen ; that there can be no property in LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 297 that which 'another can, of right, take from us without our confent ; that the claim of Parliament to tax America is, in other words, to claim a right to levy contributions on us at pleafure. 2 d- That the duty impofed by Parliament upon tea landed in America, is a tax upon the Americans, or levying con- tributions on them without their confent. 3 d That the exprefs purpofe for which the tax is levied on the Americans, namely, for the fupport of government, adminiftration of juflice, and the defence of His Majefty's dominions in America, has a direct tendency to render af- femblies ufelefs, and to introduce arbitrary government and flavery. 4 th ' That a virtuous and fteady oppofition to this minif- terial plan of governing America is absolutely neceffary to preferve even the fhadow of liberty, and it is a duty which every free man in America owes to his country, to himfelf and to his poflerity. 5 th That the refolution lately agreed to by the Eaft: India Company, to fend out their tea to America, fubjecled to payment of duties on its being landed here, is an open attempt to enforce the minifterial plan, and a violent attack upon the liberties of America. 6 th That it is the duty of every American to oppofe this attempt. 7 th That whoever (hall, directly or indirectly, countenance this attempt, or in any wife aid or kbet in unloading, re- ceiving or vending the tea fent or to be fent out by the Eaft India Company, while it remains fubject to the pay- ment of a duty here, is an enemy to America. 8 th That a committee be immediately chofen to wait on 298 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. thofe gentlemen, who, it is reported, are appointed by the Eaft India Company to receive and fell faid tea, and requeft them, from a regard to their own characters, and the peace and good order of this. Town and Province, immediately to refign their appointments. And the following gentlemen, viz., the Moderator, Mr. Henderfon Inches, Benjamin Auftin, Efq n> and the Select men of the Town, were appointed a committee accordingly. At the fame time, the Town paffed the following refolves, viz. : Whereas, the merchants of this Continent, did enter into an agreement to withhold the importation of teas until the duty laid thereon "mould be repealed, which agreement, as we are informed, has been punctually obferved by the refpectable merchants in the Southern Colonies, while, by reafon of the peculiar circumftances attending the trade of this place, some quantities, tho' very fmall in proportion to what had been ufual before faid agreement, have been imported by fome of the merchants here. And whereas, it now appears probable to this Town, that the Britifh adminiftration have taken encouragement, even from fuch fmall importations, to grant licenfes to the Eaft India Company, as aforefaid, therefore, Refolved, That it is the determination of this Town, by all means in their power, to prevent the fale of teas ex- ported by the Eaft India Company, and as the merchants here have generally oppofed this meafure, it is the juft ex- pectation of the inhabitants of this town that no one of them will, upon any pretence whatever, import any tea that mall be liable to pay the duty from this time, and until the Act impofmg the fame mail be repealed. t/tz^ns' iTyCLcw GOVERNOR GAGE, THROUGH COL. FENTON, TO SAMUEL ADAMS, 1773. " Mr. Adams, you have displeased His Majesty, made yourself liable to be sent to England, and tried for treason. Change your political course, you will receive personal advantages, and also make your peace with the King." Mr. ,*/<&' Reply: "I have long since made my peace with the King of Kings. No personal consider- ation shall induce me to abandon the righteous cause of my country. Tell Gov. Gage it is the advice of Samuel Adams, to him, no longer to insult the feelings of an already exasperated people." LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 301 And then the Town adjourned till three o'clock in the afternoon. At 3 o'clock, there was again a very full affembly, and the committee reported to the Town that they had waited on Richard Clarke, Efq r - and Son, and Benjamin Faneuil, Efq r-> faid to be factors of the Eafl India Company, and communicated to them the refolve of the Town, whereby they were requefled, immediately, to refign their appoint- ment, and that faid gentlemen informed the committee, that as Meffrs. Thomas & Elifha Hutchinfon, (who are alfo re- ported to be factors of the faid Company,) were at Milton, and not expected in town 'till Saturday evening, and as they chofe to confult them, they could not return an anfwer to the Town 'till Monday morning. Then another committee was chofen viz., Mr. Samuel Adams, Mr. Wm. Molineux and Dr. Jofeph Warren, to acquaint Meffrs. Clarke & Faneuil, that as they were not joint factors for the Eaft India Company with the Hutchin- fon's, it was fuppofed they could determine for themfelves, and therefore it was the expectation of the Town that they return an immediate anfwer to the meffage, and this com- mittee reported to the Town that an anfwer might be expected in half an hour. A motion was then made that a committee "be appointed to repair to Milton, and acquaint Meffrs. Thomas and Elifha Hutchinfon, with the requefl of the Town, that they immediately refign their appointment, and John Hancock, Efq r " Mr. John Pitts, Mr. Samuel Adams, Mr. Samuel Abbott, Dr. Jofeph Warren, Mr. Wm. Powell, and Mr. Nath 1 Appleton, were appointed for that purpofe. 302 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. A letter was brought into the hall, figned by Richard Clarke & Son, & Benjamin Faneuil, for himfelf & Jofhua Window, Efq r -' and directed to the Moderator, to be com- municated to the Town, viz : "Boflon, 5 th Novm r " 1773. Sir: It is impoffible for us to comply with the requeft of the Town, fignified to us this day by the committee, as we know not what terms the tea, if any part of it mould be fent to our care, will come out on, and what obliga- tions, either of a moral or pecuniary nature, we may be under, to fulfil the truft that may be devolved on us. When we are acquainted with thefe circumflances, we fhall be better qualified to give a definitive anfvver to the requeft of the Town. We are, fir, Your moft h'ble ferV* RICHARD CLARKE SON, BENJAMIN FANEUIL, for felf & JOSHUA WINSLOW, Efq r - Hon'ble John Hancock, Efq r> Moderator of a Town Meeting, affembled at Faneuil Hall." This letter was read, and unanimouily voted to be not fatisfactory to the Town, and then the meeting adjourned 'till the next day, at eleven o'clock, to receive the report of the committee appointed to wait on the Hutchinfons. The Town met by adjournment, on Saturday, (the meeting ftill continuing very full,) and the committee reported, that they had feen Mr. Thomas Hutchinfon only, (his brother being neither at Milton or Bofton,) and that the Town might expecl; an anfwer from him immediately. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 303 The following letter was foon after fent in to the Moder- ator, figned Thomas Hutchinfon, which was read, and unani- moufly voted to be an unfatisfactory anfwer, viz. : " Sir : I know nothing relative to the teas referred to in the requeft or vote of the Town, except that one of my friends has fignified to me by letter, that part of it, he had reafon to believe, would be configned to me and my brother jointly. Under thefe circumftances, I can give no other anfwer to the Town at prefent, than that if the teas fhould arrive, and we fhould be appointed factors, we fhall then be fufficiently informed to anfwer the requeft of the Town. I am, for my brother and felf, fir, Your h'ble ferv l> THOS. HUTCHINSON, Jun r Hon'ble John Hancock, Efq r> Moderator of a Town Meeting, now affembled. It was then voted, that the letter, figned Richard Clarke & Son, Benjamin Faneuil, for felf and Jofhua Window, Efq r> and alfo the letter figned Thomas Hutchinfon, which had been read, were daringly affrontive to the Town, and the meeting was immediately diffolved. AN ACCOUNT OF TEA IMPORTED AT BOSTON, Referred to above, in Mr. Clarke s Letter, from the fame. Mr. DRAPER : Pleafe to publifh the following account of the im- portation of teas from Great Britain, from the commence- 304 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. ment of the year 1768, to the prefent time, for the informa- tion of fuch of your readers as defire to be acquainted therewith : In 1768, . I 760, Chests. . , . . 942 by 82 diff 1 perfons. 34.0 1 1 d' 1770, 167 22 d 0> 1771, 890 103 d' I 772, 2 7 c 70 d - i773> - .... 378 61 d- N. B. The merchants in London, not having executed the orders for tea this fall, on account of the expected ex- portation from the Eaft India Company, greatly leffens the quantity of the prefent year. Q- HALIFAX. Mr. Michell prefents his compliments to Mr. Watfon, and by order acquaints him, that the Court of Directors of the Eaft India Company have agreed that the Company's teas, which may be rejected at Bofton, and other places in America, mould be fent to Halifax, in the manner with which Mr. Watfon was acquainted by the Committee, with whom he this day conferred, and Mr. Michell is to defire Mr. Watfon will, as foon as may be, name to him the other houfe here, which is to join in that bufmefs, and the other gentleman at Halifax, to be concerned in the agency there with Mr. John Butler, that the neceffary difpatch may be given to the advices, to go from hence tomorrow, at 10 in the forenoon, to the plantation office, and be there for- LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 305 warded to America. He is alfo to requeft Mr. Watfon, will by that time, convey hither fuch letters as he intends mould go under the Company's cover, by the fame difpatch to Halifax, relating to this bufmefs Eaft India Houfe, Friday evening, 7$ Jan y> 1774. Jofhua Mauger, Efq r " Member of Poole, in ,10,000. Brook Watfon, ) r T , . r >oi London, merchants, and in f. 10,000. Rob* Rafhleigh, ) Joint fecurity for the due execution of the commiffion for the difpofal of the Company's teas by John Butler, Efq r -' and Tho s Cochran, of Halifax. NEW YORK. THE AGENTS OF NEW YORK, THEIR PETITION TO THE GOVERNOR, Referred to in their Letter of the I st Dec r " To His EXCELLENCY WILLIAM TRYON, ESQ' CAPTAIN-GENERAL AND GOVERNOR IN CHIEF IN AND OVER THE PROVINCE OF NEW YORK, AND TERRITORIES DEPENDING THEREON, IN AMERICA, CHANCELLOR AND VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE SAME. The Memorial of Henry White, Abra m Lott, & Benj m Booth, of the City of New York, merchants. Humbly fheweth : That your memorialifls have, by the laft packet, received advices of their being appointed agents by the Eaft 34 306 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. India Com y> for the fale of certain teas by them fhipped and daily expected to arrive in this port. That your memorialifls are informed by letter from the Directors of the faid Company, that they have given fecurity in double the value of the tea, that a certificate of its being duly landed mail be returned to the cuftom houfe, in London. That as the faid tea, on its importation, will be fubjecl: to the American duty, and as there is on that account a gen- eral and fpirited oppofition to its being fold, and being well convinced from the nature of the oppofition, that fo con- fiderable a property of the Company will not be fafe unlefs Government takes it under protection, your memorialifls therefore humbly pray that your Excellency will be pleafed to direct fuch steps to be taken for the prefervation of the faid tea, as your Excellency in your wifdom mail think moft conducive to that end. HENRY WHITE. 1 ABR M LOTT. BENJ" BOOTH. New York, ift Dec r> 1773. 1 Henry White was an eminent and wealthy merchant of New York, a mem- ber of the Council, and an original member and finally president, of the New York Chamber of Commerce. He acted for a time as commissary, while the royal army occupied that city, and being a pronounced loyalist, his estate was confiscated. After the peace he went to England, and died in London, December 23, 1786. Eve, his widow, died in New York, in 1836, at the great age of ninety-eight. Of his sons, John Chambers White, became a vice-admiral in the British navy, and Frederick Van Cortland, became a general in the army LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 309 BOSTON. Proceedings of the inhabitants of the town of Bofton, on the i8 th Nov r - 1773, referred to by the agents in their letter of the 2 d Dec r> are miffing, fuppofed to be tranfmitted to Lord Dartmouth. 1 PETITION OF THE AGENTS, & PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNCIL OF BOSTON THEREON, Referred to by the Agents in their Letter of the 2 d Decent* To His EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR AND THE HON'BLE His MAJESTY'S COUNCIL. The Petition of Rich* Clarke & Sons, of Benj* Faneuil, & TJio s ' & Elifha Hutchinfon. That the Hon'ble Eaft India Company, in London, have fhipped a considerable quantity of tea for the port of Bofton, and as your petitioners are made to underftand, will be con- figned to their addrefs for fale. That fome of your petitioners have in confequenee of this been cruelly infulted in their perfons and property ; that they have had infulting and incendiary letters left and thrown into their houfes in the night ; that they have been re- peatedly attacked by a large body of men ; that one of the houfes of your petitioners was affaulted in the night by a 1 See D. xxxv.. ante. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. tumultuous and riotous affembly of people, and violent attempts made to force the houfe for the fpace of two hours, that have greatly damaged the fame ; that they are threatened in their perfons and property, and further with the deftruction of the faid tea on its arrival into the port ; and that the refolves and proceedings of the Town, in their meetings on the 5 th and i8 th inft., are intended to be expref- five of the general fenfe of the Town, to which we beg leave to refer your Excellency and the Honorable Board. Your petitioners therefore beg leave to refign themfelves, and the property committed to their care, to your Excellency and Honors, as the guardians and protectors of the people, humbly praying that meafures may be directed to, for the landing and fecuring the teas, until your petitioners can be at liberty, openly and fafely, to difpofe of the fame, or until they can receive directions from their conftituents. Signed, RICH D CLARKE, BENJ N FANEUIL, Jun r - THO S> & ELISHA HUTCHINSON. A true copy from the original. Petition on file. Atteft: Signed, THO S - FLUCKER, Sec y - PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNCIL THEREON, At a Council held at the Council Chamber, in Bofton, upon Friday, Nov r 19, 1773. Prefent : His Excellency Thomas Hutchinfon, Efq r>> Governor. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 311 Ifaac Royal, 1 James Bowdoin, ^ James Pitts, John Erving, j^Efq"- James Ruffell, ^ Efq rs Wm. Brattle, 2 J James Otis, j Sam 1 Dexter, Efq rs - His Excellency reprefented to the Council the tumults and diforders prevailing in the town of Boflon, and required their advice upon meafures proper for preferving the peace, and for fupporting the authority of Government. Whilft the Council were debating on the fubjecl, a petition from Rich d Clarke, Benj" Faneuil, and Meffrs. Tho s - and Elima Hutchinfon, to the Governor and Council was prefented, fetting forth that the Hon'ble Eaft India Com y> in London, have fhip'd a confiderable quantity of tea for the port of Bofton, which they are made to underftand, will be configned to their addrefs, for fale, and that fome of them have, in confequence of this, been cruelly infulted in their perfons and 1 Isaac Royal, of Medford, died in preacher, physician, soldier and legts- England, in October, 1781. He was a lator, son of Rev. William, minister, of representative from Medford to the Cambridge, died in Halifax, N. S., in General Court, and for twenty-two years October, 1776; aged seventy-four. He a member of the Council. In 1774, he was graduated at Harvard University, in was appointed a Councillor under the 1722; was distinguished both for his writ of mandamus, but was never sworn talents and eccentricities ; was a repre- into office. Appointed a brigadier- sentative from Cambridge, and many general in 1761, and the first who bore years a member of the Council; a mem- that title here. He left the country ber of the Stamp Act Congress in 1765; April 1 6, 1775; was proscribed in 1778, a major-general of militia, and was a and his estate was confiscated. He member of every profession, and emi- bequeathed upwards of two thousand nent in all. For many years he pleased acres of land in Worcester County, Mass., both the Government and the people, to found the first law professorship of but finally forfeited the good will of the Harvard University, and his bequests for Whigs, and accompanied the British other purposes were numerous and soldiers to Halifax on the evacuation of liberal. Boston, and died there a few months 2 William Brattle, F. R. S., lawyer, after his arrival. 312 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. property. They therefore beg leave to refign themfelves, and the property committed to their care, to the Governor and Council, as the guardians and proteclors of the people, and pray that meafures may be directed to, for the landing and fecuring the teas, until they can be at liberty, openly and fafely, to difpofe of the fame, or until they can receive directions from their conftituents. After long debate, it was propofed and agreed that his Excellency be defired to ap- point a future day for the Council to fit, and he appointed the 23 d inft., and the Council adjourned the further con- fideration to that time accordingly. November 23 d ' 1773. Prefent in Council: His Excellency Tho s- Hutchinfon, Efq r> Governor. Ifaac Royal, 1 p/- rs . James Bowdoin, 1 James Pitts, John Erving, J James Ruffell, I Efq rs - John Winthrop, James Otis, Efq rs His Excellency directed the Council to proceed in the confideration of the petition of Rich d Clarke, Efq r -' and others, as entered the 19 th inft., for which purpofe he had ordered them to fit at this time, and a debate being had thereupon, it was moved to his Excellency that the Council might fit on a further day, there being only a bare quorum prefent, to which his Excellency agreed ; advifed that all thofe members of the Council who live within 40 miles of the town of Bofton be fummoned then to attend, which was done accordingly, to meet on Saturday, the 27 th inft. Novem r 27 th - Prefent in Council: His Excellency Tho 8 - Hutchinfon, Efq r> Governor. THOMAS GAGE, THE LAST ROYAL GOVERNOR. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 315 Samuel Danforth, 1 James Ruffel, James Humphrey, Ifaac Royal, James Pitts, Artemas Warcjl, John Erving, Samuel Dexter, John Winthrop, Efq 1 " 8 - James Bowdoin. George Leonard. His Excellency, after reprefenting to the Council the dif- orders prevailing in the town of Bofton, recommended to them to proceed on the petition of Rich d Clarke, and others, relative to thofe diforders, and required their advice. After a long debate, it was moved to his Excellency that a Com'?. 6 of the Council be appointed to prepare the refult of the faid debate, to be laid before his Excellency, to which he con- fented, and James Bowdoin, Sam- Dexter, and John Win- throp, Efq rs -' were appointed accordingly. Mr. Bowdoin made a report, which was confidered and debated by the Council, and it was moved to his Excellency that he would adjourn the Council to a future day for further confideration, and he appointed Monday, the 29 th - for that purpofe. Novem r 29 th ' 1773. Prefent in Council: His Excellency Tho s- Hutchinfon, Efq r - Governor. Samuel Danforth, Efq r - James Bowdoin, Geo. Leonard, Ifaac Royal, James Ruffell, Artemas Ward, John Erving, James Pitts, John Winthrop, Samuel Dexter, Efq ra - 1 Samuel Danforth, son of Rev. John, Register of Probate, 1731-45; Judge of of Dorchester, died in Boston, at the Probate, 1745-75 > an d Judge of the house of his son, Dr. Samuel Danforth, Court of Common Pleas, 1741-75. At 27th October, 1777; aged about eighty- the Revolution he passed out of office, one. He was graduated at Harvard but was so quiet in his deportment that, University, in 1715; taught school; was though understood to be a loyalist, he a Selectman in 1 733-39 ; representative was not disturbed in the possession of 1 734-38; member of the Council 1739- his property. He was distinguished for 1774, and several years its president; his love of the natural sciences. 316 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. His Excellency directed that the Council proceed upon the bufmefs for which it ftands adjourned. After debate upon the report of the Com te . e the queftion whether it fhould be accepted was put, which paffed unanimoufly in the affirmative as the advice of the Council to his Excellency, in the words following, viz. : Previous to the confideration of the petition before the Board, they would make a few obfervations occafioned by the fubject of it. The fituation of things between Great Britain and the Colonies has been for fome years paft very unhappy. Parliament, on the one hand, has been taxing the Colonies, and they, on the other hand, have been peti- tioning and remonftrating againft it, apprehending they have constitutionally an exclufive right of taxing themfelves, and that without fuch a right, their condition would be but little better than flavery. Poffeffed of thefe fentiments, every new meafure of Parlia- ment tending to eftablifh and confirm a tax on them renews and increases their diftrefs, and it is particularly encreafed by the Act lately made, empowering the Eaft India Company to fhip their tea to America. This Act, in a commercial view, they think introductive of monopolies, and tending to bring on them the extenfive evils thence arifmg. But their great objection to it is from its being manifeflly intended (tho' that intention is not expreffed therein,) more effectually to fecure the payment of the duty on tea, laid by an Act of Parliament paffed in the 7 th year of his prefent Majefly, entitled, " An Act for granting certain duties in the Britifh colonies and plantations in America," which Act in its operation deprives the colonifts of the right above mentioned (the exclufive right of taxing themfelves), which they hold to LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 317 be fo effential a one that it cannot be taken away or given up, without their being degraded, or degrading themfelves below the character of men. It not only deprives them of that right, but enacts that the monies arifmg from the duties granted by it may be applied "as his Majefty or his fucceffors mail think proper or neceffary for defraying the charges of the administration of juftice and the fupport of the civil government, in all or any of the faid colonies or plantations." This claufe of the Act has already operated in fome of the colonies, and in this colony in particular, with regard to the fupport of civil government, and thereby has operated in diminution of its charter rights to the great grief of the good people of it, who have been and ftill are greatly alarmed by repeated reports, that it is to have a further operation with refpect to the defraying the charge of the administration of juftice, which would not only be a further diminution of thofe rights, but tend in all constitutional queftions, and in many other cafes of importance to bias the judges againft the fubject. They humbly rely on the juftice and goodnefs of his Majefty for the reftitution and prefervation of thofe rights. This fhort ftatement of facets the board thought it neceffary to be given to mew the caufe of the prefent great uneafmefs which is not confined to this neighbourhood, but is general and extenfive. The people think their exclufive right of taxing themfelves by their reprefentatives, infringed and violated by the Act above mentioned. That the new Act empowering the Eaft India Company to import their tea into America confirms that violation, and is a new effort, not only more effectually to fecure the payment of the tea 35 318 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS duty, but lay a foundation for enhancing it, and in a like way, if this mould fucceed, to lay other taxes on America. That it is in its attendants and confequences ruinous to the liberties and properties of themfelves and their poflerity ; that as their numerous petitions for relief have been rejected, the faid New Act demonftrates an indifpofition in minif- try that Parliament mould grant them relief ; that this is the fource of their diftrefs, a diflrefs that borders upon difpair, and that they know not where to apply for relief. Thefe being the fentiments of the people, it is become the indifpenfible duty of this Board to mention them that the occafion of the late demands on Mr. Clarke and others, the agents of the Eaft India Company, and of the confe- quent difturbances, the authors of which we have advifed mould be profecuted, but to give a juft idea of the rife of them. On this occafion, juftice impels us to declare that the people of this Town and Province, tho' they have a high fenfe of liberty derived from the manners, the example and conftitution of the mother country, have, 'till the late parlia- mentary taxation of the Colonies, been as free from dif- turbances as any people whatever. This reprefentation the Board thought neceffary to be made prior to their taking notice of the petition of the agents above mentioned, to the confideration of which they now proceed. The petitioners beg leave " to refign themfelves, and the property committed to their care, to his Excellency and the Board, as guardians and protectors of the people, praying that meafures may be directed to for the landing and fecur- ing the tea," &c. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 319 With regard to the perfonal protection of the petitioners, the Board have not been informed that they have applied for it to any of the juftices of the peace, they being vefted by law with all the authority neceffary for the protection of his Majefty's fubjecls. In the principal inftance of abufe of which they complain, the Board have already advifed that the authors of it mould be profecuted according to law, and they do advife the fame in the other inflances mentioned in their petition. With regard to the tea committed to the care of the petitioners, the Board have no authority to take either that or any other merchandize out of their care, and mould they do it, or give any order or advice concerning it, and a lofs enfue, they apprehend they mould make themfelves refponfi- ble for it. With refpecl to the prayer of the petition, that meafures may be directed to " for the landing and fecuring the tea," the Board would obferve on it, that the duty on the tea becomes payable, and muft be paid or fecured to be paid on its being landed, and mould they direct or advife to any meafure for landing it, that would of courfe advise to a meafure for procuring the payment of the duty, and therefore by advifing to a meafure inconfiftent with the declared fenti- ment of both houfes in the laft winter feffion of the General Court, which they apprehend to be altogether inexpedient and improper. The Board, however, on this occafion affure your Excel- lency that as they have feen, with regret, fome late dif- turbances, and have advifed to the profecuting the authors of them, fo they will in all legal methods endeavor to the utmoft of their power to prevent them in future. Whereupon advifed that his Excellency renew his orders 320 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. to his majefty's juftices of the peace, fheriffs, and other peace officers, to exert themfelves to the utmoft for the fecurity of his Majefty's fubjecls, the prefervation of peace and good order, and for preventing all offences againft the laws. His Excellency thereupon demanded of the Council whether they would give him no advife upon the diforders then prevailing in the town of Bofton, and it was anfwered in general that the advife already given was intended for that purpofe. A true copy from the minutes of the Council. Atteft : THO S - FLUCKER, Sec y - PROCEEDINGS OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON ON THE 29 & 30" NOVEMB R - 1773, Referred to by the Agents there, in their Letter of the 2 d December, At a meeting of the people of Bofton and the neighbour- ing towns, in Faneuil Hall, in faid Bofton, on Monday, 29* Novem r> 1773, nine o'clock, A.M., and continued by adjourn- ment to the next day, for the purpofe of confulting, advifmg, and determining upon the moft proper and effectual method to prevent the unloading, receiving or vending the deteftable tea fent out by the Eaft India Company, part of which being juft arrived in this harbour, in order to proceed with LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 321 due regularity, it was moved that a moderator be chofen, and Jonathan Williams, Efq r -- was then chofen moderator of the meeting. A motion was made, that as the Town of Bofton had determined, at a late meeting, legally affembled, that they would, to the utmoft of their power, prevent the landing of the tea, the queftion being put whether this body be abfo- lutely determined that the tea now arrived, in Cap 1 Hall's ihip, fhall be returned to the place from whence it came, at all events, and the queftion being accordingly put, it paffed in the affirmative, nem. con. It appearing that the hall could not contain the people affembled, it was voted that the meeting be immediately adjourned to the Old South meeting-houfe, leave having been obtained for this purpofe. The people met at the Old South, according to adjourn- ment. A motion was made, and the queftion put, viz. : Whether it is the firm refolution of this body, that the tea fhall not only be fent back, but that no duty fhall be paid thereon, and paffed in the affirmative, nem. con. It was moved, that in order to give time to the con- fignees to confider and deliberate before they fent in pro- pofals to this body, as they had given reafon to expect would have been done at the opening of the meeting, there might be an adjournment to 3 o'clock, P.M., and the meeting was accordingly adjourned for that purpofe. Three o'clock, P.M. Met according to adjournment. A motion was made whether the tea non arrived in Cap* 322 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. Hall's fhip, mall be fent back in the fame bottom. Faffed in the affirmative, nem. con. Mr. Rotch, the owner of the veffel, being prefent, in- formed that body that he mould enter his proteft againft their proceedings. It was then moved and voted, nem. con., that Mr. Rotch be directed not to enter this tea, and that the doing of it will be at his peril. Alfo voted, that Cap 1 - Hall, the mafter of the fhip, be in- formed that, at his peril, he is not to fuffer any of the tea brought by him, to be landed. A motion was made, that in order for the fecurity of Cap 1 - Hall's fhip and cargo, a watch may be appointed, and it was voted that a watch be accordingly appointed, to con- fifl of 25 men. Cap 1 - Edward Proctor was appointed by the body to be cap 1 - of the watch for this night, and the names were given in to the moderator of the townfmen who were volunteers upon the occafion. It having been obferved to the body that Governor Hutch- infon had required the juflices of the peace in this town to meet and ufe their endeavours to fupprefs any routs, or riots, &c., of the people, that might happen, it was moved and the queftion put, whether it be not the fenfe of this meeting that the Governor's conduct herein carries a defigned reflection upon the people here met, and is folely calculated to ferve the views of adminiftration. Faffed in the affirma- tive, nem. con. The people being informed by Colonel Hancock that Mr. Copley, fon-in-law to Mr. Clarke, fen r " had acquainted him that the tea confignees did not receive their letters from LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 323 London 'till laft evening, and were fo difperfed that they could not have a joint meeting early enough to make their propofals at the time intended, and therefore are defirous of a further fpace for that purpofe. [It is neceffary to note that Mr. Copley, and fome others, our friends informing us, that to prevent immediate outrage, it was neceffary for us to fend fomething in writing to the Select men, which we then did, abfolutely refufmg to do what they had before informed us the people expected ; but Mr. Copley, on his return to town, fearing the moft dreadful confequences, thought bell not to deliver our letter to the Select men, he returned to us at night reprefenting this. We then wrote the letter you fee printed in this paper.] The meeting, out of great tendernefs to thefe perfons, and from a ftrong defire to bring this matter to a conclufion, notwithftanding the time they had hitherto expended upon them, to no purpofe, were prevailed upon to adjourn to the next morning, 9 o'clock. Thurfday morning, nine o'clock. Met according to adjournment. The long-expected propofals were at length brought into this meeting, not directed to the moderator, but to John Scollay, Efq r -> one of the Select men. It was, however, voted that the fame mould be read, and they were, as follows, viz. : "Monday, Nov r 29 th> 1773. Sir: We are forry that we could not return, to the Town fatisfactory anfwers to their two late meffages to us refpect- 324 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. ing the teas. We beg leave to acquaint the gentlemen, Select men, that we have fmce received our orders from the Hon'ble Eaft India Com" We ftill retain a difpofition to do all in our power to give fatisfaction to the Town ; but, as we underftood from you and the other gentlemen, Select men, at Meffrs. Clarke's interview with you laft Saturday, that this can be effected by nothing lefs than our fending back the teas, we beg leave to fay that this is utterly out of our power to do, but we do now declare to you our readinefs to flore the teas until we fhall have an opportunity of writing to our con- ftituents, and fhall receive their further orders refpecting them, and we do moft fmcerely wifh that the Town, con- fidering the unexpected difficulties devolved upon us, will be fatisfied with what we now offer. We are, fir, Your moft humble fervants, THO S - & ELISHA HuTCHiNSON. 1 BENJ" FANEUIL, Jun r> for felf and JOSHUA WINSLOW, Efq r - RICHARD CLARKE & SONS. To John Scollay, Efq r -" 1 Thomas and Elisha Hutchinson, spondent, who solicits the consignment sons of Governor Hutchinson, were for them, without mentioning their con- merchants and partners in business, and nection with the Governor. Thomas, jr., consignees of one-third of the tea born in Boston, in 1740, was a man- shipped to Boston. I have seen no damus Councillor and Judge of Probate, evidence of a pecuniary interest in this and was proscribed and banished. When shipment on the part of the Governor, the condition of the country became un- as is asserted by the historian Bancroft. pleasantly hostile, he left the mansion Their names were given to the East house at Milton, and took shelter in India Company by a London corre- Boston, but left all the furniture, silver LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 325 Mr. Sheriff Greenleaf came into the meeting, and begged leave of the moderator that a letter, he had received from the Governor, requiring him to read a proclamation to the people here affembled, might be read, and it was accordingly read. Whereupon it was moved, and the queftion put, whether the fheriff fhould be permitted to read the proclamation, which paffed in the affirmative, nem. con. The proclamation is as follows, viz. : " Maffachufetts Bay. By the Governor. To Jonathan Williams, Efq r '' aEling as Moderator of an ajfembly of people, in the Town of Bofton, and to the people fo ajfembled: Whereas, printed notifications were on Monday, the 2Q th inft., ported in divers places in the town of Bofton, and publifhed in the news papers of this day, calling upon the people to affemble together for certain unlawful purpofes, in fuch notifications mentioned ; and whereas, great numbers of perfons belonging to the town of Bofton, and divers others belonging to feveral other towns in the Province, did plate, &c., expecting to be able to pass died at Blurton Parsonage, Trentham, and repass at pleasure. When Boston Staffordshire, England, in November, was evacuated, he and his family, and 1824. His wife, Mary, daughter of Col. Peter Oliver and family, embarked for George Watson, of Plymouth, Mass., London, in the " Lord Hyde" packet. died at Birmingham, England, in 1803. He settled at Heavitree, near Exeter, " Neither of my sons," wrote the Gover- in Devonshire, and died there in 1811. nor, in March, 1774, "have dared to His wife was Sarah Oliver. appear in Boston since the latter part Elisha, his brother, born in 1745, of November, to the total neglect and graduated at Harvard University, in ruin of their business." 1762 ; was proscribed and banished, and 36 326 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. affemble in the faid town of Bofton, on the faid day, and did then and there proceed to chufe a moderator, and to confult, debate, and refolve upon ways and means for carry- ing fuch unlawful purpofes into execution, openly violating, defying and fetting at naught the good and wholefome laws of the Province, and the conflitution of government under which they live ; and whereas, the people thus affembled, did vote or agree to adjourn, or continue their meeting to this the 3O th inft., and great numbers of them are again met or affembled together for the like purpofe, in the faid town of Bofton : In faithfulnefs to my truft, and as his Majefty's reprefenta- tive within the Province, I am bound to bear teftimony againft this violation of the laws, and I warn and exhort you and require you, and each of you thus unlawfully affembled forthwith, to difperfe and to furceafe all further unlawful proceedings at your utmoft peril. Given under my hand, at Milton, in the Province afore- faid, the 3O th day of Nov r-> 1773, and in the fourteenth year of his Majefty's reign. T. HUTCHINSON. By his Excellency's command. THO S - FLUCKER, Sec y -" And the fame being read by the fheriff, 1 there was, im- mediately after, a loud and very general hifs. A motion was then made, and the queftion put whether the affembly would difperfe and furceafe all further proceed- 1 Stephen Greenleaf, sheriff of Suffolk 1776. He died in Boston, in 1795 ; aged County, was arrested by the Council of ninety-one. Massachusetts as a loyalist, in April, LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 327 ings, according to the Governor's requirement. It paffed in the neg e> nem. con. A propofal of Mr. Copley was made, that in cafe he could prevail with the Meffrs. Clarkes to come into this meeting, the queflion might now be put, whether they mould be treated with civility while in the meeting, though they might be of different fentiments with this body, and their perfons be fafe, until their return to the place from whence they mould come. And the queftion being accordingly put, paffed in the affirmative, nem. con. Another motion of Mr. Copley's was put, whether two hours mail be given him, which alfo paffed in the affirmative. Adjourned 'till two o'clock, P.M. Two o'clock, P.M. Met according to adjournment. A motion was made and paffed, that Mr. Rotch and Capt n Hall be defired to give their attendance. Mr. Rotch ap- peared, and upon a motion made, the queftion was put, whether it is the firm refolution of this body, that the tea brought by Capt n Hall mall be returned by Mr. Rotch to England, in the bottom in which it came, and whether they accordingly now require the fame, which paffed in the affirmative, nem. con. Mr. Rotch then informed the meeting, that he mould protefl againft the whole proceedings, as he had done againft the proceedings on yefterday, but that, tho' the returning the tea is an acl in him, he yet confiders himfeif as under a neceffity to do it, and mall therefore comply with the requirement of this body. Captain Hall being prefent, was forbid to aid or affift in unloading the teas at his peril, and ordered, that if he con- 328 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. tinues mafter of the veffel, he carry the fame back to Lon- don, who replied, he fhould comply with thefe requirements. Upon a motion, refolved, that John Rowe, Efq r -' owner of part of Cap'- Bruce's fhip, expected with tea, as alfo Mr. Timmins, factor for Cap'- Coffin's brig, be defired to attend. Mr. Ezekiel Cheever was appointed captain of the watch for this night, and a fufficient number of volunteers gave in their names for that fervice. Voted, that the captain of this watch be defired to make out a lift of the watch for the next night, and fo each captain of the watch for the following nights, until the veffels leave the harbour. Upon a motion made, voted, that in cafe it mould happen that the watch mould be any ways molefled in the night, while on duty, they give the alarm to the inhabitants by the tolling of the bells, and that if any thing happens in the day time, the alarm be by ringing of the bells. Voted, that fix perfons be appointed, to be in readinefs, to give due notice to the country towns, when they mail be required fo to do, upon any important occafion, and fix per- fons were accordingly chofen for that purpofe. John Rowe, Efq r " attended, and was informed that Mr. Rotch had engaged, that his veffel mould carry back the tea me brought, in the fame bottom, and that it was the expectation of this body that he does the fame by the tea, expected in Cap 1 - Bruce, whereupon he replied, that the fhip was under the care of the faid mafter, but that he would ufe his utmoft endeavor, that it mould go back as required by this body, and that he would give immediate advice of the arrival of faid fhip. Voted, that it is the fenfe of this body, that Cap 4 - Bruce LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 329 lhall, on his arrival, ftriclly conform to the votes paffed reflecting Cap 1 - Hall's veffel, as they had all been paffed in reference to Cap 1 - Bruce's fhip. Mr. Timmins appeared and informed, that Cap 1 - Coffin's brig ? expected with tea, was owned in Nantucket. He gave his word of honor that no tea mould be landed while me was under his care, nor touched by any one, until the owner's arrival. It was then voted, that what Mr. Rowe and Mr. Timmins had offered, was fatisfactory to the body. Mr. Copley 1 returned, and acquainted the body, that as he had been obliged to go to the caftle, he hoped that if he had exceeded the time allowed him, they would confider the difficulty of a paffage by water at this feafon, as an apology. He then further acquainted the body, that he had feen all the confignees, and though he had convinced them that they might attend this meeting with fafety, and had ufed his utmoft endeavors to prevail on them to give fatisfaction to the body, they acquainted him, that be- lieving nothing would be fatisfaclory fhort of refhipping the tea, which was out of their power, they thought it beft not to appear, but would renew their propofal of ftoring the tea, and fubmitting the fame to the inflection of a committee, and that they could go no further with- out incurring their own ruin ; but as they had not been active in introducing the tea, they mould do nothing to obftruct the people in their procedure with the fame. 1 John Singleton Copley, a famous self-taught artist, and after painting painter, son-in-law of Richard Clarke, many portraits in Boston, settled in and father of Lord Lyndhurst, was born London in 1775, and acquired a high in Boston, July 3, 1737, and died in reputation. London, September 9, 1813. He was a 33 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. It was then moved, and the queftion put whether the return made by Mr. Copley from the confignees be in the leaft degree fatisfactory to this body. It paffed in the negative, nem. con. Whereas, a number of merchants in this Province have inadvertently imported tea from Great Britain, while it is fubje6t to the payment of a duty, impofed upon it by an A61 of Parliament, for the purpofe of raifmg a revenue in America, and appropriating the fame, without the confent of thofe who are required to pay it, Refolved, that in thus im- porting faid tea, they have juftly incurred the difpleafure of our brethren in the other Colonies. And refolved further, that if any perfon or perfons mall hereafter import tea from Great Britain, mail take the fame on board, to be imported to this place, until the faid un- righteous A61 mail be repealed, he or they mail be deemed by this body an enemy to his country, and we will prevent the landing and fale of the fame, and the payment of any duty thereon, and we will effect the return thereof to the place from whence it mall come. Refolved, that the foregoing vote be printed and fent to England, and all the fea ports in this Province. Upon a motion made, voted that fair copies be taken of the whole proceedings of this meeting, and tranfmitted to New York and Philadelphia, and that Mr. Samuel Adams, Hon'ble John Hancock, Efq r -' William Phillips, Efq r " John Rowe, Efq r>> Jonathan Williams, Efq r -' be a committee to tranfmit the fame. Voted, That it is the determination of this body to carry their votes and refolutions into execution, at the risque of their lives and property. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 331 Voted, That the committee of correfpondence for this town be defired to take care, that every other veffel with tea that arrives in this harbour, have a proper watch ap- pointed for her; alfo, Voted, That thofe perfons who are defirous of making a part of thefe nightly watches, be defired to give in their names at Meffrs. Edes & Gill's printing office. Voted, That our brethren in the country be defired to afford their affiftance upon the firft notice given, efpecially if fuch notice be given upon the arrival of Capt n Loring, in Mr. Clarke's brigantine. Voted, That thofe of this body who belong to the town of Bofton, do return their thanks to their brethren who have come from the neighbouring towns, for their counte- nance aqd union with this body, in this exigence of our affairs. Voted, That the thanks of this meeting be given to Jonathan Williams, Efq r " for his good fervices as moderator. Voted, That this meeting be diffolved, and it was accord- ingly diffolved. LETTER ADDRESSED TO GEO. DUDLEY, ESQ R - Enclofeng j news papers and an advertifement^ in the name of the people, threatening vengeance on thofe who favored the tea fcheme. Sir: The ftate and condition of the Hon'ble Company's tea in America is as you will find in the enclofed papers. 33 2 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. Unlefs the Tea A6t is repealed, no tea can be fold in America. Repeal the Act, and you may difpofe of all your teas. The Americans will not be flaves, neither are they to be trapped under the notion of cheap teas. Death is more defirable to them than flavery, it is impoffible to make the Americans fwallow the tea. The miniftry may amufe the Company, by telling them their tea mail be fold, and the Acl preferved, but they are groffly miftaken. None of it is yet landed, neither mall it be. Your humble fervant, ANGLO AMERICANUS. Bofton, New England, Dec r i3' h - 1773. The papers enclofed contain an account of the proceed- ings of the town of Bofton, on the 2Q th & 3O th November, and of the refolves of fome of the neighboring towns. (The papers are in the mifcellany bundle.) LETTER ADDRESSED TO GEO. DUDLEY, ESQ R - Enclofeng a Bq/lon news paper of the i6 th Dec r ' ///J. Bofton, New England, 17* Dec r-> 1773. Gentlemen : Your tea is deftroyed, which was brought in three mips, Cap ts> Bruce, Hall and Coffin, and the brig with tea is caft away. If the tea is got on more, it will fhare the fame fate. Every poffible means has been ufed to fend it home fafe again to you, but the tea confignees would not LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS 333 fend it ; then application was made to the commiffioners of the cufloms to clear out the veffel, they would not do it, then to the Governor to grant a pafs, which he refufed, and finally the people were obliged to deftroy it, (fe defen- dendo,) or elfe, by an unlawful unrighteous Ac!:, impofmg a duty this tea would have deftroyed them. This whole province, of fome hundred thoufand people, and the other provinces on the continent, are determined neither to ufe it, or fuffer it to be landed, nor pay the duty. Force can never make them, and if the Company can ever expecl: to fell any tea in America, they muft ufe all their intereft to get this Tea Act repealed, otherwife they will never fell one ounce. There is the utmoft deteftation of tea ; even fome of our country towns have collected all the tea they had by them, and burnt it in their public common, as fo much chains and flavery. Get the Tea Ac~l repealed, and you'll fell all your tea, otherwife you muft keep all. The people will rifk life and fortune in this affair, the very being of America depends on it. I am forry the Company are led into fuch a fcrape by the miniftry, to try the American's bravery, at the expence of their property. The artifice of the miniftry is to difpofe of your tea, and preferve the vile Tea Acl ; but they'll mifs their aim, the Americans will not fwallow cheap tea, which has a poifon in the heart of it. They fee the hook thro' the bait. I am a well wifher to the Com- pany, and alfo to America ; but death to an American is more defirable than flavery. I am, gentlemen, with all due refpecl, Your honors moft obedient, humble fervant, ANGLO AMERICANOS. 37 334 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. As contained in the Bqfton news paper of the i6 th Dec r Bofton, Thurfday, Dec r i6 th> 1773. It being underftood that Mr. Rotch, owner of the fhip Dartmouth, rather lingered in his preparations to return her to London, with the Eaft India Company's tea on board, there was, on Monday laft P.M., a meeting of the committee of the feveral neighboring towns in Bofton, and Mr. Rotch was fent for and enquired of, whether he continued his refo- lution to comply with the injunctions of the body on Monday and Tuefday preceding. Mr. Rotch anfwered that in the interim he had taken the advice of the beft counfel, and found that in cafe he went on of his own motion to fend that fhip to fea in the condition me was then in, it muft inevitably ruin him, and therefore he mufl beg them to confider what he had faid at that meeting to be the effect of compulfion, and unadvifed, and in confequence that he was not holden to abide by it, when he was now affured that he muft be utterly ruined in cafe he did. Mr. Rotch was then afked whether he would demand a clearance for his fhip in the cuftom houfe, and in cafe of a refufal enter a proteft, and then apply in like manner for a pafs, and order her out to fea ? To all which he anfwered in the negative. The committee, doubtlefs informing their con- ftituents of what had paffed, a very full meeting of the body was again affembled at the Old South meeting-house, on LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 335 Tuefday afternoon, and Mr. Rotch being again prefent, was enquired of as before, and a motion was made and feconded that Mr. Rotch be enjoined forthwith to repair to the col- lectors and demand a clearance for his Ihip, and ten gent- were appointed to accompany him, as witneffes of the demand. Mr. Rotch then proceeded with the committee to Mr. Harrifon's lodgings, and made the demand. Mr. Harri- fon obferved he could not give an anfwer 'till he had con- fulted the comptroller, but would, at office hours next morning, give a decifive anfwer. On the return of Mr. Rotch and the committee to the body with this report, the meeting was adjourned to Thurfday morning, at ten o'clock. Thurfday. Having met on Thurfday morning at ten o'clock, they fent for Mr. Rotch, and afked him if he had been to the collector, and demanded a clearance. He faid he had ; but the collector faid that he could not, confiftent with his duty, give him a clearance 'till all the dutiable articles were out of his fhip. They then demanded of him whether he had protefted againft the collector ; he faid he had not. They ordered him, upon his peril, to give immediate orders to the captain, to get his fhip ready for fea to-day, enter a proteft immediately againft the cuftom houfe, and then proceed directly to the Governor, (who was at his feat at Milton, 7 miles off,) and demand a pafs for his fhip to go by the caftle. They then adjourned 'till three o'clock, P.M., to wait Mr. Rotch's return. Having met according to adjournment, there was the fulleft meeting ever known. (It was reakoned that there 336 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. were 2000 men from the country.) They waited very patiently 'till 5 o'clock. When they found Mr. Rotch did not return, they began to be very uneafy, called for a diffolution of the meeting, and finally obtained a vote for it. But the more moderate part of the meeting, fearing what would be the confe- quences, begged that they would reconfider their vote, and wait 'till Mr. Rotch's return, for this reafon, that they ought to do everything in their power to fend the tea back, according to their refolves. They obtained a vote to remain together one hour longer. In about three-quarters of an hour Mr. Rotch returned, his anfwer from the Governor was, that he could not give a pafs 'till the fhip was cleared by the cuftom houfe. The people immediately, as with one voice, called for a diffolu- tion, which having obtained, they repaired to Griffin's wharf^ where the tea veffels lay, proceeded to fix tackles and hoift the tea upon deck, cut the chefts to pieces, and threw the tea over the fide. There were two mips and a brig, Capt 3 - Hall, Bruce and Coffin, each veffel having 114 chefts of tea on board. They began upon the two fhips firft, as they had nothing on board but the tea ; then proceeded to the brig, which had hauled to the wharf but the day before, and had but a fmall part of her cargo out. The captain of the brig begged they would not begin with his veffel, as the tea was covered with goods belonging to different merchants in the town. They told him the tea they wanted, and the tea they would have ; but if he would go into his cabin quietly, not one article of his goods mould be hurt. They immediately proceeded to remove the goods, and then to difpofe of the tea. (See page LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 339 Mr. Pownall 1 prefents his compliments to Mr. Wheler, and fends him, by Lord Dartmouth's directions, extract of a letter received yefterday from the Lieutenant- Governor of South Carolina. If the India Company have received any advices, Lord Dartmouth will be obliged to him for a communication thereof. Whitehall, 29 th Jan., 1774. EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM GOV. BULL, 2 Dated Charles Town, 24 Dec r -' ///j", to the Earl of Dartmoiith. On the 2 d infi, Cap 1 - Curling arrived here with 257 chefts of tea, fent by the Eaft India Company, with the fame in- 1 John Pownall, many years Clerk of the Reports, Secretary of the Board of Trade (1754-68,) Deputy Secretary of State (1768-76,) and afterwards a Commissioner of the Board of Customs, a Magistrate and High Sheriff of Lincolnshire, died MI London, July 17, 1795 ; aged seventy. His brother, Thomas, Governor of Massachusetts in 1757-60, afterwards, while a member of Parliament, opposed the American policy of the Government. 2 William Bull, M. D., Lieutenant- Governor of South Carolina, from 1764 to 1776, was the son of William, who held the same office from 1738 to 1743, and who was the son of Stephen, one of the early settlers of South Carolina, and Surveyor-General of the Province. William studied medicine at the Uni- versity of Leyden, and was the pupil of the celebrated Boerhaave. He settled in practice in his native Province ; be- came a member of the Council in 1751, and in 1763 was Speaker of the As- sembly. Faithful to the Crown, he accompanied the British troops to Eng- land, on their departure in 1782, and died in London, July 4, 1791 ; aged eighty-one. 34 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. ftrucflions to agents appointed here as at Bofton, New York and Philadelphia. The fpirit which had been raifed in thofe towns with great threats of violence to hinder the landing and difpofmg of the tea there, was communicated to this Province by letters, gazettes, and merchants. Several meetings of the inhabitants of Charles Town were held, to confider of meafures to effect the like prohibitions here, but tho' the warmth of fome were great, many were cool, and fome differed in the reafonablenefs and utility thereof. The gentlemen who were appointed agents for the Earl India Com y were prevailed upon by threats and flattery to decline the truft, and in imitation of the northern towns, declarations were made that it mould not be landed. The tea was all this time kept on board the fhip, the cap- tain being apprehenfive of fome violence on his attempting to land it, and there being no perfons empowered to take charge of it. When the period of 20 days after his arrival approached, at which time the collector of his Majefty's cuftoms, by his inftruclions, is required to feize goods liable to pay duty, to fecure the payment thereof, tho' the merchants of the town had generally difagreed to this meafure of pro- hibiting the landing the tea, yet fome warm, bold fpirit, took the dangerous meafure of fending anonymous letters to Cap'- Curling and fome of his friends, and the gentleman who owned the wharf where the fhip lay, requiring Curling to carry his fhip from the wharf to the middle of the river, threatening great damages on failure. Thefe letters being communicated to me, I fummoned his Majefty's council, that I might do everything in my power to prevent any fuch dangerous attempts to difturb the public LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 341 peace, and interrupt the feizure and landing and ftoring by the collector. I accordingly, by their advice, gave orders to the fheriff to be ready at the call of the collector, (but not to move without,) with all his officers, to fupport the collector, in landing it, and to feize and to bring to juftice any perfons who mould dare to interrupt him in the execu- tion of his duty. It being known that fome meafures were taken, tho' the extent thereof was carefully concealed, the collector, on the 22 d> feized, landed, and ftored the teas in ftores under the Exchange, without one perfon's appearing to oppofe him. The tea is to remain in ftore 'till the collector mail receive further orders relative thereto. Various were the opinions of men on the fubject ; fome were for drinking no tea that paid duty, and were confident of a fupply of fuch ; others were for putting every dutied article on the fame footing, as wine, &c. ; but others con- fidered wine as a neceffary of life. It is my opinion that if the merchants who viewed this meafure of importing tea in a commercial rather than in a political light, had fhewn their difapprobation of the intended oppofition to land it, by action rather than by a refufal to fubfcribe to a propofed affociation, and a contempt of the public meetings on this occafion, and the agents of the Eaft India Company had not been fo hafty in their declining to accept their trufts, all might have gone on well, according to the plan of the Eaft India Company, and to our benefit in purchafing that article, now become one of the neceffaries of life, at a much cheaper rate than at prefent. 34 2 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. COPY OF A LETTER FROM MR. JOHN MORRIS, At Charles Town, South Carolina, to his Brother, at London. Charles Town, 22 d Dec r> 1773. Dear Brother : Cap 1 - Curling arrived here the 2 d inft., with 257 chefts of tea. There were many meetings of the merchants and planters, but by the refult they came to no determina- tion ; the gentlemen that the tea was configned to refufe receiving it. The tea ftaid on board 20 days. We then gave the captain a permit to land it by funrife. In the morning I went on board, and called the captain out of his bed, begged he would begin to get the tea out of his veffel. I expected that he would not have been permitted to land it, but we immediately got fix chefts into the warehoufe, and the failors hard at work hoifting out the reft. We began about 7 o'clock, and had by 12 about half the tea in the warehoufe, and the reft before the door. There was not the leaft difturbance ; the gentlemen that came on the wharf behaved with their ufual complaifance and good nature to me, and I believe the fame to the reft of the officers that were there. I thought it my duty to exert myfelf on this occafion, which I did with great pleafure, (as I was ferving my old mafters,) as well as doing my duty as a revenue officer. I am, &c., &c., Corbyn Morris, Efq r " JOHN MORRIS. * Cuftom Houfe. 1 John Morris, Comptroller of Customs November, 1775, on account of his im- at Charleston, S. C., was permitted, in paired health, " to pass and repass to LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 343 LETTER FROM CAP T - ELLIS, Of the New York Eftabli/hment, to the Chairman. Cox & Mair's Office, 4 th Feb y - Sir: By the Englifh papers I learn you are fully apprifed of the proceedings of the people of Philadelphia and Bofton, and the refolves of the New Yorkers. I have, notwithftand- ing, fent you the lateft papers. The fhip with the teas bound to Charles Town, is made the property of the cuftoms, having neglected the ufual forms of office in that port. This intelligence I had by a fhip from Carolina to New York, the ifl Jan y - and may be depended on. I left New York the 2 d ultimo ; the fhip bound to that port was not then arrived. I have the honor to be, fir, Your very humble fervant, J. J. ELLIS, 1 8 th Regt. his Island," during the pleasure of the ships. He went to England, and died Provincial Congress, on condition of there in 1778. parole, to keep away from the King's 33 344 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. BOSTON. CASTLE WILLIAM, 7 th Dec r>> 1773. QUESTIONS PROPOSED BY FRANCIS ROTCH, AN OWNER, AND JAMES HALL, MASTER OF THE SHIP DARTMOUTH, Who has now the Tea on board, confegned to MeJJrs. Richard Clarke & Sons, Mr. Benj n Faneuil, Mejfrs. Tho s " & Elifha Hutchinson, and Mr. Jojhua Winflow, with the Anfwers of the Conjignees, except Mr. Win/low, who was abfent. Referred to by the Conjignees in their Letter of the f tk Jan., 1774. QUESTION i s -- By Cap*- Hall and F. Rotch, to the gentlemen, confignees, in writing : We are now ready to deliver the tea, and beg to know if you, gentlemen, are ready to receive it, and will produce the requifites ufual and neceflary to the landing or delivering the faid tea alongfide the Ihip, either in your own perfons or by your agents ? ANSWER. Gentlemen : We underftand that there was a large body of people affembled in Bofton on the 29 th & 3o th November, who voted that the tea fhipped by the Eaft India Company, and configned to us, mould not be landed ; that the duty mould not be paid, and that the tea mould be returned in the fame fhip that brought it out. It alfo appears by the LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 345 printed proceedings of that affembly, that you confented it fhould go back in your fhip. We alfo underftand that there is continually on board your fhip a number of armed men, to prevent it being landed. We therefore judge it out of our power to receive it at prefent, but when it mail appear to us to be practicable, we will give the neceffary orders reflecting it. QUESTION 2 D - As your reply to our firft queflion, gent n -' appears to us not to the point, we muft and do demand a categorical anfwer whether you will or will not immediately, either by yourfelves or your order, or otherwife, qualify any other perfon or perfons to receive the teas configned to you now on board our fhip, as we are now entirely ready, and will, if in our power, deliver the faid teas immediately, if applica- tion is made ? ANSWER. Gentlemen : It appears to us that the anfwer we have made to your firft queftion is a full reply to the fecond. QUESTION 3"- As you, gentlemen, by the tenor of your firft and fecond reply, refufe to give us a direct: anfwer to our queftions, whether you will or will not receive the teas mentioned therein, we now demand our bill of lading given by Cap 1 - Hall, in confequence of his receiving thofe teas on board in London River, and the amount of the freight of the faid tea, fay ninety-one pounds feven fhillings and feven pence lawful money ? 34^ LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. ANSWER. Gentlemen : We fhall not deliver up Captain Hall's bill of lading, nor pay the freight of the teas until we can re- ceive them. [Copy.] FRANCIS ROTCH. JAMES HALL. THO S - & ELISHA HUTCHINSON. RICHARD CLARKE & SONS. BENJ N FANEUIL, JUN R - [Copy.] AT CASTLE WILLIAM, IN NEW ENGLAND, n th Dec r " 1773. QUESTIONS PROPOSED BY JAMES BRUCE, Mafter of the Jhip Eleanor, burthen about 250 tons, now lying in the harbour of Bojion, in New England, with part of her cargo, from London, confefting of one hundred and fourteen chefts of tea, confegned to Meffrs. Richard Clarke & Sons, Tho s - & Eli/ha Hutchinfon, Benj n Faneuil and Jojhua Win/low, of f aid Bojlon, Merchants. QUESTION I ST> BY CAP" BRUCE, TO THE CONSIGNEES AFORESAID, IN BEHALF OF HlMSELF AND OWNERS. Gentlemen : I am now ready to deliver the tea configned to you on board my fhip, and beg to know if you, gentle- men, are ready and willing to receive it, as I can produce the requifites ufual and neceffary for landing or delivering the faid teas alongfide the fhip, either by yourfelves, your agents or affigns ; and as my cargo of lumber is ready for LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 347 fliipping on difcharge of the faid tea, I demand an immedi- ate and pofitive anfwer to my queflion. ANSWER. Sir: It appearing by the printed accounts of a number of people affembled, at Bofton, on the 2Q th and 3O th Nov r - that they voted the teas (hipped by the Eaft India Company mould not be landed, but that they mould be returned to England in the fame bottoms in which they came. And it further appearing that John Rowe, Efq r " part owner of the {hip of which you are commander, was prefent at faid meet- ing, and did promife to ufe his utmoft endeavors that the teas brought in your veffel mould be fent back, and was alfo chofen one of a com 1 - 6 by the faid meeting, and as you now tell us that you have received orders from certain perfons, called a com 1 ?? of fafety, not to land any part of faid tea, and that a number of armed men have been .and ftill are kept aboard or near your veffel. We reply, that for the reafons mentioned, we think it at prefent out of our power to receive the teas, but that as foon as it mail appear practicable, we will give the neceffary orders for doing it. 2 QUESTION. As I have no control upon, nor influence with, the peo- ple in Bofton who may oppofe the landing of the teas, I cannot be chargeable with their conduct:. My bufmefs is with you, gentlemen, and it is to you only I can and do make application for directions how to difpofe of the faid teas, and you will oblige me and my owners, and I defire you would let me know whether you will or will not receive or difpofe of the faid tea, either on more or otherwife ? 34 8 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. ANSWER. As we fee nothing in your fecond queftion effentially different from your firft, we muft refer you to our anfwer already given. 3*? QUESTION. Will you, gentlemen, or either of you, deliver the bills of lading, which I figned for faid tea at London, and pay me the freight for bringing it to Bofton ? ANSWER. Sir : We will not deliver the bills of lading, nor pay the freight of the teas, until we can receive them. [Copy.] JAS. BRUCE. RICH D CLARKE & SONS. THO S< & ELISHA HUTCHINSOK Witnefs: BENJ N FANEUIL, Jun n Signed, JN- MUNRO, Not. Pub. PROTEST. Cap 1 ' James Bruce, of the Eleanor, againjl the Conjignees, for refufeng to receive the teas at Bofton, in New England, on the II th day of December, 1773, and in the fourteenth year of His Majeftys reign. Perfonally appeared before me, John Monro, Notary Pub- lic, by royal authority, duly admitted and fworn. James Bruce, mafter of the fhip Eleanor, burthen about two hundred and fifty tons, then lying at Griffin's wharf, with LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 349 part of her cargo from London on board, amongft which were eighty whole and thirty-four half chefts of tea, con* figned to Meffrs. Richard Clarke & Sons, Thomas & Elifha Hutchinfon, Benjamin Faneuil, and Jofhua Winflow, of faid Bofton, merchants. And the faid James Bruce, having requeued me, the faid Notary Public, to attend him to Caftle William, in the harbour of faid Bofton, we went on the faid day, and then and there, the annexed queftions and anfwers were entered. Written queftions were put by the faid James Bruce, and the refpective anfwers were made in writing (alfo annexed) by the confignees then prefent, and in my prefence, and in the prefence of each other, inter- changeably fubfcribed and delivered by the faid James Bruce and the faid Richard Clarke & Sons, Thomas and Elifha Hutchinfon, and Benjamin Faneuil, and declared by them to be their fentiments and determinations. Wherefore, the faid James Bruce, on behalf of himfelf, and all others concerned, did, and I, the faid Notary Public at his requeft, and on behalf as aforefaid, do by thefe pref- ents, folemnly protefl againft the faid confignees, and fuch of them aforefaid, for all and all manner of damages what- foever, already fuffered, and which may, can or fhall be fuffered, by their neglecting and refufmg to receive, demand and take poffeffion of the tea aforefaid, agreeable to his re- queft, made and written, and annexed to thefe prefents. Thus done, protefted and given under my notarial feal of office, in prefence of Robert Garland Cranch and John Dyer. In teftimoniam veritas, Signed, Signed, JN MONRO, JAS. BRUCE. G\ Not. Pub., n th Jan y - 1774. 35 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. LETTER FROM MR. ROTCH TO THE CONSIGNEES, Referred to in their Letter of the 8 th of Jan y ' 1774. Bofton, 6 th Jan y " 1774. Gentlemen : Annexed you have an account of the freight of 80 whole and 34 half chefts of tea, (hipped by the Hon'ble Eaft India Company, on our fhip Dartmouth, James Hall, mafter, from London, configned to you, with the damages we have fuftained by the faid tea being kept in our fhip by your not giving the neceffary orders or directions about it, or by your not qualifying yourfelves, or otherwife, for receiv- ing the fame. The charge of demurrage of the fhip, &c., may poffibly at firfl fight appear extravagant, but when you confider the confequences of a fhip regularly eftablifhed in any trade, (which, in the prefent cafe will, I expect, eventually be of near two hundred guineas damage,) by the lofs of freight from London in the fpring, when you confider this, with the extra lofs on a perifhable commodity, as hers was of oil, the extra ftowage of three-quarters of that cargo, and the difference of advance of the feafon, I cannot but think you mufl be reconciled to the propriety of the charges I have made. I enclofe you a copy of Cap*- Cooke's and our cooper's requefts, to fupport the charges of demurrage of the floop Triton, and the wages and expences of thofe coopers, and LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 351 beg to know by the bearer (who will wait your anfwer) whether you will or will not pay the amount of this account, fay ^289 195. 6d. lawful money. I am, very refpeclfully, Your affured friend, FRANCIS ROTCH. To RICHARD CLARKE & SONS, THOS. & ELISHA HUTCHINSON, BENJAMIN FANEUIL, Junr., and JOSHUA WINSLOW. Owners, Skippers, Confegnees, or concerned in 80 whole and 34 half chefts of Teas, fhipped from London by the Honblc Eajl India Company, for Bofton, conjigned to Richard Clarke & Sons, Thomas & Elifha Hutchinfon, Benj n Faneuil, Jun r " and Jojhua Win/low. To the Owners of the Dartmouth, JAMES HALL, Dr. 1773- To freight of 80 whole and 34 half chefts of tea from London, .... ^"91 17 7 To demurrage of the fhip from 7 to 20 Dec r> 13 days. Deduct 2 days for grav s the fhip, 2 days, 1 1 at ;i2, . . . . . . 132 Q o To Cap 1 - James Hall, and his mate's wages, 1 1 days, 3 18 3 To demurrage floop Triton, from 9 to 20 Dec r -> 12 days, at 485., . . . 28 16 o 39 35 2 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. To the captain's wages, 6 days, . . 12 o To the mate's and 4 hands' wages and victuals, 12 days each, . . . . .79 8J To Jas. Smith and 2 journeymen coopers from Dartmouth, their wages and expences from 7 th to 20 th December, 13 days, at 6s., . u 14 o To cam paid Samfon, S. Blowers, 1 and John Adams, Efq r>s advice, . ... . 740 To wharfage the fhip and (loop, 23 days, at 6s. 8d. per week, . . . .120 To cam paid for Protefts, &c., $ 195. 6d. flerling, . . . . . .560 ,289 19 6 Bofton, 31" December, 1773. Errors excepted. In behalf of myfelf and the owners of the fhip. FRANCIS ROTCH. 1 Sampson Salter Blowers, a distin- of the nduse ; Chief Justke of the guished lawyer and jurist, a native of Supreme Court, and a member of the Boston, and a graduate of Harvard Council, retiring from public life in 1833. College, (1763,) was, in 1778, proscribed Judge Blowers was born March 22, 1742, and banished as a loyalist. In 1770, and died in Halifax, N.S., October 25, he was associated with John Adams 1842, being over one hundred years of and Josiah Quincy in behalf of the age. The fact that he never wore an British soldiers who were on trial for overcoat in his life, told us on good their agency in the Boston Massacre. authority, does not satisfactorily account He settled in Halifax, N.S. ; became sue- for his great longevity, cessively Attorney-General and Speaker LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 353 PROTEST. Mr. Francis Rotch, Pardon Cook, and Wm. Hayden, againjl Conjignees and Tea, at Bofton, in New England, on the io th day of December, in the year of our Lord 1773, and in the fourteenth year of His Majeftys reign. Perfonally appeared before me, John Monro, Notary Public by royal authority, duly admitted and fworn, Pardon Cook, mafter, and Wm. Hayden, mate of the floop Triton, burthen about feventy-five tons, and Francis Rotch, one of the owners of the faid floop, and they, the faid Pardon, Will 1 ?.- and Francis, being by the people called Quakers, folemnly affirmed, and each of them for himfelf, doth affirm in manner following, that is to fay, the faid Pardon and William affirm and fay they failed from Dartmouth, in New England, with the faid veffel, on the 28 th day of laft month, then loaded with fpermaceti oil, and bound for faid Bofton, where they arrived on the 8 th inft., and made appli- cation to the faid Francis to have the faid cargo difcharged on -board the fhip Dartmouth, as agreeable to their orders and directions. And the faid Francis Rotch affirms that he could not in perfon, nor by his fervants, or any other, unload and refhip the faid cargo of oil on board the fhip aforefaid by reafon of her not being cleared of a certain quantity of teas fhipped at London, and configned to Meffrs. Richard Clarke & Sons, Thomas and Elifha Hutchinfon, Benj n Faneuil and Jofhua Winflow, of faid Bofton, merchants, who have all and each of them, except Jofhua Winflow, neglected to demand and refufed to accept the faid teas, by 354 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. which the faid fliip is detained in the harbour of faid Bofton, and unfit to receive the faid oil as intended by the faid owner, mafter and mate ; wherefore, the faid Francis Rotch, and the mafter aforefaid, did, on behalf of themfelves and all others concerned, and I, the faid Notary Public, at their requeft, and on behalf aforefaid, do by thefe prefents folemnly proteft againft the faid confignees, and each of them, and againft the faid tea, and againft all others concerned, for all and all manner of damages already fuffered, and to be fuffered, on account of the faid oils not being {hipped as aforefaid, contrary to the intention and ftri6l meaning of the faid owner and mafter, &c. Thus done, protefted, and given under my notarial feal of office, in prefence of Robert Garland Cranch and John Dyar. In teftimoniam veritas, JN- MONRO, Not. Pub., ii Jan., 1774. FRANCIS ROTCH. PARDON COOK. WM. HAYDEN. PROTEST. Cap 1 - James Bruce, of the Eleanor, againft the Committee at Bofton, and others, who Prevented the Landing the Teas. At Bofton, in New England, on the n th day of Decem r> in the year of Our Lord 1773, and in the 14 th year of his Majefty's reign, perfonally appeared before me, John Monro, LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 355 Notary Public by royal authority, duly admitted and fworn, James Bruce, matter of the fhip Eleanor, burthen about 250 tons, and he being fworn on the Holy Evangelifts of Al- mighty God, depofed and doth depofe and fay, that on the I st day of this inftant Decem r - he arrived with the faid fhip at Boflon aforefaid, then loaded with fundry goods or mer- chandize from London, amongft which were 84 whole and 34 half chefls of tea, configned to Meffrs. Richard Clarke & Sons, Tho s - and Elifha Hutchinfon, Benjamin Faneuil and Jofhua Winflow of Bofton, merchants, that on the 2 d inft., the deponent was ordered to attend at 1 1 o'clock in the forenoon of the next day, on a committee of the people of the faid town, and he having attended accordingly, was then and there commanded by Mr. Samuel Adams and Jonathan Williams, Efq r " in prefence of, and affembled with, John Rowe, John Hancock, Wm. Phillips and John Pitts, Efq r ?.- and a great number of others, in Faneuil Hall, not to land any of the faid tea at his peril, but to proceed to Griffin's wharf, in faid Bofton, and there difcharge the reft of his cargo. And that the faid deponent was obliged to comply with the faid orders, and was and is nightly watched by 25 armed men on board the faid fhip, appointed, as he fuppofes and verily believes, to prevent the faid teas from being landed. Wherefore, the faid James Bruce, on behalf of himfelf and all others concerned in the faid fhip or cargo, did, and I, the faid notary public, at his requeft, and on behalf as afore- faid, do by thefe prefents folemnly proteft againft the faid committee and each of them above mentioned, and againft all others voluntarily acting, watching, and proceeding by their directions, and all perfons whatfoever oppofmg and 356 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. forbidding the landing the tea aforefaid for all, and all manner of damage and damages fuffered and to be fuffered, by means of the commands, watchings, oppofition and pro- hibition aforefaid. Thus done, protefled, and given under my notarial feal, in the prefence of Rob 1 - Garland Cranch and John Dyar. In teftimoniam veritas, JN MONRO; TJ /~\ Not. Pub., ii Tan., 1774. JAMES BRUCE. (L.S.J PROTEST OF CAP T JAMES BRUCE, 1 Of the Eleanor, again/I the Deftroyers of the Tea. At Bofton, in New England, on the 1 7 th day of December, in the year of our Lord, 1773, and in the 14 th year of his Majefty's reign, perfonally appeared before me, John Monro, Notary Public by royal authority, duly admitted and fworn, James Bruce, mafter, Ja s - Bruce, jun r -' mate, and John Tinney, boatfwain, of the fhip Eleanor, burthen about 250 tons, and the faid James Bruce, jun r- ' and John Tinney, being fworn on the Holy Evangelifts of Almighty God, feverally depofed, and each of them doth depofe and fay, that on the evening of the 1 6th inft., they, thefe deponents, were on board the faid fhip, then lying at Griffin's wharf, at faid Bofton, and part of her cargo from London on board, amongft which 1 Captain Bruce was a loyalist of name was living at Shelburne, N. S., Boston, and as such was proscribed about the year 1805. Sabine. and banished. A loyalist of the same LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS 357 were 80 whole chefts and 34 half chefts of tea, configned to Meffrs. Rich d Clarke & Sons, Tho s - and Elifha Hutchinfon, Benj" Faneuil, and Jofhua Window, of faid Bofton, mer- chants. That about the hours of 6 or 7 o'clock in the fame evening, about one thoufand unknown people came down the faid wharf, and a number of them came on board the faid fhip, fome being dreffed like Indians, and they hav- ing violently broke open the hatches, hoifted up the faid chefts of tea upon deck, and then and there ftove and threw the faid chefts with their contents overboard into the water, where the whole was loft and deftroyed. Wherefore, the faid James Bruce, mafter of the faid fhip, on behalf of him- felf and owners of the faid fhip, and all others concerned, did, and I, the faid notary public, at his requeft, and on behalf as aforefaid, do by thefe prefents folemnly proteft againft the faid unknown perfons or people, and againft all others whatfoever and however concerned, for all and all manner of damage or damages already fuffered, and which hereafter may, can, or (hall be fuffered by the violence and proceedings of the faid unknown people, and the deftruction of the tea as aforefaid. Thus done, protefted, and given under my notarial feal of office, in prefence of Robert Garland Cranch and John Dyar. In teftimoniam veritas, (Signed,) JN- MONRO, Not. Pub., ii Jan., 1774. JAMES BRUCE. JAMES BRUCE, Jun r - JOHN X TINNEY. J mark. 35 8 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. Cap 1 - Hezekiah Coffin, 1 Mailer Jethro Coffin, mate, and Mr. Wm. Hewkey, mariner, of the brig Beaver, and Mr. Francis Rotch, part owner, James Hall, mafter, and Alex r Hodgdon, mate of the Dartmouth, made the like proteft, which are among the American papers. LETTER FROM THE AGENTS AT NEW YORK, TO CAP T LOCKYER, Referred to in their Letter of the 2f h Dec r -' 1773. New York, Dec r 27, 1773. Sir: It is our intention that this letter mould meet you below, at the Hook, that you may be apprifed of the danger of bringing your fhip into this port. All the tea fhipped by the Hon'ble Eaft India Company to Bofton has been dellroyed on board the veffels that brought it. The fhip Polly, Cap*- Ayres, arrived lately at Philadelphia with the tea deftined for that port, and was compelled to return with it without being fuffered to come into the harbour, and there are advices in town that Charles Town has made the fame determination with refpedl to the tea arrived at South Carolina, and you may be affured the inhabitants of this city have adopted the fame fentiments, and are fully determined to carry them into execution. 1 Captain Hezekiah Coffin, of Nan- from the destruction of his cargo, tea tucket, married Abigail Colman, and enough to enable him to purchase a set died in 1779. It is said that he saved of silver spoons. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 359 We therefore think it is a duty we owe to the faid Com- pany, as we can neither receive the tea or pay the duty, to apprize you of your danger, and to give you our opinion, that for the fafety of your cargo, your veffel, and your per- fons, it will be moft prudent for you to return, as foon as you can be fupplied with fuch neceffaries as you may have occafion for on the voyage. Certain we are that you would fully concur with us in the propriety of this advice were you as well acquainted with the people's fentiments as we are, which you will learn from the enclofed papers. We mail be glad to hear from you in anfwer hereto, and to render you any fervices we can in your critical fituation. We are, your moft obd 1 ferv ts> HENRY WHITE, ABRAHAM LOTT & Co. PIGOU & BOOTH. To Cap 1 ' Benj n Lockyer, of the fhip Nancy. LETTER FROM CAP T - LOCKYER TO THE AGENTS, TENDERING THE CARGO, With their Reply, referred to in their Letter of the 22 d > April, 1774. New York, April 2o th> 1774. Gentlemen : Having confidered the circumftances mentioned in your letters, which I received on my arrival, I have left the 40 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. fhip and cargo at Sandy Hook, for their fafety. Have now waited on you with a tender of the cargo of tea fhipped by the Hon'ble Eaft India Company, and configned to you. I am therefore ready to deliver the faid cargo according to the bill of lading. I am, &c., BENJAMIN LOCKYER. Meffrs. White, Lott & Booth. New York, April 20, 1774. Sir: We have received your letter of this date, tender- ing to us the cargo of tea fhipped on board the Nancy, under your command, by the Hon'ble Eaft India Company, to our addrefs, in reply to which we have only to obferve that we fome time ago acquainted the Hon'ble Court of Directors how violently oppofed the inhabitants in general were to the landing or vending the tea in this Colony, while fubjecl to the American duty, and that any attempts in us, either to effect one or the other would not only be fruit- lefs, but expofe fo confiderable a property to inevitable deftruction. Under thefe circumftances it would be highly imprudent in us to take any fteps to receive your cargo, and therefore we cannot take charge of the fame, or any part thereof, under our cafe. We are, fir, Your moft obed 1 ferv ts> HENRY WHITE. ABR M LOTT & Co. PIGOU & BOOTH. Cap 1 - Benj n Lockyer. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 361 PHILADELPHIA. AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE INHABITANTS OF PHILADELPHIA, On the Meafure of the Company's Exporting Tea to that Place. [ Taken from a Philadelphia news paper. ] Monday' Dec r 27, 1773. Upon the firft advice of this meafure a general dif- fatifaclion was expreffed, that at a time when we were ftruggling with this oppreffive act, and an agreement fubfift- ing not to import tea while fubject to the duty, our fellow fubjecls in England fhould form a meafure fo directly tend- ing to enforce the Ac!;, and again embroil us with our parent flate. When it was alfo confidered that the propofed mode of difpofmg of the tea tended to a monopoly, ever odious in a free country, a univerfal difapprobation mewed itfelf through the city. A public meeting of the inhabitants was held at the State Houfe, on the i8 th October, at which great nnmbers attended, and the fenfe of the following refolves (which are entered in page 296, the people of Bofton having formed the fame refolutions). In confequence of thefe refolutions, a committee waited upon the gentlemen in this city who had been appointed confignees of the expected cargo. They reprefented to them the deteftation and abhorrence in which this meafure was held by their fellow citizens, the danger and difficulties which muft attend the execution of fo odious a tafk, and 362 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. expreffed the united defire of the city that they would renounce the commiffion, and engage not to intermeddle with the (hip or cargo in any fhape whatever. Some of the commiffioners refigned in a manner that gave general fatisfaction, others in fuch equivocal terms as defired further explanation. However, in a few days the refignation was complete. In this fituation things remained for a few days. In the mean time the general fpirit and indignation rofe to fuch a height that it was thought proper to call another general meeting of the principal citizens to confider and refolve upon fuch further fteps as might give weight and fecure fuccefs to the unanimous oppofition now formed. Accordingly a meeting was held for the above purpofe, at which a great number of refpeclable inhabitants attended, and it appeared to be the unanimous opinion that the entry of the fhip at the cuftorn houfe, or the landing any part of her cargo would be attended with great danger and difficulty, and would directly tend to deftroy that peace and good order which ought to be preferved. An addition of twelve other gentlemen was then made to the former committee, and the general meeting adjourned 'till the arrival of the tea-fhip. Information being given of that, the price of tea was foon advanced, though this was owing to a general fcarcity of that article, yet all the poffeffors of tea, in order to give ftrength to the oppofition, readily agreed to reduce the price and fell what remained in their hands at a reafon- able rate. Nothing now remained but to keep up a proper corre- fpondence and connection with the other Colonies, and to take all prudent and proper precautions on the arrival of the tea-fhip. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 363 It is not eafy to defcribe the anxiety and fufpense of the city in this interval ; fundry reports of her arrival were received, which were premature, but on Saturday evening laft an exprefs came up from Chefter to inform the town that the tea-fhip, commanded by Cap 1 - Ayres, with her detefted cargo, was arrived there, having followed another fhip up the river fo far. The committee met early the next morning, and being apprized of the arrival of Mr. Gilbert Barkley, the other confignee, who came paffenger in the fhip, they immediately went in a body to requeft his renunciation of the commiffion. Mr. Barkley politely attended the committee at the firft requeft, and being made acquainted with the fentiments of the city, and the danger to which the public liberties of America were expofed by this meafure, he, after expreffmg the particular hardfhip of his fituation, alfo refigned the commiffion in a manner that affe6ted every one prefent. The committee then appointed three of their members to go to Chefter, and two others to Gloucefter Point, in order to have the earlieft opportunity of meeting Cap 1 - Ayres, and representing to him the fenfe of the public refpecling his voyage and cargo. The gentlemen who had fet out for Chefter receiving intelligence that the veffel had weighed anchor about 12 o'clock, and proceeded to town, returned. About 2 o'clock fhe appeared in fight of Gloucefter Point, where a number of the inhabitants from the town had af- fembled, with the gentlemen from the committee, and as fhe paffed along fhe was hailed, and the captain requefted not to proceed further, but to come on more. This the captain complied with, and was handed thro' a lane made by the people to the gentlemen appointed to confer with him. 364 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. They reprefented to him the general fentiment, together with the danger and difficulties that would attend his refufal to comply with the willies of the inhabitants, and finally defired him to proceed with them to town, where he would be more fully informed of the temper and refolution of the people. He was accordingly accompanied to town by a number of perfons, where he was foon convinced of the truth and propriety of the reprefentations that had been made to him, and agreed that, upon the defire of the in- habitants being publicly expreffed, he would conduct himfelf accordingly. Some fmall rudenefs being offered to the cap*- afterwards in the ftreet by fome boys, feveral gentlemen interpofed and fuppreffed it, before he received the leaft injury. Upon an hour's notice this morning, a public meet- ing was called, and the State Houfe not being fufficient to hold the numbers affembled, they adjourned into the fquare. This meeting is allowed by all to be the moft refpectable, both in number and rank of thofe who attended, it that has been known in this city. After a fhort introduction, the following refolutions were not only agreed to, but the public approbation teftified in the warmeft manner : Refolved i st - That the tea on board the fhip Polly, Cap 1 ' Ayres, mail not be landed. 2 d - That Cap 1 - Ayres mail neither enter nor report his veffel at the Cuftom Houfe. 3 d - That Cap 1 - Ayres mall carry back the tea immediately. 4 th - That Cap'- Ayres mail immediately fend a pilot on board his veffel, with orders to take charge of her, and pro- ceed with her to Reedy Ifland, next high water. 5 th - That he mail be allowed to flay in town 'till to- morrow, to provide neceffaries for his voyage. LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. 365 6 th That he mall then be obliged to leave the town and proceed to his veffel, and make the befl of his way out of our river and bay. 7 th - That Cap 1 - Heyfham, Cap 1 - R. White, Mr. Benjamin Loxley and Mr. A. Donaldfon be a committee to fee thefe refolutions carried into execution. The captain was then afked if he would conform himfelf to thefe refolutions. He anfwered that he would. The affembly were then informed of the fpirit and refo- lution of New York, Charles Town, South Carolina, and the conduct of the people in Bofton, whereupon it was unani- moufly refolved : 8 th - That this affembly highly approve of the conduct and fpirit of the people of New York, Charles Town and Bofton, and return their hearty thanks to the people at Bofton for their refolution in deftroying the tea rather than fuffer it to be landed. The whole bufmefs was conducted with a decorum and order worthy the importance of the caufe. Cap 1 - Ayres being prefent at this meeting, folemnly and publicly engaged that he would literally comply with the fenfe of the city, as expreffed in the above refolutions. A proper fupply of neceffaries and frefh provifions being then procured in about 2 hours, the tea-fhip weighed anchor from Gloucefter Point, where me lay within fight of the town, and proceeded with her whole cargo on her return to the Eaft India Com y - The public think the conduct of thofe gentlemen whofe goods are returned on board the tea-fhip, ought not to pafs unnoticed, as they have upon this occafion generoully facri- ficed their private intereft to the public good. 366 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS. Thus this important affair, in which there has been fo glorious an exertion of public virtue and fpirit, has been brought to a public iffue, by which the force of law, fo obftinately perfifted in, to the prejudice of the national com- merce, for the fake of the principle on which it is founded, (a right of taxing the Americans without their confent,) has been effectually broken, and the foundation of American liberty more deeply laid than ever. N. B. It was computed by two different perfons, un- known to each other, that there were 8000 perfons affembled, befides many hundreds who were on their way, but did not reach the meeting in time, owing to the fhortnefs of the notice. Cap l< Ayres and Mr. Barkley, late one of the con- fignees, left Arch wharf on board a pilot boat (having been 46 hours in town,) to follow the (hip to Reedy Ifland. They were attended to the wharf by a concourfe of people, who wifhed them a good voyage. FINIS. ADDITIONS. JOHN SPURR (see /. 164). John Spurr was, after the Revolution, a prominent citizen of Charlton, Mass., and often represented the town in the State Legislature. He married the daughter of Rev. Elijah Dunbar, and left two sons ; Elijah Dunbar Spurr, and Samuel Danforth Spurr. The widow of the latter, who is now living, is the mother of the first wife of Senator George F. Hoar. THOMAS MELVILL. Tea Relic, as seen on page 131. The publisher, in collecting illustrations for Tea Leaves, found one or more New England Societies claiming posses- sion of some of this tea. Therefore it was necessary to look up the original Melvill stock of Bohea. We show an illustration of it (full size), copied from a photograph (made by special request,) from a relative living in Illinois (since deceased), from whom we learn it has been handed down to the present generation, and has never been owned out of the family, and is now in possession of Mrs. Thomas Melvill's son, Galena, Illinois, to whom we are indebted for its use on this occasion. A. o. c. 41 INDEX. Samuel Adams, Annapolis Tea-Ship Burned, Biographical Notices of the Tea Party, Biographical Sketches ; Ancrum, Wm. . . . 208 Appleton, Nathaniel . . 30 Blowers, S. S. . . . 352 Brattle, Wm. . . . 311 Bruce, Capt. . . 356 Bull, Wm. . . -339 Cheever, Ezekiel . . 46 Church, Dr. Benjamin . 26 Clarke, R. . . .210 Coffin, Capt. . . -358 Cooper, Sir Grey . . 212 Cooper, William . . 43 Copley, John S. . . 329 Crafts, Thomas . . 25 Curtis, Obadiah . . 49 Danforth, Samuel . . 315 Edes, Benjamin . . 25 Erving, John . . . 226 Faneuil, Benj. . . . 294 Hall, Capt. James . . 245 Hatch, Nathaniel . . 285 Hewes, Daniel ... 49 Hodgdon, Alex. . . 79 Hutchinson, Thos. & Elisha . 324 Ballads of the Tea Party, Boston. Opposition to the Tea Act, Tea Party, Destruction of the Tea, Proceedings of the Town, Proceedings of the Council, and List of its Members, . Johonnot, Gabriel Kelly, Wm. Knox, Thomas, Jr., Lloyd, Henry Lott, Abraham Levering, Joseph Morris, John Pownall, John Quincy, Josiah Rotch, Francis Rowe, John Royal, Isaac Savage, Samuel Phillips Scollay, John Tileston, Thomas Wallace, Hugh and Alex. Walpole, Thomas Watson, Brook Wendell, Oliver . Wharton, Thomas White, Henry Williams, Jonathan Williams, Thomas Winslow, Joshua . 19-23, 260-66, 64-82, 89-94 58-94, 279-303 PAGE 21 8 5 92-171 27 269 49 227 226 49 342 339 61 41 63 3" 57 37 50 233 204 203 43 273 306 43 230 223 172-176 278, 33 95-171 336-357 320-36 309-20 37 INDEX. PAGE Clarke R. & Sons, Attack on Warehouse of . . . .28, 266, 284 Residence mobbed, ...... 34 Letter to chairman East India Company, . . 279-91 East India Company, . . . . . . . u, 189 Franklin, Benjamin . . . . . . . .185 Green Dragon Tavern, . . . . . . . .66 Hutchinson, Thomas ........ 20 Lamb, John . . . . . . . . .19 Letters and Documents, . . . . . . . 189, 370 Letter from Mr. Wm. Palmer, enclosing Extracts of several Letters from Boston, &c., to show the state of the Tea Trade in America, and estimates of the advantages that will attend the Company's carrying on that trade to that place, . . . . . .189 Memorial of Mr. Gilbert Barkley, recommending a Plan for carrying on the Tea Trade to America, and offering himself, and Mr. John Inglis, Merchant, of Philadelphia, as agents, . . . . .199 Letter from Mr. Brook Watson, to Daniel Wier, Esq., recommending Mr. John Butler, of Nova Scotia, and Messrs. Faneuil and Winslow, of Boston, as agents, ........ 202 A Proposal of the Hon. Mr. Walpole's, for sending Tea to Philadelphia, 203 Plan of Mr. Palmer, for Exportation of Tea to America, . . . 205 Letter from Messrs. Greenwood & Higginson, recommending Messrs. Andrew Lord, and William and George Ancrum, of South Carolina, as Agents, and offering their ship, the " London," Capt. Curling, to carry Tea to that place, ....... 208 Letter from Mr Fred'k Pigou, Jun., Esq., recommending Pigou & Booth, of New York, and James & Drinker, of Philadelphia, as Agents, and offering vessels for those places, ...... 208 Letter from Mr. Jonathan Clarke, offering Richard Clarke & Sons, of Boston, as Agents, ...... . 209 Letter from Grey Cooper, Esq., recommending Mr. Barkley as an Agent, ..... .... 211 Letter from Messrs. Roberts & Co., recommending Messrs. Willing, Morris & Co., of Philadelphia, as Agents, . . . .212 Letter from Mr. Benjamin Harrison, offering himself as an Agent for Virginia, ......... 213 Letter from Mr. George Browne, recommending Mr. Jonathan Brown, of Philadelphia, as an Agent, ..... . 214 Letter from Mr. Wm. Palmer, offering to advance the amount of 200 chests of Tea, on terms therein mentioned, . . . .215 INDEX. 371 Letter to several American Merchants to meet the Committee, . . 215 Letter from Mr. Gilbert Barkley, offering some further thoughts upon the Exportation, ........ 216 Letter from Samuel Wharton, Esq., offering an Apologyy for not attending the Committee, . . . . . . . .217 Some Thoughts upon the Company's sending out Teas to America, . 218 Letter from Messrs. Watson & Rashleigh, reciting terms on which the Tea Agency may be conducted, and offering Security for their recommendation, ........ 222 Letter from Mr. Jonathan Clarke, on the same, .... 224 Letter from Mr. Kelly, on the same, and recommending several persons of the different Colonies, as Agents, ..... 225 Letter from Mr. Harrison, that Mr. Kelly will give his Proposals, . . 227 Letter from Mr. John Blackburn, with an offer of Terms, . . . 228 Letter to Samuel Wharton, Esq., to meet the Committee, . . . 229 Request of Mr. Walter Mansell, for the Agency to South Carolina, . 229 Letter from Messrs. Roberts & Co., offering Terms and Security for Willing, Morris & Co., . . . . . . .231 Letter from Messrs. Pigou & Booth, offering Terms and Security for Messrs. James & Drinker, ....... 231 Letter from Mr. John Nutt, recommending Mr. Roger Smith, of South Carolina, as an Agent, ....... 233 Letter from Messrs. Bourdieu & Chollet, recommending several persons as Agents, ......... 233 Letter from Messrs. Gale, Fearon & Co., recommending Mr. Daniel Stephenson, of Maryland, as an Agent, ..... 234 Letter from Messrs. Davidson & Newman, declining any propositions on the present state of the Tea affair, . . . . .235 Letter to several American Merchants to meet the Committee, . . 235 Letter from Mr. Palmer, upon the Rate of Exchange from Boston, . 236 Letter from Messrs. Bourdieu & Chollet, declining to offer any further proposals, ......... 236 Letter to sundry American Merchants to meet the Committee, . . 237 Letter to sundry American Merchants, advising the quantities of Tea ordered to be shipped for the several Colonies, and requesting the firm of the houses they have recommended, .... 238 Letter from Messrs. Watson & Rashleigh, advising the firm of their recommendation, ........ 238 Securities offered for Mr. Barkley and Mr. Mansell, . . . 239 Letter from Mr. Pigou, with the firm of his recommendation, . . 239 Letters from Mr. Wharton, Mr. Browne, and Mr. Kelly, . . . 240 INDEX. FAGS Mr. Palmers Opinion in what mode to ship Tea to America, . . 241 Letter from Mr. Clarke, with the firm of his house, and offering the "William" for freight, ....... 243 Letters to Geo. Hayley, Esq., Thos. Lane, Esq., and Alexander Champion, Esq., to know if they have any constant traders to Boston or South Carolina, ready to sail, . . . . . . 244 Letter to Mr. Palmer, to point out what sorts of Tea are proper to be sent to Boston and South Carolina, . . . . . 244 Mr. Palmer's Assortment of Teas for America, .... 245 Weight of Tea Exported to America, ...... 245 Letters from several Persons concerning Vessels for Carrying the Tea to America, ......... 245 Petition to the Lords of the Treasury, for Licence to Export Teas to America, ......... Licence from the Lords of the Treasury to Export Teas to America, Letters from Sundry Gentlemen relating to Vessels to carry Tea to America, ......... Letter from Mr. Settle to Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Kelly, to come and Execute the Bond, ........ Letters from Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Kelly, in reply, Sundry Freight Bills, for Tea Shipped, ..... So far concerns the outset of the Tea. Note from Lord Dartmouth to the Chairman, to attend at Whitehall, on the subject of some Advices from America, respecting the Teas, . 258 Letters to American Merchants to communicate what Advices they may have received, ........ 258 Letters from American Merchants, in reply, ..... 259 Letter from Mr. Jonathan Clarke to Mr. Wheler, advising his arrival at Boston, ......... 260 Letter to Abram Dupuis, to communicate advice, referred in Mr. Clarke's Letter, .......... 279 Messrs. Clarke & Son's Letter to Mr. Dupuis, .... 279 Mr. Faneuil's Letter to Mr. Watson, mentioned in Messrs. Clarke's, . 292 Proceedings of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, on the 5th and 6th November, referred to in Messrs. Clarke's and Faneuil's Letters, ....... .295 Note from the Secretary to Mr. Brook Watson, advising the Tea is ordered to Halifax, and desiring the names of the Consignees, . 304 Security offered for Messrs. Butler & Cochran, consignees at Halifax, . 305 INDEX. 373 The Agents at New York's Petition to the Governor, referred to in their letter ist December, ....... 305 Petition of the Agents at Boston, and the Proceedings of the Governor and Council thereon, ....... 309 Proceedings of the Town of Boston on the 29th and 3oth November, . 320 Letter signed " Anglo Americanus," addressed to Geo. Dudley, Esq., enclosing newspapers, . . . . . . . 331 Letter signed "Anglo Americanus," addressed to Geo. Dudley, Esq., advising the Tea's being destroyed, ..... 332 Note from Mr. Pownall, to communicate Advices, and enclosing Letter from Lieut.-Gov. Bull, of Charles Town ; also, Lieut.-Gov. Bull's Letter, . . ...... 339 Letter from Mr. Jo. Morris, to Corbyn Morris, Esq., advising of the Tea's being seized at South Carolina, ...... 342 Letter from Capt. Ellis, advising of the Tea's being seized at South Carolina, ......... 343 Questions proposed to the Boston Consignees, respecting landing the Teas, . ....... 344 Protest of Capt. Bruce against said Consignees, for refusing to receive the Teas, ......... 346 Letter from Mr. Rotch, to said Consignees, with an account of Charges and a Protest, . . . . . . . 350 Protests of the several Captains against the Destroyers of the Tea, . 353 Letters from the Agents at New York, &c., to Capt. Lockyer, and one from him to them, ......... 359 Proceedings of the Inhabitants of Philadelphia, on the measure of Ex- porting Tea to that place, ....... 361 Liberty Tree, ..... ... 24 Long Room (Whig) Club, ....... 66 New York. Opposition to the Tea Act, . . . i6-'9, 269-271 Arrival of Tea, ....... 84-5 Petition of the Consignees to the Governor, . . . 305 Letter from the Agents to Capt. Lockyer, . . . 358-60 North-End Caucus, . . . . . . . . 23, 67 Philadelphia lends Opposition to Tea Act, . . . . .17 Tea sent back, ....... 84 Proposed Tea Depot in America, .... 203 Opposition to the Tea Act, .... 272-277 Resolves and Proceedings of October 18, . . . 361-65 St. Andrew's Masonic Lodge of Boston, ..... 66 374 INDEX. Sons of Liberty, . South Carolina, Proceedings at . Spurr, John, Tea Act, .... Introduced into New England, Consignees, . Guard on Boston tea-ship, State of Tea Trade in America, Shipments to America, Warren, Gen. Joseph Additions, .... 1 8, 24, 26 84-85, 339-43 164 12 '4 23, 36, 51-53 45-5 191-98 . 256-7 . 178 367 ILLUSTRATIONS. Tea Leaves, on cover, ........ Destruction of the Tea in Boston Harbor, .... Frontispiece. Diagram Showing the Route from the Old South Church to Griffin's Wharf, 75 Melvill's Tea Relic, . . . . . . . .131 Edward Proctor's Proclamation, . . . . . .148 Lord North Forcing the Tea down the Throat of America, . . 155 Location of Tea Wharf, . . . . . . . .173 Plan of Boston, 1775, and the Burning of Charlestown, . . . 264 PORTRAITS. Adams, Samuel . . . 299 Bradlee, Nathaniel . . 97 Franklin, Benjamin . . 185 Gage, Gov. Thomas . . 313 Hancock, John . . 288 Hutchinson, Gov Thomas . 308 Hewes, George Robert Twelves 1 1 7 Kennison, David . 122 Lovering, Thomas . . 182 Melvill, Thomas . . 133 Melvill, Thomas, Hat on North, Lord Pitts, Lendall Purkitt, Henry . Revere, Paul Rotch, Francis Rowe, John Savage, Samuel Phillips Sprague, Samuel . Warren, Joseph . 1 80 249 142 151 157 40 62 338 164 INDEX. 375 AUTOGRAPHS. Adams, Samuel . Bradlee, Nathaniel Bradlee, David Bass, Henry Church, Benjamin Cheever, Ezekiel Chase, Thomas Clarke, Benjamin Crane, John Franklin, Benjamin Faneuil, Benjamin, Jr., . Frothingham, Nathaniel . Green, Nathaniel Grant, Moses Gore, Samuel Hodgdon, Alexander Hancock, John Hutchinson, Thomas Inches, Henderson Kennison, David . Lovering, Joseph . Lincoln, Amos Lee, Joseph Molineux, William 299 97 97 96 26 46 IO2 103 1 08 I8 S 294 III 114 79 288 308 27 122 182 I2S 124 137 Melvill, Thomas . Newell, Eliphelet Purkitt, Henry Prentice, Henry Pitts, Lendall, Peck, Samuel Palmer, Joseph P. Proctor, Edward . Russell, John Revere, Paul Rowe, John Rotch, Francis Swan, James Sprague, Samuel . Sloper, Samuel Shed, Joseph Sessions, Robert . Savage, Samuel Phillips Urann, Thomas . Winslow, Joshua . Williams, Jonathan Warren, Joseph . Wyeth, Joseph PAGE 135 138 150 146 145 140 139 149 159 154 63 41 1 68 164 162 161 r 60 57 169 223 43 3 171