XXX. CHAPTER the late riot at Clarke's house, at least in words, and advised that the rioters be prosecuted; but they asked 1773. further time to consider the petition. Several adjournments accordingly took place, and before any decision was reached one of the tea ships arrived. The council havNov. 28. ing met the next day, presented a paper to the governor declining to become parties to an unconstitutional attempt to levy taxes, against which the General Court had so repeatedly protested, or to make themselves chargeable for the tea by interfering to receive it. Meetings in all the neighboring towns had resolved to sustain Boston; and while the council was thus declining to intermeddle with the matter, a mass meeting, or "body," as they called themselves, of the people of Boston and Nov. 29. the neighboring towns, assembled in Faneuil Hall, sent for the owner of the tea ship, ordered her to be moored at a certain wharf, and appointed a guard of twenty-five volunteers to watch her. It was resolved to send her back with her cargo, and the master and the owner were charged not to attempt, at their peril, to unlade her. The consignees, among whom were two of the governor's sons, frightened at these demonstrations, took refuge at the castle, where was a regiment of British regulars. Nov. 30. The "body" having met again the next day, the governor sent the sheriff of the county with a proclamation declaring the meeting illegal, and ordering the people to disperse. They heard the message, hissed it, and voted unanimously not to regard it. The governor was powerless. He had ordered the Cadets, his guard of honor, to be in readiness; but what could he expect of a company commanded by Hancock? The troops at the castle and the ships of war in the harbor had no warrant to interfere in a purely municipal matter; nor was there any ground for the governor to call upon them till XXX. something in the nature of riot, if not of rebellion, had CHAPTER actually occurred. The consignees offered, if the tea might be landed, to keep it in store till orders came 1773. from England; but this was rejected, and the master and the owner of the vessel were both constrained to promise to carry it back. The owners of two other vessels on the way were required to make a similar promise. Tea was denounced as a "pernicious weed," and all persons who might henceforward be concerned in its importation were declared enemies of their country. After a resolution to carry the matter through at the risk of their lives and property, the "body" dissolved, leaving matters in the hands of a committee. The owner of the vessel was very little disposed to carry out the agreement extorted from him. The governor was resolved that no clearance should be granted till the cargo was landed. At the expiration of thirty days from her arrival the vessel would be liable to seizure for non-payment of duties. Two other tea ships pres ently arrived, and were placed in custody like the other. Provoked and alarmed at the non-departure of the first vessel, the "body" reassembled. The owner was sent Dec. 14. for, and a committee was appointed to go with him to demand a clearance, which the collector, after taking time to consider, refused to give till the cargo was land- Dec. 16. ed. The owner was then sent anew to the governor, at his country-house at Milton, to request a permit, without which the vessel could not pass the fort and the ships of war in the harbor. He returned late in the afternoon, and announced the governor's refusal; he had no power, he said, to grant the permit till a clearance was first exhibited. This had been anticipated and prepared for. A band of some fifty men, "very dark-complexioned persons, dressed like Mohawks, of very grotesque appear XXX. CHAPTER ance," so says the Massachusetts Gazette of that day, approached the hall with an imitation of the war-whoop, 1773. and, while Josiah Quincy harangued the people on the necessity of adhering to their resolution whatever might be the consequences, the pretended Mohawks proceeded to the wharf and boarded the tea vessels. It was now six o'clock; the evening dusk had set in; the "body" was dissolved, and the people, hastening to the wharf, looked on with silent anxiety, while in the course of two hours three hundred and forty-two chests of tea were drawn up from the holds of the vessels and emptied into the water. Nov. 25. In New York, at the demand of a popular meeting, the consignees of the expected tea had declined to act, whereupon Governor Tryon had issued orders for receiving it into the barracks. The vessel, driven by stress of weather to the West Indies, did not arrive for some months; and before her arrival Tryon had departed, leaving affairs again in Colden's hands. The vessel bound for Philadelphia was stopped four Dec. 25. miles below the city, and information having just arrived of the destruction of the tea at Boston, the captain was persuaded to return to England without attempting to land his cargo. A fourth tea vessel, destined for Boston, was wrecked on Cape Cod. The few chests of tea saved from her cargo were placed, by the governor's order, in the castle. Some twenty chests or more, brought by another vessel on the private account of Boston merchants, were seized and thrown into the water. 1774. The General Court of Massachusetts, at their next Feb. meeting, took up with great earnestness the subject of the payment of the judges' salaries by the crown-an arrangement lately announced, and which John Adams Four CHAPTER XXX. had vigorously attacked in the Boston Gazette. of the five judges promised to continue to take their pay of the province; Oliver, the chief justice, having declined 1774. to come into this arrangement, the House carried up to the council articles of impeachment against him. Hutchinson cut short these proceedings by a prorogation, and, in accordance with an intimation given to the court, presently prepared to leave for England. At length, after great delays, the New York tea ship arrived at Sandy Hook. The pilots, under instructions April 21. from the city committee, refused to bring her up, and a "Committee of Vigilance" soon took possession of her. Brought to town, the captain was informed by a deputation from the city committee that he must take back ship and cargo. He desired to see the consignee, and was escorted to him; but the consignee declined to give any orders. Meanwhile, another ship, commanded by a New York captain, arrived at the Hook, and, on assurance that she had no tea on board, was allowed to come to town. But a report to the contrary soon spread, and the captain was obliged to acknowledge that he had eighteen chests, not belonging to the East India Company, but a private adventure. The indignant populace seized the tea and emptied it into the river. A day or two after, with great parade, headed by a band playing God save the King, the bells ringing, and colors flying from the liberty pole and the shipping, the captain of the East India tea ship was escorted from the custom-house to a pilot-boat, which took him to the Hook, where, under directions of the Committee of Vigilance, the anchors were weighed, and the vessel started on her homeward voyage. The Charleston tea ship reached that city the same day that the New York tea ship reached the Hook. The CHAPTER teas were landed, but were stored in damp cellars, where they soon became worthless. XXX. 1774. Feb. March 14. Before news of the fate of the tea at Boston could arrive in England, a hearing had been had before the Privy Council, at the special request of Hutchinson's friends, on the petition for his removal from the government of Massachusetts. The foul-mouthed Wedderburne, afterward Lord Loughborough, retained as counsel for Hutchinson, poured upon Franklin, who was present as agent for Massachusetts, and whom he accused of surreptitiously obtaining Hutchinson's letters, a torrent of abuse, which seemed to give great satisfaction to their lordships of the council. Dunning, retained on the other side, made but a shabby appearance, speaking so low that nobody could hear him. The petition was dismissed as "groundless, scandalous, and vexatious," and the ministers followed up the matter by dismissing Franklin from his office of deputy post-master for the colonies. When, presently, the fate of the tea became known, ministerial indignation rose to a high pitch. Leave was asked by Lord North to introduce into Parliament, then in session, a measure, soon famous as the Boston Port Bill, shutting up the harbor of that town, and removing the seat of government to Salem. The audacity of the Bostonians had silenced the friends of the colonists, and this motion encountered but slight opposition. Even Barre and Conway gave it their approval, and their portraits disappeared from Faneuil Hall in consequence. Two members who attempted to speak against the bill March 25. Were coughed down. On the question of its final passage, Burke opposed it, and so did Johnstone, a naval officer, lately governor of Florida, and now, a member of Parliament, well versed and taking a deep interest in colonial affairs. It passed, however, with very few negatives. |