Resolved 1^st. That the tea on board the ship Polly, Cap^t. Ayres, shall not be landed.

2^d. That Cap^t. Ayres shall neither enter nor report his vessel at the Custom House.

3^d. That Cap^t. Ayres shall carry back the tea immediately.

4^th. That Cap^t. Ayres shall immediately send a pilot on board his vessel, with orders to take charge of her, and proceed with her to Reedy Island, next high water.

5^th. That he shall be allowed to stay in town 'till to-morrow, to provide necessaries for his voyage.

6^th. That he shall then be obliged to leave the town and proceed to his vessel, and make the best of his way out of our river and bay.

7^th. That Cap^t. Heysham, Cap^t. R. White, Mr. Benjamin Loxley and Mr. A. Donaldson be a committee to see these resolutions carried into execution.

The captain was then asked if he would conform himself to these resolutions. He answered that he would.

The assembly were then informed of the spirit and resolution of New York, Charles Town, South Carolina, and the conduct of the people in Boston, whereupon it was unanimously resolved:

8^th. That this assembly highly approve of the conduct and spirit of the people of New York, Charles Town and Boston, and return their hearty thanks to the people at Boston for their resolution in destroying the tea rather than suffer it to be landed.

The whole business was conducted with a decorum and order worthy the importance of the cause. Cap^t. Ayres being present at this meeting, solemnly and publicly engaged that he would literally comply with the sense of the city, as expressed in the above resolutions.

A proper supply of necessaries and fresh provisions being then procured in about 2 hours, the tea-ship weighed anchor from Gloucester Point, where she lay within sight of the town, and proceeded with her whole cargo on her return to the East India Com^y.

The public think the conduct of those gentlemen whose goods are returned on board the tea-ship, ought not to pass unnoticed, as they have upon this occasion generously sacrificed their private interest to the public good.

Thus this important affair, in which there has been so glorious an exertion of public virtue and spirit, has been brought to a public issue, by which the force of law, so obstinately persisted in, to the prejudice of the national commerce, for the sake of the principle on which it is founded, (a right of taxing the Americans without their consent,) has been effectually broken, and the foundation of American liberty more deeply laid than ever.

N.B.—It was computed by two different persons, unknown to each other, that there were 8000 persons assembled, besides many hundreds who were on their way, but did not reach the meeting in time, owing to the shortness of the notice. Cap^t. Ayres and Mr. Barkley, late one of the consignees, left Arch wharf on board a pilot boat (having been 46 hours in town,) to follow the ship to Reedy Island. They were attended to the wharf by a concourse of people, who wished them a good voyage.

FINIS.



ADDITIONS.

JOHN SPURR (see p. 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.

Melvill's Tea Relic, as seen on page 131.

The publisher, in collecting illustrations for Tea Leaves, found one or more New England Societies claiming possession 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.



INDEX.

Page

Samuel Adams, 21

Annapolis Tea-Ship Burned, 85

Biographical Notices of the Tea Party, and List of its Members, 92-171

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 Johonnot, Gabriel 27 Kelly, Wm. 269 Knox, Thomas, Jr., 49 Lloyd, Henry 227 Lott, Abraham 226 Lovering, Joseph 49 Morris, John 342 Pownall, John 339 Quincy, Josiah 61 Rotch, Francis 41 Rowe, John 63 Royal, Isaac 311 Savage, Samuel Phillips 57 Scollay, John 37 Tileston, Thomas 50 Wallace, Hugh and Alex 233 Walpole, Thomas 204 Watson, Brook 203 Wendell, Oliver 43 Wharton, Thomas 273 White, Henry 306 Williams, Jonathan 43 Williams, Thomas 230 Winslow, Joshua 223

Ballads of the Tea Party, 172-176

Boston, Opposition to the Tea Act, 19-23, 260-66, 278, 303 Tea-Party, 64-82, 89-94, 95-171 Destruction of the Tea, 58-94, 336-357 Proceedings of the Town, 279-303, 320-36 Proceedings of the Council, 309-20

Clarke R. & Sons, Attack on Warehouse of 28, 266, 284 Residence mobbed, 34 Letter to chairman East India Company, 279-91

East India Company, 11, 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

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 Apology 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

Mr. Palmer's 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, 246

Licence from the Lords of the Treasury to Export Teas to America, 247

Letters from Sundry Gentlemen relating to Vessels to carry Tea to America, 251

Letter from Mr. Settle to Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Kelly, to come and Execute the Bond, 255

Letters from Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Kelly, in reply, 255

Sundry Freight Bills, for Tea Shipped, 256

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

The Agents at New York's Petition to the Governor, referred to in their letter 1st 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 30th 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 Exporting Tea to that place, 361

Liberty Tree, 24

Long Room (Whig) Club, 66

New York. Opposition to the Tea Act, 16-19, 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

Sons of Liberty, 18, 24, 26

South Carolina, Proceedings at 84-65, 339-43

Spurr, John, 164

Tea Act, 12 Introduced into New England, 14 Consignees, 23, 36, 51-53 Guard on Boston tea-ship, 45-50 State of Tea Trade in America, 191-98 Shipments to America, 256-7

Warren, Gen. Joseph, 178

Additions, 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 117

Kennison, David 122

Lovering, Thomas 182

Melvill, Thomas 133

Melvill, Thomas, Hat on 180

North, Lord 249

Pitts, Lendall 142

Purkitt, Henry 151

Revere, Paul 157

Rotch, Francis 40

Rowe, John 62

Savage, Samuel Phillips 338

Sprague, Samuel 164

Warren, Joseph 48



AUTOGRAPHS.

Adams, Samuel 299

Bradlee, Nathaniel 97

Bradlee, David 97

Bass, Henry 96

Church, Benjamin 26

Cheever, Ezekiel 46

Chase, Thomas 102

Clarke, Benjamin 103

Crane, John 108

Franklin, Benjamin 185

Faneuil, Benjamin, Jr., 294

Frothingham, Nathaniel 111

Green, Nathaniel 114

Grant, Moses 113

Gore, Samuel 113

Hodgdon, Alexander 79

Hancock, John 288

Hutchinson, Thomas 308

Inches, Henderson 27

Kennison, David 122

Lovering, Joseph 182

Lincoln, Amos 125

Lee, Joseph 124

Molineux, William 137

Melvill, Thomas 135

Newell, Eliphelet 138

Purkitt, Henry 150

Prentice, Henry 146

Pitts, Lendall 145

Peck, Samuel 140

Palmer, Joseph P. 139

Proctor, Edward 149

Russell, John 159

Revere, Paul 154

Rowe, John 63

Rotch, Francis 41

Swan, James 168

Sprague, Samuel 164

Sloper, Samuel 162

Shed, Joseph 161

Sessions, Robert 160

Savage, Samuel Phillips 57

Urann, Thomas 169

Winslow, Joshua 223

Williams, Jonathan 43

Warren, Joseph 30

Wyeth, Joseph 171



FOOTNOTES:

[1] Dr. Holmes, the annalist, says, that tea began to be used in New England in 1720. Small quantities, must, however, have been made many years before, as small copper tea-kettles were in use in Plymouth, in 1702. The first cast-iron tea-kettles were made in Plympton, (now Carver,) Mass., between 1760 and 1765. When ladies went to visiting parties, each one carried her tea-cup, saucer, and spoon. The cups were of the best china, very small, containing about as much as a common wine-glass.

[2] Hist. of Mass., iii. 422.

[3] This body, which originally consisted of sixty-one members, with Dr. Thomas Young for its president, was organized by Dr. Joseph Warren, who, with one other person, drew up its regulations. Its usual place of meeting was at William Campbell's house, near the North Battery, though its sessions were sometimes held at the Green Dragon tavern. Here the committees of public service were formed, and measures of defence, and resolves for the destruction of the tea, discussed. It was here, when the best mode of expelling the regulars from Boston was under consideration, that John Hancock exclaimed, "Burn Boston, and make John Hancock a beggar, if the public good requires it."

[4] 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.

[5] Benjamin Edes, journalist, born in Charlestown, Mass., Oct. 14, 1732; died in Boston, December 11, 1803. In 1755, he began, with John Gill, the publication of the "Boston Gazette and Country 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 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 afternoon of December 16, 1773. During the siege of Boston, the "Gazette" was issued 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 prominent "Son of Liberty."

[6] Dr. Benjamin Church, physician, orator and poet, grandson of the famous Indian fighter of the name; born in Newport, R.I., August 24, 1734; was lost at sea in May, 1776. He graduated at Harvard College in 1754; studied medicine in London, and after his return to Boston, 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 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." Confined 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.

[7] Gabriel Johonnot, born in Boston, 1748; died in Hamden, Me., October 9, 1820. Zacharie, his father, a Huguenot, was a distiller and merchant. His dwelling-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, 20th April, 1787. 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 14th Regiment of the Massachusetts line, known as the Marblehead regiment, commanded by Colonel Glover. He removed to Castine, Me., soon after the Revolutionary war; took a prominent part in town affairs, and at one time represented the town of Penobscot in the Massachusetts Legislature.

[8] Nathaniel Appleton, Commissioner of Loans for the State of Massachusetts, a resident of Atkinson (now Congress) Street, son of Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Appleton, of Cambridge; died in June, 1789, aged 66.

[9] The Scollays were an old Scotch family. A John Scollay, the first mention of whom is found here, in 1692 leased the Winnisimmet ferry for one year. John, whose name is conspicuous in the early Revolutionary records of Boston, was a merchant, and was chairman of the Board of Selectmen, from 1774 to 1790. His portrait, by Copley, represents a portly, florid man, with a powdered wig, seated, his hand resting on a ledger. Thomas Melvill married one of Scollay's daughters. Col. William Scollay, apothecary and druggist, son of John, resided at first on or near the spot where the Museum stands, and his garden extended back to Court Square. He was associated with Charles Bulfinch and others, in the improvement of Franklin Place, now Franklin Street, where they erected the first block of buildings in Boston. Col. William was commander of the Independent Company of Cadets.

[10] 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 Salisbury, 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 industry, energy and enterprise, gaining, at the same time, universal esteem for his integrity. These characteristics he transmitted 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 November 30th, 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 compliance 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 confiscated 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," is 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, profile painter, 111 Strand, London, apparently 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.

[11] Jonathan Williams, a distinguished merchant and patriot, captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, in 1751; died March 27, 1788. Jonathan, his father, was a member of the Artillery Company in 1711.

[12] Judge Oliver Wendell, son of Hon. Jacob Wendell, was born in Boston 5th March, 1733; died, 15th January, 1818. Harvard College, 1753. His daughter, Sarah, married Rev. Abiel Holmes, the father of the poet, Oliver Wendell Holmes.

[13] 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.

[14] 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 was a selectman of Charlestown. Removing to Boston he joined the Sons of Liberty, and was active in the ante-revolutionary movements of the town, and prominent in its public meetings. He was appointed commissary of artillery in the army before Boston, May 17, 1775. He died a few years after the conclusion of the war. His brother, David, also a prominent Son of Liberty, was appointed moderator of the Old South meeting of December 14, but declined. Ezekiel was a member of the Committee that waited on the consignees and requested their resignation.

[15] Probably the following handbill is referred to:

"Brethren and Fellow Citizens!

You may depend that those odious miscreants and detestable tools to ministry and government, the TEA CONSIGNEES, (those traitors to their country—butchers—who have done and are doing everything to murder and destroy all that shall stand in the way of their private interest,) are determined to come (from the castle) and reside again in the town of Boston! I therefore give you this early notice that you may hold yourselves in readiness on the shortest warning, to give them such a reception as such vile ingrates deserve.

(Signed), JOYCE, Junior,

Chairman of the Committee for Tarring and Feathering.

—> If any person shall be so hardy as to tear this down, he may expect my severest resentment.

J., Jun."

[16] A merchant and a former selectman of Boston, member of the Provincial Congress, President of the Massachusetts Board of War during the Revolution, and from Nov. 2, 1775, till his death, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Middlesex County. He died at Weston in December, 1797; aged 79.

[17] Quincy visited England in 1774, and died on the passage home, in sight of his native land, April 26, 1775. He was a lawyer, and in conjunction with John Adams, defended the perpetrators of the "Boston Massacre."

[18] Lord Mahon, a candid British historian, thinks this concession unwisely denied.

[19] 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 forestalling. 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 spot lately occupied by Dr. Robbins' church, in Bedford Street. A wharf and street once bore the name of this true friend of his country, but the wharf alone retains the title. Since 1856, Rowe Street has been absorbed in Chauncy Street.

[20] This punch bowl is now in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

[21] Alexander Hodgdon, mate of the "Dartmouth," was subsequently (1787-92) Treasurer of the State of Massachusetts. Stevens was at that time courting his sister (they were afterwards married), and was naturally desirous not to compromise himself or his friend.

[22] The proclamation of the "King of the Mohawks," which accompanies this notice, appears to be in Proctor's handwriting. The original is in the possession of Mr. Jeremiah Colburn, of Boston.

[23] See ante pp. XLIX., CVI.

[24] The East India Company was a famous joint stock trading corporation, formed in England early in the seventeenth century, to carry on commerce with the East Indies. They established stations in various places, and in 1702, were newly chartered as "The United Company of Merchants Trading to the East Indies." The executive power of the Company was vested in a court of twenty-four directors, each of whom must own L2000 of stock, and held office four years. This Company became a great territorial power, and laid the foundation of the British Empire in India. Its monopoly of the China trade was abolished in 1833, and the Company was then deprived of its original character as a commercial association. The Sepoy Mutiny, in 1857, combined with other causes, induced Parliament to transfer the dominion of India to the Crown. This change was effected in 1858, after strenuous opposition from the Company. Trading companies to the East Indies were also chartered by Holland, France, Denmark, and Sweden; that of Holland being the oldest.

[25] In this sample invoice the amount seems extraordinary. The editor of this volume, however, considers his duty ended when he gives a faithful transcript of the manuscript in his possession, allowing the facts alone to appear.

[26] Sir Brook Watson, a merchant of London, and Lord Mayor in 1796, born in Plymouth, England, February 7, 1735, died October 2, 1807. Early in life he entered the sea service, but, while bathing in the harbor of Havana, in 1749, a shark bit off his right leg, below the knee, and he was obliged to abandon his chosen profession. A painting, by Copley, represents this scene. Watson then became a merchant, and was a commissary to the British troops in Canada, in 1755 and in 1758. Visiting the American colonies just before the Revolution, he professed himself a Whig, but intercepted letters showed his true character to be that of a spy. In 1782, he was commissary-general to his friend, Sir Guy Carleton, in America; held the same office with the Duke of York, in 1793-95, and that of Commissary-General of England, in 1798-1806. He was a member of Parliament from London, in 1784-93; sheriff of London and Middlesex in 1785, and was made a baronet December 5, 1803. As a reward for his services in America, Parliament voted his wife an annuity of L500 for life.

[27] Hon. Thomas Walpole, merchant, banker, and member of Parliament, second son of Horatio, first Lord Walpole, and nephew of the famous statesman, Sir Robert Walpole, died at Chiswick, March 21, 1803. He was born October 25, 1727.

[28] William Ancrum, was a loyalist, of Charleston, S.C., He was banished in 1782, and his property was confiscated.

[29] Richard, son of Francis Clarke, merchant, graduated at Harvard College, in 1729, and died in London, at the residence of his son-in-law, John Singleton Copley, the artist, February 27, 1795. He, with his sons, Richard and Jonathan, constituting the firm of Richard Clarke & Sons, did business in King (now State) Street, and became exceedingly obnoxious to the people, on their refusal to resign their appointment as factors of the East India Company's tea. The residence of the Clarke's, on School Street, (corner of Chapman Place,) was mobbed on the evening of November 17, 1773, but no serious damage was done. (This incident is fully detailed on a previous page.) Jonathan Clarke was in London in the summer of 1773, and received verbal instructions respecting the consignment of tea from the directors of the East India Company. Richard Clarke arrived in London December 24, 1775, after a passage of twenty-one days from Boston. The Clarkes were included in the Act of Proscription, and their estates were confiscated. Richard Clarke was a nephew of Governor Hutchinson. His wife, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Edward Winslow, of Boston. Susan, his daughter, married Copley, the painter, and became the mother of Lord Lyndhurst. Another daughter, Mary, married Judge Samuel Barrett. Copley's portrait of Richard Clarke represents him as a man of commanding presence, with features resembling, in a remarkable degree, those of Washington, in the Stuart portrait.

[30] Grey, afterwards Sir Grey Cooper, studied law at the Temple, London; became an efficient supporter of the Rockingham party, and held the office of Secretary of the Treasury throughout the American troubles, covering the administrations of Chatham, Grafton, and North. He was made a Lord of the Treasury in 1783, a Privy Councillor in 1793, and died at Worlington, Suffolk, July 30, 1801; aged seventy-five. He was an able speaker and parliamentarian.

[31] Joshua Winslow, son of Joshua and Elizabeth Savage Winslow, born in Boston, in 1737, died there in March, 1775, after an illness of only three days. Joshua, his father, (1694-1769,) third in descent from Governor Edward, of Plymouth, was the son of Colonel Edward Winslow, sheriff of Suffolk County. In 1720, he founded a mercantile house in Boston, in which his brother Isaac (the Tory) was a partner, from 1736 to 1757, and in 1760 admitted his son, Joshua, to a share of the business, he himself retiring with an ample fortune, in 1767. This firm carried on an extensive and profitable trade. With the proceeds of consignments from Bristol, England, vessels were built in Boston, and loaded with fish for Leghorn, or some other foreign port, return cargoes being taken for Bristol. They also became considerable shipowners, and had one ship constantly in the London trade. Their place of business was on the corner of King and Broad Streets. Joshua Winslow, who was one of the consignees of the tea, seems to have been present when they were called upon by the Sons of Liberty, at Clarke's warehouse, but does not afterwards appear, except by proxy. He must have absented himself from Boston soon after that occurrence, as he did not go with the other consignees to the castle. He married Hannah, daughter of Commodore Joshua Loring, and left her a widow, with one son and four daughters.

[32] Abraham Lott, of New York, was treasurer of that colony, and died in New York, 1794; aged sixty-eight. In September, 1776, he was ordered by the Whig Convention to settle his accounts as treasurer, and pay over the balance to his successor. In August, 1781, some Whigs went in a whale boat to his residence, robbed him of six hundred pounds, and carried off two slaves. In 1786, the Legislature of New York passed an Act, "more effectually to compel Abraham Lott to account for money received while he was treasurer of the colony, and for which he has not accounted."

[33] Colonel John Erving, Jr., a flour merchant, on Kilby Street, Boston, and a graduate of Harvard College, (1747,) was in 1778, proscribed and banished, and in 1779 his property was confiscated under the Conspiracy Act. His mansion, on the west corner of Milk and Federal Streets, was afterwards the residence of Robert Treat Paine, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Prior to the Revolution Irving was colonel of the Boston regiment. In 1760, he signed the Boston memorial against the acts of the revenue officials, and was thus one of the fifty-eight merchants who were the first men in America to array themselves against the officers of the Crown. But, in 1774, he was an addressor of Hutchinson, and was appointed a mandamus councillor. In 1776, he fled to Halifax, afterwards went to England, and died at Bath, in 1816; aged eighty-nine years. His wife, Maria Catherina, youngest daughter of Governor Shirley, died a few months before him. George Erving, his brother, also a loyalist, died in London, in 1806; aged seventy.

[34] Henry Lloyd, a merchant of Boston, agent of the contractors for supplying the royal army, was an addressor of Gage, in 1775. In 1776, he went to Halifax, and was proscribed and banished in 1778. He died in London, late in 1795, or early in 1796; aged eighty-six. His place of business was at No. 5 Long Wharf.

[35] Mansell was a South Carolina loyalist, whose estate was confiscated, in 1782.

[36] The firm of Willing, Morris & Co., established in 1754, was the most extensive importing house in Philadelphia. They worked actively and zealously for the non-importation articles of agreement, after the Stamp Act and the Tea Act were inflicted on this country. Robert Morris (1733-1806,) was the well-known financier of the Revolution. Thomas Willing, (1741-1821,) from 1754 to 1807, held successively the offices of Secretary to the Congress of Delegates, at Albany; mayor of the city of Philadelphia; Representative in the General Assembly; President of the Provincial Congress; delegate to the Congress of the Confederation; President of the first chartered Bank in America, and President of the first bank of the United States. He was a man whose integrity and patriotism gained him the esteem and praise of his countrymen. From the beginning of the Revolutionary war, Willing & Morris were the agents of Congress for supplying their naval and military stores. To the great credit and well-known patriotism of this house, the country owed its extrication from those trying pecuniary embarrassments, so familiar to the readers of our Revolutionary history.

[37] Hugh and Alexander Wallace, brothers, were merchants, of New York, and partners in business. Hugh was a member of the Council, and second President of the Chamber of Commerce. He was arrested as a loyalist, and confined to the limits of Middletown, Conn., and his estate was confiscated. At the peace he went to England, and died at Waterford, Ireland, in 1788.

Alexander, his brother, also a loyalist, whose property was confiscated, had originally been a member of the committee of correspondence, and undoubtedly sympathized with the Whigs, but like many others, ultimately fell off from the great body of his countrymen, and clung to the royal cause. In August, 1776, he was arrested and confined at Fishkill. At the peace he went to England, with his brother, and died at Waterford, Ireland, in the year 1800.

[38] James Hall, captain of the "Dartmouth," the first tea-ship to arrive in America, was a Boston loyalist, and was consequently proscribed and banished in 1778.

[39] These two letters following each other so closely, plainly manifest the anxiety of the Company, in reference to their shipments of tea to Boston.

[40] William Kelly is, I suppose, the person referred to in the following paragraph in Leake's "Life of John Lamb," pp. 75, 76. "A certain Mr. Kelly, former resident of the city, (New York,) then in London, and canvassing some one of the Ministerial Boroughs for an election to Parliament, ridiculed the apprehensions of those who refused to insure the cargoes of tea from destruction, and declared that if animosities should rise as high as during the time of the Stamp Act, the tea might safely be shipped and securely landed. That then the Colony had an old man to deal with (Colden); but now they would have to contend with a vigorous military governor, (Tryon,) one who had shown his energy in putting down insurrectionary movements in North Carolina. The Committee of Vigilance took note of these offensive declarations, and on November 5, called a meeting at the Coffee House. The people assembled, denounced Kelly, and burnt his effigy, and after the representative was consumed, a gentleman observed that it was matter of regret that the principal could not be dealt with in the same summary and exemplary manner."

[41] Thomas Wharton was a wealthy and influential merchant of Philadelphia, and of the sect called Quakers. In the enterprise of Galloway and Goddard to establish the "Chronicle," a leading newspaper, he was their partner, and the parties supposed that Franklin, who was a correspondent of Wharton's, on his return from England, would join them. In 1777, he was apprehended, and sent prisoner to Virginia, and at a later period was proscribed as an enemy to his country, and lost his estate, under the Confiscation Acts of Pennsylvania. His son, Thomas Wharton, Jr., was a distinguished Whig, and President of Pennsylvania. In the early part of the Revolution, and indeed until the time when blood was shed, father and son acted together, and were members of the same deliberative assemblies and committees.

[42] 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 Parliament 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 arrival, paying the customary duty, than if it had been shipped by the East India Company, who were the original importers? What consistency is there in making a clamour about this small branch of the revenue, whilst we silently pass over the articles of sugar, molasses and rum, from which more than three-fourths of the American revenue 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 annually 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."

[43] Nathaniel Hatch, of Dorchester, graduated at Harvard University, in 1742, and subsequently held the office of Clerk of the Courts. He accompanied the British troops to Halifax, in 1776; was proscribed and banished in 1778, and in 1779 was included in the Conspiracy Act, by which his estate was confiscated. He died in 1780.

[44] The proposition to burn the tea is referred to by Wyeth. See ante p. LXXI.

[45] This letter, with all its extravagance and exaggeration, undoubtedly expresses the popular feeling, the public sentiment of the time. It is easy to see from its style, as well as from the sentiments it contains, that it could have emanated from none of the popular leaders. These, however strongly they felt in relation to ministerial aggression, were, though direct and forcible in their utterances, invariably discreet and temperate in their tone and language.

[46] Benjamin Faneuil, Jr., was the son of Benjamin, a merchant of Boston, (born, 1701; died, 1785. [Symbol: dagger]) 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 Chatham and State Streets. With the other tea consignees, Faneuil fled to the Castle, 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 Davenport. 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 shall be allowed L150 a year. This is a fine affair, and we can by no means live upon it, but there are such a confounded parcel of us to be provided for, that I am told no more will be allowed....

When we shall be able to return to Boston I cannot say, but hope and believe it will not exceed one year, for sooner or later America will be conquered, that you may depend on."

[47] Henry White was an eminent and wealthy merchant of New York, a member 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.

[48] See p. xxxv., ante.

[49] Isaac Royal, of Medford, died in England, in October, 1781. He was a representative from Medford to the General Court, and for twenty-two years a member of the Council. In 1774, he was appointed a Councillor under the writ of mandamus, but was never sworn into office. Appointed a brigadier-general in 1761, and the first who bore that title here. He left the country April 16, 1775; was proscribed in 1778, and his estate was confiscated. He bequeathed upwards of two thousand acres of land in Worcester County, Mass., to found the first law professorship of Harvard University, and his bequests for other purposes were numerous and liberal.

[50] William Brattle, F.R.S., lawyer, preacher, physician, soldier and legislator, son of Rev. William, minister, of Cambridge, died in Halifax, N.S., in October, 1776; aged seventy-four. He was graduated at Harvard University, in 1722; was distinguished both for his talents and eccentricities; was a representative from Cambridge, and many years a member of the Council; a member of the Stamp Act Congress in 1765; a major-general of militia, and was a member of every profession, and eminent in all. For many years he pleased both the Government and the people, but finally forfeited the good will of the Whigs, and accompanied the British soldiers to Halifax on the evacuation of Boston, and died there a few months after his arrival.

[51] Samuel Danforth, son of Rev. John, of Dorchester, died in Boston, at the house of his son, Dr. Samuel Danforth, 27th October, 1777; aged about eighty-one. He was graduated at Harvard University, in 1715; taught school; was a Selectman in 1733-39; representative 1734-38; member of the Council 1739-1774, and several years its president; Register of Probate, 1731-45; Judge of Probate, 1745-75; and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, 1741-75. At the Revolution he passed out of office, but was so quiet in his deportment that, though understood to be a loyalist, he was not disturbed in the possession of his property. He was distinguished for his love of the natural sciences.

[52] Thomas and Elisha Hutchinson, sons of Governor Hutchinson, were merchants and partners in business, and consignees of one-third of the tea shipped to Boston. I have seen no evidence of a pecuniary interest in this shipment on the part of the Governor, as is asserted by the historian Bancroft. Their names were given to the East India Company by a London correspondent, who solicits the consignment for them, without mentioning their connection with the Governor. Thomas, jr., born in Boston, in 1740, was a mandamus Councillor and Judge of Probate, and was proscribed and banished. When the condition of the country became unpleasantly hostile, he left the mansion house at Milton, and took shelter in Boston, but left all the furniture, silver plate, &c., expecting to be able to pass and repass at pleasure. When Boston was evacuated, he and his family, and Peter Oliver and family, embarked for London, in the "Lord Hyde" packet. He settled at Heavitree, near Exeter, in Devonshire, and died there in 1811. His wife was Sarah Oliver.

Elisha, his brother, born in 1745, graduated at Harvard University, in 1762; was proscribed and banished, and died at Blurton Parsonage, Trentham, Staffordshire, England, in November, 1824. His wife, Mary, daughter of Col. George Watson, of Plymouth, Mass., died at Birmingham, England, in 1803. "Neither of my sons," wrote the Governor, in March, 1774, "have dared to appear in Boston since the latter part of November, to the total neglect and ruin of their business."

[53] Stephen Greenleaf, sheriff of Suffolk County, was arrested by the Council of Massachusetts as a loyalist, in April, 1776. He died in Boston, in 1795; aged ninety-one.

[54] John Singleton Copley, a famous painter, son-in-law of Richard Clarke, and father of Lord Lyndhurst, was born in Boston, July 3, 1737, and died in London, September 9, 1813. He was a self-taught artist, and after painting many portraits in Boston, settled in London in 1775, and acquired a high reputation.

[55] 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 in 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.

[56] 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 University of Leyden, and was the pupil of the celebrated Boerhaave. He settled in practice in his native Province; became a member of the Council in 1751, and in 1763 was Speaker of the Assembly. Faithful to the Crown, he accompanied the British troops to England, on their departure in 1782, and died in London, July 4, 1791; aged eighty-one.

[57] John Morris, Comptroller of Customs at Charleston, S.C., was permitted, in November, 1775, on account of his impaired health, "to pass and repass to his Island," during the pleasure of the Provincial Congress, on condition of parole, to keep away from the King's ships. He went to England, and died there in 1778.

[58] Sampson Salter Blowers, a distinguished lawyer and jurist, a native of Boston, and a graduate of Harvard College, (1763,) was, in 1778, proscribed and banished as a loyalist. In 1770, he was associated with John Adams and Josiah Quincy in behalf of the British soldiers who were on trial for their agency in the Boston Massacre. He settled in Halifax, N.S.; became successively Attorney-General and Speaker of the House; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and a member of the Council, retiring from public life in 1833. Judge Blowers was born March 22, 1742, and died in Halifax, N.S., October 25, 1842, being over one hundred years of age. The fact that he never wore an overcoat in his life, told us on good authority, does not satisfactorily account for his great longevity.

[59] Captain Bruce was a loyalist of Boston, and as such was proscribed and banished. A loyalist of the same name was living at Shelburne, N.S., about the year 1805.—Sabine.

[60] Captain Hezekiah Coffin, of Nantucket, married Abigail Colman, and died in 1779. It is said that he saved from the destruction of his cargo, tea enough to enable him to purchase a set of silver spoons.

Transcriber's Note:

This text is a compilation of letters written by individuals with varying degrees of literacy. Spelling and punctuation have been preserved.

THE END