POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 51 



shipping in Boston harbor were seen draped 

 in black and at half mast, and the news 

 spread that the port was closed 1 by order 

 of President Jefferson, the excitement was 

 intense. The second "Boston Port Bill," 

 as it was called, was a trivial affair, except 

 as showing the autocratic power of the ad- 

 ministration, but it gave the wily Federal- 

 ists a chance to make a telling retort on the 

 President by quoting his well-known letter, 

 written from Virginia in 1774, when the 

 news of the "Boston Port Bill" reached 

 him. Jefferson wrote, "If the pulse of the 

 people beat calmly under such an experi- 



DEPARTMENT, Jan. 27, 1809. 



"Sir: You will please to consider the instructions here- 

 tofore received by you from the Collector or his deputy 

 as inoperative until further orders, the letter from the 

 Deputy Collector to the contrary notwithstanding. And 

 as no vessel can be cleared out of the Port of Boston or 

 Charlestown before a Collector shall be appointed, you 

 will endeavor to prevent any vessel departing from that 

 harbor contrary to law. Your obt. servant, 



"H. DEARBORN. 



"Col. John P. Boyd." 



