192 THE DEEPER SIGNIFICANCE 
There were just twenty days in which to try all 
legal measures for sending away the ships without 
landing the tea, but legal measures failed because one 
side was as stubborn as the other. After the ships 
had once come above the Castle, they could not go out 
again without the regular clearance from the collector 
of the port, or else a special pass from the governor. 
But the collector manceuvred and wore away the time 
without granting a clearance. For nineteen days and 
nights the people’s guard patrolled the wharves, senti- 
nels watched from the church belfries, the tar barrels 
on Beacon Hill were kept ready for lighting, and 
any attempt at landing the tea forcibly would have 
been met by an instant uprising of the neighbouring 
counties. So things went till Thursday, December 16, 
the last of the twenty days. The morning was a 
drizzling rain, but in the afternoon it cleared off bright 
and crisp and frosty, while all day in the Old South 
Church a town-meeting was busy with momentous 
issues. After midnight nothing but a personal assault 
could prevent the collector from seizing the tea and 
bringing it ashore, and nothing but personal violence 
could prevent one or both the young Hutchinsons 
from paying the duty. There was but one peaceful 
avenue of escape from the situation. The governor 
could grant a pass which would enable the ships to go 
out without a clearance. Would he do so? Samuel 
Adams knew him too well to expect it. Francis . 
Rotch, the owner of the principal ship, was sent out to 
the governor’s country house on Milton Hill, to ask 
for a pass. While his return was awaited a gentleman 
highly esteemed, already wasted with the disease that 
was soon to end his days, addressed the assembly. 
