198 AUTHENTIC HISTORY 



In 1769 both houses of Parliament in an address to the King requested 

 him to order the Governor of Massachusetts to take notice of such as 

 might be guilty of treason that they might be sent to England and tried 

 there. 



The recommendations of meetings and associations to suspend the 

 importation of tea, [1778] ^ had been so strictly complied with that but 

 Httle had been brought into the country. The consequence was, that 

 vast quantities, seventeen millions of pounds, had accumulated on the 

 hands of the East India Company. For their relief Parliament now au- 

 thorized them to export this tea to any part of the world, free of duty. 

 Confident of now finding a market for their tea in America, the East 

 India Company freighted several ships with that article for the different 

 Colonies and appointed agents to dispose of it [1774.] The colonists 

 resolved to obstruct the sale of that tea and to refuse the payment of 

 even three 'pence by way of duty. 



" On the approach of the tea ships destined for Philadelphia, the pilots 

 in the river Delaware were warned not to conduct them into harbour ; 

 and their captains, apprized of the foregoing resolutions, deeming it 

 unsafe to land their cargoes, consented to return without making an entry 

 at the custom house; the owners of goods, ordered from England, on 

 board these vessels, cheerfully submitting to the inconvenience of having 

 their merchandise returned to Great Britain. The captains of vessels 

 addressed to New York wisely adopted the same resolution. The tea 

 sent to Charleston was landed and stored, but not offered for sale ; and 

 having been placed in damp cellars, became rotten, and was entirely lost. 

 The ships designed for Boston entered that port, and the energy of 

 Governor Hutchinson prevented their return ; but before the tea could 

 be landed, a number of colonists, pursuant to a concerted plan, dressed 

 as Indians, entered the vessels, and, without doing other damage, broke 

 open three hundred and forty-two chests of tea, and emptied their con- 

 tents into the water. Such was the union of sentiment among the people, 

 and so systematic their opposition, that not a single chest of the cargoes 

 sent out by the East India company was sold for its benefit." 



These proceedings were communicated by the King to Parliament on 

 March 7th, 1774, and measures were speedily adopted contemplating the 

 submission of the rebellious colonists. An act was passed called the 

 " Boston Port Bill," by which the port of Boston was closed and the 

 custom house transferred to Salem ; by another act the charter of Massa- 

 chusetts was subverted, the nomination of counsellors, magistrates and 

 other officers being vested in the crown during the royal pleasure ; by 

 a third act the Governor of that province was directed and authorized 

 to send persons indicted for murder or any other capital offence, to any 



1 Goodrich. Gordon. 



