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Page 60
The governor replied that the ships must not leave the harbor, until the
custom-house duties upon the tea should be paid. Now, the payment of
these duties was the very thing, against which the people had set their
faces; because it was a tax, unjustly imposed upon America by the
English government. Therefore, in the dusk of the evening, as soon as
Governor Hutchinson's reply was received, an immense crowd hastened to
Griffin's Wharf, where the tea-ships lay. The place is now called
Liverpool Wharf.
"When the crowd reached the wharf," said Grandfather, "they saw that a
set of wild-looking figures were already on board of the ships. You
would have imagined that the Indian warriors, of old times, had come
back again; for they wore the Indian dress, and had their faces covered
with red and black paint, like the Indians, when they go to war. These
grim figures hoisted the tea chests on the decks of the vessels, broke
them open, and threw all the contents into the harbor."
"Grandfather," said little Alice, "I suppose Indians don't love tea;
else they would never waste it so."
"They were not real Indians, my child," answered Grandfather. "They were
white men, in disguise; because a heavy punishment would have been
inflicted on them, if the king's officers had found who they were. But
it was never known. From that day to this, though the matter has been
talked of by all the world, nobody can tell the names of those Indian
figures. Some people say that there were very famous men among them, who
afterwards became governors and generals. Whether this be true, I cannot
tell."
When tidings of this bold deed were carried to England, King George was
greatly enraged. Parliament immediately passed an act, by which all
vessels were forbidden to take in or discharge their cargoes at the port
of Boston. In this way, they expected to ruin all the merchants, and
starve the poor people, by depriving them of employment. At the same
time, another act was passed, taking away many rights and privileges
which had been granted in the charter of Massachusetts.
Governor Hutchinson, soon afterward, was summoned to England, in order
that he might give his advice about the management of American affairs.
General Gage, an officer of the Old French War, and since
commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, was appointed
governor in his stead. One of his first acts, was to make Salem, instead
of Boston, the metropolis of Massachusetts, by summoning the General
Court to meet there.
According to Grandfather's description, this was the most gloomy time
that Massachusetts had ever seen. The people groaned under as heavy a
tyranny as in the days of Sir Edmund Andros. Boston looked as if it were
afflicted with some dreadful pestilence,--so sad were the inhabitants,
and so desolate the streets. There was no cheerful hum of business. The
merchants shut up their warehouses, and the laboring men stood idle
about the wharves. But all America felt interested in the good town of
Boston; and contributions were raised, in many places, for the relief of
the poor inhabitants.
"Our dear old chair!" exclaimed Clara. "How dismal it must have been
now!"
"Oh," replied Grandfather, "a gay throng of officers had now come back
to the British Coffee House; so that the old chair had no lack of
mirthful company. Soon after General Gage became governor, a great many
troops had arrived, and were encamped upon the Common. Boston was now a
garrisoned and fortified town; for the general had built a battery
across the neck, on the road to Roxbury, and placed guards for its
defence. Every thing looked as if a civil war were close at hand."
"Did the people make ready to fight?" asked Charley.
"A continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia," said Grandfather,
"and proposed such measures as they thought most conducive to the
public good. A provincial Congress was likewise chosen in Massachusetts.
They exhorted the people to arm and discipline themselves. A great
number of minute men were enrolled. The Americans called them minute
men, because they engaged to be ready to fight at a minute's warning.
The English officers laughed, and said that the name was a very proper
one, because the minute men would run away the the minute they saw the
enemy. Whether they would fight or run, was soon to be proved."
Grandfather told the children, that the first open resistance offered to
the British troops, in the province of Massachusetts was at Salem.
Colonel Timothy Pickering, with thirty or forty militia men, prevented
the English colonel, Leslie, with four times as many regular soldiers,
from taking possession of some military stores. No blood was shed on
this occasion; but, soon afterward, it began to flow.
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