The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III, Part 9

Author: Jewett, Clarence F; Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897
Publication date: 1880-1881
Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood
Number of Pages: 770

USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III > Part 9

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The committees of the towns were in session on the thirteenth. On the fourteenth, two days before the time would expire, a meeting at the Old South again summoned Rotch and enjoined upon him, at his peril, to apply for a clearance. He did so, accompanied by several witnesses. The col- lector refused to give his answer until the next day, and the meeting adjourned to Thursday, the sixteenth, the last day of the twenty before con- fiscation would be legal. For two days the Boston committee of corre- spondence had been holding consultations of the greatest importance.

" That little body of stout-hearted men were making history that should endure for ages. Their secret deliberations, could they be exhumed from the dust of time, would present a curious page in the annals of Boston ; but the seal of silence was upon the pen of the secretary, as well as upon the lips of the members." 2

On Wednesday Rotch was again escorted to the Custom House, where both the collector and the comptroller " unequivocally and finally " refused to grant the " Dartmouth " a clearance unless her teas were discharged.

Thursday, December 16, came at last, -dies irae, dies illa ! - and Boston calmly prepared to meet the issue. At ten o'clock the Old South was filled from an outside assemblage that included two thousand people from the sur- rounding country. Rotch appeared and reported that a clearance had been denied him. He was then directed as a last resort to protest at once against the decision of the Custom House, and apply to the Governor for a passport to go by the Castle. Hutchinson, evidently anticipating such an emergency, had found it convenient to be at his country-seat on Milton Hill,3 where it would require considerable time to reach him. Rotch was instructed to make all haste, and report to the meeting in the afternoon. At three o'clock the number of people in and around the Old South was estimated at seven thousand, -by far the largest gathering ever seen in Boston. Addresses

1 Bancroft, vi. 482. as Hutchinson's country-seat, is not Hutchin- 2 Wells's Life of Samuel Adams, ii. 119. son's house but another on Milton Hill. The 8 [The mansion which is delineated in Bryant true house was taken down not long since. - ED.]

and Gay's History of the United States, iii. 372,

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

were made by Samuel Adams, Young, Rowe, Quincy,1 and others. "Who knows," said Rowe, " how tea will mingle with salt water .? " a suggestion which was received with loud applause.2 When the question was finally put to the vast assembly it was unanimously resolved that the tea should not be landed. It was now getting darker and darker, and the meeting-house could only be dimly lighted with a few candles; yet the people all remained, know- ing that the great question must soon be decided. About six o'clock Rotch appeared and reported that he had waited on the Governor, but could not obtain a pass, as his vessel was not duly qualificd. No sooner had he con- cluded than Samuel Adams arose and said: "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country."3 Instantly a shout was heard at the porch ; the war-whoop resounded, and a band of forty or fifty men, disguised as Indians, rushed by the door and hurried down toward the harbor,4 followed by a throng of people; guards were carefully posted, according to previous arrangements, around Griffin's wharf to prevent the intrusion of spies. The " Mohawks," and some others accompanying them, sprang aboard the three tea-ships and emptied the contents of three hundred and forty-two chests of tea into the bay, "without the least injury to the vessels or any other prop- crty." No one interfered with them; no person was harmed; no tea was allowed to be carried away. There was no confusion, no noisy riot, no

1 [The speech which Josiah Quincy, Jr. de- the King, but that he could not give a pass un- livered at this meeting, Dec. 16, 1773, together less the vessel was properly qualified from the Custom House; that he should make no distinc- tion between this and any other vessel, provided she was properly cleared. with one of Otis in 1767, are the only reports at any length of all the speeches made in Boston pub- lie meetings from 1768 to 1775. Frothingham's Warren, p. 39. Quincy's Life of Josiah Quincy, Jr., 2d cd. p. 124. Mr. Quincy's speech is pre- served only in a letter which, after he had gone to England, he wrote to his wife from London, Dec. 14, 1774, and the words given by Gordon were copied from the manuscript still existing. It counselled moderation. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., Dec. 16, 1873, Mr. Waterston's address. - ED.]

2 Niles, Principles and Acts of the Revolution, pp. 485, 486.

privy council. [The moderator of this meeting was William Phillips Savage. His portrait is owned by Mr. G. H. Emery. The original min- utes, in the hand of William Cooper, of the meet- ings from Nov. 29, 1773, are preserved among the papers in the Charity Building. They show the names of the watch of twenty-five men, under Captain Proctor, who were to guard the ships that night ; and later each successive watch was empowered to appoint its successors for the fol- lowing night. The final report of Mr. Rotch is entered in the minutes for December 16, as follows : -

"Mr. Rotch attended and informed that he had demanded a pass for his vessel of the Gov- ernor, who answered that he was willing to grant anything consistent with the laws and his duty to

" Mr. Rotch was then asked whether he would send his vessel back with the tea under her pres- ent circumstances ; he answered that he could not possibly comply, as he apprehended it would be to his risk. He was further asked whether he would land the tea ; he answered he had no busi- ness with it unless he was properly called upon to do it, when he should attempt a compliance for his own security.

" Voted, that this meeting be dissolved ; and

8 Francis Rotch's information before the it was accordingly dissolved."

Here the minutes end, the remaining leaves of the book being blank. - ED.]

4 [The conclave which had decided upon this movement had been held in the back office of Edes & Gill's printing house, on the site of the present Daily Advertiser building. A room over the office was often the meeting place of the Pa- triots, and the frequenters got to be known as the Long-Room Club. Drake, Landmarks, p. 81. There is some reason to believe that this was the office of Josiah Quincy, Jr. A letter about the punch-bowl used by the Patriots be- fore going to the wharf is given in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., December, 1871. Lossing, Field-Book of the Revolution, i. 499, gives the portrait of David Kinnison, the last survivor of the "Mo- hawks."- ED.]

VOL .. 111 .- 7.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

infuriated mob. The multitude stood by and looked on in solemn silence while the weird-looking figures,1 made distinctly visible in the moonlight, removed the hatches, tore open the chests, and threw the entire cargo overboard. This strange spectacle lasted about three hours, and then the people all went home and the town was as quict as if nothing had happened. The next day fragments of the tea were seen strewn along the Dorchester shore, carried thither by the wind and tide.2 A formal declaration of the transaction was drawn up by the Boston committee ; and Paul Revere was sent with despatches to New York and Philadelphia, where the news was received with the greatest demonstrations of joy.3 In Boston the feeling was that of intense satisfaction proceeding from the con- sciousness of having exhausted every possible measure of legal redress before undertaking this bold and novel mode of asserting the rights of the people.4 " We do console ourselves," said John Scollay, one of the select- men, and an actor in the scene, "that we have acted constitutionally." 5 "This is the most magnificent movement of all," said John Adams.6 "There

I The names of the actors in this scene, as well as of those who planned it, were not di- vulged till after the Revolutionary War. It is supposed that about one hundred and forty per- sons were engaged in it. [The " Dartmouth's " journal says one thousand people came on the wharf. The party actually boarding the ships has been estimated from seventeen to thirty, the former number being all that have been identi- fied. See Frothingham in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., Dec. 16, 1873, who thinks that the list given in Hewes's book is not accurate as respects those who boarded the ships. "Several of the party have been identified, but the claims presented for others are doubtful." John Adams refused to have the names giver him. (Works, ii. 334.) Captain Henry Purkitt, who is called the last survivor of the party, died March 3, 1846, aged ninety-one. As to Hewes, sce also Loring's Hun- dred Boston Orators, P. 554. - ED.]

2 Barry, ii. 473. [A small quantity of it is preserved in a phial in the Mass. Hist. Society's cabinet. Thomas Newell records in his diary, Jan. 1, 1774: " Last evening a number of per- sons went over to Dorchester and brought from thence part of a chest of tea, and burnt it in our Common the same evening." A fourth vessel of the tea-fleet was wrecked on the back side of Cape Cod. The Boston committee immediately sent a message in that direction. " The people of the Cape will we hope behave with propriety, and as becomes men re- solved to serve their country." We next hear of this tea in a letter from Samuel Adams to James Warren, Jan. 10. 1774. "The tea which was cast on shore at the

Cape has been brought up, and after much con- sultation landed at Castle William, the safe asy- lum for our inveterate enemies. . . . It is said that the Indians this way, if they had suspected the Marshpee tribe would have been so sick at the knee, would have marched on snow-shoes to have done the business for them." It seems that Clarke, one of the consignees, had despatched a lighter and brought the chests off. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., Dec 16, 1873. Vessels subse- quently arriving were examined ; and in March, 1774, twenty-eight and a half chests were simi- larly disposed of by similar "Indians."- ED.]

3 [Revere returned from this mission Decem- ber 27; and bringing word that Governor Tryon had engaged to send the New York tea-ships back, all the Boston bells were rung the next morning. Thomas Newell's Diary .- ED.]

4 " Fast spread the tempest's darkening pall ; The mighty realms were troubled ; The storm broke loose, but first of all The Boston teapot bubbled.

"The lurid morning shall reveal A fire no king can smother, When British flint and Boston steel, Have clashed against each other !" O. W. HOLMES.

6 Letter to Arthur Lee, Dec. 23, 1773.

6 Diary, Dec. 17, 1773. [Two pages of this diary, of which the accompanying fac-simile is a

1773 Dev. 17the last Night 3 Gargous of Bihea The where empted into the Sea. This Korn ing a Man of war Sails. -

This is the most magnificent Movement of al.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the Patriots that I greatly admire." 1

The blow was now struck; the deed was done; and there was no re- treat. The enemies of liberty talked of treason, arrests, and executions ; but the Patriots almost everywhere rejoiced, and pledged themselves to support the common cause. Independence was now openly advocated ; a congress was called for; and "Union" was the cry from New Eng- land to Carolina.2

When the news of the destruction of the tea reached England it pro- . duced a profound sensation, both in Government circles and among the people. Coercion was at once resolved upon as the only means of check-

fragment, are given in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., Dec. 16, 1873. - ED.|

1 Charles Waterton, the enterprising travel- ler and naturalist, of Walton Hall, Wakefield, Yorkshire, makes a humorous reference to the Tea-Party, in his autobiography, written between 1812 and 1824: " It is but some forty years ago our western brother had a dispute with his nurse about a cup of tea. She wanted to force the boy to drink it according to her own receipt. He said he did not like it, and that it absolutely made him ill. After a good deal of sparring, she took up the birch rod and began to whip him with uncommon severity. Ile turned upon her in self-defence, showed her to the outside of the nursery door, and never more allowed her to meddle with his affairs."

2 [ Among the contemporary sources for the understanding of these transactions may be named the following : G. R. T. Hewes, who was one of the participants, with the aid of B. B. Thacher, prepared Traits of the Tea-Party, N. Y. 1835 (see also Retrospect of the Boston Tea-Party with a Memoir of Hewes, by a citizen of New York, N. V. 1834. Brinley Catalogue, Nos. 1681 and 1682) ; and in this book the names of fifty-eight actors in the scene are given. The names in- scribed on the monument of Captain Peter Slater (who was one of the party) in Hope Cemetery, New Worcester, are sixty-three in number. Both lists include Moses Grant, Wil- liam Mulineaux, Paul Revere, G. T. R. Hewes, Thomas Melville, Samuel Sprague, Jonathan Hunnewell, John Prince, John Russell. (Massu- chusetts Spy, Dec. 16, 1873.) Sprague was the father of Charles Sprague; Russell was the father of Benjamin Russell. Hewes lived at the Bull's llead, an old house on the northeast corner of Water and Congress streets. He died Nov. 5, 1840, at ninety-eight. There are let- ters from Boston in 4 Mass. Ilist. Coll: iv. 373; as also the examination of Dr. Williamson be- fore the King's council, Feb. 19, 1774. A paper, " Information of Hugh Williamson" is in the Sparks MSS. Admiral Montagu, writing Dec. 17, 1773, to the Lords of the Adiniralty, says he

was never called upon for assistance, and he could easily have prevented the execution of the plan ; and the Evening Post, May 16, 1774, ven- tured from the admiral's admission to draw the conclusion that Hutchinson and his party con- nived at the business. The first accounts received in England are given in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1774, p. 26. An account is in the Boston Gazette, Dec. 20, 1773, or Buckingham's Reminiscences, i. 169; a contemporary record in Andrews's let- ters in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1865, 1. 325; Thomas Newell's Diary in Mass. Hist Soc. Proc., October, 1877; contemporary verses in Mag. of Amer History, March, ISSo; Hutchinson's narrative is in his Massachusetts Bay, iii. 430. Ilutchinson's papers in the State House throw much light on these disturbed times, and some of his letters are copied by Frothingham in his paper in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., December, 1873. His interview with the king, July 1, 1774, after his return to England, as reported in his journal, and covering these transactions, has only of late years been made public. Mass. Ilist. Soc. Proc., October, 1877, p. 326. Other contemporary documents will be found in Force's American Archives, i .; Niles's Principles and Acts of the Revolution ; Franklin's Works, viii. ; John Adams's Works, ii. 323, 334, and ix. 333. An appeal of " Scævola " to the commissioners appointed for the sale of tea in America was printed as a broadside, and a copy is in the Sparks MSS. xlix. vol. ii. p. 115. Of the eclectic later accounts the fullest is in Froth- ingham's Life of Warren, ch. ix. ; and in his paper in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., Dec. 16, 1873, where will be found the contributions of others to that com- memorative occasion. See also Bancroft, vi. ch. l .; Barry, Massachusetts, ii. ch. xiv. and xv. ; Wells's Sam. Adams, ii .; Tudor's Otis, ch. xxi .; Snow's Boston ; Niles's Register, 1827, p. 75; Lossing's Field-Book ; and Harper's Monthly, iv. Also James Kimball in Essex Institute Proceedings. The English writers are May's Constitutional History of England, ii. 521 ; Massey's England. ii. ch. xviii .; Fitzmaurice's Shelburne, ii .; Mac- knight's Burke, ii ch. xx .; and the usual general historians. - ED.|

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

ing the unruly and defiant spirit which had become dominant in Boston. On March 7 the King, in addressing Parliament, accused the Americans of attempting to injure British commerce and to subvert its constitution. The message was accompanied with a mass of papers and letters.1 Lord North demanded additional powers in order to re-establish peace. The question at issue, it was said, was whether the colonies were or were not the colonics of Great Britain. If they were, they should be held firmly; if they were not, they should be released. Upon this question there was, just at this time, great unanimity in England. The authority of the Crown, it was urged, must be maintained at all hazards. Any act in violation of that must be punished. Even the party in opposition yielded much upon this point. Thus the ministry were fully prepared to introduce the most pronounced penal measures; and on the eighteenth, Lord North, disre- garding constitutional forms, which forbid that any should be condemned unheard, brought in the famous Boston Port Bill, - a measure for suspend- ing the trade and closing the harbor of Boston during the king's pleasure, and enforcing the act by the joint operations of an army and a fleet.2 The bill was stoutly opposed by Burke, Barré, Dowdeswell, Pownall, and others; but in two weeks it passed through the various stages and was carried without a division in the Commons, and unanimously in the Lords, and became a law March 31 by the royal assent. This act was to go into effect on the first day of June. It took away from Boston the privilege of land- ing and discharging, as well as of loading and shipping, all goods, wares, and merchandise.3 It constituted Marblehead a port of entry, and Salem the seat of government. As if this were not enough, Lord North now brought in within a month a series of measures, compared with which all that had gone before was mild and legitimate. The ministry seemed de- termined to wreak their vengeance upon the devoted head of Massachu- setts; and nothing was too arbitrary, radical, or revolutionary for them to recommend. 'Up to this point there might have been a way of reconcili- ation. The crucl and exasperating Port Bill would probably have been withdrawn upon certain easy and perhaps reasonable conditions. The tea- tax and its preamble, which gave such offence to the colonists, might have been repealed; indeed an attempt to do so was made on April 19, when Edmund Burke made his ever memorable speech.4 But when the penal

I These letters were from Hutchinson and other royal governors, and from Admiral Mon- tagu and the consignees of the tea, accom- panied by a large number of pamphlets, mani- festoes, handbills, etc., issued in the colonies. [The king and council had already, Feb. 7, 1774, considered the petition of the House of Representatives for the removal of Hutchinson and Oliver, and had dismissed the charges " as groundless, vexatious, and scandalous, and cal- culated only for the seditious purpose of keep- ing up a spirit of clamour and discontent." The official copy sent to Arthur Lee, No. 3 Garden

Court, Temple, is in the Lee Papers, University of Virginia. - ED.]

2 "The offence of the Americans," it was said in the course of the debate, "is flagitious. The town of Boston ought to be knocked about their ears and destroyed. Delenda est Carthago. You will never meet with proper obedience to the laws of this country until you have de- stroyed that nest of locusts." - Mass. Gazette, May 19, 1774.

8 [See Sargent's Dealings with the Dead, i. 153 .- ED.]

4 Works, Boston, 1865, vol. ii. p. I.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

measures, commonly known as the Regulation or Reconstructive Acts, were passed, a fatal blow was struck at the American system of local self- government, and the conflict was beyond recall.

These acts, which passed in rapid succession during the month of April, were for the purpose of "regulating the government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay."1 The speech of Lord George Germain, on the intro- duction of the bill, shows how sadly ignorance concerning America, and contempt for her institutions, had pervaded England at this time. Speak- ing of North's plan to punish the people of Massachusetts, he said : -

"Nor can I think he will do a better thing than to put an end to their town- meetings. I would not have men of a mercantile cast every day collecting them- selves together and debating about political matters. I would have them follow their occupations as merchants, and not consider themselves as ministers of that country. . . . I would wish to see the Council in that country similar to the House of Lords in this. ... The whole are the proceedings of a tumultuous and riotous rabble, who ought, if they had the least prudence, to follow their mercantile employments, and not trouble themselves with politics and government which they do not understand."

When he had finished this remarkable speech, Lord North arose and said : " I thank the noble lord for every proposition he has held out. They are worthy of a great mind, and such as ought to be adopted." 2

For the purpose of strengthening the executive authority, these Regula- tion Acts, without giving any hearing to the Province, provided, -

I. In total violation of the charter, that the councillors who had been chosen hitherto by the Legislature should be appointed by the king, and hold at his pleasure. The superior judges were to hold at the will of the king, and be dependent upon him for their salaries; and the inferior judges were to be removable at the discretion of the royal governor. The sheriffs were to be appointed and removed by the executive; and the juries were to be selected by the dependent sheriffs. Town-meetings were to be abolished, except for the election of officers, or by the special permission of the Governor. This bill passed by a vote of more than three to one.

2. Magistrates, revenue officers, and soldiers, charged with capital of- fences, could be tried in England or Nova Scotia. This bill passed by a vote of more than four to one.

3. A military act provided for the quartering of troops upon the towns.3

These oppressive edicts, said the Massachusetts committee in their cir- cular, were only what might have been expected from a Parliament claim- ing 4 the right to make laws binding the colonies " in all cases whatsoever."

can Archives, i. - En.]

Also Boston newspapers of May 19 and 23, 1774.

3 Boston Post-Boy, June 6 and 13, 1774. Gor-

1 [The debates are given in 4 Force's Ameri- don, American Revolution, i. 232-235. Mahon, History of England, vi. 5, 6. Bancroft, vi. 525. 2 Parliamentary History, xvii. pp. 1192-1195. 526. Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, pp. 345- 347. Dana, Oration at Lexington, April 19, 187 5. 4 In the declaratory act. See carlier in this chapter.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

The news of the Port Act created, as may well be supposed, the greatest indignation in the colonies; but Boston stood firm, and the other seaports refused to profit by her patriotic sufferings.

In May Hutchinson was recalled, to the great relicf of the people of the province; and Thomas Gage, Commander-in-chief of the continent, was appointed also Governor of Massachusetts. In all the political agitations in the colonies thus far, Gage had behaved so discreetly as an officer that he enjoyed a considerable share of public confidence. After a lengthy in- terview with his predecessor at Castle William, he landed at Long Wharf, on May 17, saluted by the ships and batteries, and received by the civil officers of the province. The cadets, under Colonel Hancock, performed escort duty, and the council presented a loyal address at the State House.1 A public dinner followed at Faneuil Hall.2 Undoubtedly this welcome given to Gage was owing, in part, to the delight of the people at the re- tirement of Hutchinson.3 But it soon appeared that the new Governor, with many excellent traits, was not the man to reconcile or to subdue, if indeed any such man could have been found in the whole British service at this critical moment. It devolved upon Gage to close the port of Bos- ton and to enforce the measures of the odious Regulation Acts. The blockade of the harbor began on the first day of June, after which all inter- course by water, even among the nearest islands or from pier to pier, was rigidly forbidden. Not a ferry could ply to Charlestown, nor a scow to Dorchester. Warehouses were at once useless, wharves deserted, and or- dinary business prostrated. All classes felt the scourge of the oppressor ; yet there was no regret at the position which the town had deliberately taken in defence of its constitutional rights. These were dearer to the in- habitants than property or peace or even life itself, as was shortly to be proved. Expressions of sympathy poured in from all quarters. Supplies of food and money were generously sent from the other colonies as well as from the neighboring towns.4 Salem and Marblehead scorned to profit

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The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III, Part 9

Author: Jewett, Clarence F; Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897 Publication date: 1880-1881 Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood Number of Pages: 770

Author: Jewett, Clarence F; Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897
Publication date: 1880-1881
Publisher: Boston : J.R. Osgood
Number of Pages: 770