both of egress and of
ingress. At first as many as wished were allowed to go out, and the
chief difficulty was one of transportation. It is to be supposed that
for a while the admiral kept to his agreement to lend boats to the
refugees. There was a very considerable exodus. "Near half the
inhabitants," wrote Andrews on May 6, "have left the town already, and
another quarter, _at least_, have been waiting for a week past." Andrews
probably exaggerated, yet hundreds of the better class went out, and
about five thousand of the poor. These latter were quartered among the
different towns at public expense.

But the outflow from Boston was speedily checked. On the 6th Andrews
was still in Boston, and making up his mind to stay on account of his
property, but still anxious to secure a pass for his wife, whose
personal fears--she was an aesthetic person, an amateur artist whose
landscapes Lord Percy had admired--were greater than her interest in her
husband's safety. She did safely get away, amid the miserable procession
that her husband describes. "You'll see parents that are lucky enough to
procure papers, with bundles in one hand and a string of children in
another, wandering out of the town (with _only_ a _sufferance_ of _one_
day's permission) not knowing where they'll go." Andrews' wife went out
in a sailing vessel, but whether by land or by water she was one of the
last to go.

This was because the Tories interfered in the general removal. It
alarmed them to see so many leave: these Whigs, and especially those of
good social position, were the best hostages for the safety of the town
from assault. So they made vigorous expression of their discontent, and
to them Gage yielded. They had already formed military organizations for
his support, and when they threatened to quit the town and seek refuge
in Canada or London, the threat was too much for him. Restrictions were
at once put upon the issuing of passes, and in a very short time the
conditions imposed were so severe that it was practically impossible for
people of the better class to leave the town. "There are but very few,"
wrote Abigail Adams, "who are permitted to come out in a day; they delay
giving passes, make them wait from hour to hour, and their counsels are
not two hours together alike. One day, they shall come out with their
effects; the next day, merchandise is not effects. One day, their
household furniture is to come out; the next, only wearing apparel; t