remen; one of the impressed men was rescued, but the
captain angrily refused to accept a substitute for another. Trouble was
brought to a head by the seizure, on the order of the commissioners of
customs, of John Hancock's sloop, the _Liberty_, on alleged violation of
regulations. Irritated by the seizure, and by the fact that the sloop
was moored by the side of the _Romney_, a crowd threatened the customs
house officers, broke the comptroller's windows, and, taking a boat
belonging to the collector, after parading with it through the streets,
burnt it on the Common.

This was the second disturbance in Boston which can be called a riot.
But it was of small size and short duration; the influence of the Whig
leaders, working through secret channels, quieted the mob, and there was
no further trouble. Nevertheless, four of the commissioners of the
customs seized the occasion to flee to the _Romney_, and to request of
the governor protection in the Castle, declaring that they dared not
return. But the remaining commissioner remained undisturbed on shore,
and a committee of the council, examining into the matter, found that
the affair had been only "a small disturbance." A committee from the
Boston town meeting, going in eleven chaises to Bernard at his country
seat, secured from him a promise to stop impressments, and a statement
of his desire for conciliation. Nevertheless Bernard, Hutchinson, and
the various officers of the customs, used the incident in their letters
home to urge that troops were needed in Boston.

This was but an interlude, though an instructive one, in the main course
of events. Massachusetts had protested against the new Acts. The next
issue arose when the Assembly was directed, by the new colonial
secretary, Lord Hillsborough, to rescind its Remonstrance and Circular
Letter. The debate on the question was long and important; the demand
was refused by a vote of seventeen to ninety-two. The curious can still
see, in the Old State House, the punch-bowl that Paul Revere was
commissioned to make for the "Immortal Ninety-two;" and there still
exist copies of Revere's caricature of the Rescinders, with Timothy
Ruggles at their head, being urged by devils into the mouth of hell.
These are indications of the feelings of the times. The immediate result
was that in June, 1768, Bernard dissolved the house, and Massachusetts
was "left without a legislature." Upon the news reaching England, it
was at last resolved