from the holds, knocked them open and emptied the tea into the water.
Under the moon the great crowd watched in silence, there was no
interference from the troops or the war-ships, and in three hours the
last of the tea was overboard. Nothing remained except what had sifted
into the shoes of some of the "Indians," to be preserved as mementoes of
the day.

"They say," wrote John Andrews dryly two days later, "that the actors
were _Indians_ from _Narragansett_. Whether they were or not, to a
transient observer they appear'd as _such_, being cloath'd in Blankets
with the heads muffled, and copper color'd countenances, being each
arm'd with a hatchet or axe, and pair pistols, nor was their _dialect_
different from what I conceive these geniusses to _speak_, as their
jargon was unintelligible to all but themselves. Not the least insult
was offer'd to any person, save one Captain Conner, a letter of horses
in this place, not many years since remov'd from _dear Ireland_, who had
ript up the lining of his coat and waistcoat under the arms, and
watching his opportunity had nearly fill'd 'em with tea, but being
detected, was handled pretty roughly. They not only stripp'd him of his
cloaths, but gave him a coat of mud, with a severe bruising into the
bargain; and nothing but their utter aversion to make _any_ disturbance
prevented his being tar'd and feather'd."

Such was the Boston Tea-Party, "the boldest stroke," said Hutchinson,
"that had yet been struck in America." Much has been written about it.
It has been minimized into a riot and magnified into a deed of glory. As
a matter of fact, it was neither the one nor the other, yet if either it
was nearer the latter. Carried out by Boston mechanics, but doubtless
directed by Boston leaders, it was a cool and deliberate law-breaking,
the penalty for which, could the offenders but have been discovered,
would have been severe. But none of the actors in the affair were
betrayed at the time, though hundreds in the town must have had positive
knowledge of their identity. Names, like those of the burners of the
_Gaspee_ eighteen months before, were not given out until after the
Revolution, and even to-day the list of them is not complete.

The project of the king and the East India Company was a failure. In one
way or other the other three seaports either destroyed or sent back
their tea. But Boston was the first and most violent offender. It was on
her that punishment was to descend