the plague, nobody would doubt what was necessary to be done with
her;' but the present case is much worse than that." Theophilus Lillie,
who was selling tea contrary to the agreement, found, one morning, a
post planted before his door, upon which was a carved head, with the
names of some tea importers on it, and underneath, a hand pointing
towards his shop. One of his neighbors, an informer, named Richardson,
asked a countryman to break the post down with his cart. A crowd
gathered, and boys threw stones and chased Richardson to his house. He
fired into them with a shotgun, and killed a German lad of eleven years,
named Snider. At his funeral, five hundred children walked in front of
the bier; six of his school-fellows held the pall, and a large
procession moved from liberty tree to the town-house, and thence to the
burying-place. This exciting affair, preceded by a few days only, the
memorable "Boston massacre" of March 5, 1770.

* * * * *

The application of the East India Company to the British government for
relief from pecuniary embarrassment, occasioned by the great falling off
in its American tea trade, afforded the ministry just the opportunity it
desired to fasten taxation upon the American colonies. The company asked
permission to export tea to British America, free of duty, offering to
allow government to retain sixpence per pound, as an exportation tariff,
if they would take off the three per cent. duty, in America. This gave
an opportunity for conciliating the colonies in an honorable way, and
also to procure double the amount of revenue. But no! under the existing
coercive policy, this request was of course inadmissible. At this time
the company had in its warehouses upwards of seventeen millions of
pounds, in addition to which the importations of the current year were
expected to be larger than usual. To such a strait was it reduced, that
it could neither pay its dividends nor its debts.

By an act of parliament, passed on May 10, 1773, "with little debate and
no opposition," the company, on exportation of its teas to America, was
allowed a drawback of the full amount of English duties, binding itself
only to pay the threepence duty, on its being landed in the English
colonies.

In accordance with this act, the lords-commissioners of the treasury
gave the company a license (August 20, 1773,) for the exportation of six
hundred thousand pounds, which were to be sent to Bos