ollowed.

"You will perceive by the resolution formed and entered into on the
18^th, into what a situation the agents were driven, there being no
possibility of persuading the people to wait till we knew the real state
of facts. The meeting at the State House consisted, (it is said) of 6 or
700, and be assured, they were as respectable a body of inhabitants as
has been together on any occasion; many of the _first_ rank. The whole
of their proceedings were conducted with the greatest decency and
firmness, and without one dissenting voice. After the resolution had
passed, they appointed a Com^tee of 12 persons, who, on the 18^th inst.,
about 12 o'clock, called on James and Drinker, and then came down to my
house, where they conducted themselves with great decency, read the
resolution, and informed me they were appointed by their fellow citizens
to demand of Tho^s. & Isaac Wharton, whether we would execute the trust
_if_ the duty was to be paid here? We told them it involved us in a
difficulty which we could not solve, _because we had not received the
least intimation from the Directors_, and therefore it was impossible to
know the exact state the tea was to be shipped in, but that we would, on
being acquainted with the situation under which it came, openly
communicate the same, and that we would do nothing to injure the
property of the India Com^y or enslave America. This answer they
received with great satisfaction, and in the evening they reported to a
unanimous body of citizens the answers they had received, who gave
Tho^s. and Isaac Wharton very evident marks of their approbation for the
candid answer they gave.

"Should the tea be sent subject to the payment of the duty, I am
satisfied it will not be suffered to be landed, and that it must return
to London, (unless the India Directors have in such case directed the
captain where to proceed with it,) which intimation may be in time to
secure the property by insurance should they incline."

* * * * *

Copies of the above advices were, by order of the Com^tee of Warehouses,
sent to Lord Dartmouth in the manner directed by their minute of the
----

_BOSTON._

LETTER FROM MR. JONATHAN CLARKE TO EDWARD WHELER, ESQ^R.

Boston, New England, 17^th Nov^r., 1773.

Sir:

After a long detention in the English channel, and a pretty long
passage, I arrived here this morning from England, and there being a