brought to by a shot from the castle,
that it might be said that the people had done everything in their power
to send the tea back. "Catching at this straw, with the instinct of a
drowning man," Hutchinson offered Rotch a letter to Admiral Montagu,
commending ship and goods to his protection, if Rotch would agree to
have his ship haul out into the stream, but he replied that none were
willing to assist him in doing this, and that the attempt would subject
him to the ill will of the people. Hutchinson then sternly repeated his
refusal of a pass,[18] as it would have been "a direct countenancing and
encouraging the violation of the acts of trade." Thus closed the last
opportunity for concession.

[Illustration: Signature, John Rowe

"Who knows how tea will mingle with salt water?"--JOHN ROWE. _Old South
Church, Boston, Dec. 16, 1773._]

It is only fair to say that the performance of what he honestly believed
to be his duty was as vital a consideration with Thomas Hutchinson, the
royal governor, as opposition to measures which he believed to be
hostile to the liberties of his country was to Samuel Adams, the popular
leader. We can at this day well afford to mete out this tardy justice to
a man whose motives and conduct have been so bitterly and unscrupulously
vilified and maligned as have been those of Thomas Hutchinson.

[Illustration: Signature, John Rowe]

When Rotch returned and told the result of his application, it was
nearly six o'clock. Darkness had set in, and the Old South, dimly
lighted with candles, was still filled with an anxious and impatient
multitude. "Who knows," said John Rowe,[19] "how tea will mingle with
salt water?" The people hurrahed vehemently, and the cry arose, "A mob!
a mob!" A call to order restored quiet. Dr. Young then addressed the
meeting, saying that Rotch was a good man, who had done all in his power
to gratify the people, and charged them to do no hurt to his person or
property.

To the final question then put to him, whether he would send his vessel
back with the tea in her, under the present circumstances, he replied,
that he could not, as he "apprehended that a compliance would prove his
ruin." He also admitted that if called upon by the proper persons, he
should attempt to land the tea for his own security.

Adams then arose and uttered the fateful words, "This meeting can do
nothing more to save the country." This was doubtless the preconcerted
signal for action, and it wa