me from
other colonies, and the action of Massachusetts was awaited with
breathless interest. Many town-meetings were held in Boston, and the
owner of the ships was ordered to take them away without unloading; but
the collector contrived to fritter away the time until the nineteenth
day, and then refused a clearance. On the next day, the 16th of
December, 1773, seven thousand people were assembled in town-meeting in
and around the Old South Meeting-House, while the owner of the ships was
sent out to the governor's house at Milton to ask for a pass. It was
nightfall when he returned without it, and there was then but one thing
to be done. By sunrise next morning the revenue officers would board the
ships and unload their cargoes, the consignees would go to the
custom-house and pay the duty, and the king's scheme would have been
crowned with success. The only way to prevent this was to rip open the
tea-chests and spill their contents into the sea, and this was done,
according to a preconcerted plan and without the slightest uproar or
disorder, by a small party of men disguised as Indians. Among them were
some of the best of the townsfolk, and the chief manager of the
proceedings was Samuel Adams. The destruction of the tea has often been
spoken of, especially by British historians, as a "riot," but nothing
could have been less like a riot. It was really the deliberate action of
the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the only fitting reply to the
king's insulting trick. It was hailed with delight throughout the
thirteen colonies, and there is nothing in our whole history of which
an educated American should feel more proud.

[Sidenote: The Retaliatory Acts, April, 1774.]

The effect upon the king and his friends was maddening, and events were
quickly brought to a crisis. In spite of earnest opposition retaliatory
acts were passed through Parliament in April, 1774. One of these was the
Port Bill, for shutting up the port of Boston and stopping its trade
until the people should be starved and frightened into paying for the
tea that had been thrown overboard. Another was the Regulating Act, by
which the charter of Massachusetts was annulled, its free government
swept away, and a military governor appointed with despotic power like
Andros. These acts were to go into operation on the 1st of June, and on
that day Governor Hutchinson sailed for England, in the vain hope of
persuading the king to adopt a milder policy. It was