Daughters of the Revolution and Their Times Part 28

What should she say to him? How inform him that all the pageantry of King George's court, all the wealth inherited from his ancestors, was of little account in her esteem when set against eternal verities, and one of those verities was fidelity to the conviction that she must be true to herself.

"My lord," she said, "you may think me unappreciative; you may regard me as strange, but I must be true to myself. I cannot do violence to my better nature. I cannot barter my convictions. I could honor and respect you, but something more would be your due; that I could not give you. I could not make you happy, and I should forever despise myself."

It was spoken clearly, distinctly, but with a tremor of voice and a flush upon her cheek that heightened her beauty. Lord Upperton sat in silence, pondering her words. It was dawning upon him that a girl of the Colonies had rejected his suit. He had come to her with his castle, his ancestry, his t.i.tle, his position as a peer of the realm, but she had put them all aside. Not with them could he win his suit.

Instead of accepting what he had to give, she stood calm, serene, beautiful, radiant, and pure, upon a height so far above him that he never could stand by her side. The silence was embarra.s.sing.

"Miss Newville," he said, rising and standing before her, "your answer is painful to me. I had antic.i.p.ated the winning of your hand and heart. It had not occurred to me that I should fail. I appreciate what you have said. A loftier ideal of the n.o.bleness of true womanhood has come to me. My honor, respect, and love for you are deeper than ever, but I see that what I desired cannot be. I bid you farewell."

She courtesied to his bow, and extended her hand. He touched it to his lips, and pa.s.sed from the room.

Her head was pressing her pillow once more. The bell struck the midnight hour. Once more she heard the watchman's voice.

"Twelve o'clock, and all is well."

"Yes, all is well," she said,--and her sleep for the night was calm and peaceful.

XIII.

THE MOHAWKS AND THEIR TEA-PARTY.

On the evening of October 29, 1773, the Sons of Liberty again a.s.sembled at the Green Dragon. A s.h.i.+p had dropped anchor during the day off Castle William, bringing the news that Parliament had pa.s.sed a law taxing tea. Ever watchful for the welfare of the people, they came together to hear what the London newspapers and their friends in England had to say about it, in letters which Samuel Adams had received. The night being cool, the landlord lighted a fire to warm the room, and enable those who might like a mug of flip to heat the loggerhead in the glowing coals. Upon the table, as usual, were the punch-bowl, crackers, cheese, tobacco, and pipes. Mr. Adams seated himself by the table and opened a letter.

"It is from Mr. Benjamin Franklin," he said, "who writes that Parliament has pa.s.sed a law levying three pence per pound on tea. It is not to be collected here, as on other articles, but the merchant who s.h.i.+ps it is to pay the duty. It is a very adroit attempt to collect revenue. The consignees in the Colonies, of course, will add the amount in their sales, and so the revenue will be collected without any agency on the part of the Custom Houses."

"I suppose," said Doctor Warren, "Lord North and the whole British nation think we are such simpletons, we shall not see the cat in the meal."

"It is an insidious act," Mr. Adams resumed, "intended to undermine the political virtue of the people. Two years ago our wives and daughters exhibited their allegiance to lofty principles by signing an agreement not to drink tea until the obnoxious laws then existing were repealed. Lord North laughed at the time, but he has discovered that the people of the Colonies can be loyal to a great principle. The East India Company's receipts have fallen off at the rate of five hundred thousand pounds value per annum. The company has seventeen million pounds of tea stored in London, intended for the Colonies, and for which there is no market. It owes the government a vast sum. The merchants who have grown rich out of their profits in the past are not receiving any dividends. The shares of the company, which a few months ago were quoted at high rates, have become unsalable. Parliament has repealed the obnoxious laws for taxing the Colonies, and pa.s.sed this act, doubtless thinking that, so long as we do not pay it directly into the Custom House, we shall acquiesce and go to drinking tea again. And there is where the danger lies. We have been so true to our convictions the revenue received from its sale last year in all the Colonies was only fifteen hundred pounds. It is very humiliating to the king and ministry to turn to the other side of the ledger and find that it has cost several hundred thousand pounds to maintain the troops sent to the Colonies to aid in enforcing the revenue laws upon a reluctant people. This new act, by having all the customs machinery in England, will have a tendency to seduce the people from their allegiance to a great principle. How to thwart the plans of the ministry is the all-important question for us to consider. Mr.

Franklin writes that several vessels are soon to leave London for different colonial ports--three of them for Boston."

"There is an old song," said Doctor Warren, "about a crafty old spider inviting a silly little fly into his parlor. I don't believe the fly will accept the invitation this time."

"The consignees," said Mr. Adams, "are Elisha and Thomas Hutchinson, the governor's two sons; Richard Clark and sons, Benjamin Faneuil, Junior, and Joshua Winslow,--all honorable merchants; but their sympathies, as we know, are not with the people. If we allow the tea to be landed, I fear the consequences. We must not permit the levying of a tax, without our consent, in any form."

"I move," said John Rowe, "that we do not permit the landing of any tea."

The meeting voted to adopt the motion. The formal business ended, they refilled their pipes, helped themselves to crackers and cheese, punch and flip.

Berinthia Brandon, the following week, could not understand why Tom wanted Dinah to make him a pot of paste; nor why he was out so late at night,--not getting home till three o'clock in the morning. None of the watchmen, going their rounds, saw anybody pasting handbills on the walls of the houses, but everybody saw the bills in the morning.

TO THE FREEMEN OF THIS AND NEIGHBORING TOWNS.

GENTLEMEN,--You are desired to meet at Liberty Tree, this day at twelve o'clock noon, then and there to hear the persons to whom the tea s.h.i.+pped by the East India Company is consigned make a public resignation of their office on oath as consignees; and also swear that they will res.h.i.+p any tea that may be consigned to them by said company, by the first vessel sailing for London.

O. C.

_Secretary._

BOSTON, NOV. 3, 1773.

_Show us the man that dare take this down!!!!!_

Early in the morning the town crier was jingling his bell and calling upon the people to be at the Liberty Tree at the appointed hour.

Samuel Adams, John Hanc.o.c.k, Doctor Warren, and William Molineux were there, and a great crowd. The consignees were a.s.sembled in Richard Clark's store. The people voted to choose a committee to inform them that, if they did not resign or pledge themselves not to land the tea, they would be regarded as the enemies of their country. William Molineux, Doctor Warren, and six others were chosen.

A great crowd accompanied the committee. Governor Hutchinson, looking out upon them from the window of the council chamber, saw that they were the foremost men of Boston. The consignees were in Richard Clark's store, and the door was locked.

"From whom are you a committee," asked Clark, opening a window.

"From the whole people."

"I shall have nothing to do with you."

"Then you will be regarded as an enemy of your country," replied Molineux.

"Out with them!" cried somebody.

"Hold on. Don't let us make fools of ourselves," said Tom Brandon.

There was a murmuring in the crowd.

"In the king's name, I command you to disperse," said the sheriff, stepping forward.

It was not he, however, but Doctor Warren, who, by a wave of his hand, stilled the people, and persuaded them to depart.

On Sunday morning, November 29, Tom Brandon, looking with the telescope, saw a s.h.i.+p at Nantasket, and knew by the signals that it was the Dartmouth, Captain Hall. When meeting was over at noon, he called upon Doctor Warren and found him writing a circular to be sent to the surrounding towns, asking the people to a.s.semble on Monday morning in Faneuil Hall. Tom took the writing to the printing office of Edes & Gill in Queen Street, and a printer quickly put it in type.

On Monday morning the people of Boston, Charlestown, Cambridge, and all surrounding towns were reading it.

FRIENDS! COUNTRYMEN! BROTHERS!

The worst of plagues, the detested tea, s.h.i.+pped for this port by the East India Company, has arrived. The hour of destruction or manly opposition to the machinations of tyranny stares you in the face. Every friend to his country, to himself, and posterity is now called upon to meet at Faneuil Hall at nine o'clock this day, at which time the bells will ring, to make a united resistance to this last, worst, and most destructive measure of administration!

BOSTON, NOV. 30, 1773.

The bells rang. The people surged into Faneuil Hall. There was a crowd in the square around the building,--so many people that they adjourned to the Old South Meetinghouse, where they voted that the tea must go back to England, and that twenty-five men should keep watch day and night, to prevent its being landed. The meeting adjourned till Tuesday morning to hear what the consignees would do.

Through the night Abraham Duncan and the other watchmen patrolled the wharves. The Dartmouth had sailed up the harbor and was riding at anchor.

A great crowd filled the meetinghouse at nine o'clock Tuesday. The moderator read a letter from Richard Clark and the other consignees, who said they could not send the tea back, but would put it in their stores till they could hear from the East India Company.

"No! no! no!" shouted the people, who were more than ever determined that it should not be landed.

Tom saw the sheriff, with his sword by his side, as the emblem of authority, enter the meetinghouse, with a paper in his hand.