Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/324

 summons was sent to the consignees, to know definitely whether they would or would not resign. Upon their positive refusal to do so, the meeting retired without a word. The evening before, the house of Clarke, one of the consignees, having been mobbed, the consignees petitioned to place themselves and the tea under the protection of the governor and council. The council, led by Bowdoin, declined interfering, and refused to render themselves in any way responsible for the safety of the tea. Meanwhile, the first cargo arrived. A mass meeting was assembled, November 29th, in Faneuil Hall, at which it was resolved, that the ship should be moored at a certain wharf, and a guard of twenty-five volunteers should keep watch upon her. The captain was ordered not to attempt, at his peril, to unlade the ship. A similar assemblage taking place on the morrow, the governor declared it illegal, and required it to disperse; but to no purpose; and the cadets, who were commanded by Hancock, were not to be depended upon for any service adverse to liberty. The consignees promised, if the tea were allowed to be landed, that they would keep it in their cellars until they could receive fresh orders from England, but the people demanded the immediate return of the ships without unlading. The custom officers refused to grant the necessary clearance with out the cargo was landed; and thus the time passed away until the arrival of two other tea ships, early in December. Provoked at the delay, the mass of the people now resolved the act, promptly and effectively.

On the 16th of December, a town meeting was held in the old South Meeting-house. The owner of the ships was sent for, and requested to obtain from the collector the necessary clearance for their departure, but that officer refused to comply. He was next sent to the governor, then at his country house, at Milton, a few miles from the city, for the same purpose. Late in the afternoon he returned and announced the governor's refusal. The three ships were moored near each other at Griffin's wharf. Josiah Quincy harangued the crowded and excited assembly with much solemnity of manner, and in his peculiarly fervid style of eloquence. "It is not," he said, "the spirit that vapors within these walls that must stand us in stead. The exertions of this day will call forth events which will make a very different spirit necessary for our salvation. Look to the end. Whoever supposes that shouts and hosanuas will terminate the trials of this day, entertains a childish fancy. We must be grossly ignorant of the importance and value of the prize for which we contend;—we must be equally ignorant of the power of those who have combined against us;—we must be blind to that malice, inveteracy, and insatiable revenge which actuates our enemies public and private, abroad and in our bosoms, to hope that we shall end this controversy without the sharpest—the sharpest conflicts; to flatter ourselves that popular resolves, popular harangues, popular acclamations, and popular vapor will vanquish our foes. Let us consider the issue. Let us look to the