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��THE BOSTON PORT BILL.

��have also traded in a store that stood near the present residence of Mr. Perley Beck, at the four corners at " Stump- field." Among those trading in Hopkin- ton village in later times Joseph Stan- wood, Stephen B. Sargent, James Fel- lows and Nathaniel Evans are prominent. Among the earlier traders in Contoocook was Solomon Phelps. Ebenezer Wyman came to Contoocook over forty years ago, and till lately has traded most of the time since, doing a miscellaneous

��business. Herrick Putnam and Isaac D. Merrill were also well known merchants in this locality.

The following parties are at present engaged in trade in this town : — Gage & Knowlton, Kimball & Co., Curtice & Ste- vens, W. H. Hardy, Eufus P. Flanders, G. H. Ketchum (stoves, tin and hard- ware), Miss Julia M. Johnson (ladies' goods). The first two firms mentioned are in the lower village ; the other par- ties in Contoocook.

��THE BRITISH ACT OF PARLAIMENT, KNOWN AS THE BOSTON POET

BILL, OF 1774, AND THE LIBERALITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE,

AND OTHER PLACES, FOR THE RELIEF OF THE

SUFFERERS IN BOSTON.

��BY HON. G. W. NESMITH.

��This act of Parliament went into ef- fect on the 14th day of June. 1774. The harbor of Boston was blocked up by four large ships of war, with orders to inter- dict all trade by sea. Five regiments of troops were stationed in different parts of the town to prevent trade with the country. The intent of the statute was to punish the rebellious citizens of that town, who had not only refused to pay duties on British goods, but had dared to throw overboard cargoes of imported teas, in vindication of the claim that tax- ation and representation should go to- gether, or, in other words, that the col- onies should be heard before taxes on im- ports should be imposed. Again, Bos- ton had complained of the quartering of troops within the limits of their city in a time of peace, and as a consequence of this ty ran ideal act the massacre of March, 1770, had ensued and a hostile spirit be- twoon the citizens and troops had been engendered. The tendency of the Port Bill was to produce immediate want and suffering. The ordinary commerce and trade of the town being prohibited, the industries of the citizens destroyed,

��their sources of living dried up, their only resource left was either to abandon their homes entirely, or to appeal to the charity and liberality of their friends elsewhere for a supply of the necessaries of life. The appeal was made. The friends of liberty yielded a ready response. The conduct of Britain was everywhere regarded as oppressive, and a deep sympathy was felt in behalf of the sufferers. The newspapers of the day inform us that the bells in the town of Falmouth (now Portland) and in the city of Philadelphia were tolled all day, and all business suspended on the afore- said 14th day of June, in consequence of this grevious act of Parliament being en- forced upon the inhabitants of Boston. Large meetings of the citizens of Phila- delphia, Baltimore, New York, Ports- mouth, and various other cities and towns assembled, and passed resolutions recommending the people to purchase no more British goods, and to consume no more tea, strongly sympathizing with the oppression of Boston, and ex- horting her people to stand firm at this trying crisis.

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