g
features of all that ill-timed oratory might well have goaded into
resistance men who had been slaves for generations till servility had
grown a habit. Yet this contempt and menace were addressed to men
trained by harsh experiences to be stubborn in defence and sturdy in
defiance, men who had won their liberty from the sea and the
wilderness, who were as tenacious of their rights and as proud of their
privileges as they were tenacious of the soil which they had wrested
from the red man and the wolf, and proud of the stately cities which
had conquered the forest and the swamp. It was the descendants of
Miles Standish and John Smith, of Endicott and Bradford and Underhill
and Winslow whom the Squire Westerns of Westminster were ready to
insult and were eager to enslave.

It must, however, be remembered that even men who had advocated the
claims of the colonies were, or professed to be, shocked at the daring
deed of the men of Boston. Dean Tucker declared that mutinous colonies
were no use to England, and had better be allowed to depart. Chatham
found the action of the Boston people criminal, prompted by passions
and wild pretences. In America George Washington disapproved of the
exploit.

[Sidenote: 1774--Closing the port of Boston]

The East India Company, pressed by the pinch of financial difficulties,
clamored for a revenge that the King was resolved to give them. Under
his instigation Lord North, in the beginning of 1774, introduced the
famous measure for closing the port of Boston against all commerce.
The Bill declared that "in the present condition of the town and harbor
the commerce of his Majesty's subjects cannot be safely carried on
there." It was accordingly asserted to be "expedient that the officers
of his Majesty's Customs should be forthwith removed from the said
town." It was enacted that "from and after the first day of June,
1774, it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to lade, or
cause to be laden, or put off from any quay, wharf, or other place
within the town of Boston, or in or upon any part of the shore of the
bay, commonly called the harbor of Boston, into any ship, vessel, boat,
etc., any goods, wares, {164} or merchandise whatsoever . . . or to
take up, discharge, or cause or procure to be taken up or discharged
within the town, out of any boat, lighter, ship, etc., any goods,
wares, or merchandise whatsoever . . . under pain of the forfeiture of
the goods and merchandise