iles, from some more, from others less, as they were affected; and, as
soon as they were assembled (November 14th, 1773), enjoined the owner of
the ship, at his peril, to demand of the Collector of Customs a
clearance for the ship, and appointed ten of their number a committee to
accompany him, and adjourned for two days to receive the report. Being
reassembled (at the end of the two days), and informed by the owner that
a clearance was refused, he was enjoined immediately to apply to the
Governor for a pass by the Castle. He made an apology to the Governor
for coming upon such an errand, having been compelled to it, and
received an answer that no pass ever had been, or lawfully could be,
given to any vessel which had not first been cleared at the
Custom-house, and that upon his producing a clearance, such pass would
immediately be given by the naval officer."

Governor Hutchinson knew that the Custom-house could not give the
clearance without the landing of the tea and payment of the duty
provided for; he knew that the Custom-house had been applied to in vain
to obtain a clearance. His reference of the owner to the Custom-house
was a mere evasion and pretext to gain time and prevent any decisive
action on the part of the town meeting until the night of the 16th, when
the 20 days after the entry of the ships would have expired, and the
Collector could seize the cargoes for non-payment of duties, place it in
charge of the Admiral at the Castle, and sell it under pretence of
paying the duties. He says: "The body of the people remained in the
meeting-house until they had received the Governor's answer; and then,
after it had been observed to them that, everything else in their power
having been done, it now remained to proceed in the only way left, and
that the owner of the ship having behaved like a man of honour, no
injury ought to be offered to his person or property, the meeting was
declared to be dissolved, and the body of the people repaired to the
wharf and surrounded the immediate actors (who were 'covered with
blankets, and making the appearance of Indians') as a guard and security
until they had finished their work. In two or three hours they hoisted
out of the holds of the ships three hundred and forty-two chests of tea,
and emptied them into the sea. The Governor was unjustly censured by
many people in the province, and much abused by the pamphlet and
newspaper writers in England, for refusing his pass, which it