here very well, because Parliament expected them to
supply the troops with certain things without getting any money in
return. The New York Assembly refused to supply them, and Parliament
suspended the Assembly's sittings. In 1768 two regiments came from New
York to Boston to protect the customs officers.

[Sidenote: The Boston Massacre, 1770. _Higginson_, 166-169; _McMaster_,
118.]

120. The Boston Massacre, 1770.--There were not enough soldiers at
Boston to protect the customs officers--if the colonists really wished
to hurt them. There were quite enough soldiers at Boston to get
themselves and the colonists into trouble. On March 5, 1770, a crowd
gathered around the soldiers stationed on King's Street, now State
Street. There was snow on the ground, and the boys began to throw snow
and mud at the soldiers. The crowd grew bolder. Suddenly the soldiers
fired on the people. They killed four colonists and wounded several
more. Led by Samuel Adams, the people demanded the removal of the
soldiers to the fort in the harbor. Hutchinson was now governor. He
offered to send one regiment out of the town. "All or none," said Adams,
and all were sent away.

[Sidenote: Town Committees of Correspondence.]

[Sidenote: Colonial Committees of Correspondence, 1769.]

121. Committees of Correspondence.--Up to this time the resistance
of the colonists had been carried on in a haphazard sort of way. Now
Committees of Correspondence began to be appointed. These committees
were of two kinds. First there were town Committees of Correspondence.
These were invented by Samuel Adams and were first appointed in
Massachusetts. But more important were the colonial Committees of
Correspondence. The first of these was appointed by Virginia in 1769. At
first few colonies followed Massachusetts and Virginia in appointing
committees. But as one act of tyranny succeeded another, other colonies
fell into line. By 1775 all the colonies were united by a complete
system of Committees of Correspondence.

[Sidenote: The tax on tea. _McMaster_, 119.]

122. The Tea Tax.--Of all the Townshend duties only the tax on tea
was left. It happened that the British East India Company had tons of
tea in its London storehouses and was greatly in need of money. The
government told the company that it might send tea to America without
paying any taxes in England, but the three-penny colonial tax would have
to be paid in the colonies. In this way the colonists would g