, the deputy governor, to a gentleman of England,
named Whately, and stolen after his death, were sent over by Franklin to
the committee of correspondence at Boston, were read by Adams to the
assembly, and were subsequently published. Hutchinson, a patriotic
American, was a faithful servant of the crown and believed in the
supremacy of parliament. His letters contained no statements that were
not true and no comments discreditable to a man of honour, holding the
opinions on which he had consistently acted. They were declared to be
evidences of malice and bad faith; he and Oliver were, John Adams said,
"cool-thinking, deliberate villains," and the assembly sent a petition
to the king for their removal. The letters were industriously circulated
throughout the province, and were denounced by preachers in their Sunday
sermons. Such was the state of affairs when, in accordance with the act
of parliament authorising the East India Company to export its surplus
stock of tea direct to America, three ships laden with tea appeared in
Boston harbour. Other ships with like cargoes had also been despatched
to New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. At Boston, on the night of
December 16, a large body of men, disguised as Indians and encouraged by
Samuel Adams and his friends, boarded the ships and emptied their
cargoes, 340 chests of tea valued at L18,000, into the sea. The ships
for Philadelphia and New York returned to London without discharging
their cargoes. At Charleston the tea was landed, but the consignees were
forced to renounce their engagement, and the tea rotted in the cellars
of the custom-house.

In England the Boston riot caused much irritation. The news came when
the publication of Hutchinson's letters was exciting strong feelings.
Who was responsible for their abstraction from Whately's correspondence
was for some time a mystery. Franklin kept his counsel, and a duel took
place between Whately's brother and a Bostonian who was suspected of
stealing them. Then Franklin declared that he alone had obtained them
and sent them to Boston. As agent for Massachusetts he appeared before a
committee of the privy council on January 29, 1774, in support of the
petition against Hutchinson and Oliver. Both sides were heard by
counsel. Wedderburn, who spoke against the petition, made a violent
attack on Franklin; he described him as a thief and accused him of
acting from the meanest motives. The temper of his audience was
irritate