, as I told you, had been
removed to Castle William, immediately after the Boston Massacre. Still,
however, there were many tories, custom-house officers, and Englishmen,
who used to assemble in the British Coffee House, and talk over the
affairs of the period. Matters grew worse and worse; and in 1773, the
people did a deed, which incensed the king and ministry more than any of
their former doings."

Grandfather here described the affair, which is known by the name of the
Boston Tea Party. The Americans, for some time past, had left off
importing tea, on account of the oppressive tax. The East India Company,
in London, had a large stock of tea on hand, which they had expected to
sell to the Americans, but could find no market for it. But, after a
while, the government persuaded this company of merchants to send the tea
to America.

"How odd it is," observed Clara, "that the liberties of America should
have had any thing to do with a cup of tea!"

Grandfather smiled, and proceeded with his narrative. When the people of
Boston heard that several cargoes of tea were coming across the Atlantic,
they held a great many meetings at Faneuil Hall, in the Old South church,
and under Liberty Tree. In the midst of their debates, three ships arrived
in the harbor with the tea on board. The people spent more than a
fortnight in consulting what should be done. At last, on the 16th of
December, 1773, they demanded of Governor Hutchinson, that he should
immediately send the ships back to England.

The governor replied that the ships must not leave the harbor, until the
custom-house duties upon the tea should be paid. Now, the payment of these
duties was the very thing, against which the people had set their faces;
because it was a tax, unjustly imposed upon America by the English
government. Therefore, in the dusk of the evening, as soon as Governor
Hutchinson's reply was received, an immense crowd hastened to Griffin's
Wharf, where the tea-ships lay. The place is now called Liverpool Wharf.

"When the crowd reached the wharf," said Grandfather, "they saw that a set
of wild-looking figures were already on board of the ships. You would have
imagined that the Indian warriors, of old times, had come back again; for
they wore the Indian dress, and had their faces covered with red and black
paint, like the Indians, when they go to war. These grim figures hoisted
the tea chests on the decks of the vessels, broke them open, and threw all