s had showed, too, a love of fair play; for while they pressed the
Tories hard, they had also taken the lead in protesting against mob
violence. Again, leading Whig lawyers had defended--and acquitted--the
perpetrators of the Massacre. Possibly such men might be made to see
reason.

A more numerous class than the lawyers was made up of the merchants,
small and large. Some few of these men had made their own way in the
world, yet most of them may almost have been said to have held
hereditary positions in the provincial aristocracy. By far the larger
number of them were Whigs, some of considerable estate, others--like
that John Andrews from whose letters I have already quoted and shall
quote more--were men of moderate means, shrewdly working for a
"competency." Gage, looking forward to the enforcement of the Port
Bill, could see that these men would be hard hit. While they had so far
been firm in the colonial cause, the coming temptation to desert their
party would be very strong. Income, security, and the favor of the king
awaited them.

At the end of this series was the largest class of all, the mechanics.
Until now these men had been eager in their demonstrations against
technical oppression--which yet was technical after all. No Boston Whig
had ever known a tithe of the wrongs of the French peasant or the
Russian serf. No laboring class on earth enjoyed or ever had enjoyed
greater freedom or less hampered prosperity. But with the enforcement of
the Port Bill all this would change. Gage hoped, and the Tories
declared, that the mechanics, so soon as pressure was applied, would
"fall away from the faction."

The first results of the new regime were not promising. To begin with,
on the news of the passage of the Port Bill the Committee of
Correspondence of Boston called a meeting of the committees of the
neighboring towns. This meeting scouted the idea of paying for the tea,
and in a circular letter to the other colonies proposed a general
cessation of trade with Great Britain. Similarly the town meeting of
Boston discussed the situation, pronounced against the Port Bill, and
appealed to all the sister colonies, entreating not to be left to suffer
alone. In more homely language the merchants appealed to their friends.
"Yes, Bill," wrote John Andrews to his brother-in-law in Philadelphia,
"nothing will save us but an entire stoppage of trade, both to England
and the West Indies.... The least hesitancy on your part _to t