w York Assembly, recently permitted to issue
bills of credit to the extent of L120,000, made annual provision for the
troops, and friendly relations between soldiers and citizens were again
resumed. Imports from England at once rose to an unprecedented figure.
Tea was procured from Holland; the 3_d._ duty well-nigh forgotten. In
England most men regarded the ten years' quarrel as finally composed.
For three years the colonies were barely once mentioned in Parliament,
and a page or two of the _Annual Register_ was thought sufficient space
to chronicle the doings of America. America also seemed content. During
these uneventful years the high enthusiasm for liberty burned low, even
in Massachusetts. "How easily the people change," laments John Adams,
"and give up their friends and their interests." And Samuel Adams
himself, implacable patriot, working as tirelessly as ever, but deserted
by Hancock and Otis and half his quondam supporters, had so far lost his
commanding influence as to inspire the sympathy of his friends and the
tolerant pity of his enemies.

It was hardly for the purpose of restoring the prestige of Samuel Adams,
though nothing could have been better designed to that end, that Lord
North, rising in the House of Commons on April 17, 1773, offered a
resolution permitting the East India Company to export teas stored in
its English warehouses free of all duties save the 3_d._ tax in America.
Many years later the Whig pamphleteer Almon asserted that the measure
was inspired by the king's desire to "try the question with America."
The statement is unsupported by contemporary evidence. Lord North said
that the measure was intended solely in the interest of the Company,
which had in fact but just been rescued from bankruptcy by the
interposition of the Government, and the resolution was passed into law
without comment and without opposition. Information obtained from
reliable American merchants determined the directors to take advantage
of the opportunity thus offered. They were assured that, although there
was strong opposition to the 3_d._ tax, "mankind are in general governed
by interest," and "the Company can afford their teas cheaper than the
Americans can smuggle them from foreigners, which puts the success of
the design beyond a doubt." Acting upon this assurance, cargoes of
assorted teas amounting to 2051 chests were sent to the four ports of
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston.

But the Americ