Quincy, "confirmed my former intelligence of Governor Hutchinson's assiduity, assurance, and influence, but observed that the eyes of the nation must soon be opened."[1] The evil effects of the conduct of the Governors were yet further increased by the perpetual wrangles which arose between the Commissioners of Customs and Revenue Officers and the Colonial merchants, owing to the laws of trade. Not even the removal of Hillsborough in 1772 from the Colonial Office, and the accession to power of the well-intentioned Dartmouth, a former member of the Rockingham Administration, could afford any real guarantee against the want of discretion of the representatives of the Crown on the other side of the Atlantic.
It is usually some small event which precipitates a crisis. The discovery of the letters of Hutchinson to Whateley—how obtained by Franklin it is here immaterial to inquire—and the facilities given to the East India Company for exporting tea to America, acted as the match to fire the accumulated stores of ill-will which Bernard and Hutchinson had long been collecting. How the cargoes of the tea ships were seized in the harbour of Boston, and thrown into the sea, is amongst the best known events in the history of the eighteenth century. When the news arrived in England, there was a general outcry against the Colonists. Boston, it was loudly proclaimed, was in rebellion, and strenuous measures must be adopted. Nothing loath, the King and his advisers yielded to the popular clamour, and announced a vigorous policy. "Our American affairs," writes Shelburne to Chatham, "afford abundant matter of attention. Besides the resistance to the Tea Duty, the Ministry appear desirous of taking up the affairs of Boston. The two Houses of Assembly petitioned the King, about six months since, for the removal of the governor and lieutenant-governor; alleging their loss of public confidence, and their incapacity to serve the King, in general terms. The petition was at first laid aside, but was on a sudden
- ↑ Memoir of Josiah Quincy, 223.
