TEA LEAVES: - Yesterday Image

And the following gentlemen, viz., the Moderator, Mr. Henderson Inches, Benjamin
Austin, Esq r., and the Select men of the Town, were appointed a committee accordingly.
At the same time, the Town passed the following resolves, viz.:
Whereas, the merchants of this Continent, did enter into an agreement to withhold the
importation of teas until the duty laid thereon mould be repealed, which agreement, as we
are informed, has been punctually observed by the respectable merchants in the Southern
Colonies, while, by reason of the peculiar circumstances attending the trade of this place,
some quantities, tho' very small in proportion to what had been usual before said
agreement, have been imported by some of the merchants here. And whereas, it now
appears probable to this Town, that the British Administration have taken
encouragement, even from such small importations, to grant licenses to the East India
Company, as aforesaid, therefore,—
Resolved, That it is the determination of this Town, by all means in their power, to
prevent the sale of teas exported by the East India Company, and as the merchants here
have generally opposed this measure, it is the just expectation of the inhabitants of this
town that no one of them will, upon any pretence whatever, import any tea that shall be
liable to pay the duty from this time, and until the Act imposing the same shall be
repealed.[299]
Governor Gage, through Col. Fenton, to Samuel Adams, 1773.