Story of Manhattan, The

<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2> <h3>FIGHTING <i>the</i> TAX <i>on</i> TEA</h3> <br/> <p>A bit of rising ground, not a great way from the Common, was called Golden Hill. Here there was an inn. To this day the elevation of ground can be seen (where John Street crosses William), and the inn still stands. While the thought of the wrecked liberty pole was still fresh in mind, some of the Sons of Liberty came suddenly upon a number of soldiers close by this inn. There was a running fight, the soldiers using their guns and cutlasses and the others beating them back with staves and sticks. More soldiers came and the fight grew in fury. Already one man had received his death-blow and a dozen had been injured, when several officers came galloping up the road and the soldiers were ordered back to their barracks. This was the battle of Golden Hill.</p> <p>Very often after this the soldiers and the citizens clashed and sometimes came to blows, and progress was at a standstill because of the turbulence of the times. Public improvements were neglected and very little business was carried on.</p> <p>In the third year after the battle of Golden Hill, the British Government decided to make the colonists buy tea whether they wanted to or not. So the price was put down until tea could be bought in New York cheaper than it could be bought in England. This did no good, for though the tea was cheap the tax was on it and it was the tax and not the price of which the people complained. The Sons of Liberty, when they heard that ships loaded with cheap tea were on the way from England, said they would not even permit it to be landed. The first ship in port was under the command of a captain named Lockyer, who, when he learned of the strong efforts made to prevent the landing of the tea, determined to return to England with his cargo. He anchored his ship in the bay and came in a small boat to the city. The people, joyful over his decision, decided to give him a public leave-taking.</p> <p>Within a few days another ship sailed into the bay, commanded by Captain Chambers, who insisted that he had no tea on board. When told that his vessel would be searched, he admitted that he had a few chests. That same night the citizens who had all day thronged the wharf, suddenly swarmed aboard the vessel. The hatches were ripped up, and the eighteen chests of tea hauled on deck. There they were torn into pieces and the contents scattered into the river. Having done this the crowds dispersed and all was quiet again.</p> <p>Next day came the public leave-taking of Captain Lockyer. He had spent the night at the coffee-house in Wall Street, and here, early in the morning, there was a great assembly. The bells of the city chimed merrily; flags floated from the houses, and the ships in the bay were decorated with gay colors.</p> <p>From the balcony of the coffee-house the Captain bowed while the crowds cheered him. Finally a committee escorted him to the foot of Wall Street, where he embarked in a pilot-boat which took him to his ship. Another committee, with far less ceremony, escorted Captain Chambers to the same boat, and the two captains sailed away.</p> <SPAN name='image-36'></SPAN><center> <ANTIMG src='images/image-36.jpg' width-obs='399' height-obs='300' alt='Ferry-House on East River, 1746, from an Old Print' title=''> </center><h5>Ferry-House on East River, 1746, from an Old Print</h5> <p>Even before this had happened in New York, the citizens of Boston had dumped a cargo of tea into their harbor, and the British Parliament had closed the port of Boston; which meant that no ships were permitted to sail in or out of it. By this it was hoped to stop all business in Boston, and really it did put an end to a great part of it. And General Thomas Gage, who now had charge of the British troops in America, undertook to see that the orders of the King were properly enforced.</p> <p>This closing of the port of Boston aroused the thirteen British colonies in America. After a great deal of letter-writing it was decided to have men from each of these colonies meet and talk matters over. In September of this year (1774) they met in Philadelphia. At this meeting, which was called the First Continental Congress, it was decided that laws were made in England that were unjust to America, that the colonists objected to taxes that were fixed by Parliament and would buy no more goods from England while a tax was upon them; and that they objected to the support of a large British army in the colonies.</p> <p>And this First Continental Congress sent a petition to King George III., saying that the unjust laws should be done away with.</p> <p>How the King received this petition is soon told.</p> <hr style='width: 65%;' /> <SPAN name='CHAPTER_XXIII'></SPAN> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />