Chapter I: Front Matter (1)

Ballads and Other Poems

BALLADS
AND
OTHER POEMS

BY
GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND

_FOURTH EDITION, REVISED_

G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press

“BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION”
COPYRIGHT, 1886
BY
GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND

“SKETCHES IN SONG”
COPYRIGHT, 1887
BY
GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND

THIRD EDITION, COPYRIGHT, 1908
BY
GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND

FOURTH EDITION, COPYRIGHT, 1916
BY
GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND

Made in the United States of America

CONTENTS.

PAGE

_BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION._

OUR FIRST BREAK WITH THE BRITISH 3

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE GASPEE 22

THE LEBANON BOYS IN BOSTON 37

THE CROWN’S FIGHT AGAINST THE TOWN’S RIGHT 55

THE RALLY OF THE FARMERS 64

ETHAN ALLEN 73

HOW BARTON TOOK THE GENERAL 88

_MISCELLANEOUS._

A SONG ON SINGING 101

THE MUSIC OF LIFE 105

MY IDEAL 107

CAGED 108

WHATEVER THE MISSION OF LIFE MAY BE 109

THE DESTINY-MAKER 110

_DRAMATIC._

HAYDN 115

_SKETCHES IN SONG._

A FISH STORY 1

UNVEILING THE MONUMENT 2

UNDER THE NEW MOON 12

ALL IN ALL 14

NOTHING AT ALL 14

THE IDEALIST 15

A PHASE OF THE ANGELIC 17

THE BELLE 19

THE POET’S REASON 20

AMONG THE MOUNTAINS 21

MARTIN CRAEGIN 23

OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM 26

MY LOVE IS SAD 28

MY DREAM AT CORDOVA 29

THE FLOWER PLUCKED 36

THE ARTIST’S AIM 37

MUSICIAN AND MORALIZER 39

WHAT THE BOUQUET SAID 40

WITH THE YOUNG 41

A TRANSLATION 42

FARMER LAD 44

THE WIFE 45

NOTHING TO KEEP UNDER 47

OUR DAY AT PISA 48

THE HIGHEST CLAIMS 50

NOTES FROM THE VICTORY 52

THE POET’S LESSON 53

THE MOURNER ANSWERED 57

THE VACANT ROOM 58

THANKSGIVING DAY 60

A MISAPPREHENSION 61

AUNTY’S ANSWER 63

HIS LOVE’S FRUITION 64

WHAT WOULD I GIVE 65

_DRAMATIC._

IDEALS MADE REAL 69

_PATRIOTIC._

AMERICA, OUR HOME 159

HAIL THE FLAG 160

EXPANSION 162

A PRAYER FOR PEACE AND GOOD WILL 163

BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION.

REPRESENTING THE SPIRIT AND REASONS LEADING TO THE AMERICAN WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE.

_Third Edition, Revised._

BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION.[1]

OUR FIRST BREAK WITH THE BRITISH.

1765.

Great Britain’s lords[2] were planning—
So ran the world’s report—
To tax the colonies more and more,[4]
And treat our sires as if they wore
The liveries at the court.

“The colonies’ hope is union,”
Said Franklin,[3] by and by;
“Not one of them that stands alone
Can hold its own against the throne.
We[3] join,” he wrote, “or die.”

And “Freedom[4] is a birthright
Our fathers handed down;
Blood-bought,” James Otis[4] boldly said:
“One king of theirs it cost his head;
And one his throne and crown.[5]

“Were we to lose it, England
Would share in our mishap[6];
For not a net can harm us here,
But threatens every English peer,
Whom yet it may entrap.

“Our laws are in our charters
For scores of years enjoy’d;
Nor has the King, or Parliament,
Or both without our own consent
The power to make them void.[5]

“By them, the Magna Charta,
And all our Saxon rights;
By claims of nature, mind, descent,
We ought to send to Parliament[7]
And show it what it slights.”

A protest then we sent it.[7]
But back came sail on sail;[8]
And less had leaves of law-books grave
Torn out and flung to wind and wave
Shown law could not prevail.

They broke up our assembly;[9]
Supreme their army[10] made;
Removed the judge[11] who check’d their greed;
And on the church our fathers freed
The hands of bishops laid.[12]

“Shall we, whose fathers won us
Our rights, abide their loss?
Nay,” Mayhew said;[13] “though these to take
Our Pharoah’s hosts of red-coats make
Blood-red the sea they cross.

“The Lord o’errules the waters,
And He will guard our cause:
And Parliament—let Plymouth Rock
To whelm them all throw back the shock—
Will bid the tyrant pause.”

“God guide the House of Commons,”
We cried with lifted eyes.
God guided it and us, alas,
But how He scorch’d our heaven to pass
His finger through the skies!

The Commons framed the Stamp-Act.[14]
It legal writs refused,
And made our bargains go for naught,
Unless, in all we sold or bought,
Their stamps were bought and used.

“The stamps are only vouchers,”
Wrote Green,[15] “to license knaves!”
“To tax, against their own consent,
Where none,” said Adams,[16] “represent
Our people, brands them slaves.”

“Our charter’d free assemblies,
To which our laws entrust[17]
The right to tax us, and to pay
Each crown-official,—only they
Can ever keep him just.”

Quoth Thomas Chase:[18] “They only!
But British agents curse
To find that our assemblies true
Have something nobler here to do
Than fill a noble’s purse.”

“The admiralty,” said Hancock,[21]
“To swell the navy’s pelf,
Have pass’d a law that it empowers[19]
To seek in every ship of ours
A bounty for itself.

“Would we dispute the seizure,
Our loss can be discuss’d
And righted but in England’s courts,[20]
And by a judge whom it supports;—
And that, they say, is just.

“No fleet of mine[21] shall carry
A stamp, though all I lose.
I choose, ere it, to save my soul!”
The whole land heard, and soon the whole
Had sworn no stamps to use.

New York had lived by commerce.
Her merchants vow’d, they all,[22]
Ere stamps they bought, would sail no boats,
And sell no goods, and pass no notes—
They would not live in thrall.

Said Isaac Sears:[23] “No wonder
These human lords combine
The masses’ rivalling wealth to steal!
Let them be stript, my lord may feel
His decency divine.

“For years, to gild the peerage
Have England’s ports been made[24]
The marts by law for all we bought.—
Alas! in what that we have wrought
Have they not check’d our trade?

“The nobles, while their winnings
Like nuggets clog the sieve
That ours drop through, would not eschew
Their royal rule: ‘To others do
What makes them humbly live.’

“And shall we not live humbly
Who but our pride restrain?
And buy at home more homely goods?”—
“Buy homespun!”[25] rang from bay to woods.
Then rang the looms[25] amain.

But keen and crafty tories,
They prowl’d around at night,
And plotted long, and bought and sold,
And hoax’d and coax’d the young and old
Their homespun league to slight.[26]

“We must not wait till England
Shall send the stamps,” wrote Edes.[27]
“Once let our tories own a few,
They soon were sown the whole land through
To grow like seeds of weeds.”

The Boston Stamp-man’s image
Men burn’d before his face.
Their roars, like thunder, threaten’d storm;
And torches flash’d; the air was warm;
The man resign’d his place.

“Resign!” erelong the echo
Had roll’d to every town.[28]
None dared resist the people’s plea,
And none dared hold a stamp, or be
The stamp-man of the crown.

“Our governors,” growl’d the tories,
“Will sell the stamps to us.”
The governors vow’d this course to take;[29]
But we, we vow’d, our lives the stake,
They should not thwart us thus.

The night before the Stamp-Act
Should rule the colony,
We slept not much; we melted lead;
We whetted steel; we plann’d ahead,
We “Sons of Liberty.”[30]

Then, when the morn was breaking,[31]
On every hill and plain,
In all the towns, we toll’d the bells,[31]
That all began with doleful knells,
As though for Freedom slain.

Anon, they rang out madly[31]
What might have peal’d to be
The land’s alarm-bell—only now
They peal’d to hail the new-born vow
Of men that would be free.

New York went wild to hear them.[32]
Men flooded every way:
They left their shops; they stopt their mills;
And farmers flock’d from all the hills,
And sailors from the bay.

Now who would buy a stamp here?
Was ask’d in all the ways.
But not a shop was not shut to;
For all had wiser work to do
On this, our day of days.

“We would not, and we will not
Submit,” said Isaac Sears.[33]
The governor said: “You fill the street,
But here a fort and there a fleet
May yet awake your fears.”

“Our stamps,” cried James,[34] his major,
“Our stamps, if loaded down
Our cannon here, and scatter’d thence
Among the crowd, would soon commence
To circulate in town.”

“Aha,” said Sears in answer,
“For this you soldiers came?
For this our wily governor here
Pretended border wars to fear—[35]
Aha, were we his game?

“To tax us indirectly,—
Was it for this, the crown
Bade your imported troopers make
Our town[35] support you?—for the sake
Of being thus kept down?

“To kill our leaders, was it,
The crown made them be rank’d
By Braddock’s braggarts, who could run
And leave a man like Washington[36]
By their commands outflank’d?

“Yes, yes, in genuine danger
We know who[37] win the day;
And whose the coin and blood we miss,
That, from our fathers’ time to this,
Have held our foes at bay.

“And need we now your army?
You know—your sovereign too,
Our wars are his—He[37] France attacks
And here her colony—when he lacks
Excuse for sending you.

“How strong, think you, our patience?
How long ere it shall tire?—
Ah, Britain’s lion’s whelp may get
So tough by cuffs like this, as yet
To turn and rend her sire!”

“Sheer treason!” cried the major;
And “Treason!” cried his chief.
Our spokesman’s eye their fury brook’d,
Then calmly toward his friends he look’d,
And gave his thoughts relief.

“Nay, theirs are loyal spirits,
But when the wrong is great,
And forms of law do not deserve
Their soul’s allegiance, then they serve
The spirit of the state.”

With this, he told those courtiers
Their words would he report.
They heard the people’s groans that rose
To greet the words he bore, and chose
To seek, near by, the fort.[38]

Then from the fort the cannon
Were turn’d upon the town.
But “If you fire,” the people cried,
“We hang the governor here outside,
Or burn your quarters down.”

The governor urged his honor;
“Had pledged,” he said, “his oath,”[39]
And ought to further Britain’s aims.“—
We thought New York had equal claims
On oath and honor both.[39]

“And let him pledge his honor
To let the stamps alone,”
Said Isaac Sears; and all the crowd
Who heard him say it, shouted loud
To make his words their own.

The people waited long then,
And hoped the strife would end;
But, when this course had nothing won,
No man[40] could check a course begun
The governor’s will to bend.

At night, the boys with torches
Came trooping out for sport.
They sought the house of James,[41] and took
The army flags his fear forsook,
And march’d them round the fort.

The governor own’d his coaches,
And one a coach of state.
They burst his barn-door in with cries[42]
And dragg’d them off before his eyes,
As trophies of their hate.

An image of the devil,
And of the governor too[42]
They made, and made them both careen,
While, side by side, through Bowling Green,
They wheel’d them into view.

At last, of all the coaches
They form’d a funeral pyre;
And, full in face of all the town,
Who only roar’d its roar to drown,
They set the whole on fire.

Then came a wake and wailing,
As ashes cover’d all;
And not a clause in laws unjust
The man had thought on us to thrust
But some one would recall.

“A foe[43] is he of England!”
“A foe to all of us!”
“In Scotland went with Jacobites!”
“Has vow’d to murder here our rights!—
Ere that we toast him thus!”

The colony’s council[44] pass’d then
A vote opposed by none,—
That England had the stamps assign’d
To agents who had all resign’d,
Nor was the governor one.

At this the governor waver’d,
And wrote a message thus:
“I wait the dawn of further light.”
Cried Sears then: “Keep the fox in sight!
He waits till free from us.

“Now send we back this answer:
‘Awhile the town will wait,
But four and twenty hours from now[45]
Will hold the stamps or else will vow
To hold no more debate.’”

The governor begg’d the army,[46]
The army begg’d the fleet,
To take the stamps and save the fort;
But neither cared to brave the sport
Of those who fill’d the street.

The courage of the courtiers
Had bow’d to wisdom higher:
The power of right that ruled the street
Had overawed the fort and fleet—
They did not dare to fire.

They did not dare to kindle[46]
A spark that, should it flame,
Would shed no glory round a throne
Where prince and peer would flush alone
To blush for their own shame.

So nothing now was left them
Except to yield us all.[47]
Our mayor took the stamps, at last,
And bore them off, and lock’d them fast
Within the City Hall.

And loud the people shouted;[48]
They felt that right was done;
Cried “Liberty and Property!
No stamps to curse the Colony!”
And parted, one by one.

The next day all the papers[49]
Without the stamps appear’d.
Men took no notes, but trusted men.
Our ships were off to sea again;
And none the navy fear’d.

And none had bought a stamp there,
Or seal’d himself a slave;
And half of England, trust my word,
Were thrill’d with joy, when they had heard
How we ourselves could save.[50]

At last there came a daybreak
When all the thankful kneel’d;
And bells were rung, and banners hung;
And England’s weal was drunk and sung—[51]
The Stamp Act was repeal’d.

Great Britain’s lords in council
Had talked of fire and ball;
But, when they touch’d our liberties,
Met manhood in the colonies
They could not thus inthrall.

FOOTNOTES

[1] “In writing a ballad the secrets of success are definiteness of aim, directness of execution, and singleness of idea. The language must be simple, but so vigorous that every word tells; the metre must also be simple, but the versification demands a musical swing, a rush of rhyme, the talent for which is rare. To smell of the lamp is fatal to the ballad; it should have all the spontaneity of an impromptu. The author must forget himself, for ballad poetry is essentially objective, and a touch of subjectivity spoils it. Each incident must be related as though the writer had taken part in it, and seeing with his mind’s eye, he must paint as vividly as though that described were before him in very truth. It is not an easy thing to write a ballad in these days, when the drift of poetic thought is quite in the opposite direction.”—_Philadelphia Inquirer_, 1876.

[2] In 1761, “America knew that the Board of Trade had proposed to annul colonial charters, to reduce all the colonies to royal governments.”—_Bancroft’s Hist. U. S._, vol. iv., ch. 18, p. 414. “The king, the ministry, the crown officers all conspiring against her liberties ... there was no help unless from Parliament.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 11, p. 236.

[3] “Franklin looked for greater liberties than ... Parliament might inaugurate. Having for his motto ‘Join or die,’ ... sketching the outline of a confederacy.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 5, p. 116. “William Penn in 1697 had proposed an annual Congress ... to regulate commerce. Franklin” in 1752 “revived the great idea, and breathed into it enduring life.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 5, p. 125.

[4] “The Board of Trade had proposed ... collecting the duties ... the justice of the restrictions on trade was denied and their authority questioned; and when the officers of the customs asked for ‘writs of assistance’ to enforce them, the colony regarded its liberties in peril. This is the opening scene of American resistance. It began” in 1761 ... “in a court-room ... James Otis ... stood up ... the champion of the colonies.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 18, p. 414.

[5] “‘I am determined,’ such were his words, ‘to sacrifice estate ... life in opposition to a kind of power, the exercise of which cost one king of England his head and another his throne.’ ... Tracing the lineage of freedom to its origin, he opposed the claims of the British officers by the authority of ‘reason,’ and that they were at war with the ‘Constitution’ he proved by appeals to the Charter of Massachusetts, and its English liberties.... ‘An Act of Parliament against the Constitution is void,’ he said.... ‘The crowded audience seemed ready to take up arms.’”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 18, pp. 415-6.

[6] “The true interests of Great Britain and her plantations are mutual. Otis in 1763.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 5, p. 90.

[7] See the Representations of the General Assembly at New York to the King, concerning the administration of justice in that province, 1762, mentioned in _Idem._, vol. v., ch. 5, p. 84. “By the laws of nature and of nations, the voice of universal reason and of God, by the statute law and the common law, this memorial claimed for the colonists the absolute rights of Englishmen, ... such were the views of Otis sent by Massachusetts” in 1764 “to its agent in London.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 10, pp. 198-9.

[8] “Less than forty were willing to receive the petition of Virginia. A third from South Carolina, a fourth from Connecticut, ... a fifth from Massachusetts, ... shared the same refusal. That from New York, no one could be prevailed upon to offer.... The House of Commons would neither receive petitions nor hear council.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 11, p. 246. This was in Feb., 1765.

[9] In 1763 Brown, the Governor of South Carolina, “assumed the power of rejecting members whom the House declared duly elected and returned.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 8, p. 150. In May, 1765, “The Lieutenant-Governor” of Virginia “dissolved the Assembly.”—_Idem._, ch. 13, p. 277. “Fearing a general expression of the sentiments of the people, through their representatives ... Tyron issued a proclamation in October proroguing the Assembly which was to meet on the thirtieth of November, until the following March. This act incurred the indignation of the people.”—_Lossing’s Field Book of the Revolution_, vol. ii., p. 568. Later, “Townshend’s revenue, so far as it provided an independent support for the crown officers, did away with the necessity of colonial legislatures.... Governors would have little inducement to call assemblies, and an angry minister might dissolve them without inconvenience to his administration.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vi., ch. 29, p. 85. “An act of Parliament” in 1767 “suspended the functions of its (N. Y.) legislature till they should render obedience to the Imperial Legislature.”—_Idem._, p. 84. “Bernard ... prorogued them, and then dissolved the Assembly. Massachusetts was left without a legislature.”—_Idem._, vol. vi., ch. 34, p. 165.

[10] “This commission ... established a military power throughout the continent independent of the colonial governors and superior to them ... in 1756 the rule was established ... that troops might be kept up in the colonies and quartered on them at pleasure without the consent of the American Parliaments.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 9, pp. 229-30. In Feb., 1765, “Welbore Ellis, Secretary of War ... made known his intention ‘that the orders of his commander-in-chief and ... the brigadier generals ... should be supreme, and be obeyed by the troops as such in all the civil governments of America.’ ... These instructions rested, as was pretended, on ... the commission” (mentioned above) “... prepared for ... troops in time of war.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 11, p. 235.

[11] In 1762 “was consummated the system of subjecting the halls of justice to the prerogative. The king ... instituted courts, named the judges, removed them at pleasure, fixed the amount of their salaries, and paid them out of funds that were independent of legislative grants.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 19, p. 440.

[12] About 1762 “a fund of two thousand pounds was subscribed to a society which the legislature of Massachusetts had authorized for promoting knowledge among the Indians; but the king interposed his negative, and reserved the red man for the Anglican form of worship.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 18, p. 430. In 1765 “In North Carolina ... the legislature were even persuaded ... to make provision for the support of the Church of England.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 13, p. 271. “For New York, the Lords of Trade refused to the Presbyterians any immunities but such as might be derived from the British Law of Toleration.”—_Idem._, vol. vi., ch. 29, p. 84. “O poor New England, there is a deep plot against both your civil and religious liberties, and they will be lost.”—Whitfield in 1764, _Idem._, vol. v., ch. 10, p. 193.

[13] In Jan., 1750 ... “Mayhew summoned ... defensive war against ‘tyranny and priestcraft.’ ... He preached resistance.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 3, p. 60. In Aug., 1765, “Choosing as his text ... Ye have been called to liberty ... he preached fervently in behalf of civil and religious freedom.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 16, p. 312.

[14] “The act seemed sure to enforce itself. Unless stamps were used, marriages would be null, notes of hand valueless, ships at sea prizes to the first captors, suits at law impossible, transfers of real estate invalid, inheritances unclaimable.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 11, pp. 251-2.

[15] “The publishers of newspapers ... were ... called upon to stand the brunt in braving the penalties of the act.... Timothy Green ... publisher of the _New London Gazette_ ... fearlessly defended his country’s rights.... On Friday the first day of November, his journal came forth without stamps.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 19, pp. 352-3.

[16] Speaking of Samuel Adams in 1764, “On his motion and in his words, Boston ... asserted ... ‘If taxes are laid upon us ... without our having a legal representation ... are we not reduced ... to the miserable state of tributary slaves?’”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 10, p. 197.

[17] “The strength of the people in America” in 1748 “consisted also in the exclusive right of its assemblies to levy and to appropriate colonial taxes ... in America, the rapacity of the governors made it expedient to preserve their dependence for their salaries on annual grants.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 1, p. 19.

[18] See note 27.

[19] March, 1763, “it became lawful ... for each ... armed vessel to stop and examine and, in case of suspicion, to seize each merchant ship approaching the colonies, while avarice was stimulated by hope of large emoluments to make as many seizures ... as possible.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 5, p. 92.

[20] “The penalties and forfeitures for breach of the revenue laws were to be decided in courts of Vice-Admiralty, without the interposition of a jury, by a single judge, who had no support whatever but in his share of the profits of his own condemnations.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 12, p. 268.

[21] “The first American ship that ventured to sea with a rich cargo and without stamped papers was owned by the Boston merchant, John Hancock.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 20, p. 374.

[22] “The merchants of New York, ... unanimously bound themselves to send no new orders for goods or merchandise; to countermand all former orders; and not even to receive goods on commission unless the Stamp Act be repealed.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 19, pp. 351-2.

[23] “Isaac Sears, the self-constituted, and for ten years the recognized, head of the people of New York.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 355.

[24] “The colonists could not export the chief products of their industry ... to any place but Great Britain ... nor might any foreign ship enter any colonial harbor.... In all other respects Great Britain was not only the sole market for the products of America, but the only storehouse for its supplies.... That the country which was the home of the beaver might not manufacture its own hats, no man ... could be a hatter or a journeyman at the trade unless he had served an apprenticeship of seven years. No hatter might employ ... more than two apprentices. America abounded in iron ores ... slitting mills, steel furnaces, and plating forges ... were prohibited.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 12, pp. 265-7.

[25] “‘We will none of us import British goods,’ said the traders in the towns.... North Carolina set up looms ... and South Carolina was ready to follow.... ‘We will have homespun markets of linen and woollens,’ passed from mouth to mouth.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 14, p. 288.

[26] “New England and Pennsylvania had imported nearly one half as much as usual. New York alone had been perfectly true to its engagements,”—the state of things in 1770.—_Idem._, vol. vi., ch. 44, p. 365.

[27] “The fourteenth of August,” 1765, “saw the effigy of Oliver,” Boston’s stamp agent, “tricked out with emblems of Bute and Grenville, ... prepared by Boston mechanics, true-born Sons of Liberty, Benjamin Edes, the printer, ... Thomas Chase, a fiery hater of kings.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 16, p. 310. “Just after dark an ‘amazing’ multitude ... made a funeral pyre for his effigy.... So the considerate self-seeker ... gave it under his own hand that he would not serve as stamp officer.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 16, pp. 310-12.

[28] “Everywhere, ... of themselves, or at the instance of the people, amidst shouts and the ringing of bells and the firing of cannon, or ... with rage changing into courtesy on the ... submission of the stamp-master, ... the officers resigned. There remained not one person duly commissioned to distribute stamps.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 351.

[29] “‘I am resolved to have the stamps distributed,’ wrote Colden.... On the thirty-first of October, Colden and all the royal governors took the oath to carry the stamp-act punctually into effect.... The governor of Rhode Island stood alone in his patriotic refusal.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 350.

[30] “The SONS OF LIBERTY ... organized at this time throughout the colonies.”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Bk. of the Rev._, vol. ii., p. 787. “The association in New York had a correspondent ... in London, ... from whom they ... regularly received intelligence of the movements of the ministry.”—_Idem._, note.

[31] “Friday, the first morning of November,” 1765, “broke upon a people unanimously resolved to nullify the Stamp Act. From New Hampshire to the far south the day was introduced by the tolling of muffled bells, ... a eulogy was pronounced on liberty and its knell sounded, and then again the note changed as if she were restored to life.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 352.

[32] “In New York the whole city rose up as one man.... The sailors came from their shipping; the people flocked in ... by thousands.”—_Idem._, p. 355.

[33] “The leader of the popular tumult was Isaac Sears.”—_Idem._

[34] “‘I will cram the stamps down their throats with the end of my sword,’ cried the braggart James, Major of Artillery, ... ‘will drive them all out of town.’”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 17, p. 332.

[35] “The arbitrary invasion of private rights ... by the illegal and usurped authority of a military chief was the great result of the campaign. The frontier had been left open to the French; but the ... example had been given ... of quartering troops in the principal towns at the expense of the inhabitants.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 10, p. 241.

[36] “Washington had left the service on account of a regulation by which the colonial officers were made to rank under those of the regular army.... Urged by General Braddock to accompany him, he consented to do so ... as a volunteer.... Through the stubbornness of that general, his contempt of the Indians, and the cowardice of many of his regular troops, an army of thirteen hundred men was half destroyed. Braddock fell, and the whole duty of distributing orders devolved upon the youthful colonel.”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev._, vol. ii., pp. 477-9.

[37] “The King in council ... having thus invited a conflict with France by instructions necessarily involving war, ... neither troops, nor money, nor ships of war were sent over.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. iv., ch. 4, p. 102. “_They protected by YOUR arms?_ They have nobly taken up arms in your defence ... for the defence of a country whose frontier was drenched in blood, while its interior parts yielded all its little savings to your emolument.”—Barré debating on the Stamp Act in the House of Commons.—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 11, p. 240.

[38] “Colden himself retired within the fort.... He would have fired on the people, but was menaced with being hanged.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 355.

[39] “Colden pleaded his oath ... that ... the Act should be observed, ... the contempt into which the government would fall by concession.”—_Idem._, p. 357. “In Connecticut, Dyer ... entreated Fitch (the governor) not to take an oath ... contrary to that of the governor to maintain the rights of the colonies.”—_Idem._, p. 351.

[40] “Isaac Sears and others, leaders of the Sons of Liberty, who had issued strict orders forbidding injury to private property, endeavored to restrain the mob.”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev._, vol. ii., p. 788.

[41] “A party of volunteers sacked the house occupied by James, and bore off the colors of the royal regiments.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 356.

[42] “In the evening a vast torchlight procession carrying, ... two images, one of the governor; the other of the devil, ... broke open the governor’s coach-house, took out his chariot, carried the images upon it, ... to burn them with his own carriages and sleighs before his own eyes on the Bowling Green.”—_Idem._

[43] “He has bound himself,” they cried, “to be the chief murderer of our rights.” “He was a rebel in Scotland, a Jacobite.” “He is an enemy to his king, to his country, and mankind.”—_Idem._ “In the opinion of ... Colden ... the democratic or popular part of the American Constitution was too strong.... His remedies were a perpetual revenue, fixed salaries, and an hereditary council of priviledged landholders.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 16, p. 371.

[44] “The council questioned” (_i.e._, the colony’s council) “his authority to distribute the stamps, and unanimously advised him to declare that he would do nothing in relation to them, but await the arrival of the new governor, and his declaration to that effect ... was immediately published. But the confidence of the people was shaken.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 356.

[45] “‘We will have the stamp papers,’ cried Sears to the multitude, ‘within four and twenty hours,’”—_Idem._

[46] “Colden invited Kenedy to receive them on board of the Coventry.... Gage being appealed to, avowed his belief that a fire from the fort would be the ... commencement of civil war.”—_Idem._, 356-7.

[47] “Colden, perceiving further resistance ... unavailing, ordered the stamps to be delivered to the Mayor (Cruger) and Common Council, the former giving a receipt for the same, and the corporation agreeing to pay for all the stamps that should be destroyed or lost. This was satisfactory to the people.”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book_, vol. ii., p. 789.

[48] “In all the streets were heard the shouts of Liberty, Property, and no Stamps.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 357.

[49] “The press continued its activity.”—_Idem._

[50] “I rejoice that America has resisted.”—William Pitt in the House of Commons.—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 21, p. 391.

[51] “On ... the joyful intelligence of the repeal of the Stamp Act ... the city was filled with delight. Bells rang ... cannon roared ... the Sons of Liberty drank twenty-eight ‘loyal and constitutional toasts.’”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev._, vol. ii., p. 789.

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE GASPEE.

1772.

One windy day in March,[1]
Ghost-white against the gray,
A cruiser fleet, through snow and sleet,
Made Narraganset Bay.

There were smugglers in the bay,
And smugglers on the shore;
But loyal still to the royal will
Ten times as many more,—

Ten times as many more,
Though every smuggler there
But thrived because of England’s laws[2]
And taxes none could bear.

Yet the cruiser’s captain drawl’d,
The while he quaft his ale,
“These islands low are full you know,
Of fellows fled from jail,

“Of Puritans fled from law
And kings they curse and fear.
Aha!” he laugh’d, “our loyal craft
Has brought the Cavalier!

“Our guns will speak in tones
To make the whole bay ring;
And teach to each within their reach
The reverence due the king.

“Their ships upon the bay
Shall heed our cannon’s call,
And dip their flags,[3] or sail in rags,
And yield us bounties all.[4]

“Their sheep upon the shore,
A royal tax will be.[4]
No lack of food or kindling wood
Is here,” quoth he, “for me!”

There were smugglers in the bay,
And smugglers on the shore;
This craft, I ken, a band of men
Ten times as lawless bore.

Our sheriff[5] went and warn’d
Their captain, o’er and o’er,
To keep in sight the bounds of right,
And not to plunder more.

The captain waved his hand,
Said he: “The fleet has made
A vow devout to carry out
The English ‘Acts of Trade.’”[6]

Judge Hopkins[7] wrote him then:
“Our men demand their due.”
“I write because you break our laws,”
Wrote Governor Wanton[7] too.

The captain bade them go
To Boston with their plea;
“Not his affair; the admiral[7] there
Had sent the ship to sea.”

And then he turn’d away.
One heard him mutter near:
“I think I see the one they fee[8]
Ship back his bounties here.”

The judge and governor wrote
The admiral, who but swore
His fleet would hang[9] the island gang,
If they should vex him more.

“The navy[10] know their trade,”
His clerk to Wanton wrote;
“In mere pretence and insolence[11]
You board the sovereign’s[12] boat.”

Wrote Wanton: “We shall ask
The throne[13] to judge your note;
And every time you hint of crime,[13]
Shall board the sovereign’s boat.

“The English crown should serve
The English people’s cause,
And honor those, nor make them foes,
Who stand by English laws.”

But months and months went on.
The cruiser fired away.
None plied an oar, lived near the shore,
But feared to be her prey.[4]

Cried Captain Lindsey[14] then:
“This outrage none should bide!
Rhode Island grit must yet outwit,
And trip the scoundrel’s pride.

“He knows my packet here,
And where I sail, and why;
And if he will may sink me, still
His guns will I defy.

“If down we go, the law,
Will float to stand upon;
If that go too, this case is through;
But, Britain, more anon!”

So high his flag[15] he flew;
And wide his jib he spread.
The cruiser fired; her crew grew tired,
Her captain wroth and red.

“All hands aloft!” he cried;
“All sail!” and at the words,
The masts were fill’d with sailors drill’d
To climb and cling like birds.

Wide flew each flapping sheet,
And sagg’d and bagg’d the gale,
And cloud-like lash’d the waves that dash’d
As if they felt a flail.

When off of Nauquit[16] Point,
Shrewd Lindsey knew his ground;
He steer’d afar, and clear’d the bar;
And then the ship swung round.[16]

Up toss’d her canvas high;
And dipp’d, as round she ran,
The saucy way that seems to say
Now catch me if you can.

The cruiser’s captain look’d,
And mouth’d an awful oath:
“Now catch I not, let fire and shot
Or bottom catch us both.

“Mind not the bar,” he cried,
“Straight on! With depth to spare,[15]
The tide is high, and, sailing by,
We head them off up there.”

Deep plow’d the cruiser’s prow
The broken waves below,
So bows a bull whose pride is full
To toss a stubborn foe.

She plung’d and reel’d and roll’d.
Ah, better had she tack’d!
The water flew the bulwark through.
The mainmast bent and crack’d.

The wind, it whistled there;
The boatswain whistled here.
The captain swore; the mainsail tore;
The jib had ript its gear.

A flood was on the deck.
The crew were floundering round.
Then, clean and chill, and safe and still,
The cruiser lay aground.[15]

When Lindsey saw her fate,
So loudly cheer’d his men,
The hostile crew, that heard them, flew
To man their guns again.

But Lindsey kept his course—
He now could do no more—
And told ere night the cruiser’s plight
To those he met on shore.[17]

“There stays the ship,” said he,
“Till lifted by the tide.”
“Till Providence shall lift her thence,”
John Brown,[17] his friend, replied.

And Providence, at dusk,
Was routed out to greet
The drumming fierce of Daniel Pierce[18]
Who cried in every street:

“The cruiser lies aground!
High tide at three[18] o’clock!
Who care to go and meet her so,
Come all to Fenner’s[19] dock!”

They came to Fenner’s dock;
And found, awaiting there,
Eight[19] yawls, that Brown[19] had lent the town,
In Captain Whipple’s[19] care.

The crews that mann’d the yawls
Had muffled[19] every oar;
And they, and men who join’d them then,[20]
All told, were sixty-four.[21]

Their arms were pick’d with care
From all their friends could loan;
And all the yawls, for cannon balls,
Were stock’d with paving-stone.[22]

They battled wind and tide,
Three hours[23] amid the gloom.
The midnight pass’d.[23] They saw, at last,
The cruiser’s bulwarks loom.

“Who comes?” her watch call’d out.
“Who comes!” her captain cried.
Then swift alarm’d, in tones that arm’d,
Her crew that toward him hied.

“Move off!” her captain roar’d,
His pistol aiming well;
Then fired[23]—alack! fire answer’d back;
He started, stagger’d, fell.

And then, as dark and fierce
As tidal waves, where fleets
Are whelm’d and whirl’d and downward hurl’d
Till death their deed completes,

Our men, at Whipple’s[19] cry,
“Up, up!” clear’d every check;
And dash’d and leapt and slash’d and swept
Across the cruiser’s deck.

But hold!—her men were gone.
Ours held the deck alone;
Their work had done, nor fired a gun;
The cruiser’s crew had flown.[24]

“Surrender here!” rang out;
And out the cabin glanced
At first a few, then all the crew;
Then one and all advanced.

“First know,” said Whipple then,
“That here you sail no more;
And next prepare your yawls to bear
Yourselves and yours ashore.”[25]

The sailors went and came,
They came with bags and coats.
They call’d their roll, and said the whole
They own’d was in their boats.

Meantime our men themselves[26]
The captain’s wound had dress’d;
And row’d him, sore but safe, ashore
With all that he possess’d.[27]

“All hands embark!” rang out;
And all the yawls were full;
Save one whose crew had more to do
While off the rest should pull.

This crew the cruiser fired,[28]
Till smoke, well under way,
Flew up the mast as white and fast
As e’er, of old, the spray.

Then swiftly they embark’d,
And swiftly they withdrew;
As flash’d the fire, and, streaming higher,
The red flag redder flew.

The cruiser burn’d in state,
Until she burst at last[28]
With every ball she bore and all
Her powder in the blast.

It fill’d the heaven above,
But not to heaven was given:
A wounded cloud roar’d long and loud;
Then back the whole was driven.

When all was o’er, there seem’d
Faint sparks to fill the place—
“There comes,” said one, “the morning sun;
A new day dawns apace!”

It dawn’d for these, at least;
When soon they hove in sight
Of pier on pier pack’d full to cheer
Those heroes of the night.

But hist! the cheers were check’d.
“Keep mum!” the murmur spread;
The crown, to get these men, had set
A price on every head.

“Five hundred dollars down,[29]
For him who tells of one,”
Was first proclaim’d: but no one named
A man who aught had done.

“Five thousand,”[30] then were pledged,
“To know who took the lead;
And half as much to know of such
As join’d him in the deed.”

The King’s commission,[31] last,
Sat half a year or more;
But not a word it ever heard
About the sixty-four.

Forgotten were they then?
They might have pass’d by day,
Without a wink to make you think,
Or hint that it was they.

But, when the night had come;
And door and blind were lock’d,
And window fast, and blew the blast
Till all the chimney rock’d;

When, safe from eyes and ears,
In homes where all were true,
The way those men were feasted then
A king, full well, might rue.

And when the board was bare;
And round the roaring fire,
The nuts were crack’d and cider smack’d
Till tooth and tongue would tire;

When each his tale would tell
About that ship and night,
And still the way he dodg’d, each day,
The British spy and spite;

The boys who husk’d the corn
Would forward bend, and spring,
And draw the ears, like swords, with cheers,
To make the rafters ring!

The host who stirr’d the fire
Would stab it through and through:
You might have thought the flames he brought
Had burn’d a cruiser too.

The girls would fancy then
It was the cruiser flared;
And round the walls would aim like balls
The apples red they pared.

“To arms!” would cry the men;
And each a maid purloin;
While mother’s yarn would snap, and darn
The dance that all would join.

Ah, so we hush’d the tale!
Yet spies that nigh would roam
Could not decoy the smallest boy
To tell what pass’d at home.

We hush’d it, till the hush
Became our countersign
To save from those we knew were foes,
And make our men combine.

We hush’d it, till we learn’d
That thousands would be free,
And long’d to know which way to go
And when the call would be.

We hush’d it, till we heard
What Concord had to bear;
Then shouted loud, a mighty crowd,
“Our heroes lead us there!”

FOOTNOTES

[1] She first appeared in ... Narraganset Bay in March, 1772, ... to prevent infraction of the revenue laws, and to put a stop to ... illicit trade.—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev._, vol. ii., ch. 3, p. 60.

[2] See “Our First Break with the British,” notes 5, 19, 20, 24.

[3] “Often fired ... to compel their masters to take down their colors in its presence—a haughty marine Gesler.”—_Idem._, p. 61.

[4] “Plundered the islands of sheep and hogs, cut down trees, fired at market boats, detained vessels without any colorable pretext, and made illegal seizures of goods of which the recovery cost more than they were worth.”—_Bancroft’s Hist. U. S._, vol. vi., ch. 47, p. 417.

[5] “The Governor, ... sent a sheriff on board the Gaspee.”—_Idem._

[6] See _Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 8. Also “Our First Break with the British,” Note 19.

[7] “Hopkins, the Chief Justice, ... gave the opinion that any person who should ... exercise any authority by force of arms without showing his commission to the governor ... guilty of a trespass if not piracy.”—_Idem._, vol. vi., ch. 47, p. 416. “The governor, therefore, sent ... to ascertain by what orders the lieutenant acted; and Duddington referred the subject to the admiral.”—_Idem._

[8] See “Our First Break with the British,” Note 20.

[9] “As sure as the people of Newport attempt to rescue any vessel, ... I will hang them as pirates.”—_Idem._, p. 417.

[10] “The Admiral answered from Boston: ‘The lieutenant, sir, has done his duty.’”—_Idem._, p. 416.

[11] “Your two insolent letters.”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book_, vol. ii., ch. 3.

[12] “I would advise you not to send your sheriff on board the king’s ship again on such ridiculous errands.”—_Idem._

[13] “I shall transmit your letter to the Secretary of State.... I will send the sheriff of this colony at any time, and to any place within the body of it, as I shall think fit.”—_Idem._

[14] “On the 9th of June, 1772, Captain Lindsey left Newport for Providence in his packet.”—_Idem._ “Called the Hannah and sailed between New York and Providence.”—_Idem._, _note_.

[15] “As Captain Lindsey, on this occasion, kept his colors flying, the Gaspee gave chase, and continued it as far as Namquit (now Gaspee) Point. The tide was ebbing, but the bar was covered. As soon as Lindsey doubled the Point, he stood to the westward. Duddington, commander of the Gaspee, eager to overtake the pursued, and ignorant of the extent of the submerged point from the shore, kept on a straight course, and in a few minutes struck the sand. The fast-ebbing tide soon left his vessel hopelessly grounded.”—_Idem._

[16] Namquit, according to Lossing; Nauquit, according to Bancroft.

[17] “Lindsey arrived at Providence at sunset, and ... communicated the fact to Mr. John Brown, one of the leading merchants of that city.”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book_, v. ii., ch. 3.

[18] “At dusk ... Daniel Pearce passed along the Main Street beating a drum, and informing the inhabitants that the Gaspee lay aground, ... that she could not get off until three o’clock, and inviting,” etc.—_Idem._

[19] Brown “ordered the preparation of eight of the largest long-boats in the harbor, to be placed under the general command of Captain Whipple, one of his most trusty ship-masters,” ... “the row-locks to be muffled, and the whole put in readiness at half-past eight at Fenner’s wharf.”—_Idem._

[20] “The principal actors in this affair were John Brown, Capt. Abraham Whipple, John B. Hopkins, Benjamin Dunn, Dr. John Mawney, Benjamin Page, Joseph Bucklin, Turpin Smith, Ephraim Bowen, and Capt. Joseph Tillinghast.”—_Idem._ “Led by John Brown and Joseph Brown of Providence, and Simeon Potter of Bristol.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vi., ch. 47.

[21] “Filled with sixty-four well-armed men, a sea-captain in each boat acting as a steersman.”—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book of the Rev._, vol. ii., ch. 3.

[22] “They took with them a quantity of wood paving-stone.”—_Idem._

[23] “The boats left Providence between ten and eleven.... Between one and two ... they reached the Gaspee, when a sentinel hailed them.... Duddington appeared, ... and waving the boats off fired a pistol at them. This ... we returned.... Duddington was wounded.”—_Idem._

[24] “The crew retreating below.”—_Idem._

[25] “The schooner’s company were ordered to collect their clothing and leave the vessel.”—_Idem._

[26] “Thomas Bucklin ... fired the musket.”... He afterwards assisted in dressing the wound, supervised by Dr. John Mawney, an American.—_Idem._, note.

[27] “All the effects of ... Duddington being carefully placed in one of the American boats.”—_Idem._

[28] “The _Gaspee_ was set on fire, and at dawn blew up.”—_Idem._

[29] “A reward of five hundred dollars for the discovery of the perpetrator of said villainy.”—_Idem._

[30] “Afterwards, ... a reward of five thousand dollars for the leader and two thousand five hundred ... the other parties.”—_Idem._

[31] “A commission of inquiry under the great seal of England ... sat from the 4th until the 22d of January ... adjourned until ... May ... and sat until the 23d of June. But not a solitary clue to the identity of the perpetrators could be obtained.”—_Idem._

THE LEBANON BOYS IN BOSTON.[1]

The Tea-Party, December 16, 1773.

“New trouble brews in Boston,”
Was told us half the year;
Yet every week the postman came
With something new to fear.

“Our freedom,” so they wrote soon,
“Such progress here begets
That England seeks to check it[2]
With swords and bayonets.

“Their foreign ‘Board of Customs,’[3]
Past our laws’ reach, they say,
Here pluck from us their living,
As vultures from their prey.
Ah! would we keep our freedom,
We must not basely yield,
But claim our rights,[4] as when of old
The Stamp Act was repeal’d.”

We read, and thought together
That something must be done;
And we were those to do it,
We boys of Lebanon.

The words of Samuel Adams[4]
We heard a neighbor quote:
“They silence our Assembly;[5]
A sword is at its throat;
Our charter is their target,
Our judgment-seat their fort,[6]
Our men they rob for rations,
Our boys they shoot for sport;
Our faith that their horizon burst
And zenith held not down,
Their Toleration Law[7] would force
To cringe beneath the crown.
I care not what to others
A loyal feeling brings;
To me it still will loyal be
To serve the King of kings.”[8]

We heard, and swore together
That work must be begun;
And we were those to do it,
We boys of Lebanon.

We signed a pledge of “Union.”
To all the land we wrote.
We went to meet the postman.
We read the Boston note:

“In Union only is there strength;
And strength is all our stay.
Alas that some divide us!
Alas that some give way!
Once none would touch a thing they tax;
To-day the weak agree,
And say: ‘Enough if none will taste,
If none will trade in tea.’[9]
The lords have found our weakness out;
And now are talking thus:
That India’s losing traders
May bring tea free to us.[10]
Ay, ay, as if these would not heap
Her lap with tribute gold,
‘Let them,’ says England, ‘take the tax;
Let them the duties hold.’

“Already bound for Boston,
May tea be on the waves,
A bait flung out to tempt us
To touch, and then be slaves.
And if our strong men falter,
Nor thrust this bait away,
How can the weak be kept from all
That makes us England’s prey?

“And yet, if we in Boston
To thwart the throne conspire,
Our town may prove an altar,
Our fortunes melt in fire.
The sacrifice is ready;
Yet first we wait reply,[11]
To know we own a country
To save, before we die.”[12]

We met, and swore together,
If fighting must be done,
In Boston we would do it,
We boys of Lebanon.

We started out at midnight,
And took the Indian suits,
Our fathers’ trophies from the wars
Where all had been recruits.

We pack’d them up in knapsacks,
And then with each a gun
And tomahawk away we walk’d
In pairs or one by one.
By day we kept the forests;
But when the sun was down,
We hurried on to Boston,
And scatter’d through the town.

We hunted out our cousins.
We told them why we came.
“Aha,” said they, “we plot the same.
We join you in the game.”

They show’d us then, at morning,
The “Tree of Liberty,”
Where those who plann’d the Stamp Act[13]
Had hung in effigy.
A pole was now beside it;
A flag it bore flew high;[14]
The church bells all were ringing;
A crowd had gather’d nigh.
“To see this tree, the agent
Of stamps,” we heard, “resign’d.
Here too East India’s agent
Should learn the people’s mind:
The tea sent here to tax us
Untouch’d away shall go;
Or all will brand its consignee,
Our own, our country’s foe.”[15]
The people cheer’d the purpose;
From lip to lip it pass’d;
The crowd about went homeward;
The sky was overcast.

Each agent heard the message;
No promise would he sign.[16]
Again the town demanded one;
Again did each decline.[17]
Then Boston’s grand “Committee[18]
Of Correspondence,” wrote
To ask the farmers, “Would they stand
By what the town would vote?”

From every hill and valley
Came back, as though one word,
What Samuel Adams read with pride
Where all the people heard:

“Without a voice dissenting,
We swear by you to stand.
Our wealth or life preventing,
The tea shall never land.”[18]

Then dawn’d the stirring Sunday[19]
When swift the news was pass’d,
That one tea-ship they waited for,
Was in the port at last.
Not many went to church then;
But all began to pray,
With eyes to duty open wide—
The Puritanic way.

In haste we met together,
Our work must be begun;
We plann’d, then, how to do it,
We boys of Lebanon.
With Proctor[20] for our captain,
We vow’d on hand to be,
And cling like air and water there
About the ship with tea.

The Town-Select-Men waited on
The vessel’s consignees;
But these were waiting on the fort,[21]
Well lock’d with English keys.
True courtiers, they would tender
The governor there their tea.
The governor tried his council;
The council[22] said: “Not we;
Our homes are with the people;
And we are not the ones
To hold the cup of serfdom
To them, ourselves, or sons.”

The consignees were waiting
Until, in forms of law,
Their tea was enter’d at the port,
When none could it withdraw.[23]
So quick the Town-Committee
Had made and seal’d a writ,
And pledg’d the vessel’s owner’s word
Not yet to enter it.[24]

At Faneuil Hall,[25] next morning,
While all the bells were rung,
Men swarm’d, like bees, to buzz before,
Prepar’d to die, they stung.
The sheriff[26] came and cried aloud:
“You meet unlawfully!”
His cry but made them busier buzz,
With Saxon loyalty.
The consignees were summon’d;
“The tea,” they wrote, “we stack.”[27]
“The tea shall sail for England,”
The people answer’d back.

And then to ports in England,
And those at home they wrote:
“Tea-taxers here, or traders,
Our country’s foes we vote.[28]
Think not our men will waver,
Our wives their vows abate;
The herbs they steep for tea will keep
Less bitter than their hate.”

Two tea-ships more were sighted.[29]
Our guards, like nerves, were strung[30]
From bay to every belfry’s bell,
The slightest move had rung.

Then spoke the vessels’ owners:
“Our tea is legal prey
For fort and fleet, if enter’d not
Before the twentieth[31] day.”
“Then send it off to sea again,”
The Town-Committee said.
“Too much you ask,” was answer’d,
“For then would blood be shed.
The port’s collector warns us
We must not clear the port.
Without his ‘Writ of Clearance,’
We dare not brook the fort.”
They pointed down the harbor:
There lay the fleet,[32] alas,
Like prongs along the channel,
To rake whate’er should pass.

They pointed toward the castle,
And all the guns within
Bespoke how they would treat a prey
That sought the sea to win.