BEING A COLLECTION OF LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE SHIPMENT OF TEA TO THE AMERICAN COLONIES IN THE YEAR 1773, BY THE East India Tea Company NOW FIRST PRINTED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT. WITH AN INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE BOSTON TEA PARTY,...

BOSTON: A.O. CRANE. 1884. COPYRIGHTED. Entered according to Act of Congress, at Washington, DC., 1884, By A.O. Crane , Boston, Mass. Smith & Porter, Printers, Boston....

The collection of letters and documents which has occasioned the preparation of the present volume, though it has been so long buried in obscurity, appears to have been originally made with a view to publication. It was for many years, and until his decease, in the possession of Mr. Abel Bowen, a well-known engraver and publisher, of Boston, sixty years ago, and was obtained by him from a person who procured it in Halifax, N.S., whither many valuable papers, both public and private, relating to

When contemplating the publication of "Tea Leaves," we issued a circular, stating our intention, and that, judging from the material then in our possession, the book would contain about two hundred and fifty pages, with six illustrations, three of them portraits. We are happy to announce on the completion of the work, not only fulfillment of our promises, but much that is additional thereto. Included in its four hundred pages are twenty portraits, taken from family paintings, (one-half never bef

Among the causes which led to the American Revolution, the one most prominent in the popular judgment is the "tax on tea," imposed by Great Britain on her American colonies. The destruction, in Boston harbor, in December, 1773, of the cargoes of tea sent to that port by the East India Company, was undoubtedly the proximate cause of that memorable event, and in view of this fact, the occurrence,—"by far the most momentous in the annals of the town," says the historian Bancroft,—merits a more thor

Major NATHANIEL BARBER, A prominent merchant and patriot of Boston, was one of the famous "Whig Club" of ante-revolutionary days, in which were James Otis, Dr. Church, Dr. Warren and other leaders of the popular party. In it Civil Rights and the British Constitution were standing topics for discussion. He was one of the committee of correspondence, from its creation in 1772, and afterwards of the committee of safety, and was naval officer of the port of Boston in 1784. He joined St. Andrew's Lod

( From Thomas's "Massachusetts Spy." ) Gen. JOSEPH WARREN And the memorable Suffolk County Resolves of 1774. The mansion where the famous Suffolk County Resolves were passed, September 9, 1774, is still standing. It is situated in Milton, Mass., a few doors from the Boston and Milton line, on the Quincy road. It is a low, two-story double house, 20 × 40 feet, with the main door in its centre, and a chimney on each end. In its front there is inserted a marble tablet, 14 × 28 inches, with the foll

LETTER FROM MR. WILLIAM PALMER. To the Directors of the East India Company. [24] Gentlemen: As the Act allowing a Drawback of the whole of the customs paid on tea, if exported to America, is now passed, in which there is a clause empowering the Lords of the Treasury to grant licences to the India Company, to export tea, duty free, to foreign States, or America, having at the time of granting such licences upwards of ten millions of pounds in their warehouses, and as the present stock of tea is n

LETTER FROM Mr. GILBERT BARKLY. Gentlemen: I take the liberty to enclose for your consideration a memorial, regarding the establishment of a branch from the East India house in one of the principal cities in North America. Should the design meet with your approbation, as I am well acquainted with the teas most saleable in that country, shall be extremely happy in giving you every information in my power, I have the honor to be with due esteem, gentlemen, Your most obedt. & very humble se

LETTER FROM Mr. BROOK WATSON, TO DANIEL WIER, Esq. Dear Sir: The annual consumption of teas in Nova Scotia is about 20 chests Bohea, and 3 or 4 of good Common Green. Should the Company determine on sending any to that Province, I pray your interest in procuring the commission to Watson's & Rashleigh's agent there, John Butler, a man of long standing in the Province and in the Council, and by far the fittest person to be employed, for whom W. & R. will be answerable. At Boston I h

A PROPOSAL FOR SENDING TEA TO PHILADELPHIA. Received from the Hon'ble Mr. Walpole. [27] As Philadelphia is the capital of one of the most populous and commercial Provinces in North America, and is situated in the center of the middle British Colonies, it is proposed: That the East India Company should, by the middle of June at farthest, send to Philadelphia at least five hundred chests of black teas, one hundred half chests of green teas, and seventy five half chests of Congou and Souchon teas.

Mr. Palmer's Compliments to Mr. Wheler, encloses the Outlines of a Plan upon which the Exportation of Tea on behalf of the Company to America take place. Mr. P. will attend the Committee whenever he is desired. PLAN. Admitting that an exportation of tea to America by licence takes place immediately, in order to prevent the colonists from becoming purchasers at the sales of foreign companies, usually made from September to November, and consequently at least discourage those companies from encrea

Submitted to the consideration of Henry Crabb Boulton, Esq., Chairman of the East India Company. The usual exports to America, consisting of callicoes, muslins, and other produce of India, (tea excepted,) have been seldom less than £600,000 pr an., as such the consequence of that trade, and the interest of the merchants concerned therein, ought to be well considered before this measure of sending out teas to America should be adopted, lest it might defeat the one and prejudice the other. The mer

The Bohea tea to be taken out of what was refused by the buyers last sale; but particular care to be taken that none under the degree of middling, or good middling, nor any damaged chests are sent, to be marked & invoiced, not according to the King's numbers, but the Company's, to be reweighed, by thus marking them, each bed will be kept separate, and there will not only be no pretence abroad for finding fault, as from No. to No., will be exactly of the same quantity, having been packed

WEIGHT OF TEA EXPORTED TO AMERICA. The Hayley, James Scott, is now ready to sail, & I mean to dispatch her 15 th Aug t. The Dartmouth, James Hall, [38] will be here about 14 days longer. These two are constant traders to Boston. I have no connection with the Carolina trade, but I understand the London, Curling, belonging to Greenwood & Higginson, is now ready for sailing, and is a constant trader. Mr. Settle will please to inform the Com tee of the above & thereby oblige,

After our hearty commendations. Whereas, the united company of merchants of England trading to the East Indies, have, by the annexed petition, humbly prayed us to grant them, in pursuance of an Act passed the last session of Parliament, a licence to take out of their warehouses a quantity of teas, equal in weight to one thousand seven hundred large chests of Bohea tea, which quantity will not in the whole exceed six hundred thousand pounds weight, without the same having been exposed to sale in

JOHN SPURR ( see p. 164 ). John Spurr was, after the Revolution, a prominent citizen of Charlton, Mass., and often represented the town in the State Legislature. He married the daughter of Rev. Elijah Dunbar, and left two sons; Elijah Dunbar Spurr, and Samuel Danforth Spurr. The widow of the latter, who is now living, is the mother of the first wife of Senator George F. Hoar. THOMAS MELVILL. Melvill's Tea Relic, as seen on page 131 . The publisher, in collecting illustrations for Tea Leaves, fou

[1] Dr. Holmes, the annalist, says, that tea began to be used in New England in 1720. Small quantities, must, however, have been made many years before, as small copper tea-kettles were in use in Plymouth, in 1702. The first cast-iron tea-kettles were made in Plympton, (now Carver,) Mass., between 1760 and 1765. When ladies went to visiting parties, each one carried her tea-cup, saucer, and spoon. The cups were of the best china, very small, containing about as much as a common wine-glass. [2] H