"Brethren and Fellow Citizens! You may depend that those odious miscreants and detestable tools to ministry and government, the Tea Consignees, (those traitors to their country—butchers—who have done and are doing everything to murder and destroy all that shall stand in the way of their private interest,) are determined to come (from the castle) and reside again in the town of Boston! I therefore give you this early notice that you may hold yourselves in readiness on the shortest warning, to give them such a reception as such vile ingrates deserve. (Signed), Joyce, Junior, Chairman of the Committee for Tarring and Feathering. ? If any person shall be so hardy as to tear this down, he may expect my severest resentment. J., Jun." Alexander, his brother, also a loyalist, whose property was confiscated, had originally been a member of the committee of correspondence, and undoubtedly sympathized with the Whigs, but like many others, ultimately fell off from the great body of his countrymen, and clung to the royal cause. In August, 1776, he was arrested and confined at Fishkill. At the peace he went to England, with his brother, and died at Waterford, Ireland, in the year 1800. "The objectors say the tea duty will be a means of supporting the Parliament of Great Britain in raising money from us. How it can affect this matter I am utterly at a loss to comprehend. Have not large quantities of tea for some years past been imported into this Province from England, both on account of the dealers in tea there and the merchants here, all which have paid the American duty? How in the name of common sense does it differ, unless it be in favor of America, for a New England merchant to have his tea shipped from Great Britain, on his own account, or receive it on commission from the grocers there, and on its arrival, paying the customary duty, than if it had been shipped by the East India Company, who were the original importers? What consistency is there in making a clamour about this small branch of the revenue, whilst we silently pass over the articles of sugar, molasses and rum, from which more than three-fourths of the American revenue has and always will arise, and when the Act of Parliament imposing duties on these articles stands on the same footing as that respecting tea, and the moneys collected from them are applied to the same purposes? Many of us complain of the Tea Act, not only as it affects our liberties, but as it affects our purses, by draining us annually of a large sum of money. But if it be considered that by this step the East India Company have taken of sending their tea to market themselves at their own cost, and the saving that is thereby made to the merchants here of commissions, freight and charges of importing it, which will be equal to the whole annual tax that has yet been paid, it must silence that complaint." "Z." When we shall be able to return to Boston I cannot say, but hope and believe it will not exceed one year, for sooner or later America will be conquered, that you may depend on." Elisha, his brother, born in 1745, graduated at Harvard University, in 1762; was proscribed and banished, and died at Blurton Parsonage, Trentham, Staffordshire, England, in November, 1824. His wife, Mary, daughter of Col. George Watson, of Plymouth, Mass., died at Birmingham, England, in 1803. "Neither of my sons," wrote the Governor, in March, 1774, "have dared to appear in Boston since the latter part of November, to the total neglect and ruin of their business." Transcriber's Notes This text is a compilation of letters written by individuals with varying degrees of literacy. Spelling and punctuation have been preserved. The Cover and Frontispiece Illustrations were harvested from The Internet Archive's scanned images of this work (No. 18) |