a large number of the chief citizens gathered together, but the consignees did not appear. A number of citizens were chosen to go to them and tell them the will of the people. The consignees were found all together in a warehouse, and a paper was read to them calling upon them to promise not to sell the teas, but to send them back to London in the same ships in which they came. One after the other they all refused. Then a second resolution passed by the people was read to them, stating that the consignees who should refuse to do as they were asked were enemies to the country. When the people, who were anxiously waiting outside in the street, heard of the conduct of the consignees, they were furious, and cried, "Out with them-out with them!" But they were wisely persuaded to leave them alone, and do no violence.

Another attempt was made a day or two later, and again a fortnight afterwards, to get the consignees to give way to the will of the people, but they continued to refuse. Then committees from several neighbouring towns met a Boston committee, and all agreed to prevent the landing and sale of the expected tea. Steps were taken to be ready to resist it by force if need be. The other towns felt that Boston was struggling for the liberties of their country, and that they must not stand by idle spectators, but be ready to help if their help was needed.

On Sunday, 28th November 1773, the ship "Dartmouth " appeared in Boston harbour with 114 chests of tea on board. The people of Boston were very strict in their observance of Sunday, but in this case it was impossible to wait. Meetings

were held to discuss what was to be done. The consignees could not be found. Favoured by the Governor of Boston, they had taken refuge in the castle. But a promise was got from the owner of the "Dartmouth" that he would not enter the ship till Tuesday, and messages were sent out to invite the committees of the neighbouring towns to a mass meeting on the morrow.

The next morning numbers of people streamed into Boston, and a meeting of above 5000 persons resolved unanimously "that the tea should be sent back to the place from whence it came, and that no duty should be paid on it." One man remarked, "The only way to get rid of it is to throw it overboard." The consignees asked for time before they sent their answer to this resolution, and they were given till the morrow. But the owner and master of the ship were forced to promise not to land the tea; and, to make all safe, twenty-five men watched the ship all night.

The next morning the consignees sent their answer. They said it was utterly impossible for them to send back the teas, but that they would store them till they received directions what to do with them. Their answer was received with great wrath; and the owner and master of the "Dartmouth," and the owners of the other tea-ships which were expected, carried away by their sympathy for their fellow-citizens, promised that the tea should go back as it came without touching land or paying a duty. So it was hoped the matter would end. Every shipowner was forbidden, on pain of being held an enemy to the country, to bring tea from England until the unrighteous Act should be repealed.

But the Governor of Boston, who was opposed to the American patriots, took care to see that the tea-ships should not leave the harbour without permission. According to law, if the ships were not cleared of their cargo within twenty days of their arrival, and given a clearance, they might be seized by the revenue officers, and then the tea could be landed at the castle. In this way the Governor hoped to triumph over the citizens. Boston and the towns which had joined with it grew more earnest in their resolution to prevent, even by force if need be, the landing of the tea, and voted that they would none of them use any tea till the duty was repealed. Seven thousand men from the different cities met, and agreed once more unanimously that the tea should not be landed. In the evening the owner of the "Dartmouth" came before them and said that the Governor would not allow his ship to leave because it had not been properly cleared. Then the appointed word was given, a shout was heard at the porch, followed by a war-whoop. Fifty men disguised as Indians rushed down to the wharf. Spies were posted to see that none came to disturb them, and they boarded the three tea-ships that were lying there. In about three hours they had emptied the 340 chests of tea which the ships contained into the sea. They did it with great order, taking care to do no harm to anything else. Deep silence reigned, and no sound was heard but the breaking open of the tea-chests. When the work was done, the town became perfectly quiet, and those who had come in from the country carried news of what had been done to their villages.

The American patriots were full of joy. Other towns fol

lowed the example of Boston in refusing to allow tea to be landed, the consignees took warning and submitted to the will of the people, and every one left off using tea. But the conduct of Boston gave George III. the excuse which he wanted to enable him to use force in making the colonists obey his will. The colonists began to prepare seriously for a struggle which they felt must come, and it seemed as if George III. wished to drive them into it. In February 1775 the first fighting took place, and the war began which ended in the Independence of the United States.

L.

HOW NELSON LOST HIS ARM.

A.D. 1797.

NELSON had already gained great fame by his conduct in several battles at sea, when he was ordered in 1797 to go and attack the Island of Teneriffe. Teneriffe belonged to the Spaniards, and as at that time the Spaniards were the allies of the French, England was at war with them. It was well known that Santa Cruz, the chief place in Teneriffe, would not easily be taken, but Nelson was just the right man for a difficult undertaking. He was ordered not to land himself if he could avoid it, as his own life was thought too precious to be lightly risked.

Nelson's plan was to bring his ships as near land as possible

in the night, and then let the boats land under cover of the darkness, and surprise the fort. But a gale of wind and a strong current from the shore prevented the ships from advancing, and it was daybreak before they got within a mile of the shore. Now that they could be seen, all chance of a surprise was over. Nelson quickly made a new plan. He decided to batter the fort with the guns from some of his ships, whilst his men landed in another place and gained the heights above the town. But he was again hindered by wind and tide-a_calm had followed the gale, and the current was contrary. Nelson would not give up; he thought that he would disgrace his nation and lose his own honour if he went away after doing nothing. He ordered his boats to prepare to land that night to attack the fort, as had been first intended, and he determined to lead the attack himself. When he had made all his arrangements, he wrote to his commander-in-chief to recommend to him his stepson Josiah Nisbet, in case anything happened to himself.

Still

He said in his letter: "This night I, humble as I am, command the whole destined to land under the batteries of the town, and to-morrow my head will probably be crowned either with laurel or with cypress." He was very anxious about his stepson, who was a lieutenant on board his own ship, the "Theseus," and he begged the young man not to join in the attack, but to stay in the ship. "Should we both fall, Josiah," he said, "what would become of your poor mother? The care of the Theseus' falls to you; stay, therefore, and take charge of her." But Nisbet answered, "Sir, the ship must take care of herself; I will go with you to-night, if I never go again.”