[1] In order to indicate the relations existing, at the time of the “Tea-Party,” between Boston and the surrounding towns, as well as to give unity of form to this ballad, the story has been told as given, some years ago, by David Kinnison, one of the survivors of the party, who boarded the tea-ships. He stated that certain young men of Lebanon, Me., united in a secret society—one of many existing at that time—and formed alliances with clubs in Boston and in other places. These young men determined to destroy the tea, and went to Boston for that purpose. Having resolved to stand by each other, to throw overboard those who faltered, and not to reveal each other’s names, twenty-four went on board as Indians, half armed with muskets and bayonets, half with tomahawks and clubs, and all expecting a fight.—See _Lossing’s Pict. Field Bk. of the Rev._, vol. i, p. 499. [2] In 1770, “September, Hutchinson received the order ... which marks the beginning of a system of ... prevention of American independence.... Boston was made the rendezvous of all ships ... and the fortress ... garrisoned by regular troops.... But the charter of Massachusetts purposely and emphatically reserved to its governor the command of the militia of the colony, and of its forts; the castle had been built and repaired and garrisoned by the colony itself at its own expense; to ... bestow it on the commander-in-chief was a plain violation of the charter, as well as of immemorial usage.”—_Bancroft’s Hist. U. S._, vol. vi., ch. 45, pp. 368, 369. [3] “Never was a community more distressed or divided by fear and hope than ... Boston. There the ... Board of the Commissioners of the Customs was to be established ... as the lawyers of England ... decided,” in 1767, “that American taxation by Parliament was legal and constitutional, the press of Boston sought support in something more firm than human opinion.... ‘The law of nation,’ said they, ‘is the law of God.’”—_Idem_, ch. 30, pp. 101, 102. [4] “‘Hancock and most of the party,’ said the governor, ‘are quiet, and all of them, except Adams, abate their virulence.’”—_Idem_, ch. 47, p. 407. [5] “Bernard ... dissolved the Assembly. Massachusetts was left without a legislature.”—_Idem_, ch. 34, pp. 165. See also “Our First Break with the British,” note 9. [6] “The officers screened their men from legal punishment, and sometimes even rescued them from the constables.”—_Idem_, ch. 43, p. 334. See also the whole account, in this chapter, of the Boston massacre. [7] “For New York, the Lords of Trade ... refused to Presbyterians any immunities but such as might be derived from the British Law of Toleration.”—_Idem_, vol. vi., ch. 7, p. 84. See also “Our First Break with the British,” note 12.