“This acknowledgment being made, you must permit me to add, sir, that at this, or in any short time, his youth, inexperience, and unripened education are, and will be, insuperable obstacles, in my opinion, to the completion of the marriage. As his guardian, I conceive it my indispensable duty to endeavor to carry him through a regular course of education, many branches of which, I am sorry to say, he is to day deficient in, and to guide his youth to a more advanced age, before an event, on which his own peace, and the happiness of another, are to depend, takes place. “If the affection, which they have avowed for each other, is fixed on a solid basis, it will receive no diminution in the course of two or three years, in which time he may prosecute his studies and thereby render himself more deserving of the lady, and useful to society. If, unfortunately, as they are both young, there should be an abatement of affection on either side, or both, it had better precede than follow marriage. “Delivering my sentiments thus freely, will not, I hope, lead you into a belief that I am desirous of breaking off the match. To postpone it is all I have in view; for I shall recommend to the young gentleman, with all the warmth that becomes a man of honor, to consider himself as much engaged to your daughter as if the indissoluble knot were tied; and, as the surest means of effecting this, to apply himself closely to his studies, by which he will, in a great measure, avoid those little flirtations with other young ladies, that may, by dividing the attention, contribute not a little to divide the affection.” There was throughout the colonies a general combination against using tea, upon which Lord North had affixed a tax. The British merchants sent, to many of the American ports, ships laden with tea. At New York and Philadelphia, the people would not allow the tea to be landed; and the ships returned to London with their cargoes. At Charleston they landed the cargo and stored it in cellars, where it perished, as no purchasers could be found. At Boston, a number of the inhabitants, disguised as Indians, boarded at night the tea ships which were, anchored in the harbor, and dashing the chests, emptied all the tea into the water. This event was popularly called The Boston Tea Party. The British Government was now thoroughly enraged. Its wrath was mainly directed against Boston. A bill was enacted by Parliament, known as the Boston Port Bill, closing the port against all commerce whatever, and transferring the Custom House to Salem. It was supposed that Boston would thus be punished by utter ruin. As another vindictive measure, as exasperating as it was insulting, it was decreed that the people of Massachusetts should no longer have any voice in the choice of their rulers; but that all counsellors, judges, and magistrates should be appointed by the king of Great Britain, and should hold office during his royal pleasure.