insignificant three-pence a pound, upon a single article of luxury, would now be overlooked by the colonists. How egregiously he misapprehended their character! When intelligence of this act reached America, the scheme found no admirers. The people had never complained of the _amount_ of the taxes levied by impost; it was trifling. They asserted that Great Britain had _no right to tax them at all_, without their consent. It was for a great _principle_ they were contending; and they regarded the retention of the duty of three-pence upon the single article of TEA, as much a violation of the constitutional rights of the colonists, as if there had been laid an impost a hundred-fold greater, upon a score of articles. This was the issue, and no partial concessions would be considered. The non-importation agreements began to be disregarded by many merchants, and six months before this repeal bill became a law, they had agreed, in several places, to import every thing but TEA, and that powerful lever of opposition had now almost ceased to work. TEA being an article of luxury, the resolutions to discard that were generally adhered to, and concerning TEA, alone, the quarrel was continued. [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON] For two years very little occurred to disturb the tranquillity of New England. Thomas Hutchinson, a man of fair abilities, but possessed of very little prudence or sound judgment, succeeded Bernard as Governor of Massachusetts. New men, zealous and capable, were coming forth from among the people, to do battle for right and freedom. Poor Otis, whose eloquent voice had often stirred up the fires of rebellion in the hearts of the Bostonians, when _Writs of Assistance_, and the _Stamp Act_, elicited his denunciations, and who, with prophetic voice, had told his brethren in Great Britain, "Our fathers were a _good_ people, we have been a _free_ people, and if you will not let us be so any longer, we shall be a _great_ people," was now under a cloud. But his colleagues, some of them very young, were growing strong and experienced. John Adams, then six-and-thirty, and rapidly rising in public estimation, occupied the seat of Otis in the General Assembly. John Hancock, one of the wealthiest merchants of Boston; Samuel Adams, a Puritan of great experience and tried integrity; Joseph Warren, a young physician, full of energy and hope, who afterward fell on Breed's Hill; Josiah Quincy, a polished orator, though almost a stripling; Thomas Cushing, James Warren, Dr. Samuel Church, Robert Treat Paine--these became the popular leaders, and fostered "the child independence," which John Adams said, was born when Otis denounced the Writs of Assistance, and the populace sympathized. These were the men who, at private meetings, concerted plans for public action; and with them, Hutchinson soon quarreled. They issued a circular, declaring the rights of the colonies, and enumerating their grievances.