But for the moment the trouble passed. The colonists had all the substance of victory in the repeal of the Stamp Act: they could afford to disregard the shadowy threat of the Declaratory Act. They may have thought that, since the king and Parliament had yielded to their resistance once, they were not likely to challenge that resistance again. But King George appears to have been incapable of learning. Seven years later the trouble broke out anew, again provoked by the question of taxation. The colonists protested against import duties which they considered illegal and oppressive, and their protest was met by the withdrawal of all the duties objected to except that on tea. They accepted this withdrawal, and this exception, amicably; but they countered the exception by generally refusing to drink tea, so that no {141} tea was imported and no duty on it was payable. It was a situation which would be laughable if the consequences had not been so tragic. [Sidenote: Opposition to the tea duty] Despite the non-tea-drinking resolution, English ships laden with tea put into Boston harbour towards the end of 1773, doubtless with a view to landing it. Whether or no it would have been landed we can never know, for the ships while in harbour were boarded by a mob disguised as wild Indians and all the tea-chests were thrown into the sea. Again it would be laughable but for the tragic consequence. The colonial Governments deplored the lawless act and were ready to make compensation. But the king, who had ever bewailed what he called "the fatal compliance" in the repeal of the Stamp Act, would accept no expression of regret. Measures were introduced into Parliament for closing the port of Boston to all commerce, by way of punishment for the act of "hooliganism," as we now should call it, and virtually all the liberties granted by charter to the State of Massachusetts, of which Boston was the chief city, were withdrawn. Troops were sent out to enforce these decrees, and the general in command was appointed Governor of the State with powers such as had never before been vested in any governor of any American colony.