Finally, in 1773, the British cabinet attempted a master stroke. They rescinded the large export duty taxed on tea leaving British ports, retaining, however, the small import duty of three pence per pound on American importations of the article. The Boston Tea Party occurred on the 16th of December, 1773. Up to that date no tea had arrived at New York, but more than a month previously careful arrangements had been made by the Sons of Liberty and others to prevent the landing

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of any and all the packages that should be brought there. Two tea ships, the " Nancy " an<l the " London,*' came into port the next April. One of them was obliged to return to England without delivering her cargo, and the other was boarded by the Sons of Liberty, who, breaking open the chests, threw the tea into the East River. The rejection of the tea by Boston had already made it manifest to the king and his ministers that no plan for taxing the colonies by direct action of parliament could succeed through the operation of the ordinary forms of law, and that the time had come to resort to extremities. Early in 1774 an act known as the Boston Tort Bill was passed -- a punitive measure, designed to coerce the city by closing her port. News of the proceedings reached New York on the 12th of May. It was instantly recognized that a like fate was undoubtedly in store for New York, and accordingly a great meeting was held, under the joint auspices of the Sons of Liberty and the more dignified classes of the community, presided over by Isaac Low, a prominent merchant, a leading member of the Church of England, and, although a sympathizer with the cause of liberty, well known for his comparatively moderate principles.