"We are informed that you have, imprudently, taken Charge of a Quantity of Tea; which has been sent out by the India Company, under the Auspices of the Ministry, as a Trial of American Virtue and Resolution..."
A rare and incendiary handbill issued in Philadelphia at the height of resistance to the Tea Act. It is addressed both to Delaware River pilots and specifically to Captain Ayres of the East India Company tea ship Polly, then expected from London with a taxed cargo of tea. The broadside warns that any river pilot who assists the landing of the Polly will be deemed "an offender against the rights of America" who "will experience the utmost Exertion of our Abilities; as THE COMMITTEE FOR TARRING AND FEATHERING." Instead, the authors urge the pilots to themselves warn Captain Ayres by handing him this document. It explains to Ayres, "In the first place, we must tell you, that Pennsylvanians are, to a Man, passionately fond of Freedom; the Birthright of Americans; and at all Events are determined to enjoy it. They they sincerely believe, no Power on the Face of the Earth has a right to tax them without their Consent". This is the second and only folio version of three related Philadelphia broadsides printed in rapid succession. (The first version does not name the ship, the third version corrects its description.)
The first news to reach Philadelphia of the Polly's sailing had come in late November. On 18 December, a mass meeting held at the Pennsylvania State House resolved that the tea not be landed and that anyone facilitating its arrival would be considered "an enemy to his county." The meeting also appointed a committee who "waited upon the Gentleman in this city, who had been appointed Consignees of the expected cargo," to resign their commissions. Within a few days all had complied.1
On Friday, December 24, the first reports of what had transpired in Boston arrived in Philadelphia, and on Saturday evening of Christmas Day, 1773, reports from Chester confirmed that the Polly had made its way up the Delaware River. Unable to retain a pilot, Captain Ayres came up the river in the wake of another ship. Members of the Philadelphia Committee travelled to Gloucester Point, several miles down river from the city, "in order to have the earliest opportunity of meeting Capt. Ayres, and representing to him the sense of the Public, respecting his voyage and cargo." There, they hailed the ship requesting it not sail further, and then escorted Captain Ayres to Philadelphia, where "he was soon convinced," of city's resolve not to allow the tea to be landed without the prospect of violent resistance. Another mass meeting was called within an hour of Ayres's arrival in Philadelphia which resolved "That the TEA … shall not be landed," that Captain Ayres would "carry back the Tea immediately" to London. To facilitate his return, Ayres was given a "proper supply of necessaries and fresh provisions," and most importantly, the benefit of a pilot to navigate his way to the open sea. The following day, 28 December 1773, Ayres left Philadelphia, and within two hours the Polly had "weighed anchor, and … proceeded, with her whole cargo, on her return to the East-India Company."2
Evans 12942 (citing one copy at the Library Company, Philadelphia. The Library Company is known to have sold their duplicate copy from the collection of Pierre Eugène du Simitière, 1737-1784, possibly this copy).
1. "Philadelphia, Monday, December 27, 1773," Pennsylvania Gazette, 29 December 1773, 2.
2. "Philadelphia, Dec. 24 At Two o'Clock this Afternoon arrived in this City a Gentleman, who came Express from New-York, with the following interesting Advices from Boston…" Postscript to the Pennsylvania Gazette, 24 December 1773, 1; "Philadelphia, Monday, December 27, 1773," Pennsylvania Gazette, 29 December 1773, 2-3; "Philadelphia, Monday, December 27, 1773," Pennsylvania Journal, 29 December 1773, 3.