Tuesday, December 16, dawned. It was a critical day. If the tea should
remain in the harbor until the morrow--the twentieth day after
arrival--the revenue officer would be empowered by law to land it
forcibly.
[Illustration: Old South Church, Boston.]
Men, talking angrily and shaking their fists with excitement, were
thronging into the streets of Boston from the surrounding towns. By ten
o'clock over seven thousand had assembled in the Old South Church and in
the streets outside. They were waiting for the coming of Benjamin Rotch,
who had gone to see if the collector would give him a "clearance," or
permission to sail out of the port of Boston with the tea.
Rotch came in and told the angry crowd that the collector refused to give
the clearance. The people told him that he must get a pass from the
governor. Then the meeting adjourned for the morning.
At three o'clock in the afternoon a great throng of eager men again
crowded the Old South Church and the streets outside to wait for the
return of Rotch. It was an anxious moment. "If the governor refuses to
give the pass, shall the revenue officer be allowed to seize the tea and
land it to-morrow morning?" Many anxious faces showed that men were asking
themselves this momentous question.
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