PETITION OF THE AGENTS, & PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNCIL OF BOSTON THEREON,
Referred to by the Agents in their Letter of the 2d Decemr.
To His Excellency the Governor and the Hon'ble His Majesty's Council.
The Petition of Richd Clarke & Sons, of Benjn Faneuil, & Thos. & Elisha Hutchinson.
That the Hon'ble East India Company, in London, have shipped a considerable quantity of tea for the port of Boston, and as your petitioners are made to understand, will be consigned to their address for sale.
That some of your petitioners have in consequence of this been cruelly insulted in their persons and property; that they have had insulting and incendiary letters left and thrown into their houses in the night; that they have been repeatedly attacked by a large body of men; that one of the houses of your petitioners was assaulted in the night by a tumultuous and riotous assembly of people, and violent attempts made to force the house for the space of two hours, that have greatly damaged the same; that they are threatened in their persons and property, and further with the destruction of the said tea on its arrival into the port; and that the resolves and proceedings of the Town, in their meetings on the 5th and 18th inst., are intended to be expressive of the general sense of the Town, to which we beg leave to refer your Excellency and the Honorable Board.
Your petitioners therefore beg leave to resign themselves, and the property committed to their care, to your Excellency and Honors, as the guardians and protectors of the people, humbly praying that measures may be directed to, for the landing and securing the teas, until your petitioners can be at liberty, openly and safely, to dispose of the same, or until they can receive directions from their constituents.
| Signed, | Richd Clarke, |
| Benjn Faneuil, Junr. | |
| Thos & Elisha Hutchinson. |
A true copy from the original.
Petition on file. Attest: