Tea Leaves / Being a Collection of Letters and Documents relating to / the shipment of Tea to the American Colonies in the year / 1773, by the East India Tea Company. (With an introduction, / notes, and biographical notices of the Boston Tea Party)

by Francis S. Drake

Your most obedt. & very humble servant,

Gilb't Barkly.

Lombard Street,

26th May, 1773.

To the Hon'ble the Court of Directors of the East India Company.

Memorial.

The Memorial of Gilbert Barkly, merchant, in Philadelphia, in North America, who resided there upwards of sixteen years, and who is well acquainted with the consumption of that country, particularly in the article of Teas, &c.

Humbly proposes. In order to put a final stop to that destructive trade of smuggling:

That the Company should open a chamber in one of the principal, & central cities, of North America, under the direction of managers, and that an assortment of teas from England should be lodged in warehouses, and sales to commence quarterly upon the same terms & conditions as those in London.

By this means the merchants and grocers from the Southern and Northern Provinces will attend the sales and purchase according to their abilities. The goods thus brought from home to them, and sold cheaper than they can be smuggled from foreigners, the buyers will be bound by interest, and think no more of running that risk, to which may be added that they have them when paid for, immediately, for whereas, when commissioned from abroad, they generally wait six months before the receipt of them.