Soon they cried, "Your foes you'll banish, Soon the glory shall be won; Nor shall setting Phoebus vanish, Ere the matchless deed be done!"
Quick as thought the ships were boarded, Hatches burst and chests displayed; Axe and hammers help afforded,-- What a glorious crash they made!
Quick into the deep descended, Cursed weed of China's coast; Thus at once our fears were ended,-- Freemen's rights shall ne'er be lost!
Farewell, the tea-board with its equipage Of cups and saucers, cream-bucket and sugar-tongs, The pretty tea-chest also lately stored With Hyson, Congo, and best Double Fine. Full many a joyous moment have I sat by you Hearing the girls tattle, the old maids talk scandal, And the spruce coxcomb laugh--at maybe nothing. No more shall I dish out the once-loved liquor, Though now detestable; Because I'm taught--and I believe it true, Its use will fasten slavish chains upon my country; And Liberty's the goddess I would choose To reign triumphant in America.
_And the memorable Suffolk County Resolves of 1774._
The mansion where the famous Suffolk County Resolves were passed, September 9, 1774, is still standing. It is situated in Milton, Mass., a few doors from the Boston and Milton line, on the Quincy road. It is a low, two-story double house, 20 × 40 feet, with the main door in its centre, and a chimney on each end. In its front there is inserted a marble tablet, 14 × 28 inches, with the following inscription:
On the 9th day of Sept., 1774, at a meeting of the delegates of every town and district in the County of Suffolk, the memorable Suffolk Resolves were adopted.
They were reported by Maj.-Gen. Warren, who fell----in their defence in the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775.
They were approved by the members of the Continental Congress at Carpenter's Hall, Phil^a., on the 17^th Sept., 1774.
The Resolves to which the immortal patriot here first gave utterance, and the heroic deeds of that eventful day on which he fell, led the way to American Independence.
'Posterity will acknowledge that virtue which preserved them free and happy.'"
In Warren's oration, March 5, 1772, more than two years before these Resolves were passed, the spirit of liberty burned within his heart. Nine months after these Resolves the battle took place, which finally resulted in the birth of American freedom. _See portrait, page_ XLVII.