The people were overjoyed at this.

The King’s birthday coming soon after, there was in his honor a great celebration, and a liberty pole was planted on the Common, which in after years played an important part in the history of New York; and a marble statue of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, was erected.  This William Pitt had done more than any other man in England to secure the repeal of the Stamp Act, and had time and time again spoken strongly against it.  His statue was set up in Wall Street, and at the same time a statue of King George III., seated upon a horse, was erected on the Bowling Green.  It fared ill with these statues later, as you will see.

There was no longer a stamp act, but there was another act quite as disagreeable.  It was called the Mutiny Bill, and it required that food and drink and sleeping-quarters be given to all the British soldiers.  Now the Mutiny Bill fell hardest upon New York, for New York was the head-quarters of the British army in America.  The people refused to comply with this law, because they feared that it was the first step toward compelling them to support a great army in America.

So the soldiers and citizens were again continually at odds.

Four years after the Stamp Act was repealed, during which time affairs were in a most unsettled state and the bitter feeling between the colonists and England was growing stronger with each passing day, the English Parliament declared that no tax was to be put on anything except tea.  Tea was to be taxed, not so much for the money that would thus go to the King, but to show that he had the right to tax the colonists.  This did not settle matters in the least.  The colonists had sworn to resist all taxes, and to have a tax on one article was as bad, to their minds, as having taxes on all.  But the merchants were not prospering, for, not importing goods from England, they had none to sell.  So a committee of 100 men was appointed to see what could be done.  This committee decided that it would be right for the merchants to import everything they needed except tea.  And the merchants welcomed this decision and agreed to it.

But the fiery Sons of Liberty refused to listen to any such compromise.  They insisted on keeping the non-importation agreement until the duty on tea, as well as all other duties, should be done away with once and for all.  So they determined to maintain it until the end, and they did maintain it well.  Day by day the soldiers of King George III. and the citizens became greater enemies.  Although the soldiers tried many times to drag down the liberty pole, it was well defended, and it stood until one night in January, 1770, when they tore it down and chopped it into pieces.  This act led to the battle of Golden Hill, which was the first real battle of the American Revolution.

CHAPTER XXII

Fighting the tax on tea