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[BROADSIDE]. SCAEVOLA, pseudonym. To the Commissioners Appointed by the East-India Company, for the Sale of Tea, in America. Gentlemen, Your Appointment, with is notoriously designed to enforce the Act of 7th G. III, for raising a Revenue in America, justly claims the Attention of every Man, who wishes well of this Country: and you need not be surprized to find the Eyes of ALL now fixed on you; as on Men, who have it in their power to ward off the most dangerous Stroke, that has been ever meditated against the Liberties of America....., n.p., n.d. [Philadelphia?, 1773]. Folio, edges untrimmed, light stains (tea?) at right-hand margin, otherwise in good condition. Evans 12999.
PROTESTING THE TEA CONSIGNMENT
An unusual polemic by an unidentified American who expresses outrage at Parliament's Tea Act, venting his anger upon the American merchants appointed as agents for the sale of the tea and urging them in the strongest terms to resign their Commissions (which they did, in the end). "Scaevola" likens the consignees' role to that of the hated Stamp Agents: "To Americans it must be a Matter of Indifference, by what Stile or Title you may think proper to demean yourselves; whether STAMP MASTERS or TEA COMMISSIONERS, they are "political Bombardiers to demolish the fair Structure of American Liberty." He appeals to them to consider the hatred they will incur: "what Appointments at Home or Abroad can ever make up to you the Loss of your brethren's Affections?"; and urges them to "fully answer the anxious expectations" of their fellow Americans by resigning their office since "if you refuse, no one else will dare to execute the diabolical Commission."
PROTESTING THE TEA CONSIGNMENT
An unusual polemic by an unidentified American who expresses outrage at Parliament's Tea Act, venting his anger upon the American merchants appointed as agents for the sale of the tea and urging them in the strongest terms to resign their Commissions (which they did, in the end). "Scaevola" likens the consignees' role to that of the hated Stamp Agents: "To Americans it must be a Matter of Indifference, by what Stile or Title you may think proper to demean yourselves; whether STAMP MASTERS or TEA COMMISSIONERS, they are "political Bombardiers to demolish the fair Structure of American Liberty." He appeals to them to consider the hatred they will incur: "what Appointments at Home or Abroad can ever make up to you the Loss of your brethren's Affections?"; and urges them to "fully answer the anxious expectations" of their fellow Americans by resigning their office since "if you refuse, no one else will dare to execute the diabolical Commission."