The Bostonians in Distress

As reports of American colonial resistance to British taxes reached London, the publishers Sayer and Bennett responded with five mezzotints, produced between October 1774 and March 1775. The unsigned works probably were designed and engraved by the adept satirist Philip Dawe, and this second of the series responds to the Intolerable Acts, passed by Parliament early in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Port Act closed the harbor until the city repaid the cost of the ruined 342 chests of tea—worth about $1.7 million today. Other measures sent more troops into the city and stripped Massachusetts of long-established means of self-governance.

A cage containing nine hungry men, led by a minister who recites lines from Psalm 13, symbolizes Boston’s plight and points to the colony’s Puritan roots. In the distance, British frigates block the harbor and Hessian mercenaries—wearing distinctive tall helmets—march along the shore. A row of cannon aimed at the tree underscore an ominous sense of military occupation and force the prisoners to rely on local fishermen for sustenance. Papers passed in and out of the cage—lettered "Promises" and "From the Committee"—point to the activities of the Massachusetts Provisional Congress, established in October 1774 to govern areas of the large colony beyond British control (see 24.90.31–24.90.35 for all the prints in the Sayer and Bennett series).