everything in their power should be done to prevent it.

[Illustration: Coffee-House opposite Bowling Green, Head-Quarters of
the Sons of Liberty.]

In this same year the house which Stephen De Lancey had built close by
Trinity Church, and which James De Lancey had lived in until his death,
had become a hotel. It was called Burns's Coffee-House. It was a solid
structure, with high beams, great fireplaces, and wide halls. If you
go now to look for the spot where it stood, you will find a crowded
business section; but in those days there were open spaces all about,
and a handsome lawn swept away to the river. One October night the
merchants of the city gathered in this coffee-house, and here, late at
night, they signed a paper which bound them one and all to buy no goods
from England so long as the English King should compel them to use the
stamps. By this agreement people could, of course, only wear clothing
that was made in the colonies, and even the wealthy refused to buy silk
and broadcloth that were sent from England. Tea and coffee, being
imports, were not drunk, and in their place were used preparations made
from fragrant wild herbs of the American soil.

The merchants who had assembled in the coffee-house were called the
Non-Importation Association, branches of which spread throughout all the
colonies. The paper they signed was the non-importation agreement. Next
day, which was the first on which the stamps were to be distributed, the
city seemed to sleep. The shops were closed and the citizens remained
indoors. The flags were hung at half-mast and the bells tolled dismally.

But at night the silence changed to noise. The citizens gathered in
numbers. They broke into the stable of Lieutenant-Governor Cadwallader