On this day 250 years ago, the Pennsylvania Chronicle published an excerpt from a letter with intelligence that the East India Company was making arrangements to ship tea to American ports. The letter writer did not know that the ships had set sail that very day from England but he encouraged Philadelphians to reject the tea if it arrived there. The publisher of the Philadelphia paper added his own plea for Americans to resist!:

Extract of a letter from New-York, September 27.

“Six hundred chests of tea are destined by the 
East-India House for your place, 600 for this, and 
300 for Boston. Our London Captains have refus-
ed taking it, and I hope yours will follow their ex-
ample. Their owners have commended them. 
Some ships will no doubt be hired, to transport it 
hither. Whether it may be landed or not, I will 
not take upon me to say ; if it is, I hope no pur-
chaser will offer for it. I am told that it is to be 
exposed at vendue as soon as it comes.”

We are assured the above is a scheme of Lord 
North’s, to whom an application was made by the 
East-India Directors, the last Session of Parliament, 
to bring in a bill for the repeal of the American 
Tea Act, as they found the merchants on this side 
the Atlantic, had virtue enough to forego their 
profit, stand to their agreement, and did not pur-
chase or import any tea, which he absolutely re-
fused ; and being a great schemer struck out the 
plan of the East-India Company’s sending this ar-
ticle to America ; hoping thereby to out wit us, 
and to effectually establish that Act, which will for 
ever after be pleaded sa a precedent for every imposi-
tion the Parliament of Great-Britain shall think 
proper to saddle us with.

It is much to be wished, that the Americans will 
convince Lord North, that they are not yet ready 
to have the yoke of slavery rivetted about their necks, 
and send back the tea from whence it came.

Source: https://www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=401&mode=dual&img_step=1#page1