NEW-YORK. THE FOLLOWING DIALOGUE BEING CONCEIVED, IN SOME MEASURE, CALCULATED TO ADVANCE THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM, IN THE PRESENT CRITICAL SITUATION OF AFFAIRS, IS FOR THAT PURPOSE PRESENTED TO THE PUBLIC [caption title]

[New York: Printed by John Holt, May 20, 1774].. Broadsheet, approximately 12 1/2 x 8 inches, printed in two columns. Lightly silked. Inscribed in later ink in lower margin of p.[2]: "Printed by John Holt." Very good. In a half brown morocco and cloth folding case, spine gilt. A protest of the Boston Port Act, passed by Parliament on March 31, 1774. The act, designed to punish Boston for the Tea Party, ordered the port of Boston closed until the inhabitants reimbursed the East India Company and King's treasury for the tea destroyed and customs duty lost on December 16, 1773. "Because Boston alone was punished, Lord North believed the colonies would not 'take fire.' It was a costly mistake: the cry was raised in America that the Port Act was merely a prelude to a 'Massacre of American Liberty'; the colonies rallied to Boston's aid; and the Continental Congress was called to concert opposition to the mother country" - DAH. The present copy is apparently a variant of the broadsheet recorded by Evans, in which "Affairs" is spelled "Affaires." Evans ascribes printing to the press of John Holt. ESTC locates only three copies, at the Massachusetts Historical Society, John Carter Brown Library, and New-York Historical Society. Rare. EVANS 13489. ESTC W24574. DAH I, p.224.