This mezzotint illustrates the contentious climate in Boston following the colonists’ protests against the British-imposed Tea Act of 1773. Ten piteous men representing the city of Boston are imprisoned in a cage that hangs precariously from a dead branch. The gravity of the city’s plight is represented by the ring of cannons surrounding the liberty tree and by several British frigates, which float menacingly in the background. These foreboding signs are counterbalanced by the cooperation of neighboring regions—indicated by the boatload of rescuers at the lower left, who present the imprisoned Bostonians sustenance in the form of fish, a religiously symbolic offering.