Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-07-03

On September o, 1865, when the As
sembly considered a resolution for a
congress of the colonies, one of the most
important stages in the preliminary
events leading up to the Revolution, the
bell sounded again. 1t called together
the meeting when the ship Royal Char
lotte, bearing stamps for Pennsylvania,
New Jersey and Delaware, reached Phila-
delphia. on October 3. 1895.
For this occasion the bell was "mufhed
and tolled." At the meeting the demand
was made and enforced that the stamps
should not be landed but transferred to
his Majesty's royal man-of-war, the Sar-
dine, to be returned to England.
Mourned Over Stamp Act
With its tones mufaed second time,
the bell was tolled all dav long on Octo-
her 81, 1865. when the Stamp Act was
put in operation. Some of the people
of the city stayed in their houses
mourning the death of liberty. while 9TH
ers in the street met together and burn
ed the stamp papers at the coffee house.
The people of the city were assembled
by the ringing of the State House bell
on April %, 1853, to protest against the
acts OF Parliament that closed the plan
ing and splitting mills and stopped the
manufacture OF iron and steel in Penn
sylvania, the affxing of the Kings ar
row on pine trees and the cutting off of
the trade Of the colonies in all parts
of the world.
1t called together the famous meeting
IN the State House yard on July 30,
1LbS, at which it was stated that the
Parliament of Great Britain had reduced
the people here to the level of slaves"
continuing n
most every important step taken by the
Colonies toward the goal of freedom. the
BELL called together, on December 81,
lII3, the largest meeting that had ever
assembled in the State House ward.
There the citizens decided that the shin
Polly. then coming up the Delaware to
the city, with tea and a miscellaneous
cargo, should not be permitted to land.
There was named the committee that.
followed by the citizens generally, sent
the whole cargo with the tea, the cap
tam and the consignee, from the Arch
street wharf TO its "Old Rotterdam place
IN Leadenhall street, London" They
would not have ''The detestable tea fun
neled, down their throats with Parlia.
ment's duty mixed with it." Leading
citizens and officials of the province
stated at that meeting, adding that "No
power on earth had the right to tax
them without their consent"
ToIIed When Boston Was Closed
Again the hard-worked bell was "muf-
fled and tolled," on June /, 17T4, to
announce the closing of the port of Bos-
ton. A meeting assembled in the square
by the ringing of the bell adopted resolu-
tons protesting against this act on the
part Of Parliament. On June 1S, it call.
ed a meeting to relieve the Boston suffer
ers. at which Philadelphians contributed
2O00 pounds sterling, the Friends of
Philadelphia Meeting subscribed 2540
pounds in gold, and other counties small
er amounts. Supplies were also forward
ed from this city.
After having done duty at almost every
important event which led up to the Rev
olutionary War, the Liberty Bell called
delDhia to the square, ON April 25, 1875,
after the Battle of Lexington. There
the men pledged themselves to the cause
of liberty.
From then on the bell rang almost daily
to assemble the Continental Congress to
its sessions; first in Carpenters Hall and
later in Independence Hail.
Finally, on July 8, 1776, the bell peal
ed forth on the great occasion whereon
associates in having inscribed upon it the
Injunction Proclaim liberty throughout
all the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof and lived up to the expectations
of the old Assembly.
Truly the Liberty Bell earned the title
bestowed upon it on that occasion, al
though only about 300 attended the his
toric and momentous meeting at which
the Declaration of Independence was
given to the world There John Nixon
read the proclamation, as first introduc-
ed by Richard Henry Lee on June Z.
1776. in the resolution which has since
become famous.
Achieved Lasting Fame
This was the greatest occasion ,,pon
which the Liberty Bell was sounded
even as the reading of the proclamation
of the Declaration of Independence was
the most important event in the history
OF this country, and of Liberty. Here
the old Bell, now the most famous relic
in the country, achieved everlasting
fame as the agency by which the people
were drawn together, and by which the
news that the proclamation had been
adopted was sent broadcast over the citv.
But the work of the Liberty Bell was
still far from. ended One year later. on
July 1. 1771. 1t vas r'lng to commemorate