F 158 .9 .L6 B3 Copy 1 m i m 111^ :ii • ""'■ the''bell -OF- INDEPENDENCE THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA TO THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS: GREETING. PHILADELPHIA. DUNLAF & CLARKE, PRINTERS, Hastings' Building, 819 & 821 FILBERT ST. 1885. i n\ 4 Pl J THE BELL —OF— INDEPENDENCE. THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA TO THE CITY OF NE^A^ ORLEANS GREETING. ^?g^^ PHILADELPHIA. DUNLAP & CLARKE, PBINTERS, Hastings' Buildikg, S19 & 821 FILBERT ST. 1885. < Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 18S5, by Charles S. Keyser, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. THE OFFICIAL ESCORT OF THE BELL OF INDEPENDENCE ,Hon. AA^ILLIAM B. SMITH, IVtayar of the City of PhiladBlpkla, THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCILS: SELECT CCUlsTCIL, Thomas M. Hammett Esq. , Thomas J. Rose, Esq., William Thornton, Esq., Ed"ward W. Patton, Esq., Ed^A^'ard Matthews, Esq.^ John Brady, Esq., Willian-i McMullen, Esq., Geo. W. Koehersperger, Esq., COMMON COTJNCIL. Andrew Zane Jr., Esq., Joshua T. Oweii, Esq., Charles K. Smith, Esq., John M. Walton, Esq., James McCormick, Esq., John T. Clark, Esq., Robert L. Pyle, Escf. , Chairman, ^A/ILLIAM DIXEY, Esq., CDnmilssiDneT of Markets and City Praperty, Ex-afflnla CTistodian of State House and Hell. Sergeant EDWARD MALIN, I'j'JN 29l8?6 Officer THOS. H. NEWMAN, V^^o^ " JOHN PATTON, Of the Reserve Corps, Municipal Police of Philadelphia, Guards of the Bell. I ORDINANCE AND RESOLUTION OF THK COUNCILS i)K THE Gity of PMladelpliia /City of pw Orleans. On the fourth day of December, 1884, the following letter of re- quest by the Mayor of New Orleans, accompanied by the Ordinance of that Municipality, was submitted by the Mayor to the Councils of the Municipality of Philadelphia : Philadelphia, December 4, 1 884. To the Presidents and Meml)ers of the Select and Common Councils of the City of Philadelphia. Gentlemen : — I have the honor to transmit a letter from the I Ion. J. V. Guillotte, Mayor of New Orleans, La., urging upon the City of Philadelphia the adoption of the accompanying Resolutions, formally adopted by the Councils of the City of New Orleans. Acknowledgement of the receipt of the same has been communicated to his Honor, the Mayor, pending your consideration. 6 THE BELL OF INDEPENDENCE. The feeling of the people of Louisiana and the entire South is so well portrayed in these petitions, that it only remains for your Honorable Bodies to meet them in the same patriotic spirit to ensure the solution of a question wliich will enable the City of Brotherly Love to display that spirit of fraternal feeling and good will which have reflected lionor upon her name for more than a century. Very respectfully, WILLIAM B. SMITH, Mayor. New Orlc'im, November 22, 1884. To the Mayor of Philadelphia. Honored Sir: — In accordance with An Ordinance of our Council, a copy of which lierewith enclosed, I desire to urge upon you and your people the exertion of your best efforts to obtain for us the loan of the Independence Bell, to be used on the opening of our World's Exposition. I am sura that its care and safety will be the anxious thought of all our citizens, who. notwithstanding all the reports as to their seditious feelings against the unity of our Government, are, without fear of contradiction, as affectionate to the traditions of our country, the real Republic of the World, and are as true believers in its laws and constitution — in fact, as patriotic Americans as their more favored brothers of the North. Your consent to the temporary absence of this reminder of our forefathers' valor, to be used in heralding the greatest occasion of our city, will tend greatly to heal the unfortunate estrangement that has existed between our people for the past twenty years. Hoping that your well known public spiritedness and generous lieart will cause you to cast all rancor for the South out of your bosom, and that our request be granted, I remain, very respectfully, J. V. (lUILLOTTE, 3f(njor. New Orleans, November 19, 1884. (No. lOO;?, Council Series.) AN ORDINANCE Where.vs, The W^orld's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition will open in this city on the sixteenth day of December next, and will be inaug- urated by the Chief Magistrate of the United States, in the presence of ripresentatives from every State and Territory in the Union, and Whereas, It is much to be desired that in the celebration of that day, as annoimcing the new birth and progress of all the industries of our common country, that we should look back to the day on which American Inde- pendence was proclaimed to the world, and have amongst us a visible re- minder of the days of our forefathers. THE BELL OF INDEPENDENCE. Tlierefore, be it resolved by the Council of the City of New Orleans, That they request the Mayor and Council of the City of Philadelphia, to entrust to our keeping for that occasion, the Old Independence Bell. Resolved, That the City of New Orleans will take hecoraing pride in its responsibility for tlje custody and safe return, and will be grateful to the people of a sister City, and sister State, for the opportunity which will thus be offered its children to see that symbol of our independence, wliose tones inspired courage in the hearts of the patriots of '70. Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be fi)rwarde(^ to the proper authori- ties, to grant this request, with a letter from his Honor tlie Mayor. The Councils, on the twenty-third day of December, 1885, passed the following : KESOLUTION Of instruction to the Commissioner of Market'* and City Property, relative to permitting the removal of the ''Bell of Independence" from Independence Hall, under the supervision of tlie Joint Special Committee of Councils, and to provide for its safety. Whereas, His Honor, the Mayor, and Councils of the City of New Orleans, have requested these Councils to allow the "Bell of Independence" to be taken to New Orleans, to be exhibited at the World's Exposition now open in that city ; and Whereas, His Honor, the ?vIayor of Philadeli^hia, has personally recommended that the request be granted ; now, therefore, be it Resolved, by the Select and Common Councils of the City of Philadelphia, That the Commissioner of Markets and City Property be, and he is, hereby authorized and directed to remove the " Bell of Independence" from the rotunda of Independence Hall, and to place the same in cars for shipment to the New Orleans Exposition, under the supervision of the Joint Committee of Councils, and under the custo- dians hereafter provided for. Resolved, That the bell, from the time of its shipment from Philadelphia and until its return after the Exposition, shall be under the personal care of three custodians, police officers of the City of Philadelphia, to be appointed by the Mayor of Philadelphia. THE BELL OF INDEPENDENCE. "And Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land, unto ALL THE Inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you." "Among the belLs of the world no one has recorded an event of as great interest to humanity as the boll of Independence. Its prophetic inscription ; its tolling, on that memorable day, the advance of our States from colonial dependencies to sovereignties ; the mission for unity, liberty, and fraternity it yet symbolizes, gives its story an abiding interest generation after generation.' A bell was in the possession of the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania for official purposes from its organization. Its most customary use was to call the Assembly together, mornings and afternoons, during its sessions, and to announce the hour of the opening of the courts of justice to the people. Its most stately use was to announce the proclamations of the accession of a member of the Royal Family to the Throne,* and the proclamations of treaties of peace and declarations of war. * The following is the notice of a proclamation, in which a I'rovince bell was rung, in 1G8'): I'lCNN.SlLVANI.V. liy llie Piesiilent and Council. These are to give general notice that our present sovereign King James the Second, will be published, in tTie Front Street upon Delaware River, over against the Governor's gate to- morrow n)orning at the ninth hour upon "tlie wringing of the Hell." Philadrlphia the Sigued by Order nth, 3d month Kigr). RICHARD INCiELO, cl. coiiiicilii. THE BELL OF INDEPENDENCE. 9 The bell which, following this custom, announced the Declaration of Independence, was ordered by the Superintendents of the State House* from the Agent of the Province in London, in 1751. It was required to weigh about two thousand pounds, and to be lettered with the following words, "well-shaped in large letters " : " By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, for the State House in the City of Philadelphia, 1752 ;" and under- neath, '• Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhab- itants thereof." The Bell arrived at the end of August, 1752. Early in Septem- ber, hoAvever, it was cracked by a stroke of the clapper, Avithout any other violence, and thereupon recast by Pass & Stow, in Philadel- phia, and again hung, in 1753. This recasting was not satisfactory, and the founders obtained the privilege of recasting the Bell. In June, 1753, it was hung in the State House once more, and. with the exception of the period from 1777 until after the eVacuation of the city by the British forces, f has hung there continuously to this year— 1885. Its diameter is five feet, at the lip, and, in the thickest portion, it is three inches through; its weight is 2,080 pounds. It is lettered, in a line entirely encircling the crown, with the sentence Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the LAND unto all THE Inhabitants thereof, Lev. xxv, v. x. Immediately under this sentence, also in a line completely encir- cling the bell, * The State House was designed by, and erected, under the immediate care of Andrew Ham- ilton, the greatest hiwyer of his time in the Colonies, and "among the great lawyers of any age ;" it was iirst occupied Ijy the Assembly in 173li. Its cost was defrayed out of the first issue of the paper money of the Province. t September, 1777. The city being about to be occupied by the British army, the bell was car- ried to Allentown, a long distance from the city iu those days, and there or elsewhere securely kept until after the evacuation. The escort by which the removal was made was a body of Virginia and North Carolina troops, commanded by Col. Polk, of North Carolina (Beth Souv., p. 181). 10 THE BELL OF INDEPENDENX'E. By Orpkr of the ASSEMBLY of the Province of PENNSYLVANIA FOR THE STATE House in Philada. Pass and Stow Philada. mdccliii. The Chronicles of the Bell. 27 til of August, 1753 (afternoon), the Bell was first rung to call the Assembly together;* it was during the session in which it was resolved to make and continue the issue of the Province money, notwithstanding the order of the Lords Justices of the CroAvn ; and in which the Assembly claimed the right, under the charter of the Province, to ordain, 'make and enact any laws what- soever for raising money for the public use, or for any other end, pertaining to the public, state, peace, or safety, with the assent and approbation of the freemen of the country." September 7, 1753. During the same session, the Assembly unanimously rejected a clause, directed by the Governor to be in- serted in tlie l)ill, requiring the royal approbation to give it validity, so that the first use of the Bell was to chronicle the initial forward movement of the province to the completed revolution it was at last to proclaim. May 18, 1754. It was rung to convene the Assembly, when considering the instructions of the Governor to the Commissioners, on the part of the province, for the treaty at Albany; it said: " wc can do no less than return him our great acknowledgments for his condescension and justice." » Resolved, That every member who should be absent from the House above half an hour after the bell ceases to ring in the fore and afternoon, should be lined one shillins, and that Mr. Pearnee be hereby appointed to collect tine, for use of the Pennsylvania Hospital. — Votes of Assembly, vol. :t, p. 138. 12 THE BELL OF INDEPENDENCE. Jndkpenmcnc K Ham, in 177i'i, July ''), 1776, eo])ies of the Declaration Avere sent by the Congress to all the counties of" the Province, and to the several Assemblies, Conventions, and Councils of Safety, to the commanding officers of the Continental troops and at the head of the army-"" The Committee of Safety ordered : That the Sheriff of Tliiladel- phia read, or cause to be read and proclaimed, at the State House, in the City of Philadelphia, on Monday, the 8th day of July, instant, at 12 o'clock, at noon of the same day, the Declaration of the Rep- resentatives of the United Colonies of America, and tlmt he cause all his officers and constables of the S^did city to attend the reading thereof. The Connnittee of Safety resolved that every member in or near the city be ordered to meet at tlie Committee Chamber before 12 o'clock on Monday, to proceed to the State House, when the Decla- ration of Independence is to be ])r(»claimed. The Connnittee of In- spection of the City and Liberties were requested to attend the Pro- clamation (if Iiidcjicndcnce, at tlie State House, on Monday next, at 12 o'clock. ♦Jour, nf Cong., vol. ii. p. 2t" THE BELL OF INDEPENDENCE. 13 The Proclamation. Jul}' 8, 1776, near the hour of twelve, the bell was rung for the proclamation of the Declaration. The place selected for the reading was a treeless open space near the rear of the central entrance to the building. The Square, a level ground, broke oft' abruptly on its south side like an earthwork. The State-House ran along its whole north line — a low, irregular wall of buildings in those vears, with a square, bastion-like tower in the centre, and spire in which the bell that day hung, and beat against the still, hot air of all revolutions. The order of the city and Province processions in those days* was first, the Constables, with their staffs ; the Sheriff" and the Coroner, with tlieir white wands to usher the way ; if ihe Mayor and Re- corder of the city were there, they had the next place in tlie order of precedency, then any military men "Avitli their levee," after them the members of Congress and other dignitaries of the United Colonies. After the chief dignitaries in these processions should ordinarity have followed, according to the rigid formality of the times, — '' the town's gentlemen.'" The rest were serious titleless citizens — the same undermost, resolute outgroAvth of every age, which appears in the first stages of revolutions. The Committee of Inspection moved from the Philosophical Hall, on Second street, at 11 o'clock, and thence to the Lodge, where they joined the Council of Safety, and together continued on to the Square. The bell ceased tolling. * John Nixon, soldier and financier — a strong-voiced, open-featured man, who was true until the struggle's and his life's end, read the paper which preserves our liberties. The platform on which he stood that forever memorable day, was a rough frame stage ; around * Pa. Mag. of Hist., No. 1, vol. ii. p. 40. 14 THE BELL OF INDEPENDE^■CE. him those resolved citizens and their representatives, -wlio, in their cliildren's ehihlren were to he the masters of a continent — tlie fore- most nation of all time, lie read the paper, thenceforth to be the common property and faith of that nation to its close ; his voice, audi hie to every one, was heard a long distance from the S(|uare. " The audience then gave three repeated huzzas " — the hell again began tolling, and the chimes and all the bells of the city rang together. Nine of the associators, with the same rude iconoclasm by which these changes are wrought in every age — the destruction of all held most sacred to the time, Avent into the building and took down the Kinji's arms from the walls of the Kino-'s Oourt, and, carrviiig them to the open common, ])iled casks one u}>on the other, placed the arms u})on them, and set all on fire — with great demonstrations of " The night was starlight and beautiful." July 8, 18o5. The Bell's last Tollixo. John Marshall died in Philadelphia on the sixth day of July, 183.3; his remains Avere on the day of this anniversary Itorne to Virginia for burial. The ]>ar of IMiiladelphia united with their fellow citizens to do honor to his memory ; with them walked, with the faltering steps of ex- treme old age — his eighty-eighth year, the venerable Bishop White,* * Died 183G. THE BELL OF INDEPENDENCE. 15 the first Chaplain to the Assembly of our State, and to the Congress of the Revolution. It was during his funeral solemnities that the bell, while slowly tolling, without other violence, parted through its great side, and was silent thenceforth forever. So it Avas ordered by "the Great Disposer of human events," that he who was the Chief Justice of the nation, and its most illustrious judicial name, should die almost within the shadow of that Hall whence the people took down the king's arms from the king's court, that so justice might endure. And that this bell, its mission for our independence completed, should have its last association with his venerated name. In the silence more profound they bore his body along our streets, and thence, still in the city's care, to the place of its sepulture, in chat State which gave to the nation the author of the great Decla- ration this Bell first proclaimed to the Avorld. The Chroxology of the Bell here ends. To the Assembly which ordered it to be made, the sentence of its mission, cast into its crown, meant the maintenance of the prerogatives of Legisla- tures chosen by the people, Avithin the limits of the British Con- stitution ; to the Congress whose declaration it announced to the world, it had the larger meaning of the entire independence of the colonies from the British crown. In the century Avhich has succeeded, it has become the symbol of the common brotherhood of the States ; and Avhatever Ave have gained or lost in the long years of our prosperity, and in the dark hour of our sorroAV and desolation, most precious of all the treasures — of which the memories clinging around this bell are the conservators — the brotherhood of the States was not lost, and the unity of the nation survives. Unity, Fraternity, Liberty. Official Escort of the Bell INDEPEIENGE PEL to SPEGIIIL Wj PENNSYLVAWA R.MLRO.M). The Bell was taken out of Independence Hall and placed on the truck at 7 o'clock, January 23d, 1885. At 7.30 A. M., the escort guarding the Bell to the special train of the Pennsylvania Railroad took up its line of march, in the following order: Head of column, four mounted men; Band of the First Battalion, James Stewart, Jr., Chief of Police, mounted, with two Orderlies; First Battalion of Police, Captain, Lieutenants and two hundred and thirty-two men ; Police Patrol Wagon No. 1, eight men; Farrel's Truck, bearing the Bell, drawn by six bays, with driver, assistant and its three custo- dians en route, surrounded in hollow square by the Reserves, Lieu- tenant and thirty-two men. Band of Second Battalion, Second Battalion of Police, Captain, Lieutenants and two hundred and thirty-two men. Police Patrol Wagon No. 2, eight Men. 1^^^ s^ Pi' 8 ? (1) 2 H ,11 k i fq i t ]C fl . "1 "? u. h ^ 2 ">" <^ d: k! ^ H 03 c| fi h D H Z t ^ h ^ X c " o V'"*^ H ^- P^ CO CO 6