It now only remained to affix their signatures to the declaration, and to publish it to the world, and their duty, in respect to this important measure, was done. Having been engrossed on parchment, it was brought out, and laid on the table. This was on the 2d of August. Meanwhile, some who had voted for the declaration, had left congress, and others had taken their places. The latter signed the instrument. John Hancock, as president of the congress, led the way. Taking a pen, he recorded his name. He wrote with great power, and on the original parchment, no signature is so bold and full-faced as his. The others followed by states--fifty-six in number. The declaration of independence, was the great act of the Revolution. It was the hinge on which turned the important events which followed. Yet, at the period the plan was brought forward, it appeared to many to partake of the wildness and extravagance of some measure of the knight of la Mancha. At that day, the colonies were few and feeble. They had no political character--no bond of union but common sufferings, common necessities, and common danger. The inhabitants did not exceed three millions--they had no veteran army--no arsenals but barns--no munitions of war--few fortifications--no public treasury, no power to lay taxes, and no credit on which to obtain a loan. [Illustration: John Hancock.] No wonder that the hearts of some trembled. No wonder that many doubted the expediency of such a bold and adventurous step. Who was the nation with which the colonies had to contend?--the mistress of the world--a nation whose navy far exceeded that of any other nation on the globe. Her armies were numerous and veteran--her officers were skilful and practised--her statesmen subtle and sagacious, and were now fired with indignation. All these circumstances were well known to the patriots who composed the congress of '76. They were aware that they put in peril life, liberty, and country. Yet, they well knew the importance of the measure proposed, and not only its importance, but its necessity. The country needed some great object distinctly before them. The colonies required a bond of union--a common cause--one expressed--recorded--recognised--some one great plan, the object of which they could pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, to secure. That plan was independence. The influence of the declaration was immediately perceived--it roused the nation to a higher tone of feeling, and gave impulse and concentration to the national energies. It helped on the tide of Revolution, and mightily aided in driving back the waves of British oppression. But the full influence of that measure is not yet felt--is not yet seen. That belongs to distant time. Some day, hereafter, it will stand out in the great picture of human liberty, in all its grandeur and importance. More will be thought of it than of the splendid and long-lauded achievements of Marathon and Salamis--of Waterloo and Trafalgar!