tolling, and without any apparent reason, the bell, which had played
such an important part in the War of Independence, and in the securing
of liberty for the people of this great country, parted through its
side, making a large rent, which can still be clearly seen. It was as
though the bell realized that its great task was accomplished, and that
it could leave to other and younger bells, the minor duties which
remained to be performed.

This is not a history of the United States, but is rather a description
of some of the most interesting and remarkable features to be found in
various parts of it. It is difficult, however, to describe scenes and
buildings without at least brief historical reference, and as we present
an excellent illustration of the apartment in which the Declaration of
Independence was signed, we are compelled to make a brief reference to
the circumstances and events which preceded that most important event in
the world's history.

As we have seen, the conflict between the home country and the colonies
commenced long before there was any actual outbreak. As Mr. Thomas
Wentworth Higginson so graphically expresses it, the surrender of Canada
to England by France in 1763 suddenly opened men's eyes to the fact that
British America had become a country so large as to make England seem
ridiculously small. Even the cool-headed Dr. Franklin, writing that same
year to Mary Stevenson in London, spoke of England as "that stone in a
brook, scarce enough of it above water to keep one's shoes dry." A
far-seeing French statesman of the period looked at the matter in the
same way. Choiseul, the Prime Minister who ceded Canada, claimed
afterwards that he had done it in order to destroy the British nation by
creating for it a rival. This assertion was not made till ten years
later, and may very likely have been an afterthought, but it was