Page:Republican Court by Rufus Griswold.djvu/69

Connecticut. He has done everything for himself. His reading has been extensive and varied, and few, if any, here, are better informed than he is. He is possessed in an eminent degree of two striking characteristics: he has great practical wisdom, and a knowledge of human nature that seems almost intuitive. He is no orator, and yet not a speaker in the convention is more effective; the basis of his power is found, first, in the thorough conviction of his integrity: his countrymen are satisfied that he is a good man, a real patriot, with no little or sinister or personal ends in view; next, he addresses the reason, with arguments, logically arrayed, so clear, so plain, so forcible, that, as they have convinced him, they carry conviction to others who are dispassionate. One would scarce believe, from such a description, that by nature he possesses warm and excitable feelings; yet such is the fact; he has, however, so learned to control his passions, that he is habitually calm, sedate, and self-governed, mild and agreeable in society, and evinces an enlarged benevolence towards all mankind. There is not here a more remarkable nor a better man than Roger Sherman.

And near him you see Oliver Ellsworth. He, too, belongs to the bar. His most striking qualities of mind are extraordinary quickness of perception united to the close and clear reasoning of an accomplished logician. He is ardent as a speaker and often eloquent. He possesses great purity of personal character, and in private life no one is more beloved for his virtues. He is conspicuous too for a manly independence of thought, perfect fearlessness in expressing what he thinks, and great firmness in maintaining it. Remarkable for his frankness, he neither knows nor wishes to know the arts of cunning, that ready weapon of little minds. No man is more accessible: easy and courteous in his manners, he exhibits in his intercourse with all who approach him that best species of good breeding, the natural courtesy of a man possessed of kindly