set on that of a surveyor. For this, too, he fitted himself well; but there was that before him of which he did not think. He was to fill a long succession of official trusts, affecting all the Colonies and the States which succeeded them, to be bestowed upon him at a time of great events, and to be so well discharged as to make him one of the great figures of American history.
“When Connecticut, a few years ago, was called upon by the nation to choose the two of her sons whose statues should be set in the Capitol at Washington, there could be no question as to one. The land of steady habits must, at all events, be represented in that place by Jonathan Trumbull, the War Governor of the Revolution,—the Brother Jonathan who typified to the nation the rugged virtues and hard good sense of the New England character.
“The other statue also must belong to the same great era, the era which began with the struggle for independence, and closed with the attainment of settled constitutional government. Our heroes must be taken from that which above all others was our heroic age. Should we thus commemorate the impetuous gallantry of Putnam, the noble death of Hale, the courtly eloquence of Johnson, the judicial power of Ellsworth? All these were sons of Connecticut, born upon her soil. No. She chose one born and bred to manhood in another State; not trained at her college, nor at her schools; not at any schools. She sought to put the form and features of Roger Sherman into marble, to show to all time what qualities and achievements the people of Connecticut hold in most honor. This man, without eloquence, with no advantages of education, with no grace of manner, was her choice—taken from many, for solid qualities, not shining ones; for a life-long love of liberty, but only as it was regulated by law; for steadfast devotion to duty; for practical sagacity; for calm, and sound judgment in things both small and great. Such a character wears well. It is men of this stamp that have made Connecticut what she is.
“Roger Sherman was born to a great opportunity. So was every child born in the American colonies during the years between 1720 and 1760. Those colonies were then assuming proportions inconsistent with the long maintenance of British dominion over a territory so distant and a people so enterprising and intelligent. The day was soon to come when they would strike for liberty. Who were to be the leaders, then?
“Massachusetts was to furnish her full share, and two of them grew up, in neighboring towns, to begin life as apprentices and end it as statesmen.