JOHN SHERMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS IN THE HOUSE, SENATE AND CABINET. AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. VOLUME I. ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS, FAC-SIMile letters, SCENES, ETC. INCLUDING ANALYTICAL INDEX. RECO REFACE LECTIONS grew out of a long deferred purolish a selection of my speeches on public but in collecting them it became manifest I be accompanied or preceded by a statement of aces that attended their delivery. The attempt h a statement led to a review of the chief events lic life, which covers the period extending from e present time. The sectional trouble that preceded War, the war itself with all its attendant horrors and res, the abolition of slavery, the reconstruction measand the vast and unexampled progress of the republic rowth and development since the war, presented a topic thy of a better historian than I am. Still, as my life was terwoven with these events, I concluded that it was better that I state my recollection of what I saw or heard or did in those stirring times rather than what I said. Whether this conclusion was a wise one the reader must judge. Egotism is a natural trait of mankind. If it is exhibited in a moderate degree we pardon it with a smile; if it is excessive we condemn it as a weakness. The life of one man is but an atom, but if it is connected with great events it shares in their dignity and importance. Influenced by this reasoning I concluded to postpone the publication of my speeches except so far as they are quoted or described in these memoirs. When I entered upon their preparation the question arose whether the book to be written was to be of my life, including ancestry and boyhood, or to be confined to the financial history of the United States with which I was mainly identified. This was settled by the publishers, who were more interested in the number of copies they could sell than in the finances of the United States. |