e Portfolio--Appointment of
Charles F. Conant as Funding Agent of the Treasury Department in
London--Redeeming Called Bonds--Sale of Four Per Cent. Bonds Instead
of Four and a Half Per Cents.--Popularity of the New Loan--Great
Saving in Interest--On a Tour of Inspection Along the Northern
Atlantic Coast--Value of Information Received on This Trip--Effect
of the Baltimore and Pittsburg Railroad Strikes in 1877 Upon Our
Public Credit.

CHAPTER XXX.
POLICY OF THE HAYES ADMINISTRATION.
Reception at My Home in Mansfield--Given by Friends Irrespective
of Party--Introduced by My Old Friend and Partner, Henry C. Hedges
--I Reply by Giving a Resume of the Contests in South Carolina and
Louisiana to Decide Who Was Governor--Positions Taken by Presidents
Grant and Hayes in These Contests--My Plans to Secure the Resumption
of Specie Payments--Effects of a Depreciated Currency--Duties of
the Secretary of the Treasury--Two Modes of Resuming--My Mansfield
Speech Printed Throughout the Country and in England--Letters to
Stanley Matthews and General Robinson--Our Defeat in Ohio--An Extra
Session of Congress--Bills Introduced to Repeal the Act Providing
for the Resumption of Specie Payments--They All Fail of Passage--
Popular Subscription of Bonds All Paid for.

CHAPTER I.
ANCESTRY OF THE SHERMAN FAMILY.
Family Name is of Saxon Origin--"Conquer Death by Virtue"--Arrival
of Rev. John Sherman at Boston in 1634--General Sherman's Reply to
an English Sexton--Career of Daniel Sherman--My First Visit to
Woodbury--"Sherman's Tannery"--Anecdote of "Uncle Dan"--Sketch of
My Father and Mother--Address to Enlisting Soldiers--General Reese's
Account of My Father's Career--Religion of the Sherman Family--My
Belief.

The family name of Sherman is, no doubt, of Saxon origin. It is
very common along the Rhine, and in different parts of the German
Empire. It is there written Shearmann or Schurmann. I found it
in Frankfort and Berlin. The English Shermans lived chiefly in
Essex and Suffolk counties near the east coast, and in London.
The name appears frequently in local records. One Sherman was
executed for taking the unsuccessful side in a civil war. It was
not until the beginning of the 16th century that any of the name
assumed the arms, crest, and motto justified by their pride, property
or standing. The motto taken, "Conquer Death by Virtue," is a
rather meaningless phrase. It is modest enough, and indicates a
religious turn of mind.