Page:Works of John C. Calhoun, v5.djvu/11

ADVERTISEMENT. The present volume contains, it is believed, all the Reports of general and permanent interest, made by Mr. Calhoun, during his Congressional career, and while Secretary of War. There are, indeed, many other papers emanating from this Department during his administration, of no little interest;—and which the Editor would gladly have included in this collection, if it could have been done without rendering the Works too voluminous. He hopes the selection he has made will suffice to show the principles which governed his administration of the Department, and which ren- dered it the most memorable in the annals of the country ;—as well as his views, constitutional and economical, on subjects of a more general and comprehensive nature, during his services in the halls of Congress. The Editor cannot dismiss the volume from his hands without remarking that some of the Reports contained in it, originally appeared before the public under the sanction of other names. He feels, however, very confident that, in now assigning them to their true author, he does no injustice to any one. The Report of the Committee of Foreign Relations (November, 1811), ought, perhaps, to be excepted. The Editor is not fully assured that it was drawn up wholly by Mr. Calhoun. Yet there is one circum-