Page:Works of John C. Calhoun, v1.djvu/13

 ADVERTISEMENT. It may be proper to state, that the manuscripts from which the following work is published, were never revised or corrected by their illustrious author. When, during his last illness, they were placed by him in the hands of the editor, he indulged the hope of regaining sufficient strength to perform this labor ; but it is scarcely accessary to say that the expectation was never realized. The Disquisition on Government had, indeed, been copied before his death ; but it is almost certain he never found time to examine the copy. The Discourse on the Constitution. &c. — with the exception of a few pages, — was in his own hand- writing, — on loose sheets, — bearing evident marks of interrupted and hurried composition. Indeed, there is reason to believe that the principal portion of it, if not the entire Work, was composed between the adjournment of Congress in the Spring of 1848, and its meeting in December, 1849. In preparing the manuscripts for the press, the editor has sedu- lously endeavored to preserve, not only the peculiar modes of expression, but the very words of the author ; — without regard to ornaments of style or rules of criticism. They who knew him well, need not to be told that, to these, he paid but slight respect. Absorbed by his subject, and earnest in his efforts to present the truth to others, as it appeared to himself, he regarded neither the arts nor the ornaments of meretricious elocution. He wrote as