Letter from the Hon. Rufus Choate, of Massachusetts.
"Boston, 1 December, 1845.
"Gentlemen:
"I have examined, with some attention, the first three volumes of your new edition of the Laws and Treaties of the United States. Judging from so ample a specimen of the whole work, I can have no doubt that it will be at once, and universally, and permanently, approved by the profession of law, and the country, and answer all the expectations which induced Congress to encourage and adopt it in advance. Completed as it is begun, it will contain the entire series of General and Private Laws and Resolves, obsolete or in force, chronologically arranged; all Treaties with foreign nations or Indian tribes, in the same arrangement; the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution; references, in proper places, to the decisions of all the Federal Courts applicable to any law, resolve, or treaty; and references, also, in proper places, to other laws, resolves, or treaties, upon the same subjects with those in the text. The whole succession of laws is most conveniently distributed into statutes and chapters, with a running title at the head of each page, expressing the session of Congress, and the date and chapter of each law or resolve which is contained on the page, with a full alphabetical verbal general Index of matters, and a separate Index to each volume.
"It adds, I think, greatly to the value of this edition, that you have caused every law, resolve, and treaty, to be carefully collated with the originals in the Department of State. It is thus rendered, in the most absolute sense, a standard and authoritative work; and, published as it is under the sanction of Congress, and in obedience to a general professional and public demand, it cannot fail to supersede all other editions.
"I am,
"Your obedient servant,
"RUFUS CHOATE.
"Messrs. Little and Brown."
