410. REPORTS OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE, 1861 A good early war-date hardbound book, entitled: Reports of the Select Committee of Five on the following subjects, 1861 [by the] House of Representatives. Published at the Government Printing Office, Washington 400 pp. 8vo., containing five different reports of events leading up to the Civil War. The first report concerns the US government's right to prevent states in insurrection to trade with foreign. The next report concerns the government's investigation of "alleged hostile organization" against the government within the District of Columbia after "...the extraordinary excitement existing prior to the late presidential election led disaffected persons of high and low position...to consult together on...resistance to counting ballots, to the inauguration Mr. Lincoln, the seize of the Capitol and the District of Columbia." The third report concerns where the numerous ships of the United States and their commanders are stationed while a list of naval personnel who have resigned is included. Forth, is a report on a correspondence between President Buchanan and "Messrs. R. W. Rhett, J. H. Adams, and James L. Orr, claiming to be 'commissioners' on the part of the state of South Carolina, 'authorized and empowered to treat with the government of the United States for the delivery of the forts, magazines, light-houses...within the limits of South Carolina". Finally, there is an important report on the "Seizure of Forts, Arsenals, Revenue Cutters and other Property of the United States." Included in this report are the names and details of many now long forgotten US military instillations that were seized in the Southern states after the election of Abraham Lincoln. Not surprisingly, US Representative Lawrence O'Bryan Branch from North Carolina, a soon to be appointed Confederate general who would be killed at the battle Antietam, does not concur with the government's finding in two of the minority reports were he was to give his opinion on the federal government's findings. A great reference book addressing five important events in American History that led to the American Civil War, but are little studied since the war soon eclipsed these events. $75-100