An Agent shall be appointed by the Governor of this State, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to visit England, Holland and France, for the purpose of procuring, if possible, the originals, and if not, copies, of all such documents and papers, in the archives and offices of those governments relating to or in any way affecting the Colonial or other history of this State, as he may deem important to illustrate that history. "% 2. The said documents and papers, when procured, shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of this State, subject to the use of the State Historical Society. " >^ 3. A sum not exceeding four thousand dollars is hereby appropriated for defraying the expenses of said Agent."

The words of this act are very broad and indefinite, and they seem to have been purposely made so. What was evidently intended was, that the Agent should select

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and obtain, in Europe, historical documents and papers, which, when procured, were to be added to and form a part of the existing records of the State, at Albany. He was necessarily invested with a large discretion ; he was to procure as much additional material as he could ; and his scope of selection was limited only by the comprehensive restriction to such documents "relating to or in any way affecting the Colonial or other history" of New -York, as, in his own judgment, he might " deem important to