was thought that this discretion would be most advantageously exercised by securing, while there was a favorable opportunity of doing so, all papers coming within the terms of the law, the suppression or omission of which might, in the judgment of competent historical authority, leave incomplete the public records of the State. Moreover, it was always considered that the object of the Agency was to add documents to the archives of the State, and not to procure and prepare the materials of a work for publication. Besides, the existence of duplicates of documents from different sources,

in all public collections of papers, is known to be not only universal but oftentimes desirable, as such duplicates tend to verification. The Agent accordingly thought it to be his duty rather to risk redundancy than deficiency ; and in all cases of doubt he preferred to secure papers with a liberal hand, while it was in his power to do so, leaving the question of their relative importance and their entire publication to be

considered and settled afterwards, when ampler opportunity should be afforded for comparison and discrimination.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. xxi

Soon after commencing his investigations in Europe, the Agent found that, owing to the large number of documents discovered, and the necessary expenses of their

transcription, the original appropriation by the Legislature would be insufficient.

Eeports were from time to time addressed to the Governor, who communicated them to the Legislature ; and further sums of three thousand dollars on the 11th of April, 1842, and five thousand dollars on the 13th of April, 1843, were voted to defray the expenses of the Agency. Having at length executed his duty as fully as he could, Mr. Brodhead returned home in the summer of 1844, and was occupied during the rest of that year in arranging and indexing the documents he had procured.