A copy of his instructions, from the Executive of the State, is annexed to this report. " In pursuance of these instructions, Mr. Brodhead, on his arrival in London, applied to the British government for permission to make transcripts of such documents in its archives as related to our Colonial history. The application appears to have been coldly received by Lord Palmerston, then Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Aflairs, notwithstanding the kind offices rendered to the Agent by Mr. Stevenson, Minister from the United States near that government and, without losing time, Mr. Brodhead proceeded at once to Holland, where ;

a very different reception awaited him. Repairing to the Hague, he was presented to the King by the Hon. Harmanus Bleecker, the American Minister to the Netherlands and it ;

was soon found that His Majesty took a lively interest in the objects of the mission, and was disposed to grant every possible facility to aid the researcht^s of the Agent. It seems to have been regarded in that country as a gratifying circumstance, that the descendants of Dutch ancestors, who had left the father-land two centuries ago, should so far cherish the remembrance of their ancient lineage as to dispatch one of their number across the wide ocean to seek memorials of the olden time and a warm feeling of kindness was extended by all ;

clasps towards the Agent, and liberal arrangements were made to lighten and facilitate his labors. " The results of Mr. Brodhead's researches in Holland are sixteen volumes of transcripts in the Dutch language, an analysis of which is contained in his printed calendar. It will be observed that these documents comprise a great variety of details relative to the original discovery and settlement of our State ; commencing with notices of the first navigators who explored the North and East rivers, and embracing copies of the decrees of the States-General, granting the privileges of trade and further discovery to companies of merchants, which led to the subsequent colonization by patroons or patentees of lands.