The following extract from the report of a committee of the Assembly, in relation to lands granted by the State for military services, shows their value in this respect " 'The committee, also, in the spirit of the ruleof rendering justice to whom justice is due, feel constrained to acknowledge the important aid they have received, in this investigation and search for the musty records of olden time, from the report and documents of J. Romeyn Brodhead, Agent to procure and transcribe documents in Europe relative to the Colonial history of this State. Important papers and references, relating even to this claim, have been brought to light by his researches, and exhibit the importance of the objects and execution of his trust.' Report of Mr. Boug/tton, ^c, Ainil 21, 1845.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. xli

" The committee cannot better close this account of the fruits of this interesting mission than by quoting a few passages from a private letter addressed to the Agent by the Hon. George Bancroft, the American historian. After having consulted the collection, with reference to the period embraced in the forthcoming volumes of his History of the United States, Mr. Bancroft remarks as follows :

" Your papers I examined very carefully, from 1748 to the close of the series, and was '

deeply impressed with a sense of their importance. There is nothing in print like the minute and exact reports made by the French Canada of their operations on our frontier officers in

during their long struggle for the preservation of Canada. Your papers surround Montcalm with all the interest of a hero of romance, and trace his overthrow, clearly, to distinct and inexorable causes. " ' For the following period, your collections were also most interesting, and were absolutely necessary to the complete understanding of the politics of New-York during the years before the Revolution.