[E.B. O'Callaghan (ed.) (1856)] xix together with such official documents, memoirs and statistical details as were doubtless com-municated from time to time to the British government by its agents here. Among these transactions, the conduct of Sir William Johnson, his agency with the Indians, iiis communi-cations to his government, and his views as to the extension of the British power, would be particularly valuable. The expedition of Colonel NicoUs has never yet been known to us in all its details. The capture of the city of Albany, under his orders, has found as yet but a few lines on the pages of the historian. " The Dutch records have furnished us with a vast amount of information relating to the Colony while in subordination to the West India Company; but the official reports of Govern-ors Van Twiller, Stuyvesant, Kieft, &c., to the father-land, and the documents which must necessarily have been communicated from time to time by those zealous agents, are yet to become a part of the materials of our history. " Many details in relation to the patents, manorial rights, &c., and much information relating to the Indian trade, will no doubt be gleaned from the archives which may become accessible. " All these, as far as the appropriation will permit, after defraying your necessary expenses and the private charges which will attend you in your various journeys, will become matter of interest to you in your general investigations.