DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH. 161 



relating to Santo Domingo and Martinique. About 250 volumes were 

 in the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, mostly in the sections 

 Angleterre, Espagne, Russie, and Etats-Unis of the division called 

 ''Correspondance Politique." A considerable number of volumes was 

 also examined at the Bibliotheque Nationale and other libraries, prac- 

 tically completing the work in Parisian libraries. A small amount of 

 work in the archives remains still to be performed, and it was Mr. 

 Leland's hope that he and his assistants might be able to finish this 

 work, and thus complete his long-continued task, before the end of 

 November. But at the outbreak of the war M. Doysie, his indis- 

 pensable chief assistant, was obliged to join the army. The Archives 

 Nationales w^ere closed, reopened, and again closed. The archives of 

 the ministries were, according to annual custom, closed for the month 

 of August; at the end of that time, when investment of Paris by the 

 German army seemed to be undoubtedly impending, it was understood 

 that these ministerial archives would not be reopened on the first of 

 September. On that date Mr. Leland left Paris, with regret that the 

 small remainder of this task could not be completed, but with the 

 knowledge that much work upon the manuscript of his book could be 

 carried on in Washington while waiting for the conclusion of the war, 

 and with the expectation of returning to Paris immediately after that 

 event, and bringing his undertaking there to a close. It has been 

 carried on, at the last, under great difficulties, which were surmounted, 

 so far as was possible, with a degree of courage and skill which calls for 

 special recognition. 



From May, when Mr. R. R. Hill was at length free from his duties as 

 a teacher in Columbia University, until October, when that work had 

 to be resumed, he occupied himself exclusively with the task of putting 

 into final shape for publication the material which he had collected for 

 the Department in the Archives of the Indies at Seville. It will 

 perhaps be remembered that his field in Seville was that section of the 

 Archives of the Indies which is called "Papeles procedentes de la Isla 

 de Cuba," and that his v/ork consisted in examining and taking full 

 notes, with a view to describing all those parts of that section which 

 relate to the history of the United States. This section came originally 

 from the archives of the captain-general at Havana, and was trans- 

 ferred to Spain in 1888. There are 934 legajos or bundles relating to 

 the history of the United States, averaging more than 400 documents 

 to the bundle, and having reference chiefly to the period between 1763 

 and 1819 in the history of those portions of the present United States 

 which were formerly included under the designations Florida and 

 Louisiana in the largest sense of those terms. All these bundles were 

 examined by Mr. Hill during the period of his stay in Seville, and all 

 necessary data noted for a general descriptive inventory. Mr. Hill 

 has now finished the manuscript of this inventory, which it is proposed 



