care the valuable property of the commission. On the day after he left
the city, and when for the first time informed of the fact, I called
upon Lieutenant Whipple and requested him to have all the maps,
drawings, and tables ready to be turned over to the State Department on
the following day. On the 24th ultimo I acquainted you with that fact.

No censure can possibly be attributed to Lieutenant Whipple, whose great
care and attention to all his duties have been on all occasions highly
distinguished. He escaped from the fire with scarcely an article of his
dress, and his loss in money and clothing is at least $1,000. Major
Graham has lost his valuable library, together with personal effects
to a large amount. The fire was communicated from the basement of the
house, and by no effort could anything be saved.

There are tracings of the maps upon "tissue paper," without the
topography, in the State of Maine, but they are not signed by the
commissioners.

The field books of the engineers were, fortunately, not in Major
Graham's office, and are preserved.

Duplicates of the maps, duly authenticated, have been placed in the
British archives at London, which, although they have not the topography
of the country so fully laid down upon them as it was upon our own,
represent with equal exactness the survey of the boundary itself. Should
it be deemed expedient by this Government to procure copies of them,
access to those archives for that purpose would undoubtedly be
permitted, and the object accomplished at small expense, and when
completed these copies could be authenticated by the joint commissioners
in accordance with the provisions of the treaty.