_Mr. Smith to Mr. Buchanan_.
WASHINGTON, _April 20, 1848_.
SIR: In presenting to you the joint report of the commissioners
appointed under the treaty of Washington of August 9, 1842, to survey
and mark the line of boundary between the United States and the British
Provinces, which I have the honor herewith most respectfully to submit,
I have to perform the painful duty of informing you that the maps of
that line and of the adjacent country, which had been elaborately
constructed by the scientific corps on the part of the United States,
and contained upon 100 sheets of drawing paper of the largest size,
together with the tables of the survey, have been destroyed by the
conflagration of the building in which they were contained. This house
had been occupied by Major James D. Graham, the head of the scientific
corps and principal astronomer of the American commission, as his office
until his departure for Mexico. All the maps, drawings, and tables had
been completed and duly authenticated by the joint commissioners, and
were ready to be deposited with their joint report under their hands and
seals in the archives of this Government. Of this I had the honor to
inform you in my letter of the 24th ultimo.
I can hardly express the pain which this unfortunate event has
occasioned me. But I can not perceive that any imputation of blame can
properly be attached to any officer of the commission. The care and
custody of all the work of the United States scientific corps were
properly placed in charge of Major Graham, as the head of that corps,
who had had the immediate direction and superintendence of it from the
first organization of the commission. He required the maps and tables
at his office for reference and revision in the progress of the
astronomical work. Upon his departure for Mexico he placed Lieutenant
A.W. Whipple in his rooms with an injunction to guard with the utmost
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.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient and humble
servant,