68] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



l)y an event which we shall short- 

 ly have to record, and which pro- 

 bably had a considerable influence 

 upon the final result. 



A circumstance having occurred 

 tending to increase the animosity 

 of the Americans against tins 

 country, it became about this 

 period a subject of discussion in 

 pailiament. 



The president of the United 

 States sent a message to congress 

 asserting that an authorized agent 

 «)f the British government, Capt. 

 Henry, had been sent by the go- 

 vernor of the British territories of 

 North America into the adjacent 

 states, in order to foment discon- 

 tents for the purpose of detaching 

 tliem from the union. This heavy 

 charge being transmitted in the 

 AmericHU newspapers, Lord Hol- 

 land rose in the House of Lords, 

 on April 28th, and after mention- 

 ing the fact of the message, said, 

 that he hoped the noble lord oppo- 

 site would be able to satisfy the 

 public by a contradiction of the 

 assertion. 



The Earl of Liverpool had no 

 hesitation in answering that no 

 person had been employed by this 

 government to foment discontents 

 in the United States, and that no 

 intention existed on the part of go- 

 vernment to make any attempt to 

 separate the union. He said, that 

 Captain Henry was not employed 

 by government at all ; and he sup- 

 posed that Sir James Craig could 

 have employed him only to obtain 

 information with a view to the 

 defence of Canada, in case of a 

 war. 



Mr. Whitbread introduced the 

 subject in a similar manner in the 

 House of Commons, and was simi- 



larly answered by Lord Castlereagh, 

 who said that government had only 

 heard in a dispatch from Sir James 

 Craig that an agent had been em- 

 ployed, announcing at the same 

 time that he had been recalled. 

 Mr, W, said thiit he was not satis- 

 fied with this answer; and de- 

 clared his intention of moving for 

 the production of the governor's 

 corres|)ondence on this subject. 



Lord Holland, who had given 

 notice in the House of Lords of a 

 similar motion for the production 

 of papers, rose to speak to the 

 point on May 5. He said, the pro- 

 position he was about to submit to 

 their lordships had no reference 

 whatever to the line of [)olicy pro- 

 per to be pursued with respect to 

 the United States, but was ground- 

 ed on the general relations of all 

 civilized states; he could not there- 

 fore understand upon what objec- 

 tions an opposition to his motion 

 (which had been intimated) could 

 be founded. It went to the crimi- 

 nation of no man or set of men, 

 but upon the necessity of vindicat- 

 ing the government of this country 

 from what he trusted was an un- 

 founded charge made against it. 

 This charge was no less than that 

 while two friendly powers were 

 engaged in negotiation upon cer- 

 tain points of national importance, 

 a member of the British govern- 

 ment had employed a secret agent 

 in the territories of the United 

 States, not to procure intelligence, 

 which was a legitimate object, but 

 for the purpose of inducing some 

 of the states of the union to throw 

 off their allegiance, and separate 

 themselves from the rest. This 

 charge originally came from an in- 

 dividual who avowedly betrayed 



"the 



