Document D
Source Congressman John Randolph -Virginia Dec. 9, 1811
An insinuation had fallen from the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Grundy) that the late massacre of our brethren on the Wabash had been instigated by the British Government. Has the President given any such information? Has the gentleman received any such, even informal, from any officer of this Government? Is it so believed by the Administration?... this insinuation was of the grossest kind… he was ready to march to Canada…
Advantage had been taken of the spirit of the Indians, broken by the war which ended in the Treaty of Greenville… It was our own thirst for territory, our own want of moderation, that had driven these sons of nature to desperation, of which we felt the effects…
Annals of Congress, 12th Congress, 1st Session (1811), I, 446.
Source: Annals of Congress, 12th Congress, 1st Session (1811), I, 533.
Congressman John Randolph -Virginia Dec. 9, 1811
Sir, if you go to war it will not be for the protection of, or defense of your maritime rights. Gentlemen from the North have been taken up to some high mountain and shown all the kingdoms of the earth; and Canada seems tempting in their sight. That rich vein of Genesee land, which is said to be even better on the other side of the lake than on this.
Agrarian cupidity [greed], not maritime right, urges the war. Ever since the report of the Committee on Foreign Relations came into the House, we have heard but one work- like the whip-poor-will, but one eternal monotonous tone- Canada! Candida! Canada! Not a syllable about Halifax, which unquestionably should be our great object in a war for maritime security.
It is to acquire a preponderating Northern influence that you are to launch into war. For purposes of maritime safety, the barren rocks of Bermuda were worth more to us than all the deserts [of Canada]…
Source Congressman John Randolph -Virginia Dec. 9, 1811
An insinuation had fallen from the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Grundy) that the late massacre of our brethren on the Wabash had been instigated by the British Government. Has the President given any such information? Has the gentleman received any such, even informal, from any officer of this Government? Is it so believed by the Administration?... this insinuation was of the grossest kind… he was ready to march to Canada…
Advantage had been taken of the spirit of the Indians, broken by the war which ended in the Treaty of Greenville… It was our own thirst for territory, our own want of moderation, that had driven these sons of nature to desperation, of which we felt the effects…
Annals of Congress, 12th Congress, 1st Session (1811), I, 446.
Source: Annals of Congress, 12th Congress, 1st Session (1811), I, 533.
Congressman John Randolph -Virginia Dec. 9, 1811
Sir, if you go to war it will not be for the protection of, or defense of your maritime rights. Gentlemen from the North have been taken up to some high mountain and shown all the kingdoms of the earth; and Canada seems tempting in their sight. That rich vein of Genesee land, which is said to be even better on the other side of the lake than on this.
Agrarian cupidity [greed], not maritime right, urges the war. Ever since the report of the Committee on Foreign Relations came into the House, we have heard but one work- like the whip-poor-will, but one eternal monotonous tone- Canada! Candida! Canada! Not a syllable about Halifax, which unquestionably should be our great object in a war for maritime security.
It is to acquire a preponderating Northern influence that you are to launch into war. For purposes of maritime safety, the barren rocks of Bermuda were worth more to us than all the deserts [of Canada]…