The writings of James Madison, comprising his public papers and his private correspondence, including numerous letters and documents now for the first time printed. |
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SPECIAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS. |
 | The writings of James Madison, |  |
SPECIAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before Congress copies of certain documents which
remain in the Department of State.[48]
They prove that at
a recent period, whilst the United States, notwithstanding
the wrongs sustained by them, ceased not to observe the laws
of peace and neutrality toward Great Britain, and in the
midst of amicable professions and negotiations on the part
of the British Government, through its public minister here,
a secret agent of that Government was employed in certain
States, more especially at the seat of government in Massachusetts,
in fomenting disaffection to the constituted authorities
of the nation, and in intrigues with the disaffected, for
the purpose of bringing about resistance to the laws, and eventually,
in concert with a British force, of destroying the Union
and forming the eastern part thereof into a political connection
with Great Britain.
In addition to the effect which the discovery of such a procedure
ought to have on the public councils, it will not fail
to render more dear to the hearts of all good citizens that
happy union of these States which, under Divine Providence,
is the guaranty of their liberties, their safety, their tranquillity,
and their prosperity.
This was the famous Henry correspondence which showed that
a secret agent of the British government had been engaged in reporting
the extent of the disaffection towards the government in the New
England States. The correspondence may be read in the Annals of
Cong., 12th Cong., Part 1, p. 1162. For an account of the whole transaction
see Henry Adams, v., 14 and 86, and vi., 176, et seq.
| The writings of James Madison, | |