Excerpt
I come to find enemies, not to make them. I come to protect, not to injure you.Historical wording and forms retained where stated.
The Easy Conquest That Wasn't
Documentary edition · packet 04
Proclamation to the Inhabitants of Canada
Hull's proclamation promised protection and liberation while an invading army crossed into Upper Canada. Its confidence is most revealing when read beside his surrender at Detroit five weeks later.
12 July 1812Military proclamationRead the chapter →
Modernized reading
Hull claimed that his army sought existing enemies and would protect Canadian civilians rather than harm them.Plain-language reading; not a substitute for quotation.
Editorial method: Punctuation follows widely reproduced contemporary printings; consult the linked institutional edition before formal quotation.
Annotations
- inhabitantsThe proclamation addresses civilians as potential neutrals or allies rather than a unified Canadian nation.
- protectA standard invasion claim that also carried an implicit threat against resistance.
Witness and provenance
- Creator
- William Hull
- Witness used
- Hull's proclamation as transmitted in contemporary printings and reproduced by the Canadian War Museum.
- Repository or edition
- Canadian War Museum
- Collection
- 1812: One War, Four Perspectives
- Identifier
- Hull proclamation interpretive record
- Transmission
- Issued from Sandwich after the American crossing; circulated in print and manuscript copies.
- Rights
- The historical text is public domain; repository media may have separate terms.