THOMAS'S MASSACHUSETTS SPY OR WORCESTER GAZETTE, Aug. 5, 1812  

* General William Hull proclamation

All of the front page, much of page 2, & over half of page 4 are taken up with: "An Address Of Members...of Congress...on the Subject of the War with Great Britain" which continues in a future issue.
Page 2 has: "A Proclamation" to "Inhabitants of Canada!!" which begins: "After thirty years of peace & prosperity the United States have been driven to arms...The army under my command has invaded your country & the standard of Union now waves over the territory of Canada...I come to find enemies, not to make them. I come to protect, not to injure you..." and much more, signed in type: William Hull.
Four pages, never bound nor trimmed, nice condition.

Background: Printed in the August 5, 1812 issue of Thomas's Massachusetts Spy, Brigadier General William Hull's historic proclamation to the "Inhabitants of Canada" represents a rare, contemporaneous account of the first major U.S. offensive in the War of 1812. Issued on July 12, 1812, after Hull's army crossed the Detroit River into Upper Canada, the speech stands out for its bold—and ultimately ironic—liberation rhetoric, promising protection, peace, and freedom from British tyranny while ominously warning of a "war of extermination" for anyone allied with Native American forces. The document's primary significance lies in its placement within an authentic, complete four-page period newspaper, making it a scarce historical artifact given that Hull’s military campaign famously collapsed just weeks later with his abrupt surrender of Detroit without a fight. Because early civilian broadsides and period press printings of this controversial declaration survived in very limited quantities, intact issues like this serve as vital primary-source evidence of the early war's misplaced American optimism and dramatic propaganda.