The North American Treaty, it is later revealed, was a landmark agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom. In 1914, the U.K. had found itself in economic hard times with a world war looming on the horizon. Fearing that the nation will not survive without a large infusion of capital, the British Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, with the cooperation of King George V, quietly approached the United States government and offered, for the sum of one billion dollars, to sell Canada to the United States. President Wilson quickly agreed and paid a down payment of $150 million to seal the deal. Tragedy strikes when, on the same day in May 1914, the American copy of the treaty plunges to the bottom of the Hudson River when the "Manhattan Limited" express passenger train attempts to cross a downed railroad bridge and the British copy plunges to the bottom of the St. Lawrence River when the liner RMS "Empress of Ireland" is accidentally rammed by a Norwegian collier. With both nation's copies of the treaty lost and the British cabinet outraged at having Canada sold off without their knowledge, Wilson orders all records of the treaty destroyed and records the $150 million payment as a war loan.