360 CONCLUSION 



amity was measured by the transformation of 

 the facts. 



The diplomacy of this period made some 

 important contributions to the perpetuation 

 of the peace secured at Ghent. The Rush- 

 Bagot arrangement was the chief of them. An 

 influential element of American opinion was con 

 ciliated by the limited access to the inshore 

 fisheries conceded by Great Britain in 1818, 

 though the concession embodied potentialities 

 of trouble. So far as the Monroe Doctrine 

 may be regarded as a product of diplomacy, it 

 must stand high in the records of this period. 

 Whether its function was pacific, or ever will 

 be so, is doubtful. At the time of its announce 

 ment, however, it unquestionably promoted 

 good feeling between the British and the Amer 

 ican peoples. A like effect was produced by 

 the modification in commercial policy through 

 which the bars were let down for the American 

 traders in the West Indies. On the other side 

 was felt throughout the period the exasperat 

 ing operation of the failure to get together on 

 the right of search and in respect to the north 

 eastern boundary of the United States. No 

 amount of concession by the British Govern 

 ment on other points could keep down the 



