362 CONCLUSION 



eastern boundary and some other points of 

 contention, but many were left, including the 

 right of search. The American democracy 

 was fully embarked on its career of expansion. 

 Led by the men of the mighty West, it pro 

 ceeded to realize its &quot;manifest destiny&quot; in 

 Texas, in Oregon, and in California. Half the 

 total coast of the Gulf of Mexico and half the 

 total Pacific coast of North America were the 

 modest limits of its demands. Great Britain, 

 congenital mistress of the seas and sovereign 

 over Canada and the Hudson s Bay Company, 

 had necessarily to take notice of these pro 

 ceedings. She saved part of Oregon, but her 

 projects for Texas and California gave way 

 before the resolute aggression of Polk. Through 

 the war with Mexico the United States realized 

 its alleged destiny. In the very month in 

 which peace was concluded the golden secret 

 of the Sierras was disclosed at Sutter s Mill, 

 and the adventurous of all the earth started 

 for California. At once the Central American 

 isthmus became one of the greatest highways 

 of the world, and as promptly appeared the 

 clash between British and American claims and 

 interests in Nicaragua. The Clayton-Bulwer 

 Treaty, and ten years of harassing negotia- 



