Ironically enough, however, a little later there was unearthed in the British Museum the actual map used by one of the British commissioners in 1782, which showed the boundary as the United States claimed it to be.

Though they had been found too late to affect the negotiations, these maps disturbed the Senate discussion of the matter.

Yet, as they offset each other, they perhaps facilitated the acceptance of the treaty.
Rapidly Webster and Ashburton cleared the field.

Webster obtained the release of McLeod and effected the passage of a law to prevent a similar crisis in the future by permitting such cases to be transferred to a federal court.

The Caroline affair was settled by an amicable exchange of notes in which each side conceded much to the other.