After fifteen years of dispute Great Britain offered to abandon any claim to a right of _search_, contenting herself with a right of _visit_, merely to verify a vessel's right to fly the American flag.

America asserted this to be mere pretence, involving no renunciation of a practice whose legality she denied.

In 1842, in the treaty settling the Maine boundary controversy, the eighth article sought a method of escape.

Joint cruising squadrons were provided for the coast of Africa, the British to search all suspected vessels except those flying the American flag, and these to be searched by the American squadron.

At once President Tyler notified Congress that Great Britain had renounced the right of search.