Chapter VII (2)

I presume that Mrs. Lane and yourself have had a fine time of it
hearing Rachel. She is quite competent to understand and
appreciate the beauties of French tragedy. However this may be,
she possesses as much knowledge in this line as thousands of
others who will be quite enraptured with Rachel’s acting. I am
glad you are on good and friendly terms with her...... From
present appearances the war will end before the spring. This will
be the case should the czar accept the terms suggested by Austria
and consented to by the allies.

December 21, 1855.

Since the date of my last letter I have received the news of the
death of poor Mary.[25] I need not inform you of my devoted
attachment to her, and she deserved it all. Poor girl! she had her
own troubles, and she bore them all with cheerful patience. She is
now at rest, I trust, in that heavenly home where there is no more
pain and sorrow. Her loss will make the remainder of my residence
here, which I trust may be brief, dreary and disconsolate.

How happy I am to know that you are with Mrs. Plitt! She has a
warm heart, and a fine intellect, and will, better than any other
person, know how to comfort and soothe you in your sorrow. I am
thankful that you are now at home.

With Mrs. Plitt’s kind letter to me came that from Mrs. Speer to
you, and one from Lieutenant Beale to myself. I shall always
gratefully remember his kindness and that of his wife. His letter
was just what it ought to have been. I wrote to Mrs. Plitt from
Southampton by the “Arago,” which left on Wednesday last.

The death of poor Mary has been your first serious sorrow, because
you were too young to feel deeply the loss of your parents. Ere
this can reach you a sufficient time will have elapsed for the
first natural overflowings of sorrow. I would not have restrained
them if I could. It is now time that they should moderate, and
that you should not mourn the dead at the expense of your duties
to the living. This sad event ought to teach you the vanity of all
things human and transitory, and cause you to fix your thoughts,
desires, and affections on that Being with whom “there is no
variableness or shadow of turning.” This will not render you
gloomy, but will enable you the better to perform all the duties
of life. In all calamitous events we ought to say emphatically:
“Thy will be done.” At the last, all the proceedings of a
mysterious Providence will be justified in another and a better
world, and it is our duty here to submit with humble resignation.
Although my course of life has been marked by temporal prosperity,
thanks be to Heaven, yet I have experienced heart-rending
afflictions, and you must not expect to be exempt from the common
lot of humanity. I have not seen Mrs. Shapter, but I sent her Mr.
Beale’s letter, which she returned with a most feeling note. She,
also, wrote to you by the “Arago.”

You will know sooner in the United States than I can at what time
I shall be relieved. I shall now expect to hear by the arrival of
every steamer that my successor has been appointed. Should he
arrive here within a month or six weeks, I still have an idea of
running over to the continent; but I have yet determined upon
nothing. I have a great desire to be at home.

Footnote 25:

Mrs. Baker.

December 28, 1855.

I have received your favor of the 11th instant with the copy of
Mr. Baker’s letter, which I have read with deep interest. I wrote
to you last week on the subject of poor Mary’s death, which I
deeply deplore. I hope that ere this can reach you your mind will
have been tranquillized on that sad event. It would have been
wrong, it would have been unnatural, had you not experienced
anguish for the loss of so good, kind-hearted, and excellent a
sister.

Still, the loss is irreparable, grief is unavailing, and you have
duties to perform towards yourself as well as your friends. To
mourn for the dead at the expense of these duties would be sinful.
We shall never forget poor Mary, her memory will always be dear to
us; but it is our duty to bow with submission to the will of that
Being in whose hands are the issues of life and death. You know
what a low estimate I have ever placed upon a woman without
religious principles. I know that in your conduct you are guided
by these principles, more than is common in the fashionable world;
but yet if this melancholy dispensation of Providence should cause
you to pay more attention than you have done to “the things which
pertain to your everlasting peace,” this would be a happy result.
I have lost many much-loved relatives and friends; but though age
becomes comparatively callous, I have felt and feel deeply the
loss of Mary and Jessie. Poor Jessie! She died breathing my name
with her devotions. What can I do—what shall I do for her
children?

I send by the bag to the department a letter from the duchess, to
whom, I believe, I have not mentioned our loss.

Sir William and Lady Ouseley dined with me a few days ago. There
were no persons present except ourselves. She sincerely
sympathizes with you. Time begins to produce its healing influence
on her grief, though both she and poor Sir William have been sadly
cast down by their calamity.

James Henry arrived here on Christmas evening after a passage of
three weeks which he evidently enjoyed. He talks to Mr. Ward
knowingly about every part of a sailing vessel. His plan of travel
is quite extensive, far too much so for the sum he intends to
expend. I shall gradually cut it down to more reasonable limits.

No news yet of the appointment of my successor, notwithstanding
the efforts of Mr. Appleton. I have not received the President’s
message, but expect it on Monday with much anxiety. Should I then
hear nothing of a successor or secretary of legation, I shall give
them formal notice that I will present my letter of recall on a
particular day; and should no person arrive in the meantime, that
I will leave the legation in charge of General Campbell.

January 4, 1856.

I have received yours of the 17th ultimo, and am pained to learn
that you neither see your friends nor take exercise since your
return to Philadelphia. Your grief for poor Mary’s death, or at
least the manifestation of it, exceeds all reasonable limits, and
I am truly sorry that you have not more self-command. Although I
know it is sincere, and it ought to be deep, yet you ought to
recollect that the world are severe censors.

In regard to the bringing of dear Mary’s remains from San
Francisco to Lancaster or Franklin county, I have not a word to
say. This must be left to her nearer relatives. She sleeps as
sweetly on the distant shores of the Pacific as she could do on
any other spot of earth, and her disembodied spirit will be
equally near to you wherever you may wander. Still I know it is a
sort of instinct of nature to desire to have the tombs of our
friends near us; and even if I had any right to object, I should
not exercise it. Do as you please, and I shall be content......

James Henry is with me very busy and persevering in sight-seeing.
I am sorry I do not feel it proper to detain him with me. The
carnival comes so early this year that he must soon be off, as he
intends to take Naples en route to Rome. I get along very well
with Mr. Moran, though the labor is too great for one man to
perform. In truth I cannot answer all the letters I receive, and
attend to my appropriate duties. I shall, however, endeavor to
write you a few lines every week. Friends still inquire after you
with great kindness.

January 11, 1856.

I have received your favor of the 25th ultimo, together with an
agreeable little note from Mrs. Plitt, for which give her my
thanks.

James Henry left us yesterday afternoon. He had drawn all his
plans with mathematical precision, and I did not like to mar them.
He was to go direct to Naples, and be at Rome during the carnival,
so that he had but little time. He is a calculating, and I think a
determined boy....... He has certainly made a favorable impression
here on the persons with whom he has been in company, especially
on Lady Holland. The dinner went off extremely well; some of them
said _almost_ as well as if you had been present. As you would
probably like to know the company, I will tell you:

Mr. and Madame Tricoupi, the Count and Countess de Lavradio, Count
Bernstorff, the Brazilian Minister and Madame Moreiro, the Swedish
Minister and Baroness Hochschild, the Danish Minister and Madame
D’Oxholme, Mr. and Mrs. Comyn, Sir Henry and Lady Holland, Lady
Talbot de Malahide, R. Monckton Milnes, and J. Buchanan Henry,
Esq.

Count Colloredo had the commands of the queen, and could not
attend. Countess Bernstorff was ill. Baron Bentinck had an
engagement in the country, and so had Mr. and Mrs. Musurus. So you
have the list of invitations as well as of those who attended. I
expect to leave the house next week.

I very often think of poor Mary, and shall always cherish her
memory with deep affection. I trust that ere this your grief has
moderated, and that you begin to bear your loss with the
philosophy of a Christian, and with humble resignation to the
Divine will.

James desired me to send his love to you, and say that he would
write to you from Rome.

January 25, 1856.

Without a secretary of legation, I have so much business to
transact and so many persons to see, that I must give great
offence by necessarily failing to answer the letters of my friends
on your side of the Atlantic. I have not yet heard of the
appointment of my successor from Washington; but the last steamer
brought out a report, on which some of the passengers thought
reliance might be placed, that Governor Toucey either had been or
would be appointed. It would be difficult to make a better
selection. In all this matter, they have treated me discourteously
and improperly. By every steamer since the return of Mr. Appleton
to the United States, I had a right to expect news of a new
appointment. I have written more than once _emphatically_ upon the
subject, and they are now fully apprised that I shall leave the
legation next month, and entrust its affairs to General Campbell,
should neither minister nor secretary in the mean time appear.

The Central American questions might now, I think, be easily
settled with any other premier than Lord Palmerston. Since the
publication of the correspondence here and the articles in the
_Times_ and _Daily News_ in our favor, there would seem to be a
general public opinion that we are right. This, I think, renders
it certain that serious difficulties between the two countries
cannot grow out of these questions. I enclose you an article from
the _Morning Advertiser_, but little calculated to do me good in
the United States. What on earth could have induced the editor to
write such an article is a mystery. So far as regards any effect
it may produce upon the Presidency, I feel quite indifferent.
There is a profound wisdom in a remark of Rochefoucauld, with
which I met the other day: “Les choses que nous desirons
n’arrivent pas, ou, si elles arrivent, ce n’est, ni dans le tems,
ni de la manière que nous auraient fait le plus de plaisir.” I had
a letter yesterday from Judge Mason, dated on the 23d, giving me a
pressing and cordial invitation to stay with him when I visit
Paris. This, I believe, I shall accept, at least for part of my
brief visit. He is much pleased with Mr. Wise, his new secretary
of legation. James B. Henry, he says, who took the despatches to
him, “remained but a few hours in Paris, hurrying to Marseilles to
take a steamer for Italy.” I have not heard from him since he
left, nor did I expect to hear so soon.

Mrs. Shapter has been quite unwell, but is now down-stairs again.
I have not seen her since the date of my last.

We had quite an agreeable dinner party at Lord Woodehouse’s on
Wednesday last. I had a very pleasant conversation with the
Countess Persigny, who speaks English very prettily, though not
yet fluently. She is evidently proud of being the grand daughter
of Marshal Ney, and well she may be. We had quite a _tête à tête._
She, or rather the count, has been very civil to me of late. The
woman-killer, for whom, as you know, I have very little respect,
and with whom I have had no intercourse for a considerable period,
seems determined that I shall be on good terms with him. I
suffered as usual the penalty of this dinner—a sleepless and
uncomfortable night. Dinner invitations are again becoming
numerous, but I shall accept none except from those to whom I feel
under obligations for past kindness. Your name still continues to
be mentioned with kindness by your friends and acquaintances. I
sent the other day by the “Frigate Bird,” to Charles Brown, the
collector, a portrait of the justly celebrated John Hampden, from
our friend MacGregor,[26] intended to be presented to Congress,
and have requested Mr. Brown to keep it for me till my return. I
also sent two boxes containing books and different articles—one of
them champagne and the other wine. These might be sent to
Eskridge. Please to tell Mr. Plitt about them, who, if he will
call on Mr. Brown, will hear all about the picture. I have neither
room nor time to write more.

Footnote 26:

James MacGregor, Esq., M. P.

February 1st, 1856.

I have but little time to write to-day.

Parliament was yesterday opened by the queen. I need not describe
the ceremony to you, as you have already witnessed it. What struck
me most forcibly was the appearance in the diplomatic box of a
full-blooded black negro as the representative of his Imperial
Majesty of Hayti.

I have received a letter from James Henry, dated at Rome on the
20th ultimo...... Realities never correspond with the expectations
of youth.

I had confidently expected to receive by the Atlantic, whose mails
and despatch bag have just come to hand, an answer to my last most
urgent request for the appointment of my successor and the
immediate appointment of a secretary of legation, but in this I
have been disappointed. Not one word in relation to the
subject......

I wish I had time to write you more. This steamer will carry a
most important despatch to Washington.

February 8th, 1856.

Our latest dates from New York are to Saturday, the 19th of
January. We have had no Collins or Cunard steamer during the
present week. Since the first spell of cold weather, the winter
has been open, damp and disagreeable.

I have gone a good deal into society since the meeting of
Parliament, because it is my duty to embrace every opportunity of
conversing with influential people here on the relations between
the two countries. _The Morning Advertiser_ has been publishing a
series of articles, one stating that high words had passed between
Lord Clarendon and myself, at the foreign office, and that he had
used violent expressions to me there; another that I had, because
of this, declined to attend Lady Palmerston’s first reception; and
a third, which I have not seen, that Sir Henry Bulwer and myself
had been in conference together with a view of settling the
Central American questions. Now all this is mere moonshine, and
there is not a shadow of truth in any one of these statements.

I went to Count Persigny’s on the evening of Shrove Tuesday, and
had quite an agreeable time of it. There were a number of
distinguished persons present, though not a crowd. Many kind
inquiries were made respecting yourself. I dine to-day at Sir
Henry Holland’s, on purpose to meet Macaulay, should his health
enable him to be present. On Tuesday at Mr. Butt’s, and on
Wednesday at Lord Granville’s, where there will be a party in the
evening.

I met the “woman-killer” —— in the ante-chamber of the foreign
office on Wednesday last. He now seems determined to be such good
friends with me, that in good manners I must treat him kindly.
Knowing my tender point, he launched out in your praises, and said
such extravagant things of you as I could scarcely stand,
notwithstanding my weakness on this subject. Fortunately for me,
before he had concluded, he was summoned to Lord Clarendon,
greatly to my relief.

I think they will hesitate about sending me away, even if Mr.
Crampton should receive his passports. Mr. Cobden told me the
other evening at the Reform Club that Mr. Willcox, the member of
Parliament from Southampton, had said to Lord Palmerston: “Well,
you are about to send Buchanan away;” and his reply was, “If
Buchanan should remain until I send him away, he will be here to
all eternity.” This, however, is _à la mode_ de Palmerston, and
means but little one way or the other. I only repeat it as one of
his jokes, and my hesitation on the subject is not in the
slightest degree founded on this remark.

I should infer that my Presidential stock is declining in the
market. I do not now receive so many love letters on the subject
as formerly, always excepting the ever faithful Van Dyke and a few
others. Heaven bless them! I see the best face has been put on
Bigler’s election, but still it is an ugly symptom. Declining
prospects give me no pain. These would rather afford me pleasure,
were it not for my friends. Pierce’s star appears now to be in the
ascendant, though I think it is not very probable he will be
nominated. Heaven only knows who will be the man.

February 15, 1856.

Nothing of importance has occurred since I wrote you last. I have
been out a good deal, deeming it my duty at the present crisis to
mingle with influential society as much as possible. Everywhere
you are kindly remembered. Lord and Lady Stanhope have been very
particular in their inquiries about you, and say much which it
would be gratifying to you to hear. I promised to Mr. and Mrs.
Butt, that I would transmit you their kind compliments. The
Duchess of Somerset begged me to say to you, that at the date of
her letter to you, she had not heard of your affliction.

I trust that Mr. Dallas may soon make his appearance in London, as
I am exceedingly anxious to be relieved from my present
position...... What will you say to my reconciliation with
Governor Bigler? He addressed me _such a letter_ as you have
scarcely ever read. It was impossible for me to avoid giving it a
kind answer. I accepted his overtures, and informed him that it
would not be my fault if we should not always hereafter remain
friends. He had often made advances to me indirectly before, which
I always declined. This seems to be the era of good feeling in
Pennsylvania. Davy Lynch’s letters, for some months past, have
been quite graphic and amusing. He says that “the Eleventh hour
Buchanan Legion” at Harrisburgh have unanimously elected him a
member, for which he kindly thanked them, and at the same time
advised them to work hard and diligently to make up for lost time.
They responded that their exertions should be directed with a view
to throw my old fogy friends into the shade.

Notwithstanding all this, the signs of the times are not very
auspicious to my experienced eye, and I shall be neither
disappointed nor sorry should the Cincinnati convention select
some other person. It will, however, be always a source to me of
heartfelt gratification, that the Democracy of my native State
have not deserted me in my old age, but have been true to the
last.

I am truly sorry to hear of Mr. Randall’s affliction. He is an
able and true hearted man, to whom I am much attached. Please to
remember me to him and Mrs. Randall in the kindest terms.

Your uncle John has died at a good old age, with a character for
integrity which he well deserved. He had a kind and excellent
heart. As he advanced in life, his peculiarities increased, and
apparently obscured his merits, in his intercourse with his
relations and friends. But still he possessed them. For many years
after he came to Lancaster we were intimate friends, and we always
continued friends.

I trust that Mr. Dallas may arrive by the next Collins steamer. It
is my intention to act handsomely towards him. I thank Heaven that
a successor has at last been appointed. Whether I shall return
home soon after his arrival or go to the continent I cannot at
present determine. On the 18th December last I paid Mr. Randall
for the six shawls, and have his bill and receipt.

At Lord Granville’s dinner on Wednesday, the Marquis of Lansdowne
and Mr. Ellice said very pretty things about you. Colonel Seibels,
our minister at Brussels, is now here with me, and I am delighted
to see him. He will remain until after the queen’s levee on the
20th. I shall leave the house on Tuesday next, on which day the
inventory is to be taken, and shall most probably go to the
Clarendon.

February 22, 1856.

Another week has passed, and I am happy to inform you that you are
still freshly remembered by your friends and acquaintances on this
side of the Atlantic. I delivered up possession of the house to
the agent of Mrs. Lewis on Tuesday morning last, with the
exception of the offices, and went to Fenton’s, because I could
not obtain comfortable apartments at the Clarendon. I retain the
offices for the present at the rate of £10 per month, awaiting the
arrival of Mr. Dallas. I earnestly hope he may be here in the
Pacific, which is expected at Liverpool on Wednesday or Thursday
next. The two house agents, on the part of Mrs. Lewis and myself
respectively, have been employed on the inventory ever since
Tuesday morning, and have not yet finished.

I expect to be all ready, upon the arrival of Mr. Dallas, either
to go home or go to the continent, according to the then existing
circumstances. At present I am quite undetermined which course I
shall pursue.

You will see by the _Morning Post_ that I presented Col. Seibels
at the levee on Wednesday. He paid me a visit for a week, and his
society afforded me great pleasure. He is both an honorable and
agreeable man, as well as a tried and sincere friend. I dine with
Lord and Lady Palmerston to-morrow, and with the Lord and Lady
Mayoress on Wednesday, and on Thursday attend the wedding of Miss
Sturgis and Mr. Coleman at 11 o’clock at the Church of “St. John,
Robin Hood,” close to the Robin Hood Gate of Richmond Park. Mr.
Sturgis’s country residence is close to this church.

I receive letters from home, some of which say, with reference to
the Presidency, “Come home immediately,” and others, “Stay away a
while longer.” I shall not regulate my conduct with any view to
this office. If it be the will of Providence to bestow upon me the
Presidency, I shall accept it as a duty, a burden and a trial, and
not otherwise. I shall take no steps to obtain it.

Mrs. Shapter’s health is delicate, and John has been quite unwell.
I shall not fail to leave her some token of my great regard before
I leave London. She richly deserves it.

February 29th, 1856.

...... I dined with the queen on Wednesday last, and had a
pleasant time of it. I took the Duchess of Argyle in to dinner,
and sat between her and the princess royal. With the latter I had
much pleasant conversation. She spoke a great deal of you and made
many inquiries about you, saying how very much pleased she had
been with you. The queen also spoke of you kindly and inquired in
a cordial manner about you. Indeed, it would seem you were a
favorite of both. There has been a marked and favorable change of
feeling here within the last month towards the United States. I am
now made something of a lion wherever I go, and I go much into
society as a matter of duty. The sentiment and proceeding at the
Mansion House on Wednesday last were quite remarkable. Perhaps it
is just as well I received the command to dine with the queen on
that day.

I am yet in ignorance as to the time when Mr. Dallas may be
expected to arrive. The moment I learn he has arrived in
Liverpool, I shall apply for my audience of leave and joyfully
surrender the legation to him with the least possible delay.

March 7th, 1856.

I received your two letters of February 15th and 19th on Monday
last, on my return from Mr. Lampson’s, where I went on Saturday
evening. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lampson talked much and kindly of you,
and desired to be remembered to you...... I shall expect Mr.
Dallas about the middle of next week, and intend soon after his
arrival to cross over to Paris. I hope to be at home some time in
April, but when, I cannot now inform you.

I am glad to learn that you purpose to go to New York. It was very
kind in you to jog my memory about what I should bring you from
Paris. I know not what may be the result. Nous verrons.

Becky Smith is a damsel in distress, intelligent and agreeable,
and a country-woman in a strange land. Her conduct in London has
been unexceptionable and she is making her way in the world. She
has my sympathy, and I have given her “a lift” whenever I could
with propriety.

I delivered your letter to the Duchess of Somerset on Monday last,
and she was delighted with it. She handed it to me to read. It was
well and feelingly written. I was sorry to perceive that you
complained of your health, but you will, I trust, come out with
the birds in the spring, restored and renovated. I am pleased with
what you say concerning Senator Welsh. In writing to me, I think
you had better direct to me at Paris, to the care of Mr. Mason,
giving him his appropriate style, and you need not pay the
postage; better not, indeed. But you will scarcely have time to
write a single letter there before I shall have probably left. I
shall continue to write to you, but you need not continue to write
to me more than once after the receipt of this, unless I should
advise you differently by the next steamer.

Mr. Bates is quite unwell, and I fear he is breaking up very fast.
At the wedding of Miss Sturgis the other day, as I approached to
take my seat beside Madame Van de Weyer, she said: “Unwilling as
you may be, you are now compelled to sit beside me.” Of course I
replied that this was no compulsion, but a great privilege. Mrs.
Bates complained much that Mrs. Lawrence has not written to her.

March 14, 1856.

I tell you the simple truth when I say I have no time to-day to
write to you at length. Mr. Dallas arrived at Liverpool yesterday
afternoon, and is to leave there to-morrow at nine for London; so
the consul telegraphed to me. I have heard nothing from him since
his appointment. I expect an audience of leave from the queen
early next week, and shall then, God willing, pass over to the
continent.

I have this morning received your two letters of the 25th and
29th, and congratulate you on your arrival in New York. I hope you
may have an agreeable time of it. Your letter of the 25th is
excellent. I like its tone and manner very much and am sorry I
have not time to write you at length in reply. I am also pleased
with that of the 29th. I send by the bag the daguerreotype of our
excellent friend, Mrs. Shapter. I have had mine taken for her. I
think hers is very good. I saw her yesterday in greatly improved
health and in fine spirits.

March 18, 1856.

The queen at my audience of leave on Saturday, desired to be
kindly remembered to you.

The Marquis of Lansdowne at parting from me said: “If Miss Lane
should have the kindness to remember me, do me the honor to lay me
at her feet.”

Old Robert Owen came in and has kept me so long that I must cut
this letter short. I go to Paris, God willing, on Thursday next,
in company with Messrs. Campbell and Croshey our consuls. I send a
letter from James which I have received open.

BRUSSELS, March 27, 1856.

I write this in the legation of Colonel Siebels. He and I intend
to go to-morrow to the Hague on a visit to Mr. Belmont, from which
I propose to return to Paris on Tuesday or Wednesday next. It is
my purpose, God willing, to leave for Havre for home in the Arago
on Wednesday, the 9th of April. I do not believe that a more
comfortable vessel, or a better or safer captain exists. All who
have crossed the Atlantic with him speak in the same terms both of
his ship and himself.

I shall return to Mr. Mason’s at Paris, because I could not do
otherwise without giving offence. What a charming family it is.
Judge Mason, though somewhat disabled, has a much more healthy
appearance, and in the face resembles much more his former self,
than he did when attending the Ostend conference. The redness and
sometimes blueness of his face have disappeared, and he now looks
as he did in former years.

I shall defer all accounts of my doings on the continent until
after we meet. I may or I may not write to you once more before
embarking.

You might let Eskridge and Miss Hetty know at what time I shall
probably be at home, though I do not wish it to be noised abroad.
You cannot calculate our passage to be less than two weeks. Should
I reach my native shore on my birth-day, the 23d April, I shall
thank God and be content. The Arago takes the southern route to
keep clear of the ice.