...... And now, my dear Harriet, I shall go aboard the Atlantic this morning, with a firm determination to do my duty, and without any unpleasant apprehensions of the result. Relying upon that gracious Being who has protected me all my life until the present moment, and has strewed my path with blessings, I go abroad once more in the service of my country, with fair hopes of success. I shall drop you a line from Liverpool immediately upon my arrival. With my kindest regards to Miss Hetty, I remain, Yours affectionately, JAMES BUCHANAN. CHAPTER IV. 1853-1856. ARRIVAL IN LONDON—PRESENTATION TO THE QUEEN AT OSBORNE—THE MINISTRY OF LORD ABERDEEN—MR. MARCY’S CIRCULAR ABOUT COURT COSTUMES, AND THE DRESS QUESTION AT THE ENGLISH COURT—LETTERS TO MISS LANE. The reader has seen with what reluctance and for what special purpose Mr. Buchanan accepted the mission to England. He left New York on the 1st of August, 1853, and landed at Liverpool on the 17th, whence he wrote immediately to his niece; and I follow his first letter to her with four others, extending to the middle of October. [TO MISS LANE.] ADELPHI HOTEL, LIVERPOOL, August 17, 1853. MY DEAR HARRIET:— I arrived in Liverpool this morning, after a passage of about ten days and sixteen hours. I was sea-sick the whole voyage, but not nearly so badly as I had anticipated, or as I was in going to and returning from Russia. Captain James West, of Philadelphia, the commander of the Atlantic, is one of the most accomplished and vigilant officers and one of the most kind and amiable men I have ever known. I never wish to cross the Atlantic in any but a vessel commanded by him. We did not see the sun rise or set during the whole voyage. The weather was either rainy or cloudy throughout, but many of the passengers were agreeable. Upon arriving here I found Mr. Lawrence, who came from London to receive me. It is my purpose to accompany him to London to-morrow, where I shall at first stay at the Clarendon Hotel. I do not yet know whether I shall take, or rather whether I can obtain, Mr. Ingersoll’s house or not. I thought I would have to remain here some days to recruit; but I had scarcely got upon land before I felt perfectly well, and have enjoyed my dinner very much—the first meal for which I felt any appetite since I left New York. I shall write to you again as soon as I am settled at London, or probably sooner. Although I left Wheatland with regret and a heavy heart, yet I am resigned to my destiny, and shall enter upon the performance of my duties, with God’s blessing, in a determined and cheerful spirit. I received your letter in New York. I had not supposed there was any thing serious in Lily’s apprehensions.