I saw Mr. and Mrs. Haines, Lily’s friends, last evening. They left Paris about a week ago. She gave a glowing description of the delights of that city; but said she would be almost tempted to commit suicide, should she be compelled to remain long in London. When you write to Lily please to give her my love. Remember me very kindly to Mr. Davenport and your relatives, and believe me ever to be, Yours affectionately, JAMES BUCHANAN. Footnote 11: This anticipation was not realized. He became a great “favorite” in English society, without any effort beyond the exercise of his social gifts, in a natural way. It was just twenty years since, on his return from St. Petersburg, Mr. Buchanan had passed a short time in England, and made the acquaintance of some of the public men of that period. This was in the latter part of the reign of King William IV. In 1853, Queen Victoria had been on the throne for sixteen years, and the reign was a very different one from that of her immediate predecessor. The cabinet was a coalition ministry, and was described by a sort of nick-name as the “Ministry of all the talents.” It broke down rather disastrously and suddenly while Mr. Buchanan was in England, but on his arrival it seemed to have a long lease of power. Lord Aberdeen was the Premier; Mr. Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Lord Palmerston (out of his proper element), was at the head of the Home Department; Lord Clarendon was Foreign Secretary; the Duke of Newcastle was Secretary for the Colonies; Mr. Sidney Herbert, Secretary at War; Lord John Russell was the ministerial leader of the House of Commons. The other members of the ministry were: Lord Cranworth, Lord Chancellor; Earl Granville, President of the Council; the Marquis of Lansdowne, without office; the Duke of Argyle, Lord Privy Seal; Sir James Graham, First Lord of the Admiralty; Sir Charles Wood, President of the Board of Control; Sir William Molesworth, First Commissioner of Public Works. In point of personal ability and character, this was a strong ministry. It went to pieces in 1855, in consequence of its want of capacity to conduct a foreign war, for which neither Lord Aberdeen nor Mr. Gladstone had any stomach, originally; for which the Duke of Newcastle, who had become Secretary at War, although an excellent man, had not the requisite force; and which should, in fact, have been under the guidance of Lord Palmerston, if there was to be a war with such a power as Russia, in conjunction with such an ally as Louis Napoleon. But when Mr. Buchanan came to London, the Crimean war was a good way in the distance, and it seemed not improbable that he would have a clear field for the settlement of the questions which had brought him to England.