The same methods of suave and gentle persuasion which answered so well in this case were to be the secret of his success a few years later in another hemisphere and in far more critical circumstances. The conduct of the _Cagliari_ case resulted in his being appointed Minister at Florence, and in the following November (1858) “came the offer of the Washington Legation, an offer which, with characteristic modesty, he accepted with considerable misgivings as to his competence.” It was a good thing for England that any such scruples as he may have entertained were overcome. His mission to Washington was big with fate. In the same month his father died and he succeeded to the peerage. In February, 1859, Lord Lyons sailed for Washington in H.M.S. _Curaçao_. In these times of huge liners and rapid passages, with the possibility already in view of still swifter crossings of the Atlantic in airships, it is startling to read of a voyage which occupied forty-two days, “a period which must have been singularly disagreeable to a man who, in spite of some years’ naval service, always suffered from sea-sickness.” It was no doubt something of a relief to Lord Lyons to meet with a most courteous reception when he presented his credentials to Mr. Buchanan, the then President of the United States, for he might well have anticipated that, at any rate at first, the Legation at Washington would not be a bed of roses. He had to take up the succession of Sir John Crampton, a diplomatist who, though, first as secretary of Legation and afterwards as minister, he had served for a good many years at Washington, had never succeeded in making himself popular with the United States authorities. There had been much ill-feeling between the two countries on account of enlistments for foreign legions at the time of the Crimean War; Crampton, who did not realize the susceptibilities of the Americans, had been very active in this recruiting scheme, and matters had reached a point of such tension that in May, 1856, President Pierce broke off relations with Crampton, who had to return home. Things had more or less quieted down in the meantime, but in December, 1858, a Presidential message containing “some rather ominous passages with regard to the relations between England and the United States” was delivered. There were at the time not a few signs of underground forces at work which might at any moment break out into open eruption. Lord Lyons would have been superhuman if he had not felt some emotion at entering upon duties which must manifestly be fraught with unusual difficulties; still, “the sentiments now expressed were friendly in character and showed a disposition to settle pending difficulties in an amicable spirit.” Statesmen so minded, and animated by this conciliatory feeling, might reckon upon being wholeheartedly seconded by the new minister.