In 1849, Grant was sent by Colquhoun to Transylvania, to meet with Józef Bem and obtain a first-hand report on the Russian intervention in the area, during the Hungarian Revolution. In a letter from 1851, addressed to Henry Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary, Colquhoun mentioned selecting Grant as secretary when he was only 16, noted that Grant had become very competent in French, German, Italian, Greek, and Romanian, and praised the way he handled his official duties, particularly in 1848–1849 (at the time of the Wallachian Revolution). In late 1853 Colquhoun went on a fact-finding mission to Bosnia, Serbia, and Herzegovina. At the start of the Crimean War, Grant was left in charge of the British Consulate in Bucharest; in early January 1854 he was reporting to the Foreign Office on Russian pressures in Wallachia. In early April the Russians requested the departure of Western consuls from Bucharest; he was given permission to leave his post, and leave the British subjects under the protection of the Belgian consul.