Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part IV, Appendix to diplomatic correspondence of 1865; the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, late president of the United States of America, and the attempted assassination of William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and Frederick W. Seward, Assistant Secretary, on the evening of the 14th of April, 1865; expressions of condolence and sympathy inspired by these events

Address of the press

undated

[Translation.]

Mr. President: The Constitution of your country has forever put American democracy beyond the possibility of being affected by the violence done to persons. Where liberty reigns, where the law alone governs, the first magistrates may perish without shaking or even threatening the institutions. Regret and indignation may agitate the people, they cannot be seized with fear. We know that these are the holy conditions enjoyed by the people of the United States by reason of their institutions.

Permit us, however, to express the grief we feel at the death of the citizen who has just fallen a victim to assassination. Abraham Lincoln will be lamented as he has been admired by the French democracy. What finer model, indeed, can we have than that great man of the people—that laborious man, sprung from the humblest ranks, and coming to be the first magistrate of his country, and remaining the faithful servant of the laws?

Tell the people of the Union, Mr. President, that we associate ourselves with their sorrow as we participate in their hopes. Slavery is dead; liberty will never die; and the triumph of the great republic is assured.

(Here follow the names of the editors of the four papers: the editor in chief of the Temps, being A. Nofftzer; of the Opinion Nationale, A. Guerault; the Avenir National, A. Peyrat; and the Siecle, L. Havin.)

President Johnson.