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

[From La France, April 28, 1865.]

April 28, 1865

The Assassination of Mr. Lincoln.

The news of the odious outrage to which the President of the United States has just fallen a victim has caused a profound sensation throughout Europe. A conspiracy was evidently organized to assassinate the supreme heads and principal functionaries of North America. Mr. Seward has been struck in his bed. General Grant and Mr. Stanton were marked for the hand of the assassin, and accident alone has saved them.

Public opinion will everywhere protest with equal indignation against the fanatics who would dishonor, if it were possible, the party to which they belong, and the cause they pretend to defend.

But it would be unreasonable to throw upon the entire South the responsibility of these abominable crimes. It cannot be that an act of fanaticism should serve as a pretext for rigorous reprisals against the innocent. Nothing can diminish the horror inspired by this crime; but nothing should be suffered to exaggerate resentment to such a point as to lead to useless vengeance.