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

Septentrion Masonic Lodge

[Translation.]

Ghent, May 20, 1865.

Mr. Minister: The Septentrion Masonic Lodge of Ghent could not remain indifferent in presence of the crime which has spread consternation through the civilized world. During the strife, our sympathies and our prayers accompanied the heroic efforts and unshakable perseverance of the defenders of justice and humanity. We are associated with the triumphs of the Americans of the northern States, whose noble persistence has saved the federal Union from a fearful disruption, and caused to issue from the social tempest a new corroboration of the indissoluble power of the United States; and inasmuch as the news of the monstrous crime, which has brought mourning into the midst of joy, has reached us, we feel stricken as yourselves; for Lincoln personified the cause of liberty and human fraternity, and this cause, which unites nations in a common aspiration, honors and mourns in him one of its most illustrious martyrs.

The Septentrion Lodge at its solemn meeting on the 16th of this month unanimously decided to address through you a tribute of regret and of sympathy to the republic of the United States.

Receive, Mr. Minister, the assurance of our sentiments of high consideration.

R. MADRENNIGER,

President.

Alph. Buisman, Secretary.