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

Ladies’ Negroes’ Friend Society

Edgebaston, Birmingham, June. 16, 1865.

Address of “The Ladies’ Negroes’ Friend Society” to Mrs. Lincoln.

Mrs. Edmund Sturge, with deep feelings of respectful sympathy for Mrs. Lincoln, thinks it may be of some interest to her to know that the address has been signed by the wife and daughter of John Bright, esq., M. P., as well as the daughter of J. Angell James.

Birmingham, May. 30, 1865.

Madam: We, the undersigned, members and friends of “The Ladies’ Negroes’ Friend Society,” assembled at our fortieth annual meeting at the residence of the late Joseph Sturge, cannot refrain from offering you the expression of our deep and respectful sympathy at this time of your bitter sorrow. We trust in the conviction of our hearts that, though personally unknown to you, we may ask permission to share your grief, because we are associated to promote the same great cause of human freedom which your honored and beloved and lamented husband, the late President Lincoln, espoused in early life, and so religiously and beautifully enforced in his last message to Congress; that we earnestly desire the sentiments therein contained may be engraven on the hearts of all who read them the world over.

We have placed on record his sayings, so full of truth, “If slavery be not wrong, nothing is wrong.” Thus may it be bound more closely on our consciences and memory, and stimulate us to do all that is in our power towards realizing the final triumph of the great anti-slavery cause to which President Lincoln was honored to render such vast services. In commemorating these services, we would tenderly remember how afflicting is the dispensation that through them has been allotted to you, even the surrender of a life dearer than your own.

We have been comforted by the knowledge that in the representative of your departed husband, you had one near you, in the first hours of your “agonizing sorrow,” who gave expression to the reflection that even from its depths God could bring good to others. May our Heavenly Father, “who doeth all things well,” supply you with his richest consolations. May you be permitted to see, with admiring and reverential wonder, such beneficial results as may fill your smitten heart with resignation and peace. Even now we implore you to take comfort from the fact that already blessed thoughts of peace and good will between the British and American people have been nourished by the community of feeling awakened by our common loss. Cherishing this belief, we also cling to the hope that henceforth both nations will unite in carrying forward the sacred cause now afresh consecrated by the sacrifice of such a life.

With heartfelt sympathy and respect, we are madam, yours, sincerely,

• LOUISA J. MORLLIET,
• MARIA CADBURY,
  Treasurers.
• LYDIA EDMUND STURGE,
• ANNA MARIA HARRIS,
  Secretaries.

Committee.

Elizabeth Brady, jr.	M. A. Phipson.
Mary Louisa May Goddard.	Elizabeth T. Phipson.
Ellen Sturge.	Rebecca Piercy.
Martha Dale.	Annie Mantin.
Marianne Gibbs.	Mary Hill Thornton.
Maria Tucker.	Catharine Willets Thornton.
Mercy Steadman.	Esther M. Partridge.
Jane Plant.	Mary Kent.
Henrietta Wm. Morgan.	Emma Huley.
Mary Middlemire.	Emma Wainwright.
Hannah Perry.	Hannah Bolton.
Elizabeth Gorve.	Hannah B. Smith.
S. R. Buckton.	Margaret Anna Watson.
Doudecima Crowley.	Eleanor Sturge.
Julia A. Snepp.	Mary Watson.
Gulielma A. W. Baker.	Elizabeth Hunt.
Mary George B. Lloyd.	Annie Chipmen.
Sophia Sarah Taylor.	Sarah J. Barnard.
Emma Whatrune.	Catharine Jane Mene.
Ann Cadbury.	Mary Biddle.
Anna H. Richardson.	Maria Jones.
Mary W. Pollard.	Hannah Margaret Joseph.
Rachel Arthur Albright.	Sarah Ann James, Daughter of the late J. A. James.
Hester Savory Spriggs.
Mary Elizabeth Marshall.	H. P. Kenway.
S. H. Buckman.	E. Pumphrey.
Hannah Fowler.	Elizabeth K. Neele.
M. A. Hall.	Caroline Lloyd.
Harriet Ann Heaton.	Fanny Johnson.
Sarah Lightwood.	Susan Home Burrows.
Ann Yates.	Mary Grevin.
M. A. Yeomans.	Ellen Jenners.
Elizabeth Howell.	Sarah E. Pauslu.
Sarah Scottin.	Catharine Marsh.
Francis Ford.	Annie E. Waller
Mary Anna Avery.	Alice Burtt.
Mary Clark.	Maria Baker.
E. F. Taunton.	Hannah Gore.
J. B. Bullinant.	Rebecca Fearson.
M. G. Warren.	Emma Croft.
Mary Booth.	Elizabeth Jenkins.
May Booth.	Emma Hudson.
Hannah J. Surge.	Mary Birch.
Tamersin Christie.	Marcia Hotham Cadbury.
Sarah Southall.	Hannah Cadbury.
Anna J. Baker.	Sarah E. Lord.
Emma J. Gibbons.	Sarah Allen.
Ann Mary Goodrick.	Francis Jenkins.
Mary Ann King.	Eliza M. Sturge.
Sophia Seekings.	Belsey Morris.
Susan King.	M. A. S. Northouse.
Anna Lloyd.	Priscilla Imprey.
Ann Snowden.	Sophia Sturge.
Mary H. Pease.	Esther Sophia Wright.
H. B. Bottomley.	Emma Wright.
H. B. Bottomley, jr.	Ellen G. Dymond.
Susannah Reynolds.	E. White.
Keziah Yates.	Margaret Hautin.
Caroline Sargeant.	Mary Ann Smesin.
Julia Goddard.	Elizabeth Brady.
Caroline Dayken.	Elizabeth Grece.
Marian Davies.	Francis Day Blades.
Jane Cattell.	Elizabeth R. Cabury.
S. N. Mapplebeck.	Lucretia Cudbury.
Catharine Kea.	Mary Huxley.
Martha Gausley.	Hellen Holbeche.
Mary Garland.	Mary Ann Rose.
Emma Greaves.	Ann Mary Scott.
Hannah Parker.	Jane Baker.
Emma Eagle.	Eliza Maria Southall.
Sarah Heaton.	M. Felton.
Jane Pye.	M. Stockwin.
M. Fairfield.	A. Stockwin.
Elizabeth Middlemire.	E. T. Miles.
Jane Goodman.	Hellen P. Bright.
Sarah Coleman.	Margaret Elizabeth Bright.

Mrs. Lincoln.