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

Inhabitants of Chatham

Chatham, May 16, 1865

Resolutions at a meeting held by the inhabitants of Chatham.

At a large and influential meeting of the inhabitants of Chatham, held in the lecture hall, on Tuesday, the 16th May, at the close of an earnest and eloquent address by Henry Vincent, esq., of London, “On the rise and fall of the slaveholders’ rebellion against moral obligations and human freedom, to the culminating crime, the murder of honest President Lincoln,” Henry Everest, esq., justice of the peace, in the chair, the following resolution was moved by the reverend G. L. Herman, and seconded by S. Steele, esq., justice of the peace, and carried unanimously:

That this meeting expresses its affectionate sympathy with Mrs. Lincoln, the American people and their government, under the sad loss they have sustained by the atrocious murder of the late illustrious President Lincoln, but at the same time offers its warm congratulations that the crime of a vile assassin has not arrested the progress of the republic towards a complete and full victory over all its opponents, and it most earnestly rejoices in prospect of the speedy restoration of the Union and in the complete destruction of negro slavery.

Signed on behalf of the meeting:

HENRY EVEREST,

Chairman.