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

Minister of Peru

[Translation.]

Rio de Janeiro, May 18, 1865.

The Peruvian minister at Brazil has the honor to address himself to his excellency General Webb, minister plenipotentiary of the United States, in order to express to him the great sorrow with which he has received the news of the tragic death of the very excellent Abraham Lincoln, that powerful nation’s President.

Wounded to death by a fanatic’s weapon, when he finished to surround himself with the purest glory, at a final victory of the redemption war which he conducted as far as his arm reached, the pain of his martyrdom, the feeling of his loss, and the mourning of the North American people will reach every christian soul, every freeman, every civilized people, and especially the Peruvians and their government, who, closely connected with the Union’s people and their government, and sympathizing with that great upholder of human dignity, will lament his death more than they perhaps applauded his victories.

The undersigned is persuaded that in expressing these feelings to his excellency General Webb, he is a faithful translator of those of the nation and government represented by him, and he begs his excellency to accept them at the same time with his protest of his high esteem and especial consideration.

B. SEVANE

.

J. Watson Webb, Esq., Minister of the Unit eel States.