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

Municipal Council of Exeter

To the President of the United States of America:

Sir: We, the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the city of Exeter, in the Kingdom of England, feeling the deepest abhorrence at the atrocious crime which has deprived America of her late President, Abraham Lincoln, by a cruel murder, desire to express that feeling to the President and people of America, and our sorrow that such a crime should have been perpetrated.

The sentiments which animate the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of Exeter, influence also the government and people of England generally, and call forth our sympathies with a nation which has suffered such a calamity.

We regret that the murderer should have met his fate otherwise than by the hands of justice.

Given under our common seal at the city of Exeter, the 10th day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.

[seal.]