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

American Residents of Glasgow

Glasgow, April 28, 1865

At a meeting of native-born Americans, convened at the United States Consulate in Glasgow on the 28th instant, for the purpose of expressing their feelings with respect to the late distressing news from the United States, J. M. Bailey, esq., consul of the United States of America, in the chair, and A. F. Stoddard, secretary, it was unanimously resolved—

1. Whereas we have heard with profound sorrow and indignation of the assassination of our honored Chief Magistrate, Abraham Lincoln, and of the dastardly attempt upon the life of Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, we tender our deep and heartfelt sympathy and grief to our weeping countrymen at home, and would mingle our tears with theirs over the grave of one of nature’s noblest sons, whose loss at this critical and eventful period of our nation’s history is wholly irreparable. We mourn for the fall of one whose every impulse was characterized by pure patriotism and unflinching devotion to the cause of liberty, and who combined in a pre-eminent degree those heavenly attributes, mercy, justice, and truth

2. That while mourning over the great loss which has befallen our country, we deeply sympathize with Mrs. Lincoln and her afflicted family in the heavy blow which they have so suddenly and so unexpectedly sustained, and trust that the love of a great nation may in some degree compensate for him who has thus been ruthlessly snatched from their side.

3. That while conveying to Mr. Seward and his stricken family our sincere grief and sympathy for the sad calamity which has befallen them, we earnestly pray that their lives may all be spared to their country.

4. That we, in common with humanity the world over, unite in expressing our unmitigated abhorrence and detestation of the vile hearts that conceived this diabolical plot, and the villanous hands that executed the cowardly deeds.

5. That we have confidence in the integrity and ability of Andrew Johnson, the present Chief Magistrate of the United States, and fondly trust that by following in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor, he may, under God, speedily see consummated the desire of a nation’s heart; when the United States shall emphatically become the “land of the free,” as she has proven herself on many a sanguinary field “the home of the brave.”

6. That the foregoing resolutions be signed by the chairman and secretary, and forwarded to our minister in London, for transmission to the President of the United States.

• J. M. BAILEY, Chairman.
• A. F. STODDARD, Secretary.

Glasgow, April 28, 1865.