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 Hartlepool

[seal.] Borough of Hartlepool, County of Durham[, May 2, 1865]:

At a public meeting of the inhabitants of the borough of Hartlepool, convened by the mayor, in response to a numerously signed requisition from the ratepayers, and held in the Town Hall on Tuesday, May 2, 1865, James Grooves, esq., mayor, in the chair, it was unanimously resolved—

First. On the motion of Mr. William Hall, seconded by Mr. B. T. Ord, That this meeting deeply sympathizes with the people of the United States of America, in the bereavement which they have sustained in the death of their President by the hand of an assassin.

Second. On the motion of George Blumer, esq., seconded by Thomas Belk, esq., That this meeting desires, while giving expression to the feelings of grief and horror with which it regards the assassination of President Lincoln, to convey to Mrs. Lincoln an intimation of its profound sympathy and heartfelt condolence.

Third. On the motion of the Rev. J. B. Hall, seconded by Mr. S. Armstrong, That this meeting of the inhabitants of the ancient borough of Hartlepool rejoice to learn that it is the intention of President Johnson to carry out the policy of which the late lamented President’s career was the embodiment, believing, as they do, that that policy had for its object the preservation of the Constitution of the United States and the emancipation of the slave.

Fourth. On the motion of Mr. J. H. Bell, seconded by Mr. Councillor Graham, That copies of the foregoing resolutions be placed in the hands of the Hon. C. F. Adams, the American minister, for transmission to his Excellency the President of the United States, to Mrs. Lincoln, and to the honorable W. H. Seward.

Signed on behalf of the meeting.

JAMES GROOVES,

Mayor.

And the chair having been vacated—

Fifth. On the motion of Mr Councillor Taylor, seconded by Mr. Councillor Harrison, That the best thanks of the meeting be accorded to his worship, the mayor, for having so promptly convened and so ably presided at this meeting.