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 Kirkaldy

May 9, 1865.

Address of the provost magistrates and town council of the royal burgh of Kirkaldy, Scotland, to Mrs. Lincoln.

Madam: Permit us, the provost magistrates and town council of the royal burgh of Kirkaldy, Scotland, to approach you in order to express our deep sympathy with you under your sore bereavement, and the dreadful shock which the removal from your side, by such foul means, of a husband who had earned the respect, love and admiration of so great a people, must have given you.

We commend you to the care and protection of the Almighty Father, who alone can heal the wound which this great calamity has inflicted.

We pray that He may be your God and guide through life, your constant protector and stay, and that, to soothe your sorrow, you may enjoy the attachment of the great people over whom your lamented husband ruled with so much ability and success, and whose virtues we doubt not will be embalmed in the hearts of their grateful posterity.

Signed in name and by authority of the provost magistrates and town council of the burgh of Kirkaldy, and the seal of the burgh hereto appended.

[seal.]

PATRICK D. SWAN, N. B.,

Provost of Kirkaldy.