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

Robert Leighton: Ode

Liverpool, May 5, 1865

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

“Sic semper tyrannis!” the assassin cried,

As Lincoln fell. O villian! who than he

More lived to set both slave and tyrant free?

Or so enrapt with plans of freedom died,

That even thy treacherous deed shall glance aside

And do the dead man’s will by land and sea;

Win bloodless battles, and make that to be

Which to his living mandate was denied!

Peace to that gentle heart! The peace he sought

For all mankind, nor for it dies in vain.

Rest to the uncrowned king, who, toiling, brought

His bleeding country through that dreadful reign;

Who, living, earn’d a world’s revering thought,

And, dying, leaves his name without a stain.

ROBERT LEIGHTON,

of Liverpool.