Workingmen of London
Address of the working men of South London to Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Johnson, and the people of America.
Bereaved Friends: We, a public meeting of many hundreds of working men of South London, assembled in front of Surry Chapel, Blackfriars’ Road, Surrey, desire to convey to you our sincere and sorrowing sympathy in reference to the sad loss you have sustained by the cruel and blood-thirsty assassination of the truly magnanimous and patriotic President, Abraham Lincoln, and to record our unmitigated disgust and horror at the brutal treachery and unparalled baseness of the savage deed of blood which has placed your own and every civilized land in mourning.
The name of Abraham Lincoln had already become famous to the working people of England; he appeared as one of themselves, fighting the battle of freedom for all lands; he is now, and for all coming time, the hero martyr of liberty and right. The American people have acted right nobly under his wise, conscientious, and upright rule. We believe they will not depart from the splendid course he has marked out for the nation. The assassin’s hateful blow has sealed with sacred blood the bond which secures freedom in perpetuity to every man on the American continent, irrespective of color or race.
Peace be to the slain! We mourn the mighty dead! Never, in the whole range of the world’s history, were hopes so gloriously bright so rudely, suddenly, and atrociously dashed; but we earnestly pray that from out the thick darkness and the fearful evil good may ultimately flow. The twice elected President—the man of the people—is no more; but, Sampson-like, in a moral sense, there will be more slain by his death than in his life; for we see, even now, in clearer character, the diabolical vindictiveness which obtains among the baffled abettors of slavery, and to see a subtle and gigantic evil in its native hideousness is the certain forerunner of its complete and final overthrow. The blow which aimed, alas, too surely, at Abraham Lincoln’s life, will send its echoes wherever slavery is felt or known, and will, we trust, prove the keynote of freedom for the oppressed in every land.
We mourn with bitterness and lamentation for the dead; we sorrow for the living; but not as for those who have no hope. The comforter will surely come for them, and their wounds, though many and severe, shall be healed. We pray for the future of America, that it may be indeed a glorious future of liberty, prosperity, and peace, and notwithstanding the last fearful climax to the treachery and rebellion so recently and gallantly quelled by the victorious bravery and courageous persistence of the northern arms, we trust that moderation and clemency may still rule; justice, as in the past, being ever tempered with mercy, and that the national counsels may be always under the guidance of Him, who has said, “Vengeance is mine, 1 will repay.”
Signed on behalf of the meeting, and at its unanimous request:
Chairman, 55 Finchley Road, London.
To Mrs. Abraham Lincoln,
His Excellency the
President
of the United States, and
The People
of America.