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

New England Society of Montreal

Montreal, April 19, 1865

Resolutions passed at a meeting held by the New England Society of Montreal.

At a meeting of the members of this society, and other Americans, held in the American Presbyterian church on Wednesday, April 19, 1865, in commemoration of the memory of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:

Whereas Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, has perished by the hand of an assassin, at the time when the military power of the rebellion was conquered, and when his wisdom seemed most necessary to the well-being of the country; and whereas the Americans resident in Montreal are deeply interested in anything which concerns the honor or welfare of the United States: Therefore resolved—

1. That the members of the Montreal New England Society, and other Americans resident in Montreal, tenderly sympathize with the government and people of the United States, and bereaved family, in deploring this calamitous event, and in their grief at this sore affliction, and that as an evidence of our grief we wear mourning thirty days.

2. That in the acts and character of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, in a time of unparalleled difficulty, we recognize the true patriot, and sagacious statesman, as well as that fidelity to sacred trust, that regard to individual rights, that kindly consideration for all classes, as manifested in his reluctance to wage war, until forced upon him, his tender care for the soldiers, and words of sympathy to their relatives, his emancipation proclamation, and his clemency to conquered cities and captured armies, which will forever link his name with that of the illustrious Washington, as one of the greatest, wisest, noblest, and kindliest men of the race.

3. That in the career and character of Abraham Lincoln as farm laborer, boatman, school teacher, lawyer, legislator, and President, we recognize the influence and power of American institutions to develop manhood, and to confer honor and rewards upon the capable and deserving.

4. That although Abraham Lincoln has perished by the hand of an assassin, we thank God that he was permitted to live to see the arm of this most gigantic and guilty rebellion broken; that although we ardently desired he might have been spared to carry out his schemes for the reconstruction of government in the conquered and returning States, yet we bow in submission to God’s will, entertaining undoubting faith in the righteousness of the Divine government, and the speedy and thorough pacification of the country, so that the United States, purged of its heirloom of slavery, and strengthened by the discipline of war, shall be in the future, as in the past, the home of the free, and hope of the oppressed, the refuge for the poor and down trodden of every race and creed.

5. That seeing in this dreadful crime, at which “humanity shudders and civilization grows pale,” a fresh proof of the lawless and degrading tendencies of slavery, we pledge ourselves anew to aid in every legitimate way in the overthrow of the last vestige of human slavery on this continent.

6. That the foregoing resolutions be published in the newspapers of this city, and that a copy of them be sent through the United States consul general to the United States government, and to the family of the lamented deceased.

A true copy of the original minute.

• P. D. BRONNE, President.
• E. F. AMES, Secretary.