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

Newmilus Antislavery Society

Newmilus, May 5, 1865.

Resolution passed at a meeting held by the Newmilus Anti-Slavery Society.

In public meeting assembled it was unanimously resolved to present the following unto the honorable Andrew Johnson, President of the United States of America:

Honored Sir: We, the members of the Newmilus Anti-Slavery Society, having early espoused the side of humanity in the great struggle going on in your beloved country for the emancipation of mankind from bondage—a bondage which made the humane of every land shudder to contemplate—proud as we were over him who undertook the task to grapple with this gigantic evil, what are we to think, or how can we express our feelings, when we know that he who was the appointed instrument to erase from the land of America the accursed blot which had so long stained your honored and will be respected flag, and he who with calmness, fortitude, and dignified mercy, held in the one hand the palm of victory, in the other the olive-branch, crying peace! peace! being struck down and deprived of life by the assassin’s hand, when on the very verge of seeing his long-wished-for desire successfully consummated; and, honored sir, in our lamentations over the sad event, may we be permitted to congratulate you, upon the knowledge we have, through the honorable Mr. Adams, the American ambassador, London, and Mr. Stodart, Glasgow, of the high attainments you possess for the important office you have been so unexpectedly called upon to fill. We therefore tender unto you, and along with you our sincere sympathy for the bereaved widow of the late honored and respected President, Abraham Lincoln, acknowledging our gratitude to God for the miraculous preservation of the honorable Mr. Seward and family; and while we mourn, along with every true friend of humanity, the unparalleled event that has befallen your country, and although the horizon seemed dark for a time after such a calamity, we are again hopeful when we see the sun emerging from behind the cloud in your own likeness, supported by general Grant and the gallant army—Farragut and the navy—the patriotic people of America, and all who stood forward so nobly in time of need in defence of those institutions for the good of mankind contained in the glorious republic of America, all deserving and receiving our best thanks.

Signed in behalf of the meeting:

• MATTHEW POLLOCK, President.
• ALEXANDER DYKES, Secretary.

Resolved, That the foregoing be forwarded to the honorable Charles Francis Adams, American ambassador, London, for transmission to the honorable Andrew Johnson, President United States of America.

• M. P.
• A. D.