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

Inhabitants of Ryde

Ryde, May 1, 1865

At a public meeting held in the Congregational church, George street, Ryde, on Monday, May 1, 1865, the pastor, Rev. George Allan Coltart, in the chair, the following resolutions were carried unanimously:

That this meeting desires to record its horror and indignation at the atrocious assassination of President Lincoln; to express its sympathy with the American people in this terrible calamity with which they have been visited, and the desire that it may be overruled, for the welfare of the whole nation; and its earnest hope that He who has declared Himself to be the husband of the widow may grant His comforting mercies to Mrs. Lincoln.

That this meeting has heard with the deepest solicitude that millions of those who, by the event of the war, have been freed from slavery, are in circumstances of great physical and spiritual destitution; rejoices in the formation of organizations called the Freedmen’s Aid Societies, intended to supply their wants and raise them in the social scale; and desires to make such contributions as may be within the power of its members to assist this good work.

GEORGE ALLAN COLTART,

Chairman.