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

Italian Union Committee of Sienna

[Translation.]

Italian Union Committee of Sienna, May 18, 1865.

Sir: The assassination of the illustrious defender of the sacred rights of humanity, which has cost your country such precious blood, has created a sensation of horror among the nations of the world.

The free fatherland of Washington and of Benjamin Franklin, a hospitable soil to all who emigrate from the despotisms of ancient Europe, mourns, in the murder of its new liberator, an event the equal of which does not exist.

In every civilized nation, upon the arrival of the news of his death, there was a day of mourning; as for ourselves, we cursed the infamous assassin and thought it impossible sufficiently to deplore this atrocious and iniquitous crime.

There are in the world some beings who, when they die, like luminous planets when they set, leave behind them only gloom and obscurity. Lincoln was one of these.

The committee of the Italian Union in Sienna, sharing the sorrow of the generous sons of America, send you a word of sincere condolence, with a sad salutation.

Noble President! may you be able to dry the tears of your countrymen and of ourselves.

• F. BARNARDI, President.
• F. INNOCENTI GHINI, Secretary.

The President of the United States.