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

Señor Garcia to Mr. Seward

[Translation.]

New York, September 25, 1865.

Sir: A delay as noticeable as inexplicable, which has happened to one of the mails despatched from Peru for this republic, has been the cause that only on the 23d of this month a despatch has reached me from my government in which it orders me to transmit to his Excellency the President of the United States, through your excellency as the respected organ, the cabinet letter which the President of Peru addresses to him, expressing the sentiments which inspired the Peruvian people and government on the unhappy death of the eminent citizen, Abraham Lincoln.

I have the honor to send with this note, in original, an authentic copy of the said cabinet letter, and to ask your excellency to cause it to reach its high destination. I comply with an ardent wish of my heart in expressing to you once more the bitter and deep sorrow with which I have deplored the crime of which the Chief Magistrate of this republic was the victim, and the veneration in which he will live in my memory, as well as in that of almost all my countrymen, the memory of the illustrious martyr to freedom, civilization, and humanity.

I have the satisfaction to present myself to you with all respect.

JOSÉ ANTONIO G. GARCIA.

The Secretary of State, Washington.