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

The Minister of Italy to Mr. Clay.

[Translation.]

St. Petersburg, April 29, 1865.

My Dear Colleague: I had desired to offer you in person my heartfelt sympathy, but on account of indisposition I am obliged to defer my visit.

In the meanwhile, I know not how I can better interpret the sentiments of my government than in joining in the sorrow with which your country has been so cruelly stricken, by the loss of her greatest citizen and most eminent statesman.

The blood of a martyr in so noble a cause will strengthen the American Union, whose power and prosperity have every good wish of Italy. In renewing to you, my colleague, my expressions of sorrowful sympathy, and in thanking you for your communication, I have the honor to tender you the assurance of my high consideration.

LAUNAY.