Mr. Motley to Mr.
Seward
No. 102.]
Legation of the United States,
Vienna,
April 30, 1865.
Sir: The impression created in this capital by
the horrible murder and attempts to murder just committed in Washington
has been intense.
The whole diplomatic corps, with scarcely an exception have called upon
me, as representative of the United States, and their warm and sincere
expressions of sympathy at our national loss, of cordial good will for
the Union, and, more important than all, of decided respect and
admiration for the character of our lamented President, have been most
grateful to my heart.
The journals of the capital—all of them, as I have often had occasion to
remark, conducted with great ability—have vied with each other in
eloquent tributes to the virtues of Mr. Lincoln, in expressions of
unaffected sympathy for the great cause of which he was the
impersonation, and of horror at the accursed crime by which one of the
best of men has been taken from the world.
I enclose (marked A and B) the correspondence between the minister of
foreign affairs and myself in relation to this event. I send, further, a
translation (marked C) of the report, taken from the journals of the
day, of the action taken on the subject in the Reichsrath. Dr. Berger,
the member who pronounced the brief but feeling eulogy upon Mr. Lincoln,
is one of the most distinguished and eloquent members of the house.
I have the honor to remain, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.
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A.
The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of
the United States of America, deems it his duty to state to his
excellency Count Mensdorff, imperial royal minister of foreign
affairs, and through him (if such a course be considered proper) to
his Majesty the Emperor, that official intelligence has been
received by telegraph at this legation of the assassination of
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in his box at the
theatre at Washington, on the evening of the 14th April. The
President died on the morning following.
The extent of this calamity can hardly now be duly measured.
No President of the United States, since Washington, has so
thoroughly possessed the confidence and the veneration of the great
majority of the American nation as did Mr. Lincoln. No man doubted
his purity of character, his patience, his firmness of purpose, his
benignity, his wise cheerfulness in the darkest hours, and his
transparent honesty.
His love of his whole country was perfect. To restore the blessed
Union which the rebellion of a vast number of misguided individuals,
acting in the interest of negro slavery, had attempted to destroy,
was the object of his administration. That object had been secured
after four, years of terrible warfare, by the capture of all the
strongholds of the insurrection, the capitulation of its principal
armies, and by due legal provisions for the emancipation of the
slaves.
The President was on the point of issuing an address to the people of
the insurgent States, doubtless with the intent of expressing the
terms of that amnesty and pardon which Congress, relying upon his
wisdom and generosity, had already empowered him, at his discretion
to grant, when the hand of the assassin took his life.
The undersigned will not even allude to the universal distress which
this tragic termination to the virtuous career of their Chief
Magistrate must cause in the hearts of the whole American people.
Words are too weak to depict such a universal sorrow as this; but if
an excuse be thought necessary on the part of the undersigned for
thus dwelling upon the events which have just overwhelmed him with
grief, it must be found in the fact that the imperial royal
government has ever so frankly and so nobly manifested its
sentiments towards the United States government in its contest with
this iniquitous rebellion, as to justify the hope of its sympathy at
this tragic moment. It is a consolation to the undersigned to
remember that one of the last public utterances of the lamented
President in regard to foreign affairs was a recent acknowledgment
of the magnanimity and friendly attitude of his imperial royal
Majesty towards the United States throughout the course of the great
contest.
No details as to the condition of the United States minister of
foreign affairs, Mr. Seward, has yet been received, but the critical
state of his health, caused by a severe accident a very kittle while
before the murderous attempt upon his life, makes it but too
probable that the United States may soon be called on to mourn also
for the loss of this most eminent and accomplished statesman.
The undersigned seizes the opportunity to renew to Count Mensdorff
the expression of his most distinguished consideration.
His Excellency Count Mensdorff, Imperial Royal Minister of Foreign
Affairs.
B.
The undersigned has the honor to acknowledge the receipt from the
Hon. J. Lothrop Motley, envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary of the United States of America, of the esteemed
note concerning the frightful act perpetrated against the President,
Mr. Abraham Lincoln, and to state that he at once laid the said note
before his most gracious Majesty the Emperor.
The imperial government could not receive the news of this horrible
event without the deepest indignation, which has made upon it the
more painful impression, as shortly before it had seen reason to
instruct its minister at Washington to express to the government
there its sincere congratulations upon the brilliant results which
promised a speedy end of the bloody contest in the States of the
Union.
The horrid crime of which Mr. Lincoln was the victim could not but
inspire the government of his Majesty the Emperor with the more
sincere grief, as at no time have the relations between Austria and
the United States borne a more friendly character than during the
official term of Mr. Lincoln.
The imperial government cannot but cherish the liveliest desire that
the hopes of a happy future for the United States, which in this
country it was believed might be confidently
[Page 24]
based on the distinguished characteristics, the
wisdom and moderation of the lamented President, may be fulfilled
under his successor, and the peaceful relations between the United
States and foreign powers be preserved undisturbed.
In conclusion, the undersigned feels it his duty to give expression
to the sincere wish of the imperial government, that it may please
Providence to preserve to the country still further the eminent
Secretary of State, whose life has also been in danger from
murderous hands.
The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to the
honorable minister the assurance of his distinguished
consideration.
In the absence of the minister of foreign affairs,
MEYSENBUG, The Under Secretary of
State.
His Excellency J. Lothrop Motley, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of the U. S of America.
C.
Session of the House of
Deputies,
April 29, 1865.
The session opened at 10.40. Deputy Dr. Berger spoke as follows:
Gentlemen: The news of the tragical fate
which has befallen the President of the United States, Abraham
Lincoln, through a murderous hand, at the very moment in which the
cause of the northern States, and with it the cause of freedom and
civilization and humanity, was victorious, has, I believe I may
announce, deeply moved all circles and all classes of society in our
fatherland also.
From the very beginning of that eventful and bloody struggle, which
has lasted several years, Austria Was always on the side of the
north, and on the day on which the news of the last victory of the
northern States reached Washington, the man who now stands at the
head of the United States declared that the sovereign of the state
to which we belong, from the beginning an enemy of every rebellion,
had always stood on the side of the north.
I think that it becomes this house, which represents the population
of Austria, to express its sympathy for the cause of the northern
States, its sympathy for the tragic fate of Abraham Lincoln, the
plain, simple man, who has risen out of the people to be placed at
the head of the greatest state, and I move that the president should
summon the house to signify, by rising from their places, this its
double sentiment—sympathy for the tragic fate of President
Lincoln—sympathy for the cause of the northern States.
The President. I doubt not that the house
shares the views and feelings which the deputy, Berger, has
expressed, and will be ready to give proper evidence thereof by
rising from their seats.
(The assembly rises. During this ceremony the ministers are in their
places as deputies)
