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

British Residents of New York City, New York

New York, April 18, 1865

At a meeting of British residents in the city of New York, held at the Astor House, on Tuesday, the 18th day of April, 1865, the following preamble and resolutions were adopted:

Whereas a sudden and awful calamity has fallen on this nation in the death, by the hand of an assassin, of its honored and highly esteemed Chief Magistrate, President Lincoln:

Resolved, That we participate in the universal feeling of grief and anguish caused by the atrocious and appalling crime which has deprived the nation of its revered Chief Magistrate, at a most important and critical conjuncture of public affairs; and we desire at the same time to record the expression of our profound respect for the eminent private virtues and public character of the late President, as well as for the integrity of purpose and uprightness of intention with which he devoted himself to the promotion of the prosperity and welfare of the whole country, in whose service he has fallen an honored and ever-memorable victim

Resolve, That we respectfully tender to the bereaved widow and family of the late Chief Magistrate the assurance of our heartfelt sympathy and condolence under this most afflictive dispensation of Divine Providence.

Resolved, That these resolutions be signed by the chairman and secretary, on behalf of the meeting, and be forwarded to her Majesty’s minister at Washington, with a request that he will communicate them, in such manner as he may think proper, to the government of the United States, and to the widow and family of the deceased President.

• E. M. ARCHIBALD,
  H. B. M. Consul, Chairman.
• ARTHUR KENDALL,
  Secretary.