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

Inhabitants of Pella, Iowa

Pella, Iowa, April 19, 1865

Resolutions adopted in a public meeting at Pella, Marion county, Iowa, Wednesday, April 19, 1865.

Whereas the wicked spirit of rebellion has succeeded, by murder and assassination, in throwing a jubilant nation in mourning, killing the honored head of our national government, and inflicting serious and mortal wounds on our Secretary of State, his sons and attendants, the loyal citizens of Pella, deeply grieved and mourning, have

Resolved, That we acknowledge in Abraham Lincoln the genuine embodiment of true democracy, and a model of an upright, honest, unselfish, kindhearted, wise, and moderate American statesman, whose memory will live in the hearts of all true and honest citizens, not only in our beloved country, but also in the whole civilized world.

Resolved, That we sympathize heartily with the family of the late President, and hereby tender to them the expression of our sorrow and grief, and praying that our gracious God, whose ways are inscrutable, will pour upon them, in their sad bereavement, his heavenly balm of consolation.

Resolved, That we humbly implore the Ruler of the destiny of nations, as well as of individuals, to spare the life of Secretary Seward and his son to their families and to the nation, and we hereby tender them our sympathy in their afflictions.

Resolved, That, not scrutinizing the seemingly dark ways of Providence in the present critical period of our national existence, we humbly bow before Him, praying that He will sanctify this bereavement to the nation, so as to lead us to put all our confidence in Him for the restoration of peace and harmony in all our borders, by converting or destroying the armed and unarmed enemies of our beloved country.

Resolved, That, while mourning over our departed President, we, with all loyal men of our country, will truly and faithfully support Andrew Johnson as our present Chief Magistrate in his arduous duties of finishing the work so nobly begun by his predecessor; and we pray for him that the Almighty may sustain and guide him, so that, under his administration, not only the vestiges of rebellion may be obliterated, but peace and harmony restored in all the United States, and that we, as a nation, may give to the whole world the noble example of liberty without licentiousness, independence without self-glory, and Union without destruction of individuality.

• HENRY P. SCHOLTE,
• B. F. ROBERTS,
• C. S. WILSON,
  Committee.