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

Note from the workingmen of Santiago.

[Translation.]

Santiago, May 30, 1865.

Sir: The profound sorrow caused among the working classes of Santiago by the sad news of the crime committed upon the person of Lincoln, the honest, by the hand of an assassin, has impelled the council of the artisans’ society, called the Union, to spontaneously unite last night in a session for the purpose of manifesting to your excellency the deep grief which it feels for so tragic an event.

Since this society was the first to congratulate you upon the approaching termination of the war which has afflicted the great republic, it cannot view unmoved one of the most execrable crimes which have been committed in modern times by the apostles of evil. Upon me has devolved the duty, in the name of the council of the society and in that of the working classes, to manifest to you the grief experienced by them for the loss of one of the most devoted defenders of the rights of humanity, one whom with justice your fellow-citizens have called the father of his country.

So tragic an occurrence will awaken the indignation of honorable men, and even the sorrow of the advocates of slavery, for a deed as brutal as it was infamous. From this day forward future generations will be unable to peruse without an abundant tribute of tears the page of mourning which closes the period of blood through which the greatest and most powerful nation governed by democratic principles has just passed.

The memory of Abraham Lincoln will live in the heart of humanity so long as the current of the Potomac flows or the Andes endure. This reflection may, perhaps, in some degree mitigate your own grief, and that of your fellow-countrymen.

With sentiments of the most profound respect, I have the honor to offer myself as your humble servant, who prays to the Supreme Dispenser of All Good to avert from your country the evils consequent upon crimes such as astound the world.

JOSE SANTOS VALENZUELA,

First Vice-President.

Hon. Thomas H. Nelson,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the U. S.