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

Mr. Raaslöff to Mr. Hunter.

[Translation.]

Danish Legation,
Washington, April 17, 1865.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 15th instant, by which you inform me of the death of President Lincoln, and of the attempted assassination of the Secretary of State and of his son, the Assistant Secretary of State.

I need not assure you of the deep and sincere grief with which I have received that information, but I may be allowed to add, that the feelings of my sovereign and of the people of Denmark will, when the news of those sad and terrible events shall reach them, be those of the warmest sympathy, not only with the immediate victims, but with the whole deeply afflicted people of the United States.

Having been informed by this same note that, pursuant to the provision of the Constitution of the United States, Andrew Johnson, the Vice-President, has formally assumed the function of President, and that the President has authorized you to perform the duties of Secretary of State, I beg you to accept the assurance of the high and distinguished consideration with which I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient, humble servant,

W. RAASLÖFF.

Hon. William Hunter,
Acting Secretary of State of the United States, Washington.