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

Barga Workingmen’s Society

[Translation.]

Barga, May 12, 1865.

Hon. Sir: The Workingmen’s Society of Barga, (near Lucca,) at a meeting on the 7th instant, commissioned me, the undersigned, to express to you, the worthy representative of the United States in Italy, its profound sorrow for the death of your most virtuous President, Abraham Lincoln, who fell by the hand of a treacherous assassin.

The horrid crime caused a shudder in the bosoms of all good men, and a borrow that will never be blotted from the hearts of those who love liberty and free institutions like the immortal deceased; but it will not delay, for a moment, the triumph of the federal cause, the abolition of slavery and the emancipation of the people.

Accept, illustrious sir, for the generous nation you represent, the best wishes of the Workingmen’s Society of Barga for its permanent prosperity and happiness.

ANTONIO MORDINI,

President and member of the Italian Parliament.

Hon. Perkins Marsh,
United States Minister to Italy, Florence.