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

Señor Lerdo De Tejada. Circular addressed to the Governors of the various States

[Translation.—Official.]

department of foreign relations and government.—department of government, first bureau.

[Circular.]

The official confirmation has been received that the President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln, died at Washington, at seven o’clock and twenty-two minutes, on the morning of the 15th day of April last, in consequence of the wound inflicted upon him by an assassin at half past nine o’clock on the previous night. The deplorable end of President Lincoln is a cause of great regret to the government of the Mexican republic, and to all its good citizens, by reason of his eminent personal qualities, and because, during his administration, the government of the United States has continued in the most friendly relations with that of the Mexican republic in the difficult state of the affairs thereof.

With the view that the manifestations of the public sorrow for that sad event may be adopted, the citizen President directs that the national flag be hoisted at half-mast upon all the public buildings and at all the military stations during the day subsequent to the reception of this circular, and that all the authorities, functionaries, and employés, both civil and military, clothe themselves in mourning during nine days.

Independence and liberty! Chihuahua, May 16, 1865.

LERDO DE TEJADA.

The Citizen Governor of the State of