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. Romero to Mr. Hunter.

[Translation.]

Mexican Legation in the United States of America,
Washington, April 15, 1865.

Mr. Secretary ad interim: The grief I felt this morning, on hearing of the death of the President of the United States from a wound received last night in a theatre of this city, and of the serious wounds of the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of State, has not been less than yours expressed in the note of this date informing me of those unpleasant events, and which I have just received.

Your note also informs me that, according to the Constitution of the United States, the honorable Andrew Johnson, Vice-President of the United States, formally assumed the functions of President to-day, and authorized you to discharge the duties of Secretary of State ad interim till further orders.

Though the occasion is a sad one, I embrace it to renew to you, sir., the assurances of my distinguished consideration.

M. ROMERO.

Hon. William Hunter,
Acting Secretary of State.