Resolved 2. That we tender to the bereaved family of our beloved President the expressions of our profound grief and unlimited sympathy. Resolved 3. That we tender our heartfelt thanks to the provisional government of the Oriental republic for its sympathy with us in our cause and in our bereavement, as expressed in the public official demonstrations of grief, by causing the national and American flags to be hoisted at half-mast on the public offices on the 5th instant, and half-hour guns to be fired from sunrise to sunset during the day. Resolved 4. That our gratitude is also due to the public press of this city, which, without exception, expressed its sorrow and indignation at the fiendish deed which deprived us of our Chief Magistrate, and also placed its columns in mourning as a token of respect to the illustrious dead. Resolved 5. That we thank Almighty God for preserving to us the life of William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and at the same time we extend to that eminent statesman our sympathy and our best wishes for his speedy recovery. Resolved 6. That to our fellow-citizens in the United States we renew our pledge of continued and unfaltering fidelity to the Union and to the federal government as constitutionally organized at Washington. Resolved 7. That three copies of these resolutions be presented to the consul of the United States in this city, with a request that one copy be forwarded to the bereaved family, one to the Department of State at Washington, and one to the provisional government of the Oriental republic. Resolved 8. That these resolutions be published in the daily papers of this city, in the Standard of Buenos Ayres, and be also forwarded to the United States for publication. B. WHITMAN, Secretary. PETER BOURSE, Chairman. VENEZUELA. [Translation.] UNITED STATES OF VENEZUELA-DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN RELATIONS-CENTRAL BUREAU, NO. 106. CARACAS, second year of the Law and seventh of the Confederation, June 2, 1865. CITIZEN MINISTER: I have read to the citizen the first designated in the exercise of the presideney of the republic a note which the legation of the United States of America addressed to this department on the 31st of May, and in which it communicates already, and upon official information, the assassination of the President of that nation, the wounds inflicted upon the Secretary and his Assistant, and the entrance of the Vice-President upon the functions of the executive power. On replying to you, and according to the orders which I have received, I must bear in mind that your legation, understanding perfectly the spirit of its instructions, and interpreting with fidelity the sentiments and principles of the government of the republic, anticipated of its own motion, at the earliest opportunity, the taking of a part in the mourning produced by the immense misfortune; and upon the arrival here of this information, the government commissioned me to make a visit, in its name, to Mr. Culver, at which I should make known the grief and horror with which it had learned the very afflicting event. Now the citizen President ad interim has ordered the sympathies of the people and government of Venezuela to be reiterated to the United States of America for the loss it has just experienced. Those crimes, atrocious in all their circumstances, and which demonstrate on the part of their authors the extremity of wickedness; unavailing to the object which they propose to themselves, if any; always condemned by universal opinion, even when they may seem pardonable by causes of great magnitude, acquire extraordinary proportions on this occasion, in which a virtuous man, tenacious of the fulfilment of his duty, and who triumphantly sustained the cause of the Union and the extirpation of slavery in the great democracy of the New World, fell by the hands of an infamous perfidy. Formed by himself in the practical school of life, and amidst the severities of fate, his deserts were the result of his own effort, and through them he twice reached the presidency of the American federation. The integrity, the moderation, the energy with which he discharged that office in the most calamitous times of his country, contending with obstacles of every kind, which his sagacity foresaw and his ability overcame, will ever do honor to his political qualities and to the country which produces such men; and his opinions, permanently inimical to slavery, which in the end he succeeded in seeing suppressed by a constitutional amendment now very nearly consummated, place him among the benefactors of his fellow-creatures. All these talents, if, on the one hand, they assign to him an eminent position in the estimation of his contemporaries and of posterity, on the other hand but redouble the grief of his death, and of the attempt which, adding to the injuries of nature those of human wickedness, increased the dangers of the wise statesman who, in so high a degree, was the sharer of his toil and measures, and which were extended even to his Assistant Secretary. The government of the United States of Venezuela, which, scarcely installed, commissioned a minister to Washington to represent the sympathies of this federation to that of the north, during the cruel trials through which it was pass ing, by using its efforts to cultivate the friendship and multiplying the relations of both countries, proves itself faithful to its antecedents, if it to-day equally participates in the grief of that nation for the loss of its President, snatched from life when about to reach the end of his hopes and toils, and condemns an offence which the unanimous opinion of the present generation will transmit to the future ones under the appellation of execrable. Furthermore, Venezuela feels assured that the United States, whose robust vitality events so grave and unexpected have not been able to curtail in the least degree, will thus continue in their career of greatness and glory, under the enlightened guidance of him who, through the confidence of his fellowcitizens, was named to take the place of the President in certain cases. The government of Venezuela, while it conveys to him these wishes, will at the same time consider it a very agreeable duty to maintain the good understanding which existed during the administration of his predecessor. You will be pleased to communicate to the honorable Secretary of State the present note, which, as you see, approves of the one which your legation addressed to him voluntarily on the same subject. God and the federation! The undersigned, minister of the department of foreign affairs of the United States of Venezuela, replies to the note of the 17th instant, in which the honorable minister resident is pleased to communicate to the government of Venezuela the fact that his Excellency William H. Seward had so far recovered from his wounds as to have resumed the discharge of his duties at the head of the Department of State. This most welcome intelligence has gratified extremely the citizen President of the republic, and for the same he congratulates also the people and government of the United States, not less than its representative in Caracas. The far-seeing statesman who has contributed so largely to obviate the effects of the insurrection which at one time threatened to destroy the United States, and completely subdue that rebellion, is doubtless one of the men best fitted for carrying to perfection the plan which the late unfortunate President conceived with such matchless good sense, and which embraced not only the measures of overcoming the partisans of separation, but also the means of assuring the peace and prosperity of the Union, to which the marvellous advance of the country is due, and whereby that country, fully recovered from the great evils of the war, will return to occupy in the world the elevated position to which she is entitled. It is gratifying, moreover, to perceive that the hopes of new calamities which the assassination was to fasten on the country have all been frustrated, while the preservation of the associate of Mr. LINCOLN, and his return to the Department of State, must now become the sting and punishment of those who attempted his life. Such, in brief, are the sentiments of the government, and such those of the undersigned, and in communicating them to Mr. Culver he begs to renew to him the protests of assurance of distinguished consideration. Mr. E. E. CULVER, &c, &c., &c. RAFAEL SIEJAS. [Translation.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF VENEZUELA, New York, 35 West Thirty-third street, Second year of the SIR: I was lulled by the most flattering hopes for the termination of the civil war that threatened to sever this great republic, when the echo of the people's lamentation brought to my ears the sad news of the most horrid crime that perverse humanity ever committed upon earth. The assassination of the President of the United States and of his Prime Secretary at a time when the cabinet was applying the balm of generosity and clemency to the wounds that perverted reason had inflicted upon the bosom of the country, is a crime unheard of and unexampled in the history of the world. The grief which that crime has caused my heart is as intense as the affliction of the American people for the loss of their second benefactor, the eminent magistrate who has guided the ship of state through the most critical storm of its national existence, with so much patriotism, intelligence, and abnegation. And the sorrow of the government and people I represent will be equally as great when they receive the news of the horrid event that has just cast the gloom of mourning over the nation to which I have the honor to be accredited. Please receive for yourself, and communicate to his Excellency the President, Mr. Andrew Johnson, my most sincere condolence for the death of that excellent man ABRAHAM LINCOLN, whose great virtues have enshrined him in the hearts of his countrymen by the side of the father of his country. With sentiments of the most high consideration, I have the honor to remain your attentive and most obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM HUNTER, Acting Secretary of State. B. BRUZUAL. [Translation.]. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF VENEZUELA, New York, 35 West Thirty-third street, April 17, 1865, Second year of the Constitution and seventh of Federation. SIR: I have just received your note of the 15th instant, informing me of the great misfortune that has put an end to the important existence of that most excellent man, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, and brought the Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and Mr. Frederick W. Seward, Assistant Secretary, to a bed of pain and suffering. A note of condolence, on account of this horrid and lamentable event, was sent to you yesterday by me. You also inform me that the Hon. Andrew Johnson has entered upon the duties of the presidency, and has appointed you Secretary of State pro tempore. I am sure that judgment, reason, and benignity will form the torch to illuminate the administration of the new President and guide him in the terrible crisis through which the republic must pass. I embrace the occasion to repeat to you the sentiments of consideration with which I have the honor to be your humble servant, Hon. WILLIAM HUNTER, Acting Secretary of State. B. BRUZUAL. Mr. Culver to Mr. Seward. : No. 113.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: It was but yesterday that the mournful intelligence reached Venezuela of the death of the President of the United States, and of the critical condition of yourself and son, by reason of violence at the hands of an assassin. The entire community was shocked at the intelligence, while the grief at the death of the President is profound, and the solicitude for yourself is universal. The Acting President here, General Guzman, and his minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Seijas, have been pleased to express themselves in terms of tenderest sympathy for the people of the United States in this their hour of affliction. Our news only reaches to the morning of the 15th of April. Of course we can know nothing of the effect produced by, or the agencies that contributed to, this terrible calamity. As I have received no official notice of the event, I have not thought proper to bring it officially to the notice of this government. I shall await with painful and mournful anxiety the receipt of despatches of a date subsequent to the sad event. My own feelings are too much saddened and overwhelmed to add more. |