The Chancellor of Oxford to Mr. Adams. ST. JAMES SQUARE, May 6, 1865. SIR: As chancellor of the University of Oxford, I have the honor of transmitting to you an address under the seal of the university, unanimously adopted by convocation, expressive of their condolence with the government and the people of the United States on the calamity which has recently befallen them in the assassination of the President; their abhorrence of the act of the assassination; their friendly feeling towards a kindred nation, and their earnest prayers. for the restoration of peace and national prosperity to your now suffering country. It is, I hope, unnecessary for me to assure your excellency of my entire personal concurrence in the sentiments of which I am made the official organ; but the departure on this occasion by the university from its almost invariable practice will afford an additional proof, if any were required, of the strength and genuineness of the feelings which this atrocious crime and lamentable catastrophe have evoked from all classes and all shades of political opinions, from the sovereign downward, throughout the whole of the United Kingdom. I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, your excellency's most obedient servant, His Excellency Hon. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Minister of the United States. DERBY. Address to his excellency the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America. May it please your excellency : We, the chancellor, masters, and scholars of the University of Oxford, request your excellency to convey to the government and people of the United States of America the assurance of our sincere condolence, on the occasion of the appalling calamity which has recently befallen your country. It is not the practice of this University to notice, in its corporate capacity, events which do not directly affect the well-being of our own country. But at this singular and lamentable crisis we are conscious of the full force of those recollections of the past which must at all times lead the British nation to regard with a community of interest the fortunes and destinies of a friendly and a kindred people. In accordance with these sentiments, it is the anxious desire of the university to express to your excellency the abhorrence with which we, together with the whole civilized world, regard the assassination of the President of the United States. We would also at the same time express, in common with all ranks of our countrymen, our earnest hope that by the orderings of a merciful Providence the American people may speedily enjoy the restoration of internal peace and national prosperity. Given at our house of convocation, under the common seal, this fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord God 1865. [SEAL.] MAYOR'S OFFICE, CITY HALL, SIR: I have the honor to enclose herein a copy of a resolution adopted unanimously by the municipal council of this city, the same being but an imperfect expression of the most sincere sympathy of this community towards the American people, on the melancholy occasion of the recent tragical death of the late President of the United States of America at the hands of an assassin. I would also beg leave to express my regret at the atrocious attempt made upon your own life and others of your family and household, and have great pleasure to learn this day by public report of the certain and gradual improvement in the condition of yourself and those who unfortunately suffered with you. I have the honor to remain your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, M. K. DICKENSON, Mayor of Ottawa. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Resolutions of the city of Ottawa. Resolved, That this corporation deems it its duty to express its sincere regret for the untimely and tragical fate of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States of America, which calamitous event has bereft a friendly nation of its Chief Magistrate and mankind of a character noble for his integrity and firmness. And that as an expression of the deep sympathy felt by this community for the afflicted people who have thus suddenly been deprived of their chief ruler, the mayor be requested to order the national ensign to be raised on the public buildings of this city, and the citizens of Ottawa are hereby respectfully requested to follow such example. [L. S.] Certified: CITY HALL, OTTAWA, April 19, 1865. M. K. DICKENSON, Mayor. 1 ·Excerpt from minutes of the meeting of the magistrates and commissioners of the burgh of Patrick, near Glasgow, Scotland, held on the 8th day of May, in the year 1865. Inter alia, it was unanimously resolved, on the motion of Allan Arthur, senior magistrate of the burgh That this meeting desires to express their grief and abhorrence at the crime by which, in an eventful crisis, the United States of America have been deprived of a wise and good President, and the life of one of their Secretaries of State has been endangered; their sympathy with the people of the United States in the trying circumstances; respectful condolence with the widow and family of the lamented late President, ABRAHAM LINCOLN; and the hope that the life of Mr. Seward may be spared to his country and to his family. And, further, this meeting desire to express the fond trust that under the favor of Almighty God the blessing of peace may soon be restored to those States, so long suffering the horrors of war. That a copy of the foregoing resolution be excerpted from the minutes by the clerk to the commissioners, signed by the senior magistrate in the name of the meeting, and sent to his excellency the minister of the United States in London. ALLAN ARTHUR, MAT. WALKER, Clerk. At Pollokshaws, and within the council chamber there, on Friday, the 5th day of May, 1865: At a meeting of the magistrates and town council of the burgh of Pollokshaws-present, Provost Austin, Bailie King, Treasurer Nicol, Counsellors Watson, Baird, McIntire, Mackay, Brownlie, and Steel-the provost in the chair-Provost Austin moved that the magistrates and town council express their sympathy with the community of the United States of America, and especially with Mrs. Lincoln and her family, on the melancholy bereavement they have sustained through the assassination of the late President of those States. This motion was seconded by Bailie King, and unanimously agreed to, and the clerk was instructed to forward to the American minister in London a copy of this minute. In respect whereof: WILLIAM AUSTIN, Provost. JOHN KENART, Town Clerk. I certify that the foregoing is a true copy. BOROUGH OF PORTSMOUTH. At a meeting of the council of the borough of Portsmouth, holden at the council chamber, the 1st day of May, 1865, The mayor having addressed the council in reference to the recent death by assassination of the President of the United States, he moved therein, seconded by Louis Arnoldus Vandenberg, esquire, and it was thereupon Unanimously resolved, That this council, representing the feelings of all classes in the borough, has heard with the greatest sorrow and indignation of the recent death of the President of the United States of America by the hands of an assassin, and of the attempt made at the same time on the life of Mr. Seward, the American Secretary of State. And while declaring its abhorrence at these hateful crimes, it desires earnestly to express its deep sympathy with the American people in the grief and distress into which they have been plunged by those sad and cowardly events. It was then moved by Mr. Alderman Scale, seconded by W. G. Chambers, esq, and Unanimously resolved, That the mayor be requested to forward a copy of the foregoing resolution to Mr. Adams, the representative of the United States to this country, with a request that it may be communicated to the American government, and that the mayor do at the same time offer the sincere condolence of the council to Mrs. Lincoln, in her sudden and cruel bereavement. Extracted from the minutes of the proceedings of the council of the borough of Portsmouth, the 9th day of May, 1865. JOHN HOWARD, Town Clerk. Address of the provost, magistrates, and town council of the burgh of Paisley, in Scotland. SIR: That the provost, magistrates, and town council of the burgh of Paisley have received the intelligence of the death of his Excellency ABRAHAM LINCOLN, late President of the United States, by the hand of an assassin, and of the attempt to assassinate the honorable William H. Seward, an illustrious member of his government, with sentiments of detestation and abhorrence. That they desire, for themselves and the inhabitants of the burgh they represent, to express their detestation of these atrocious crimes whereby the American nation, by the untimely death of Mr. LINCOLN, has been deprived of an upright ruler, and the life of Mr. Seward endangered, and their deep sympathy and condolence with Mrs. Lincoln in her severe affliction. They have also to express their sympathy with the government and people of the United States in being deprived of their Chief Magistrate at a momentous period of their country's history. They would express a hope that the prospects of a returned peace may not be impeded by the lamented death of Mr. LINCOLN, and that the measures to be adopted by your government may tend to the restoration of the blessings of peace. Signed in our name and behalf, and by our authority, and the common seal of the burgh affixed thereto, the sixth day of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-five. DAVID CAMPBELL, Provost and Chief Magistrate of Paisley. [SEAL.] His Excellency the PRESIDENT of the United States of America. Resolutions passed at a meeting held by the town council of the city of Perth. At Perth, and within the Town Hall thereof, Monday, the first day of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, at ten o'clock, forenoon, sederunt in councilJohn Kemp, esq., present, lord provost of the city of Perth, &c. On the motion of the lord provost, it was Unanimously resolved, That the town council of the city of Perth record the heartfelt concurrence with which they and the people of this locality, in common with the whole British nation, reprobate with abhorrence the foul crime which has recently been committed in and against the United States of America by the assassination of Mr. LINCOLN, the twice elected President of that great nation; and that the council express their participation in the grief which the sad event has universally created. The crime is atrocious from every point of view, eminently dangerous to society, and deeply distressing to the relatives of the exalted victim, as well as to the great community over which he presided with so much justice, intelligence, and ability. And resolved, That the council offer their condolence and sincere expressions of sympathy with the American people and relatives of the deceased President, by forwarding an extract of the present resolutions to his excellency the American ambassador in London. Extracted by WILLIAM GREIG, . |
