States, and more especially at a time when the councils of that great nation required the benefit of his valuable services and judgment. We also request that you will convey to Mrs. Lincoln and the other members of the family of the late President the expression of our deep and heartfelt sympathy with them under their present bereavement and in the irreparable loss which they have so suddenly sustained; and which feeling of deep sympathy is, we believe, universally entertained throughout the United Kingdom. We further venture to express our earnest hope that the most friendly feelings may ever exist between the people of the United States and of this country. Signed on behalf of the mayor and council, and under the corporate seal of the said borough, this 9th day of May, 1865. [SEAL.] His Excellency the Hon. C. F. ADAMS, JONAS DAWKINS, Mayor. Minister of the United States of America, resident in London. Resolutions of the independent ministers of the counties of Carmarthen, Cardigan, and Pembroke on the death of President Lincoln. A resolution passed unanimously at the annual association of the independent ministers of the counties of Carmarthen, Cardigan, and Pembroke, held at Maenclochog, Pembrokeshire, June 6, 1865, Rev. Evan Lewis Brynberian presiding; and also at the annual association of the independent ministers of the counties of Glamorgan, Monmouth, Dadnor, and Brecon, held at Neath, Glamorganshire, July 5, 1865, Rev. Dr. Rees, of Swansea, presiding. (These two associations represent 289 ministers and 438 churches.) That this conference desires to inform our fellow-Christians, and especially our fellow-countrymen in America, of our deep interest in the past history and our full confidence in the future progress of the United States. That we acknowledge in the late war the righteous judgment of God on the northern and southern States, and also on Great Britain, in the distress occasioned by the war, and see in it an instance of retributive providence, as a temporal judgment for the commencement, continuance, and defence of the polluted system of slavery, reducing the man created in God's image to the status of the animal. That we have personally and socially prayed for the speedy termination of the war in the complete overthrow and everlasting destruction of the slave system, and for the progress of liberty and virtue in America. That we congratulate the American people on the quashing of the rebellion; and desire that they may have wisdom from above in the reconstruction of the Union on principles and by laws acknowledging that men of all colors and languages are equal. That in common with the whole civilized world we have felt deeply indignant on reading the account of the treacherous murder of the benevolent President, ABRAHAM LINCOLN; and while deeply sympathizing with the sorrowing widow so mysteriously bereaved of her husband, and the nation so suddenly deprived of her leader, we earnestly pray that that "righteous man has not been taken away from the evil to come." That we see in the whole history of the "irrepressible conflict" between slavery and freedom in the States a fresh proof that "righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." And, lastly, we trust that with the restoration of peace there will be a vigorous renewal of those philanthropic and religious efforts that have made America so conspicuous in the past for moral reformations and religious revivals; so that she may become in the future still more eminent for powerful and more enduring revivals, having been freed from the curse of slavery, that defiled with its touch everything with which it came in contact; and that she may be a free country, living in peace at home and in peace with all other nations, according to the wish so beautifully expressed by the ever to be remembered ABRAHAM LINCOLN on his reinauguration as President, on the 4th of March, 1865. EVAN LEWIS, Chairman. BOROUGH OF PLYMOUTH. Record of the mayor, aldermen, and councillors of the borough of Plymouth. We, the mayor, aldermen, and councillors of the borough of Plymouth, in council assembled, desire to record our feelings of indignation and sorrow at the atrocious crimes by which the United States of America have been deprived of their Chief Magistrate, and the life of a principal officer of state has been endangered, and to join our voices in the universal condemnation of the authors of these deplorable events. We desire to tender to the government and people of the United States the assurance of our profound sympathy under this great calamity, and to offer to the widow of the lamented President our respectful condolence at her bereavement. We earnestly hope that in this universal sentiment, and the cordial recognition which has found so world-wide an utterance of the eminent qualities and kindly nature of the deceased, they may derive all the consolation which human sympathy can impart. We confidently trust that the same spirit which was seen to animate Mr. LINCOLN when arrested in his career will continue to guide the successors to his government; that by a generous and conciliatory policy, peace and harmony, involving the recognition of justice to all members of the community, may be restored to a distracted nation, and that the intimate relations which connect this country with the United States of America may be maintained with increasing friendship and cordiality. [SEAL.] CHARLES NORRINGTON, Mayor. Resolutions passed at a public meeting held at Plymouth, May 3, 1865. At a public meeting held at the Plymouth Mechanics' Institute, in aid of the freedmen in the United States, Mr. Charles Norrington, mayor of Plymouth, presiding, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted: Moved by the Rev. H. A. Greaves, and seconded by Mr. Rowe That while this meeting deeply deplores the severe and long-continued war in the United States, it records its gratitude to Almighty God that the consequent manumission of more than two millions slaves has prepared the way for absolute and universal emancipation. Moved by Mr. Alfred Rooker, and seconded by the Rev. J. E. Risk— That this meeting, avowing its deep indignation at the recent assassination of the President of the United States, desires to express its deep sorrow at the mysterious event which has suddenly deprived the slaves of a prudent benefactor, and the state of a ruler who had inaugurated a policy of conciliation. Moved by the Rev. T. C. Page, and seconded by Mr. S. Elliot That this meeting, considering the sufferings of the freedmen in their transition from slavery to freedom, pledge itself to render them such assistance as may tend to mitigate present want and prepare for future prosperity, and that gentlemen and ladies' committees be constituted to give effect to this resolution. On motion of Mr. T. C. Brian, seconded by Mr. T. Nicholson, a vote of thanks was accorded to the mayor for his kindness in taking the chair. Mr. Norrington having briefly acknowledged the compliment, the meeting closed. From the inhabitants of Plaistow, Essex, England, in public meeting assembled, to the people of the United States of America: Permit us, as a small portion of the English nation, to add our sentiments of sympathy and sorrow to those felt by you on the recent lamentable events which have plunged your whole community into intense grief. The base assassination of President LINCOLN, with the attempted murder of a chief member of your government, is one of those events which merge in common unity those minor political differences which are essential to the freedom of great nations, but without necessarily inferring antagonism. Permit us, therefore, as one with you, to offer our profound sympathy and sorrow, to unite in detestation of a crime disgraceful to humanity, and to assure you that the blow struck at yourselves recoils on us. But, further, we heartily sympathize with that national action which, as expounded by your lamented President, had for its result the emancipation of slaves, and in the destruction of rebellion the destruction also of that system which we believe to have been its moving cause, even if not the prompting cause, also, of President LINCOLN's assassination and the murderous attack on Mr. Seward. That as a united and universally free nation your present position may be unendangered by recent events and your future course attended by increasing stability and glory is our earnest desire, thus expressed through the medium of your official representative at St. James. Signed on behalf of the meeting: REV. JOHN FOSTER, Chairman. From the inhabitants of Plaistow, Essex, England, in public meeting assembled. To Mrs. LINCOLN : DEAR MADAM: Many words in your present grief would be an intrusion. We have expressed in another form our sympathy with the loss sustained by the United States as a nation. Here, and to you, we would only say that, as men and women of kindred race to your own, and, therefore, of the same Christian family, we fully share in the grief felt by those more immediately near to you. Distance does not create division in a common sorrow; may that sorrow felt most keenly by yourself be assuaged by the Great Healer, and to his tender mercy we affectionately commit you and yours, Signed on behalf of the meeting: REV. JOHN FOSTER, Chairman. Resolutions passed at a meeting of the citizens of Port Rowan, province of Canada. PORT ROWAN, April 24, 1865. SIR: In conformity with a numerously signed requisition addressed to John B. Hutchinson, esquire, reeve of the township of Walsingham, county of Norfolk, and province of Canada, a large and influential meeting was held in the Town Hall, in the village of Port Rowan, on the evening of Thursday, the 20th instant, for the purpose of affording the inhabitants of said township of Walsingham an opportunity of expressing their sympathy with the American people, and of offering their condolence to the late President's afflicted widow in the loss of so good a husband and father, and of expressing their abhorrence of the treacherous and bloody deed. At which meeting Hugh Mabee, esquire, was appointed chairman, and T. A. Hall, esquire, was chosen secretary, when the following resolutions were unanimously adopted: Moved by Henry J. Killmaster, esquire, and seconded by P. Bennett, esquire. Resolved, That in view of the lamentable occurrence which has taken place in the neighboring nation of the United States, by which their Chief Magistrate has been deprived of life at the hands of a blood-thirsty assassin, we, the inhabitants of the said township of Walsingham, deem it incumbent upon us to offer to our mourning neighbors this expression of our sympathy for the great loss they have sustained in thus being deprived of a patriot and states man. Moved by John A. Backus, esquire, and seconded by Benjamin Killmaster, esquire Resolved, That this meeting desire respectfully to offer their condolence to Mrs. Lincoln and her family, and hope, with the blessing of God, they will be sustained under this trying bereavement. We have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servants, H. A. MABEE, Chairman. T. A. HALL, Secretary. was Resolution passed at a meeting held by the city council of Quebec. CITY HALL, Quebec, April 22, 1865. Resolved, That this council has learned with the most profound regret the death of the honorable ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States of America, caused by one of the most dastardly outrages recorded in history, and that as a token of respect for his memory and of sympathy for the great nation with whom we are on friendly terms, and which is now plunged into the deepest grief for the loss of its Chief Magistrate by the perpetration of the most atrocious murder, this council do immediately adjourn, and that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the American consul. Certified: L. A. CANNON, City Clerk. |
