his estimable family, I close this, recommending you to communicate its contents in the usual form, which might be more acceptable. I am, sir, your obedient servant, His Excellency DON LUIS MOLINA, JULIAN VOLIO. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from Costa Rica, Washington, D. C. [Translation.] LEGATIONS OF COSTA RICA, NICARAGUA, AND HONDURAS, Washington, April 15, 1865. SIR: Sincerely sharing in the feelings of the people of the United States, the persons connected with the government, and yourself, on the occasion of the melancholy events which you communicate to me in your note of this date, I do not venture anything in at once assuring you that the governments and the peoples I have the honor to represent near the United States will receive with due appreciation the sad intelligence of the national calamity referred to, fully sympathizing with the national sorrow. At the same time you have the kindness to inform me that, according to the Constitution of the United States, the Vice-President has formally assumed the functions of President, and that you have been by him authorized to perform the duties of Secretary of State. The uninterrupted existence of the constitutional government of the United States will doubtless be looked upon in the republics of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras as the surest guarantee of the friendly relations they so much desire to cultivate with this country, and will now be a relief accompanied with the hope that the administration of President Johnson may advance those relations as well as that of his lamented predecessor. Let me offer my personal condolence with the family of the late President in their bereavement, and my earnest wishes for the recovery of Mr. Seward, his son, and family. I have the honor to offer to you the assurances of my high consideration. Hon. WILLIAM HUNTER, Acting Secretary of State of the United States, Washington, D. C No. 123.] Mr. Riotte to Mr. Hunter. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I had the honor of receiving on the 13th instant at Punta Arenas, whither I had gone for the purposes indicated in my despatch No. 122, your despatches Nos. 100 and 101 and your order of 17th April last. The terrible tragedy recited in your despatch No. 100 has created a degree of painful sensation in this country altogether unexpected and heretofore evinced on no occasion. The President, immediately upon the arrival of the mail, raised the flag on his mansion half-mast, and the same was done by his order on all public buildings. The foreign diplomatic and consular representatives followed, and most of them wrote me letters or paid me visits of condolence. And the grief was not merely an official one, as to my sincere satisfaction I had abundant proof to convince myself. A real gloom was spread over the whole community. It would not be proper in this place to speak of my personal feelings, but I hope I will be pardoned for saying that the great debt of gratitude I owed Mr. LINCOLN made me feel his loss like that of a brother. In the miraculous salvation of the venerable chief of our department I rejoice most heartily, with every true friend of the great cause of our country, which I am persuaded, in the hands of Mr. Johnson, will be sustained ably and energetically. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of despatches Nos. 102 and 103, and enclose a copy of a note addressed to this government, and a copy and translation of the reply thereto; also a copy of the circular note directed by me to the diplomatic and consular representatives of foreign nations, calling upon them to join in the celebration of the day set aside by the President as a day of mourning in memory of our lamented late President. On that mournful day I was made the recipient of a number of letters of condolence and of visits from many distinguished citizens and the chargés of Peru and Spain. Without one single exception all flags in this capital were at half-mast, some draped in crape. The legation and its flagstaff I had draped in black and white, while long black streamers hung down from the flag. Most Americans wore black, and two of them volunteered to put up the drapery on the legation. JULY 8, 1865, (Tungchi, 4th year intercalary, 5th moon, 17th day.) Prince Kung, chief secretary of state for foreign affairs, herewith sends, in reply: I had the honor yesterday to receive your excellency's communication informing me that the President of the United States had been removed by death, an announcement that inexpressibly shocked and startled me. But, as you add that on the same day the Vice-President succeeded to the position without any disturbance, and the assassin had been arrested, so that the affairs of government were going on quietly as usual, I hope that these considerations will alleviate your grief at the event, and you will be able to attend to public business. I shall be pleased to embody the particulars connected with this event in a memorial to his Majesty, and thereby evince the cordial relations which now exist between our countries, which is the purpose of sending the present reply. His Excellency S. W. WILLIAMS, Chargé d'Affaires of the United States, in China. Since my last the mail has brought full accounts of the lamentable assassination of our beloved President, and I have taken the telegraphic despatch of the Secretary of War, of April 16, to Mr. C. F. Adams, at London, which appeared in the English papers, as containing the principal facts, and have notified the Chinese government of this sad event. Prince Kung responded in a friendly spirit. Previous to this I had informed the Chinese officials of all the details then known respecting the occurrence. The telegraph brought the first notice to Peking via Russia in forty days, but nearly a fortnight elapsed before further news arrived to induce us to believe that such a horrid deed could have been committed in the United States. The contentment and joy caused by the previous news of the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee's army, foretokening the cessation of arms and final suppression of the rebellion and restoration of the Union, were turned into grief and indignation at learning that the President had been thus removed. All the Americans in Peking alike mourned his death, and all we could do was to pray that God, who had brought the nation to see the triumph of its arms against treason, would strengthen the national cause by leading to the adoption of those plans which would best uphold justice and best promote union. The limits of a despatch will hardly allow me more than to add my tribute of admiration of the character of Mr. LINCOLN. His firm and consistent maintenance of the national cause, his clear understanding of the great questions at issue, and his unwearied efforts while enforcing the laws to deprive the conflict of all bitterness, were all so happily blended with a reliance on Divine guidance as to elevate him to a high rank among successful statesmen. His name is hereafter identified with the cause of emancipation, while his patriotism, integrity, and other virtues, and his untimely death, render him not unworthy of mention with William of Orange and Washington. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, S. WELLS WILLIAMS. Secretary of State, Washington. DENMARK. Mr. Raaslöff to Mr. Hunter. [Translation.] DANISH LEGATION, Washington, April 17, 1865. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 15th instant, by which you inform me of the death of President LINCOLN, and of the attempted assassination of the Secretary of State and of his son, the Assistant Secretary of State. I need not assure you of the deep and sincere grief with which I have received that information, but I may be allowed to add, that the feelings of my Sovereign and of the people of Denmark will, when the news of those sad and terrible events shall reach them, be those of the warmest sympathy, not only with the immediate victims, but with the whole deeply afflicted people of the United States. Having been informed by this same note that, pursuant to the provision of the Constitution of the United States, Andrew Johnson, the Vice-President, has formally assumed the functions of President, and that the President has authorized you to perform the duties of Secretary of State, I beg you to accept the assurance of the high and distinguished consideration with which I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient, humble servant, Hon. WILLIAM HUNTER, W. RAASLÖFF Acting Secretary of State of the United States, Washington. [Translation.] DANISH LEGATION, New York, May 20, 1865. PRESIDENT: I have the honor, in conformity with instructions from my government which have just reached me, to tender you, in the name and on behalf of his Majesty the King, my august Sovereign, the assurance of profound grief with which his Majesty has learned the death of the late lamented President LINCOLN by the hand of an assassin, and the murderous attempt made to take the life of the honorable Secretary of State. His Majesty the King, as well as the whole people of Denmark, sincerely and earnestly sympathize with the people of the United States in their affliction |
