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

Government of the Canton of Geneva

[Translation.]

Geneva, May 5, 1865.

The state council of the republic and canton of Geneva to the honorable minister resident of the United States at Berne.

Sir: Impressed with the sentiments that animated the people of Geneva on hearing of the crime committed upon the person of the honorable Abraham Lincoln, the state council of the canton of Geneva wish to express, through your mediation, to the great American republic the sorrow it feels at that deplorable event.

Our country participates in the mourning that is spread among your people, and if words of sympathy can afford any consolation to them in their deep sorrow, we beg you to be our interpreter in presenting to the government of your country the expression of the profound regret of the people of Geneva, and their wishes for the future prosperity of the American Union.

The state council:

• MOÏSE VAUTIER, President.
• CHAS. RICHARD, Vice-President.
• T. FLOT.
• S. VENAY.
• J. MOÏSE PIQUET.
• ELIE DUCOMMUN, State Chancellor.

[Post tenebras lux.]