Mr. Morris to Mr. Hunter .
[Extract.]
Constantinople , May 11, 1865.
No. 114.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of despatch No. 87, and the circular containing the official announcement of the assassination of President Lincoln. In a previous despatch I referred at large to the universal feeling of horror and indignation which such a monstrous crime had produced among all classes of the population of this capital; no human event, it seems to me, could inspire a deeper and more widespread sense of sorrow and abhorrence than such a crime against such a man. President Lincoln’s course of action, during his four years’ term of office, had been so honorable to himself [Page 614] and so useful to his country, that he had won even the respect of the enemies of the noble cause he championed. He lived long enough to refute the calumnies of his foreign assailants, and to confound the wicked schemes of domestic traitors. His steady perseverence in the course of right, his unshaken faith in ultimate success, and the stern loyalty he exhibited to the Constitution astonished the European world and enforced its admiration of one of the grandest exhibitions of moral courage, and of the conscientious discharge of duty to be found in ancient or modern history. He has descended to the tomb with an untarnished fame, and honored alike by the kings and people of Europe, and the citizens of republican America.
Since my last despatch a deputation has called on me, on the part of the American church and nationality, to express their condolence, and their hopes that slavery, the cause of all our woes, will be forever eradicated in the United States. This delegation consisted of three of the highest ecclesiastical dignitaries of the American church. * * * *
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon, William Hunter,
Acting Secretary of State.