New York Chamber of Commerce
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.—INSTITUTED A.D. 1768.
At a special meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, held on the 22d day of April, 1865, the following preamble and resolutions, submitted by Mr. A. A. Low, president, were unanimously adopted:
in memoriam.
The death of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States of America, on Saturday, the 15th day of April instant, by its suddenness and attendant circumstances overwhelming the people of the whole land with a feeling of profound grief, this chamber deems it proper, in assembling at the present time, to make record on its book of minutes of the loss sustained by the nation at a very important juncture in its affairs, a loss the magnitude of which is made manifest in the most wide-spread demonstration of sorrow by the suspension of business for the space of six days, during which our fellow-citizens have voluntarily withdrawn from their customary secular avocations, on Wednesday and Thursday, the 18th and 19th instant, in obedience to the proclamation of the civil authorities, closing their places of business, and resorting very generally to houses of public worship in a spirit of humiliation and prayer. The whole city draped in mourning testified as no language can to the universal sentiment that a great and good man had departed this life. Sharing deeply in the nation’s grief, and feeling deeply the greatness of the nation’s loss, it is hereby—
Resolved, That this chamber will earnestly co-operate in any measures that may be suggested by the city authorities to receive and attend with due respect the remains of the late President of the United States in their passage through this city on Monday and Tuesday next.
Resolved, That this chamber will cherish and honor the memory of Abraham Lincoln as of one who was wise in council and remarkable for his singleness of purpose; in practical good sense, upright aim, and devotedness of life resembling the immortal Washington, who, throughout four years of civil war, so conducted and guided the administration of public affairs as to lead up the minds of our people to a higher and still higher estimate of his character for sagacity, combined with utmost simplicity; for firmness tempered by moderation; for justice allied with a spirit of conciliation; and that in death all parties are united in his praise, and vie with each other in their undivided homage, of whom it may be justly said that if not “first in war” in his day and generation, he was “first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
In testimony whereof this chamber orders that the foregoing be entered at length on its book of records, and that a copy of the same be sent to the family of the deceased, with whom it is the nation’s privilege to sympathize and mourn as for a common and irreparable loss.
Attest:
Secretary. 43 A