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

Scotch Masonic Lodge La Prévoyance, No. 88, Orient of Paris.

Paris, undated

[Translation.]

To the United States Minister at Paris.

Sir: The guilty hand that struck Mr. Abraham Lincoln to glut the vengeance of an unrelenting fanaticism selected the noblest and most glorious defender of the three principles all humanity is endeavoring to realize, namely: liberty, equality, and fraternity. The Masonic Lodge La Prévoyance, in obedience to the Supreme Council of Paris, asks you to transmit to the people of the United States the expression of sorrow and indignation felt by all its members on the reception of the news of the horrible crime.

We hope the blood of the great citizen who willed and proclaimed equality of races in his country will be the last spilled in such a glorious cause and that the crime will have the effect of fecundating the germ of liberty and fraternity already planted in the soil.

President Lincoln died for his country and for humanity; and our lodge would be pleased to see all nations join in the erection of a monument to his memory in one of the public squares of New York.

Accept the assurances of our sympathy with the great nation you represent.

• J. A. HUET, Ven’b.
• H. CHANDELIER, 1st Warden.
• REBIERRE, 2d Warden.
• D. PARENT, Secretary.
• L. QUANQUIN, Orator.
• By order: DESGARDINS, Keeper of the Seals.