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  3. 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
  4. Document 56

Don Luis Molina to Mr. Hunter

[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, [Page 39] 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.

LUIS MOLINA.

Hon. William Hunter,
Acting Secretary of State of the United States, Washington, D. C.