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

[From The Leeds Mercury, Thursday, April 27, 1865.]

Leeds, April 27, 1865

[Extract.]

abraham lincoln.

The great man whose assassination has left so remarkable a blank in the history of the world was not one of those who enjoyed the favors of fortune. He was bred in poverty, and whatever greatness he attained was attained by his own abilities and his own exertions.

(Here follows an account of the life, services, and assassination of Mr. Lincoln, concluding with the following:)

So died this great and good man, after one-half of his work was completed, but while another half, which no one can execute as he would have done, remains to be finished. The mildest and most peace-loving of men, it was reserved for him daring the comparatively short period in which he has played a prominent part in the history of the world to be but the minister of a terrible and desolating war. The firmness of his character, the comprehensiveness of his acts, the wisdom of his policy, have been fully displayed. The largeness of his heart, the noble forgivingness of his nature, and the temperate wisdom which can at once concilitate and command, have been nipped in the bud. Alas for the hopes of the country that has lost such a man!