Baron von Dalwigk to Mr. Hagedorn
[Translation.]
Sir: It has pleased Providence to cut short, by the hand of an assassin, the life of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States of North America, at the moment when the great and just cause to which his life had been devoted was on the point of obtaining a complete triumph through the victories of the armies of the Union.
The news of this tragic event was received here, as in all the civilized States of the Old and the New World, with the most painful surprise, and the grand ducal government feels itself impelled to give utterance to this feeling to the government of the United States.
By order of his Royal Highness the Grand Duke, my most gracious lord, I therefore request you, sir, to express to his Excellency Andrew Johnson, the present President of the United States, in a becoming manner, the sincere sympathy which is felt here at the much to be lamented decease of President Lincoln. At the same time I request you, sir, to express the wish and the hope that the Union, which has become the second fatherland of so many Germans, and especially of so many who belonged to the Grand Duchy of Hesse, under the guide of the present President, will soon rejoice in the re-establishment of the constitutional authorities over the whole of its territory, and with it the enjoyment of a new period of peace and prosperity.
Allow me to avail myself of this opportunity to express to you the renewed assurance of my perfect esteem.
C. F. Hagedorn, Esq.,
Consul General of the Grand Duchy of Hesse
Darmstadt.