[Translation.] LEGATION OF CHILI IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Washington, April 15, 1865. MR. SECRETARY: I have been honored with the reception of your note of to-day, informing me of the treacherous assassination perpetrated last night upon the person of Mr. Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, and of the no less horrid attempt on the life of Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, and Mr. F. W. Seward, Assistant Secretary, who were dangerously wounded. You also inform me that Mr. Andrew Johnson, the Vice-President, assumes the exercise of the functions of President from this date, in conformity with the provisions of the Constitution of the country, and authorizes you to discharge the duties of Secretary of State ad interim. These most extraordinary and unexpected events have caused me the most intense sorrow and surprise, and I assure you that the grief felt by the government and people of Chili, at the news of this public calamity, that justly covers your great nation with mourning, will be as profound and sincere as mine. In the name, therefore, of the government and people that I represent, I offer, through your intervention, to your government and nation, due sympathy and condolence on account of the unfortunate event that has just overwhelmed them with the tragic death of their illustrious and patriotic President, and for the serious injury to the worthy Secretary of State; and at the same time our sincere wishes for the prosperity and happiness of the sister republic, under the administration of its new Magistrate, whose promotion to the dignity of President I will be pleased to communicate to my government. Be pleased to accept the sentiments of my very distinguished consideration and esteem. Hon. WILLIAM HUNTER, Acting Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c. F. S. ASTA BURUAGA. [Translation.] DEPARTMENTAL GOVERNMENT OF THE ANDES, June 3, 1865. SIR: The illustrious municipality of this department, over which I have the honor to preside, has resolved to address to your excellency the following note: The death of Abraham Lincoln, the great republican and President of the United States of North America, by the hand of an infamous and daring assassin, has produced in the hearts of this corporation bitter grief. They also participate in the profound sorrow which, in consequence of this sad event, has been manifested by all those who live beneath the protection of republican institutions, and who now lament the loss of Lincoln, the venerated apostle of American democracy. I have the honor to transcribe the foregoing to your excellency, in compliance with the resolutions of the illustrious municipality. God guard your excellency. Hon. ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY J. RUFINO DEL CANTO. of the United States of North America. [Translation.] MUNICIPALITY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CARELMAPU, SIR: This corporation feeling the most lively and profound pain for the grief which you have been caused by the catastrophe which has befallen one of those prominent men, the immortal President Lincoln, who has rendered services so important to the country of the free, the republic of the United States of America, has the honor to address itself to your excellency, accompanying you in your just sorrow for so immeasurable a misfortune. But this corporation feels that it would be a consolation to your excellency in this irreparable loss, so justly wept over by every republican country, that he should have won the glory of preserving intact and unsullied the rights of his country, the natural consequence of which will be, as your excellency cannot doubt, the enjoyment by that magnanimous people of a perpetual peace. Be pleased, your excellency, with the protest of our most earnest sincerity and sympathy, to accept the condolence of this corporation. We remain, very respectfully, your excellency's most obedient servants, SIR: The people of Copiapo, in a reunion held yesterday in this city for the purpose of paying a just tribute of grief to the memory of the illustrious President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, wantonly assassinated in Washington on the 14th of April last, have commissioned us to address ourselves to you as the representative in Chili of that great nation, for the purpose of manifesting to you how profound has been their grief for this melancholy event, and how sincerely they accompany the North American people in their mourning for the loss of the great man whose political genius saved the Union from the formidable designs of its enemies, an emancipated millions of men who had groaned in slavery. If there be anything which can mitigate the bitter sorrow for a loss so immense, it is the consideration that the cause defended by Abraham Lincoln has been definitely consolidated; and that the hand that dealt the fatal blow to the elect of the people, while it severed, it is true, a precious existence, inscribed from that moment the name of the victim in the book of immortality, wounding to the death the inhuman principle of slavery, in whose name was perpetrated the execrable crime which has caused abundant tears to be shed by the republicans of the whole world. In complying with the commission, at once grateful and painful, of communi cating to you the resolutions of this community, we have the honor to express to you our own especial sorrow at this bereavement, and to subscribe ourselves with every consideration, your most obedient servants, RAFAEL VALDEZ. EMILIO G. BEECHE. CARLOS GONSALEZ UGALDE. MANUEL CONCHA, R. EMILIO ESCOBAR. PEDRO L. GALLO. JAVIER VERGARA. JOSÉ R. ROJAS, 2D. JOSE RAMON CORBALAN. J. EDWARDS. THOMAS H. NELSON, Esq., Minister of the United States. No. 196.] Mr. Nelson to Mr. Seward. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I know not in what terms to give utterance to the feelings of grief and dismay which overpowered me upon learning of the brutal assassination of our great and good President, and of the dastardly attempt upon your own life. It is still difficult for me to realize that crimes so awful have been committed. The effect upon the residents of Santiago and Valparaiso was sad beyond description. Strong men wandered about the streets weeping like children, and foreigners, unable even to speak our language, manifested a grief almost as deep as our own. Being temporarily in Valparaiso I invited our countrymen to meet me at the American consulate at four o'clock upon the 29th ultimo, (the steamer having arrived that morning,) to take such action as might be proper in the premises. At that hour, the rooms, the hall, the staircase, and even the street fronting the building were crowded, and upon my addressing the assemblage, the exhibition of profound grief was such as I have never seen equalled. Several overcome by their emotion, sat down upon the very ground and wept; and men whose stoicism had never been affected gave violent course to their grief. Prayer having been offered by the Reverend Dr. Trumbull, a series of appropriate reso lutions were proposed and adopted. * Upon the same day the intendente called upon me and stated that he had been instructed by the President to tender his earnest sympathy in this awful calamity, and to inquire in what way the government of Chili could most accep tably manifest how sincerely it mourned with the people and government of the United States. Thanking him cordially for the kind attention, I informed him that, while I should be deeply grateful for every mark of respect shown to the memory of the late President, it was not for me to indicate the form of such demonstration. Instructions were then issued that the American and Chilian flags should be drooped at half-mast from all the native vessels in the harbor, during eight days; and as I left for Santiago on the following day, minute guns were being fired from the sloop-of war Esmeralda. The flags upon the public buildings, those of the foreign consuls, and of many private residences were also hoisted at half Similar evidences of sympathy were also shown by the government and mast. diplomatic corps in Santiago; and I have been informed that the government proposes, as a further tribute of respect, to order a parade of all the military organizations in Santiago, to file past the legation with arms reversed and flags shrouded in mourning. I have also received letters of condolence from the secretary of foreign relations; from the Spanish minister; the Society of Primary Instruction; the Workingmen's Union, and others, to all of which I have endeavored to reply appropriately. All the members of the diplomatic corps have called to express their sympathy, as well as a large number of citizens and strangers. The President in his message, delivered this afternoon, alluded feelingly to the great loss sustained by the United States, and congress, in an informal meeting held prior to the delivery of the message, ordered the flag of the capital to be placed at half-mast. Mournful and depressing as is this sad bereavement, it behooves us not to forget, in our sorrow, that the Divine Ruler has preserved to us a life whose importance at this crisis of our country's regeneration cannot be too highly estimated. Permit me, therefore, to offer you my most earnest and sincere congratulations upon your own almost miraculous escape from the hands of the assassin, and to express the hope that you may be spared for many years to receive the grateful thanks of the country for which you have so nobly labored, and to which your very life came so near being made a sacrifice. The steadfast and self-denying devotion manifested throughout the whole of our great struggle with treason by the eminent patriot who has succeeded to the presidency, gives cheering assurance to the hearts of our countrymen that the great purpose of Mr. Lincoln will be ably, firmly, and conscientiously carried out. I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, * THOMAS H. NELSON. Secretary of State. No. 197.] Mr. Nelson to Mr. Seward. [Extract.] LEGATION OF the United STATES, SIR: At one o'clock to-day the congress of Chili was convened for the purpose of opening its regular sessions, and to listen to the annual message of the President. Upon my entering the senate chamber, where both houses were assembled, manifestations of enthusiasm were made, while the members rose to their feet and remained standing until I had taken my seat. The message was read by his excellency in person. Alluding to the United States, he said: "In the relations of cordial friendship which we cultivate with the United States of America, it has been impossible for us to view without lively and sincere satisfaction the intelligence which insures the complete re-establishment of peace. "The happy termination of the sanguinary struggle which has afflicted them will permit them to return again to the prolific labors of arts and manufactures, cleansed from a social plague which Chili banished from the earliest days of her emancipation, and which conflicted with the character and free institutions of that great republic. "Nor have we been indifferent to the mourning in which they have been plunged by the death of their illustrious ruler, Abraham Lincoln. This melancholy event has awakened throughout the country and in the government manifestations of grief and sympathy as just as sincere." * * * * * * * * * I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, THOMAS H. NELSON. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. No. 201.J Mr. Nelson to Mr. Seward. [Extract.] LEGATION OF the United STATES, SIR: In my despatches Nos. 196 and 197, of the 1st instant, I had the honor to transmit to you numerous evidences of the very deep sympathy manifested in Valparaiso and Santiago in our great national bereavement. From that date until the present these manifestations of kind feeling have continued almost uninterruptedly. On the fourth instant, at noon, by order of the navy department and that of war, a national salute was fired, in honor of the late President of the United States, from the fort at Valparaiso, at the conclusion of which twenty-one guns were fired from the Chilian sloop-of-war Esmeralda, at intervals of two minutes, and a like salute from the fortress of Hidalgo in Santiago. An hour later a procession was formed, consisting of the fire department, with flags and apparatus draped in mourning; the society of the American Union, bearing the flags of the different American republics, also shrouded in crape, and citizens, most of them dressed in mourning, with crape upon the left As the procession passed the legation, which was appropriately draped, I observed tears falling from the eyes of many, and the absolute silence and decorum of the thousands of spectators who filled the street for squares was in itself a mute tribute to the memory of the illustrious dead. In Copiapó on the same day, the fourth instant, a very earnest demonstration of respect took place. Pursuant to a call signed by the principal citizens, the residents met at noon and proceeded, escorted by the military forming the garrison, to the aiemada or public walk, where, upon the uncovering of the portrait of Mr. Lincoln, a national salute was fired and appropriate discourses delivered. The national flag was hoisted upon the public and private edifices at half-mast, and salutes were fired at sunrise, noon, and sunset. Half hour guns were also fired during the day. Additional letters of condolence have also been addressed to me by the society of the Union Americana, by the Anglo-Saxon workingmen's society of Valparaiso, and by the municipality of the department of Los Andres. * * In addition to these public demonstrations, I have received very marked and numerous evidences of sympathy from private citizens, and have endeavored in return to evince my grateful sense of the universal and profound respect shown in Chili to the memory of the late President. I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, THOMAS H. NELSON. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. |