Note from the workingmen of Santiago. [Translation.] SANTIAGO, May 30, 1865. SIR: The profound sorrow caused among the working classes of Santiago by the sad news of the crime committed upon the person of Lincoln, the honest, by the hand of an assassin, has impelled the council of the artisans' society, called the Union, to spontaneously unite last night in a session for the purpose of manifesting to your excellency the deep grief which it feels for so tragic an event. Since this society was the first to congratulate you upon the approaching termination of the war which has afflicted the great republic, it cannot view unmoved one of the most execrable crimes which have been committed in modern times by the apostles of evil. Upon me has devolved the duty, in the name of the council of the society and in that of the working classes, to manifest to you the grief experienced by them for the loss of one of the most devoted defenders of the rights of humanity, one whom with justice your fellow-citizens have called the father of his country. So tragic an occurrence will awaken the indignation of honorable men, and even the sorrow of the advocates of slavery, for a deed as brutal as it was infamous. From this day forward future generations will be unable to peruse without an abundant tribute of tears the page of mourning which closes the period of blood through which the greatest and most powerful nation governed by democratic principles has just passed. The memory of Abraham Lincoln will live in the heart of humanity so long as the current of the Potomac flows or the Andes endure. This reflection may, perhaps, in some degree mitigate your own grief, and that of your fellow-countrymen. With sentiments of the most profound respect, I have the honor to offer myself as your humble servant, who prays to the Supreme Dispenser of All Good to avert from your country the evils consequent upon crimes such as astound the world. JOSE SANTOS VALENZUELA, First Vice-President. Hon. THOMAS H. NELSON, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the U.S. Translation of letter from the Union Americana, of Santiago. SIR: The atrocious crime which has plunged your noble country in the most profound and just affliction cannot fail to draw forth expressions of grief from all who learn the mournful news, and such we come to utter to you in the name of the Union Americana of Santiago. We, who have rejoiced in the triumphs obtained by the soldiers of the law and the apostles of humanity in the titanic war against slavery, uniting our hopes and prayers to those of the people and government of the United Stateswe, who were preparing to join in their songs of victory and to applaud, as heretofore, their heroism in battle, their clemency in the hour of triumph-today accompany in their grief that people and government, who have lost in Mr. Lincoln one of their best and most illustrious representatives. The deplorable system which during four years has been aiming at the life of your country, and which had for its base and object the most horrible and unjustifiable iniquity, slavery, has concluded by summing up and declaring itself in the most iniquitous and inexcusable of crimes, the assassination of President Lincoln, thus confirming, as a sentence without appeal, the anathema which all free men and free nations have launched against it. Those of your fellow-citizens who, misled, have allowed themselves to be dragged by party passions or by interests of caste into a fratricidal war, may read to-day, in the ashes of their cities, how powerless and direful, and, in the death of Mr. Lincoln, how sterile and perverse, were the designs and instruments which have served the most odious of causes; and may God grant that, horrified by results so lamentable, they may turn to the aggrandizement of the country all the means and all the abilities employed during four years to destroy it. The blood of the President martyr thus counsels them, and thus also the hand of the assassin, from an ignominious solidarity with whom they ought to justify themselves, protesting by deeds, not of a blind party, but such as are worthy a great and enlightened people. Amid the painful emotions excited by this atrocious deed, it is at the same time a consolation and a lesson to perceive that the victim and the slayer were each faithful to the principles and the flag which each defended-in the name of which one dies, noble and magnanimous, as he had lived, serving his country and humanity; and the other, a brutal assassin, strikes, serving the monstrous requirements of an oligarchy or the instigatious of a shameful speculation. The death of the honored and patriotic President is, for your country, and even for the entire world, a just cause for immense grief; but it is not and cannot be a motive for doubting the triumph and final consolidation of the work begun a hundred years ago by Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin, converting three millions of weak colonists into as many proud citizens, and which, to-day, is crowned by Lincoln, Grant, and Seward, converting four millions of poor slaves into as many free men, who will consolidate with their efforts the most just and prolific of governments. Amid the bitter grief which the death of Mr. Lincoln has caused us, and which has crowned with the aureola of martyrdom the defender of the Union, and has placed the stigma of infamy upon the brow of the dying rebellion, we do not cease to feel the most abiding confidence that the situation of your country must continue developing itself in the most prosperous and secure manner; that the bloody hand of an assassin will not be permitted to retard the chariot of civilization, nor to impede the triumphantly progressive march of democracy. The atrocious deed of the parricide Booth has proven that the cause of law, of Union, and of true republican government is not bound to the inspiration and energy of a single individual, even though that individual be great of soul as Lincoln, but to the decision, the prudence, the self-denial of a nation, which, after teaching to the world that the practice of liberty is the most fruitful condition of prosperity, has taught it that in that practice are to be found the elements of war and victory, and will yet teach it that therein alone are rooted and flourishing the germs of concord and true fraternity. And thus will be belied one by one the doleful auguries which badly informed or evil-intentioned statesmen have not ceased to utter, ever since the shadows of civil war came to eclipse the splendor of the stars of your country, which by its course, in defeat and victory, in peace or war, has once again proved that the only and indispensable conditions for the stability of a government are liberty in all its forms, and justice in all its applications. In expressing to you, sir, our grief for the death of President Lincoln, and also our confidence in the proximate and lasting re-establishment of the Union, we believe ourselves to be not only the organ of our society, but that of our entire country, which has always found in the events of your prosperity motives for cordial rejoicing, and in those of your adversity even more powerful ones to sympathize, as to-day, in a grief the most profound and just. Be pleased, sir, to receive the considerations of high esteem with which we have the honor to subscribe ourselves your obedient servants. MANUEL BLANCO ENCALADA. PEDRO MONCAYO. JUAN AUGUSTIN PALAZUELOS. Hon. THOS. H. NELSON, &c., &c., &c. Letter from the Anglo-Saxon workingmen's association of Valparaiso. VALPARAISO, June 5, 1865. SIR: The Anglo-Saxon Workingmen's Mutual Benefit Association of Valparaiso, being animated by the same deep sense of grief which has been felt by all classes of society at the untimely and violent death of the illustrious personage who filled the high and important position of President of the United States, beg you to accept the expression of their sincere regret at the manner in which his valuable life and services have been brought to an end. The body which we represent, and the class of society to which we belong, will be an excuse for the want of proper language or flowing rhetoric in which some addresses may have been sent to you; but at the same time, dear sir, we can assure you that what is wanting in language to express our sentiments will be found deeply engraved in the hearts of those whose feelings and sense of right would by none be more highly appreciated than by him whose lamented death has called forth our just and truest sympathies. Having, as is well known, risen to eminence from the humblest walks of life, his example gives an impulse, especially to men in our station, teaching us that through uprightness, perseverance, and a strict adherence to the principles of society, there is no limit to the degrees of excellence and dignity which may be attained by him who, like Abraham Lincoln, proves himself throughout life an honest and hard-working man. We remain, sir, most respectfully and truly yours, GEORGE LEBERT, Committee. RICHARD GROVES, Jr., Secretary. Hon. THOMAS H. NELSON, United States Minister, Santiago de Chili. Resolutions adopted at a meeting of American residents at Valparaiso, May 29, 1865. Deeply impressed and appalled by the intelligence this day received, that Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States of America, has been assassinated in a manner unsurpassed for treachery and cowardice, we adopt the following resolutions : Resolved, That our beloved country has in this event suffered the loss of one of her purest and noblest sons, one of her best and most self-sacrificing citizens, one of her most upright and sagacious statesmen. Resolved, That we blend our sympathies with those of our fellow-citizens at home and abroad in the sorrow irrepressibly awakened by this occurrence, the atrocity of which, in the view of all honorable men, can be measured only by the distress it produces in the bosoms of patriots. Resolved, That we cherish in highest honor the private virtues and the public career of the late President, who in his lifetime patriotically sought, with animosity towards none, with charity towards all, to save the nation's life, and heal its wounds; while his death, investing his counsels with new value, cannot fail to endear him more than ever to his friends, as well as to disabuse the prejudices and assuage the animosity of his opponents. Resolved, That while we bow with the humility appropriate to our limited vision before the wisdom of God, who has permitted this wild outbreak of the wrath of man to succeed, we do still acknowledge His merciful intervention that had spared so long a life on which such interests hung through the earlier periods of greater confusion and greater peril; and we do yet cherish profoundly the hope, and offer reverently the prayer, that the nation's life may still be dear in His all-embracing eye; that its institutions may be maintained unimpaired, and its banner ever wave, an emblem of justice and freedom on earth. Resolved, That while the depths of grief are unutterably stirred within us, we still yield to no despondency in view of the machinations of men of criminal intent, confident that other patriots, true, wise, and brave, will arise from among the popular ranks, to serve the cause of our country, to maintain under God her liberties, and to guide her destiny to the wisest and noblest ends. These resolutions were at once adopted with entire unanimity and emotion. The following resolution was also proposed by the committee, in relation to the attack on the life of Secretary Seward: Resolved, That this meeting rejoices to learn that the dastardly attack on the Honorable William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, at the time an invalid in his bed, failed utterly; while we hope that, yet living to witness that honorable and permanent peace for which so assiduously he has labored restored throughout the land, he may long be spared to serve his country, and to have her do him the honor his patriotic devotion to her interests and sufferings on her behalf have deserved. Mr. Caldwell recommended that the citizens of the United States, in conformity with the custom at home, should wear some token of mourning on the arm or chest for the term of fifteen days. This was seconded by Paul Delano, esq., and adopted. No. 1,615.] HENRY M. CALDWELL, Secretary. [Translation.] Resolution of the municipality of Quillota. INTENDENCY OF VALPARAISO, Valparaiso, June 28, 1865. The following resolution has been approved by the municipality of the department of Quillota in its session of the 20th instant: The illustrious municipality over which I preside, in its session of the 20th instant, has approved the following draught of a resolution: The melancholy news which has plunged an entire continent in the deepest mourning, could not be received in this city without filling its inhabitants with grief and consternation. This news was no less than the extinction of an existence precious to humanity, that of an apostle of the truths of democracy—an untiring laborer for the greatness and prosperity of America, and a loyal and sincere friend of our country. Such was the President, Abraham Lincoln, sacrificed on the fatal night of the 14th of April by the infamous hand of an assassin. In the privileged brain of the immortal Lincoln were meditated the gravest interests of the human race, under the impulses of the tendencies of a noble soul, and of a genius predestined to do good. From the lofty position achieved by his virtues, he watched with the utmost solicitude over the destinies of America, exhibiting with notable brilliancy a policy of justice in his relations with weak nations, and manifesting, especially towards our own republic, sincere sympathy and regard. He co-operated earnestly in the crusade against the ominous oligarchy, protector of the most horrible of all social inequalities. He showed a constant zeal for the preservation of the integrity of the great republic which intrusted its direction to him, thus insuring the stability of the most perfect form of political existence, and demonstrated that policy of justice by his course towards the Brazilian nation, weak in material power, while powerful in the right of her claims; and, finally, by his course towards Chili, which can only be interpreted as an evidence of the spirit of most perfect cordiality. While mourning over the blow which has wounded every American heart in its innermost depths, our satisfaction has been great to see the great republic pass unharmed through so fiery a trial. This is the privilege of governments resting not upon the shifting basis of force, but upon the solid foundations of principles-principles that study the means of elevating the august sovereignty of man to the position for which nature designed him, and not of strengthening dynasties by the legacy of millions of men to be converted into slaves and puppets. Mankind may weep, but it gazes upon his great work finished; while the human race exists will it remain. Although this result, the necessary consequence of the propagation of democratic ideas, is for us a just motive for rejoicing, it is not sufficient to do away with the painful impression which the news of this great calamity has caused us. The family of redeemers is few! Washington left for his part political personality. Lincoln added social personality. The former made colonists into citizens; the latter made citizens from slaves. Washington gave a country to those he redeemed; Lincoln, to those he liberated, gave one also, saying to them, "Be ye men." Both made great conquests for mankind, giving back to man that which prejudice and egotism had usurped. From the time of Washington to that of Lincoln, America has completed her first era in the mission of redemption. As Chilenos, as Americans, as men, we have a just right to join with the republic of the north in celebrating the prosperous events of its existence, as well as in accompanying it in our sympathy in the hours of misfortune; and in order to attest in some external manner the grief of the residents of this city for the death of the illustrious Lincoln, we address ourselves to you as their immediate representative, soliciting your suffrages in favor of the following draught of a resolution: The people of Quillota, profoundly moved by the unexpected event of the death of Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States, approach their representative in Chili in order to offer to that nation the most earnest expression of condolence for so painful an event. A copy of this resolution will be transmitted, together with the requisite note of enclosure, to the Hon. Thomas Henry Nelson, minister plenipotentiary of the United States of North America. QUILLOTA, June 12, 1865. In transcribing to your excellency the foregoing resolution of the municipality of Quillota, I take pleasure in manifesting to your excellency identical sentiments on the part of this intendency. God guard your excellency. THOMAS H. NELSON, Esq., J. RAMON LIRA. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of North America. |