Earl Russell to Adams

Full Title

Foreign Minister Earl Russell to Minister Charles Francis Adams

Description

A letter from Earl Russell, Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom, to Charles Francis Adams, U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom, acknowledging receipt of the official news of Lincoln's assassination and expressing his government's condolences.

Transcription

“Foreign Minister Earl Russell to Minister Charles Francis Adams”
Read. 2^[[d]] May, 1865.
Foreign Office
May 1. 1865.

Sir,
I have had the honour to receive
your note of this day’s date, officially
communicating to me the mealancholy
intelligence of the death, by the
hand of an assassin, of the Late
President of the United States.

When the first intelligence of
this had calamity reached this
country I [[convade]] to you by letter
and in person the deep impression
of horror and indignation which

Thanks Francis Adams Log
so atrocious a crime on the [[person]]
of the President of the United States
had made upon me and on the [[general]]
members of Her Majesty’s Government;
And it only [[remains]] for me now,
[[by]] acknowledging your letter, &
[[acquaint]] you that, by the command
of the Queen, I have directed Her
Majesty's Minister at Washington
to [[conoly]] to the government of the of the
United States the appearance that
Her Majesty sincerely condoles with
the family of the late President, and
that Her
Her Majesty’s Government and the
British Parliament and the British
Nation are affected by an unanimous
feeling of abhorrence of the
criminal guilty of this cowardly
and atrocious assassination, and
of their sympathy with the
Government and People of the
United States under the [[freak]]
calamity which has befallen them.
I have the honor to be with the
[[highest]] [[consideration]],
Sir,
Your [[British]] President,
Humble Servant,

Russell

[Transcription by: Alexis Ennis, Rachel Engl’s class, Lehigh University.]

Source

Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, FOTH 3369, and National Archives, Record Group 84

Rights

This item is in the public domain and may be reproduced and used for any purpose, including research, teaching, private study, publication, broadcast or commercial use, with proper citation and attribution.

Tags

• government: foreign

• man

• diplomatic

• first reaction

• mourning

Cite this Item

John Russell, First Earl Russell. "Foreign Minister Earl Russell to Minister Charles Francis Adams". Remembering Lincoln. Web. Accessed April 23, 2024. https://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/node/747

Item Type

Letter

Creator

John Russell, First Earl Russell

Date

May 1, 1865

Region

Europe