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Honorable William H. Seward,
Secretary of the United States of America, Washington:
We, the inhabitants of the town of Galt, Canada West, being British subjects, on hearing of the base assassination of the late honored President of the United States, and also of the foul attempt made upon your own life and that of your sons, have, through our properly constituted authorities, called a public meeting of the inhabitants of this place, to give expression to our sense of horror at these acts, and to express deep sympathy with the bereaved widow and family, yourself and family, and your nation at large, at which this address and the following resolutions were unanimously adopted, and we have instructed our chairman and secretary to sign the same, and to affix to them the seal of our corporation, respectfully soliciting you to present the same to Mrs. Lincoln and family, and also to your nation, as expressive of our deep sympathy with them in this their great affliction; and most earnestly would we pray that the day may never come when such scenes shall be repeated; that peace to your nation may soon be restored, and that the bonds of national and Christian brotherhood which now unite us so closely into one may never be dissolved; that your health may soon be restored, and that you may long live to fill the high station you occupy, to assist in maintaining the unity of the nations in the bonds of peace.
The foregoing address was moved by the Rev. J. A. Miller, and seconded by William M’Laughlin, esq.:
1st. Moved by the Rev. Mr. Acheson, seconded by James Young, esq., and resolved, that we hereby express our hearfelt indignation and horror towards the spirit that planned, and the monster in human form that perpetrated, the foul act of assassinating the late honored President of the United States. We cannot but regard it as a base violation of every principle of right, both human and divine, and as such at variance with the spirit and law of all civilized nations.
2d. Moved by the Rev. Mr. M’Ghee, seconded by the Rev. Mr. M’Rae, and resolved, that in accordance with the common sympathies of our nature, and in the spirit of our holy Christianity, we hereby beg to present our deep sympathy for and condolence with the bereaved widow and her afflicted family in the loss they have sustained by the removal, especially in such a manner, of an affectionate husband and a kind father.
3d. Moved by the Rev. Mr. Campbell, seconded by James Cowan, esq., M. P. P., and resolved, that we also hereby beg to express our earnest sympathy with the people of the United States in being thus deprived, at a critical period of their history, of the services of one whom they called to fill the office of Chief Magistrate at a time when that position was beset with most unparalleled difficulties, and yet who so conducted himself as to secure not only the confidence and love of his own people, but also the admiration and esteem of foreign nations, who, from his consistent character, were led to regard him as a sagacious, conciliatory, honest, yet firm chief ruler.
4th. Moved by the Rev Mr. Murdoch, seconded by William Osborne, esq., and resolved, that we mourn the untimely death of Abraham Lincoln as one honestly desirous of maintaining peace with the British nation, a firm friend of what is dear to us as Britons and as Christians, the cause of emancipation, and it is our confident hope, while it will ever be our prayer, that divine Providence may grant to his successor the same wise and Christian policy.
Dated at Galt in the county of Waterloo, this seventeenth day of April, A. D. 1865.
MORRIS C. LUTZ,
Mayor, Chairman.
THOMAS SPARROW,
Town Clerk, Secretary.