Mr. Hunter to Mr. van Limburg
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 25th ultimo, informing me of the passage of a resolution, on the second of the same month, by the second chamber of the states general of the Netherlands, inviting the royal government to make known to the government of the United States the sorrow and indignation the chamber has felt on learning of the assassination of President Lincoln, and further giving me the substance of the views expressed on the occasion by Mr. Zuylen de Nywelt, the mover of the resolution.
In that note you also convey to me renewed expressions on the part of the minister of foreign affairs, adopted in conformity with the spirit of the resolution, of the indignation and horror experienced in the Netherlands at the crimes by which the late President was taken from this life, and by which the lives of the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of State were imperilled.
In the renewed manifestations of condolence which are thus offered to the government and people of this country on behalf of those of the Netherlands; in the succeeding report of the resemblance between the character of the founder of the liberties of the Netherlands and that of our lamented President Lincoln, showing the livelier sympathy between the two nations naturally following that resemblance pointed out by Mr. Cremers; and in your concluding assurance of friendship, I am happy to recognize on the part of the government and people of the United States a spirit of cordial amity, and sensibility to our national bereavement, which will always be gratefully remembered by them; and I must beg you to acquaint the minister for foreign affairs with these sentiments.
Accept, sir, a renewed assurance of my high consideration.
Mr. Roest van LImburg, &c.,&c.,&c.