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An International Outpouring of Grief:
The American Civil War had transfixed people in many lands, from monarchs anticipating the great "experiment" in democracy would fail, to those who looked to the United States as a beacon of freedom. Modern communications such as the telegraph made Lincoln as vivid a figure in Paris as on the streets of New York.
At the news of Lincoln's death, national legislatures passed resolutions of sympathy. Students in Paris marched through the city's Latin Quarter, denouncing Booth's crime against democracy. Flags throughout Scandinavia flew at half-staff. Russian novelist and philosopher Leo Tolstoy pronounced Lincoln "a Christ in miniature." The King of Prussia sent his condolences, as did his royal peers in Japan and Siam (now Thailand).
Two Recent Widows:
One of the most touching of all the tributes directed to Mary Lincoln came from another recent widow. "No one can better appreciate than I can," wrote Queen Victoria, "who am myself utterly broken-hearted by the loss of my own beloved husband, who was the light of my life, my stay -- my all -- what your suffering must be..." |