The Sun. — 1865-05-01 (London, England)

SEEDS. The small supply of mustard seed on offer is held at high  A crowded public meeting was held on Saturday night at St. James's Hall, for the purpose of expressing the feelings of detestation with which they had heard of the assassination of President Lincoln, and Their condolence with his widow and the people of the United States. The chair was taken by Mr. W. Evans. Among the gentlemen present on the platform were—Mr. Crum Ewing, M.P. ; Mr, P. A. Taylor, M.P. ; Mr. W. E. Forster, M.P. ; Mr. G. Hadfield, M.P.; Mr. Grenfell, M.P. ; Mr. T. B. Potter, M.P. ; Mr. Caird, M.P.; Mr. E. Baines, M.P.; Mr. J. White, M.P.; Mr. E. A. Leatham, M.P.; Mr. J. Stansfeld, M.P. ; Mr. Gurney,:M.P. for Falmouth; MM. A. Kinnaird, M.P.; Hon. Mr. Stanley (son of Lord Stanley of Alderley), Profestor Fawcett, Mr. Edmund Beales, Mr. Mason Jones, Mr. Vernon Harcourt, Major Evans Bell (Madras Army), Dr. Hodgkin, Mr. Sergeant Parry, Mr. B. Moran (secretary to the American Legation), Judge Winter, Mr. Cyrus H. Field, Dr. Cleveland (Connecticut, United States), Dr. Bliss, Colonel Hoe, Rev. R. Everest, and others. The CHAIRMAN briefly explained the object for which the meeting was called, and expressed a hope that, although the country had lost the valuable guidance of President Lincoln, his successor would be actuated by the same policy and guided by the same principles as those which had been professed and acted upon by the great and good man who had been the victim of the foul murder which they all deprecated. Mr. CRESSON, the secretary, read a letter from Sir C. Lyall, regretting his inability to attend, and stated that he had received letters to a similar effect from Lord Hou ghton, Mr Baxley, M.P., Mr. Goschen, M.P., Mr. Buxton, M.P., and. others.  Mr. Fortsrmt, M.P., proposed the first resolution, which was—" That this meeting desires to give utterance to the feelings of grief and horror with which it has heard of the assassination of President Lincoln, and the murderous attack upon Mr. Seward, and to convey to Mrs. Lincoln and to the United States Government and people an expression of its profound sympathy and heartfelt condolence." He said that the present was a time when the ties of blood which bound England and America together were, indeed, dearly felt, and the indignation which had swept through the land had been conveyed to the heart of every Englishman, as though some fearful calamity had fallen upon himself. (Cheers.) It was to the credit of the country that all clasies, rich and poor, friends of the North and friends of the South, were anxious to show that they forgot all grounds of difference with their American kinsmen, and shared in deep sympathy with them their overpowering sorrow. It would be unpardonable for any Englishman to add fuel to that fire of anger, by the burning up of his heart, from which every American must pray to be preserved—by saying or insinuating that any of the leaders of the slaveholding rebellion either instigated or were cognisant of this foul crime. He could not, however, avoid tracing it to the influence of that system of slavery which those leaders had fought to preserve, and which, until it is totally abolished, will render peace and safety impossible in America. He was anxious that a ship should not leave our shores to-night without taking out a message of sympathy, and at the same time an expression of faith in the future, and our confident belief that the ruler to whom God has now entrusted the destinies of the country will be imbued with the spirit of the patriotic statesman whom they had now lost, and be actuated by that spirit of mingled firmness and moderation which, exercised as it had been with integrity and judgment under circumstances than which none were more trying, had made the name of Abraham Lincoln one that would be pre-eminent in all future history. (Great cheering.) Mr.