While conducting research in the Grand Lodge of Scotland archives, I had the fortunate opportunity to uncover a letter of significant historical interest.
Dated 8th May 1865, this letter was addressed to Charles Francis Adams, then the United States Minister to the United Kingdom, from John Whyte Melville, the Grand Master Mason of Scotland at the time.
The correspondence served as a formal expression of condolences from the Scottish Masonic fraternity to the American people following President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.
John Whyte Melville
John Whyte Melville (1797-1883) was a prominent Scottish landowner and a respected figure within the Freemason community. From 1864 to 1866, he was Grand Master Mason of Scotland, oversaw Masonic activities across the country, and his tenure was marked by efforts to strengthen international Masonic ties and promote the principles of brotherhood and charity.
Charles Francis Adams
Charles Francis Adams (1807-1886), a distinguished diplomat and politician, played a crucial role as the United States Minister to the United Kingdom from 1861 to 1868. His tenure, which encompassed the American Civil War, was marked by his efforts to maintain diplomatic relations between the United States and Britain, preventing British recognition of the Confederate States.
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on 14th April 1865, was a tragic event that reverberated across the globe. Lincoln, shot by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathiser, at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., and died the following day.
His death marked a profound moment in American history, occurring just days after the end of the Civil War, as the nation began to grapple with the challenges of Reconstruction and healing the deep divisions caused by the conflict.
The shock and mourning that followed were not confined to American shores, but were felt by many international leaders and organisations.
The news of Lincoln’s assassination resonated globally, eliciting responses of shock and mourning from many international leaders and organisations. Under Melville’s leadership, the Grand Lodge of Scotland sought to extend its sympathy and solidarity to the American people during this difficult time.
Transcription of the Letter
Below is a transcription of the letter written by John Whyte Melville to Charles Francis Adams, reflecting the sentiments of the Scottish Freemasons:
His Excellency Charles Francis Adams,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary for the United States of America at the Court of Great Britain and Ireland:
Sir: We, John Whyte Melville, esquire, of Bennochy and Strathkinness, most worshipful Grand Master Mason, the right worshipful office-bearers, and the worshipful members of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland, beg leave to assure your excellency that the very sudden and atrocious crime which has plunged the American nation into grief and mourning has produced a feeling of the utmost horror and indignation, not only in the masonic craft of Scotland, and the great Mystic family of the world, but also, we doubt not, throughout the enlightened portion of the civilized globe.
We seize the earliest opportunity afforded to us of expressing these our sentiments and the sorrow we so deeply feel at the loss sustained by the American people in the cowardly assassination of their late President Lincoln.
While we offer our fraternal sympathies with the distress occasioned to our brethren of the United States and the people in general by this melancholy event, we would request your excellency to convey to Mrs. Lincoln and her family our sincere and heartfelt condolences on their afflicting bereavement, assuring that lady how deeply she has become, in her sudden misfortune, the object of our earnest and warmest sympathy.
Trusting it may graciously please the Great Architect of the Universe to take her and her family into His sure keeping, and bestow upon them every consolation, and strengthen them to bear up against their present affliction, is the united prayer of the Freemasons of Scotland.
Given at Freemasons’ Hall, in the city of Edinburgh, in full Grand Lodge assembled, the eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord 1865, and of light 5865.
[seal.]
J. WHYTE MELVILLE,
Grand Master Mason of Scotland.
WM. H. LAWRIE,
Grand Secretary Grand Lodge of Scotland
Article by: Stewart Clelland
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