Koyander to James Burrill Angell, March 13, 1881

Mr. Koyander to Mr. Angell.

Dear Sir: I hasten to communicate to your excellency my warmest thanks for the letter, full of cordiality and sympathy, which you were pleased to address to me yesterday on receiving the terrible news of the death of His Majesty the Emperor Alexder II, the beloved sovereign of my country. I do not doubt that the hateful crime which has been committed in St. Petersburg, will awaken everywhere deep indignation, but especially in the United States, whose government and whose people, as you say with so much justice, have always been bound by ties of sincere sympathy and friendship to the Empire of Russia. I remember still the painful and sad emotion which was produced among my countrymen by the news of the tragic and premature death of President Lincoln, that great citizen of the republic who fell contending for the glory and the greatness of his country. Russia has just been smitten with a similar misfortune in the person of her beloved sovereign. In the midst of our national grief, the expressions of sympathy by foreign nations will certainly be appreciated at their true value by my countrymen, and will greatly contribute to strengthen the bonds of friendship which unite Russia to other countries, and more especially to the great Republic of the United States.

Filled with gratitude for the sentiments which you have been pleased to express in your letter, I beg you to receive the assurance of my high consideration, and to believe me,

Yours, &c.,