Lincoln's death was an unparalleled international
phenomenon. Of course heads of state, like his great and good friend Queen
Victoria, sent condolences. But what was astonishing was that, according to one
historian, condolences also came from the Working Class Improvement Association
of Lisbon, the Students in the Faculty of Theology in Strasbourg, the Teachers
of the Ragged School in Bristol, the Vestry of the Parish of Chelsea, the
Cotton Brokers' Association of Liverpool, the Men's Gymnastic Union of Berne,
Switzerland [all 44 members]. As if moved inexorably by some powerful if unseen
gravitational pull, people thousands of miles away all made it their business
to express their profound sorrow at the passing of this most enigmatic of men.
For somehow Lincoln had managed to capture their imaginations, this man carved
from the granite of the great American heartland, who had clambered through the
dense entangling undergrowth of misunderstanding and greed, of violence and
stupidity, to burst forth onto God's very own broad, sunlit uplands.
- Arnold Kunst
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