Louis-Philippe, comte de Paris, Louis Philippe to Mary Todd Lincoln… (1865)
“ I hope therefore that you will excuse the liberty I take to offer you the expression of my sincere condolence with your grief. It is an impulse which I could not resist, an hommage [sic] which I am anxious to pay to a great and respected memory.Nobody pretends to offer you any consolation for what mean the voices of the whole world when the only voice which we long to hear once more is silent for ever? But the expressions of sympathy are, perhaps, more acceptable when they come from one who has gone himself through the terrible ordeal of great and untimely family losses. ”
