In your paper of the 30th of November you introduce the following lines, with the remark, "_On the fly-leaf of the copy of the Iliad given by the late Earl of Derby to General Robert E Lee were the following verses_:" The grave old bard, who never dies, Receive him in our native tongue; I send thee, but with weeping eyes, The story that he sung. _Thy_ Troy has fallen--thy dear land Is marred beneath the spoiler's heel; I cannot trust my trembling hand To write the grief I feel. Oh, home of tears! But let her bear This blazon to the end of time; No nation rose so white and fair, None fell so pure of crime. The widow's moan, the orphan's wail, Are round thee; but in truth be strong; Eternal right, though all things fail, Can never be made wrong. An angel's heart, an angel's mouth, (_Not Homer's_) could alone for me Hymn forth the great Confederate South; Virginia first--then Lee. Permit me to say that you are in error in attributing these lines to the late Earl of Derby. Lord Derby was an eminent statesman, as well as distinguished scholar, and during the whole period of the civil war in our country was the leader of the opposition, or Tory party in the British Parliament. Never during this time did he criticise adversely the policy of Lord Palmerston in refusing recognition to the Confederate government. So far from it, he distinctly and repeatedly announced his concurrence in the course of the British cabinet. Had he been at the head of her majesty's government at that period I am satisfied that he would have adhered strictly to the policy of Palmerston and Gladstone in this particular. This was his firm position, though urged to use his influence to secure Confederate recognition by many influential gentlemen of the Tory party, among them Sir Seymour Fitzgerald, the present governor of Bombay; Mr. Beresford Hope, M. P.; Mr. Gregory, M. P. for Galway, and others not so well known in this country. Such was Lord Derby's anxiety to relieve the distress arising from the cotton famine in Lancashire, lest it might lead to popular agitation in favor of a recognition of the Southern States, that he made a single subscription to the relief fund of £5,000. Not only in this case, but in many others throughout the war, he showed himself anything else than what was styled in those days in England "a friend and sympathizer with the South."