I am sure you will believe that I say with sincerity that I
always take great interest in anything I hear said or that I read of
yourself, and I am happy to say that, even with all the rancour of the
Northern Radicals against the South, it is little they find of ill to
say of you.

"Hoping you will not think I am doing wrong in the course I propose to
take, and that your answer may be satisfactory, I remain, my dear
General Lee,

"Yours very sincerely, HERBERT C. SAUNDERS.

"GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE."

"LEXINGTON, Virginia, August 22, 1866.

"MR. HERBERT C. SAUNDERS,

"3 Bolton Gardens,

"South Kensington, London, England.

"_My Dear Mr. Saunders_: I received to-day your letter of the 31st ult.
What I stated to you in conversation, during the visit which you did me
the honour to pay me in November last, was entirely for your own
information, and was in no way intended for publication. My only
object was to gratify the interest which you apparently evinced on the
several topics which were introduced, and to point to facts which you
might investigate, if you so desired, in your own way. I have an
objection to the publication of my private conversations, which are
never intended but for those to whom they are addressed. I cannot,
therefore, without an entire disregard of the rule which I have
followed in other cases, and in violation of my own sense of propriety,
assent to what you propose. I hope, therefore, you will excuse me.
What you may think proper to publish I hope will be the result of your
own observations and convictions, and not on my authority. In the
hasty perusal which I have been obliged to give the manuscript inclosed
to me, I perceive many inaccuracies, resulting as much, perhaps, from
my imperfect narration as from misapprehension on your part. Though
fully appreciating your kind wish to correct certain erroneous
statements as regards myself, I prefer remaining silent to doing
anything that might excite angry discussion at this time, when strong
efforts are being made by conservative men, North and South, to sustain
President Johnson in his policy, which, I think, offers the only means
of healing the lamentable divisions of the country, and which the
result of the late convention at Philadelphia gives great promise of
doing. Thanking you for the opportunity afforded me of expressing my
opinion before executing your purpose, I am, etc.,

"R. E. LEE."

The following is Mr. Saunders'