I wonder what Gen. Lee would think if he were here today and saw that his argument regarding the elimination of slavery - that it can happen only by moral conversion and not by law - is now repeated regarding the abortion license.
That said, it is charming to read his measured and thoughtful sentences, even when one disagrees with a point. However, the use of ampersands in formal writing of this period always annoys me!
Yes the writing style of that era is hard to read. I have a book, “Berdan’s Sharpshooters in the Army of the Potomac”, which was agonizing for this reason.