And Lee continued:
"I think it is a greater evil to the white than to the colored race...The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, physically, and socially. The painful discipline they are undergoing is necessary for their further instruction as a race, and will prepare them, I hope, for better things. How long their servitude may be necessary is known and ordered by a merciful Providence. Their emancipation will sooner result from the mild and melting influences of Christianity than from the storm and tempest of fiery controversy. This influence, though slow, is sure. The doctrines and miracles of our Saviour have required nearly two thousand years to convert but a small portion of the human race..."
So if Lee thought that blacks were better off here, in slavery, and that slavery was necessary to prepare them for better things some time in the far distant future then how can you say Lee was opposed to slavery?
(Lee continues)
... and even among Christian nations what gross errors still exist!"