On pages 82 and 83 of "Memoirs of Robert E Lee" By A.L. Long Military Secretary of General Robert E Lee and later Brigadier General, Chief of Artillery, 2nd Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, using Lee's papers, unfinished materials and Brigadier General Marcus J Wright, Army of the Tennessee, Agent/collector Of Confederate Records for the Official Records of the Late war of the Rebellion.
The quote a letter from Texas dated December 27, 1856. The entire letter is amazing, but for the sake of brevity I am going to quote verbatim General Lee's opinion of the Northern Politicians and views ".... I was much pleased with the President's Message, the reports of the various heads of Departments, etc, so that we are assured that the government is in operation and the union in existence.... his, views of the systematic and progressive efforts of certain people of the North to interfere with and change the domestic institutions of the South are truly and faithfully expressed. The consequences of their plans and purposes are also clearly set forth. These people must be aware that their object is both unlawful and foreign to them and foriegn to them and their duty...,