Sentence:  ...but we find, by a sad experience, that few questions are well stated; and when they are, they are not consented to; and when they are agreed on by both sides that they are well stated, it is nothing else but a drawing up the armies in <WSD>battalia</WSD> with great skill and discipline; the next thing they do is, they thrust their swords into one another's sides. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Order of battle; disposition or arrangement of troops or of a naval force, ready for action.