Isaiah 9:1 (King James Bible) and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea
The first printing of the 1852 LDS edition accidentally dropped the definite article the from the phrase “by the way of”. The second, corrected printing of that edition restored the the, probably by reference to the 1840 edition. In modern English, “by way of” is favored over the archaic “by the way of ”, which probably explains why the 1852 typesetter originally dropped the the. On the other hand, the King James Bible clearly prefers the archaic “by the way of” over “by way of” (34 to 1). In the original text of the Book of Mormon, the proportion is more balanced, with four occurrences of “by the way of ” and six of “by way of ”. In each instance, we let the earliest textual sources determine whether the the should be there or not. For a case where the the was editorially removed from the phrase “by the way of ”, see the discussion regarding “by the way of Gentiles” in the first paragraph in the title page of the Book of Mormon.
Summary: Maintain the original phrase “by the way of ” in 2 Nephi 19:1 (and wherever else it is supported by the earliest textual sources).