ted it joyfully, as such men always accept a compromise which
promises to relieve them of immediate responsibility and the necessity
of hazardous decision. Disconnected from the views and intentions of
those who consented to it, this "neutrality" will scarcely admit of
serious discussion. Such a position is certainly little else than
rebellion, and the principle or conditions which will justify it, will
also justify secession. If a State has the legal and constitutional
right to oppose the action, and to refuse compliance with the
requisitions of the Federal Government, to disobey the laws of Congress,
and set at defiance the proclamations of the Executive, to decide for
herself her proper policy in periods of war and insurrection, and levy
armed forces to prevent the occupation of her territory by the forces of
the United States, then she can quit the Union when she pleases, and is
competent to contract any alliance which accords, with her wishes. If,
however, it be a revolutionary right which she may justly exercise in a
certain condition of affairs, then the same condition of affairs will
justify any other phase or manner of revolution.

The practical effects of such a position, had it been stubbornly
maintained, would have been to involve Kentucky in more danger than she
would have incurred by secession and admission into the Confederacy. A
declaration of neutrality in such a contest was almost equivalent to a
declaration of war against both sides; at any rate it was a proclamation
of opposition to the Government, while it discarded the friendship of
the South, and seemed at once to invite every assailant. The Government
of the United States, which was arming to coerce seceded States, would
certainly not permit its designs to be frustrated by this attitude of
Kentucky, and it was not likely that the States, about to be attacked,
would respect a neutrality, which they very well knew would be no
hindrance to their adversary. But few men reason clearly in periods of
great excitement, or, in situations of peril, look steadfastly and
understandingly at the dangers which surround them. Nor, it may be
added, do the few who possess the presence of mind to study and the
faculty of appreciating the signs of such a political tempest, always
honestly interpret them. As has been said, a large class eagerly
welcomed the decision that Kentucky should remain neutral in the great
struggle impending, as a relief, however temporary, fr