'
"In reply to this request, I lose no time in assuring you that
the Government of the Confederate States neither desires nor
intends to disturb the neutrality of Kentucky. The assemblage of
troops in Tennessee, to which you refer, had no other object
than to repel the lawless invasion of that State by the forces
of the United States, should their Government seek to approach
it through Kentucky, without respect for its position of
neutrality. That such apprehensions were not groundless has been
proved by the course of that Government in the States of
Maryland and Missouri, and more recently in Kentucky itself, in
which, as you inform me, 'a military force has been enlisted and
quartered by the United States authorities.'
"The Government of the Confederate States has not only respected
most scrupulously the neutrality of Kentucky, but has continued
to maintain the friendly relations of trade and intercourse
which it has suspended with the United States generally.
"In view of the history of the past, it can scarcely be
necessary to assure your Excellency that the Government of the
Confederate States will continue to respect the neutrality of
Kentucky so long as her people will maintain it themselves.
"But neutrality, to be entitled to respect, must be strictly
maintained between both parties; or, if the door be opened on
the one side for the aggressions of one of the belligerent
parties upon the other, it ought not to be shut to the assailed
when they seek to enter it for purposes of self-defense.
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