“That 's what they call neutrality, is it? Do they claim that they have a perfect right to do anything they please toward destroying the government, but the government does wrong when it lifts a finger for its own protection?”
“That's exactly what they claim and have said over and over again in their newspapers and through the voices of their speakers, and every secessionist you talk with says the same thing.”
“Well,” exclaimed Harry, after a slight pause, “I don't think much of such neutrality as that. It's as one-sided as the handle of a jug—a sort of 'heads I win, tails you lose,' business. You could respect them and believe them sincere if they said 'hands off from us, and we will keep hands off from you,' and then lived up to what they said.”
Jack agreed with Harry, and both of them wondered till they were tired and even then could not make it out how honest and fair-minded men as many of the southern sympathizers undoubtedly were, could call such action as that by the name of neutrality. Doubtless some of the young people who read this story will wonder too, and possibly they may doubt that such was the case. Their doubts will be dispelled when they consult any of their friends who are familiar with the history of the war of the rebellion.
The events of the tenth and eleventh of May greatly aided Governor Jackson in his efforts to carry the state of Missouri into the war on the side of the South. The legislature met on the second of May, and the governor recommended that the state should be placed in a condition of defense, so that she could resist invasion by the national forces. While it was discussing the subject and making slow progress the tenth of May came, and with it the Camp Jackson affair. In less than fifteen minutes after the news was received both houses of the legislature had passed the so-called military bill providing for arming the state, and it was ready to be signed by the governor and become a law.
Five days later the legislature adjourned, after passing other acts throwing the state on the side of secession, appropriating two million dollars for military purposes, in addition to the school fund and all other money belonging to the state. The greatest alarm prevailed, as the wildest stories were circulated about the bloodthirstiness of the Germans, who composed the greater part of the Home Guards organized for the defense of St. Louis. On a rumor that two regiments of them were approaching the capital a railway bridge over the Gasconade River was partially destroyed, and many people fled from the city.
The president of the United States removed General Harney from the command of the department, and appointed Lyon, who had been promoted to brigadier-general of volunteers in his stead. Troops in Kansas, Iowa and Illinois were ordered to be ready to move into Missouri, and everything indicated that the government was determined to put a stop to the so-called neutrality of the state. The neutrality was well illustrated by the circumstances that in all parts of the state the Union men were the victims of outrages at the hands of their secessionist neighbors.
For no other offense than being in favor of the Union and opposed to Secession men were dragged from their beds at night and ordered to leave the neighborhood within twenty-four hours, their houses and barns were burned, their cattle and horses stolen, work in the fields was suspended, and everything was the reverse of peaceful. By an agreement between General Harney on the Union side and General Price on behalf of the state authorities, the operations of the military bill had been suspended, and the volunteers which it called together were to be sent to their homes. But instead of going there they were gathered into companies and battalions in convenient places, where they were drilled and instructed in the duties of soldiers. Evidently the neutrality that the Missouri rebels wanted was as one-sided as we have already described it.