=463. The Border States.=—The great fears naturally felt with regard to the secession of other border states besides Virginia were gradually relieved. This was caused partly by the wise management of Lincoln, partly by the unexpected enthusiasm throughout the North in responding to the call for troops, and partly by the firmness of the Union sympathizers in those states. Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri did not secede; but while these states thus remained in the Union, the people were divided in their sympathies, some going into one army, and some into the other. Though Tennessee seceded and joined the Confederacy, many of her people, especially in the Cumberland Mountains, were stanch supporters of the Union throughout the war. On the other hand, in southern Indiana and Illinois there were many sympathizers with the South, and nothing but the ability and the energy of the governors of those states and the intense loyalty of the Unionists kept up the full quota of their troops. In Virginia, while the people in the eastern part of the state were generally Secessionists, a majority of those west of the mountains were adherents of the Union. When, therefore, Virginia withdrew, the people of the western portion voted to break away from the rest of the state, and on December 31, 1862, Congress, with apparently more regard to necessity than to the Constitution, admitted the region to the Union as West Virginia. =464. Foreign Recognition.=—On May 13, 1861, Great Britain issued a “Proclamation of Neutrality,” which, in effect, recognized the Confederates as belligerents, and this example was soon imitated by the other European states. Thus the Confederates obtained the right to have war vessels, and to take refuge for repairs and needed supplies in foreign harbors. The consular agents of the United States reported that Southern agents were buying arms wherever they could be obtained in Europe.