Dave: And during The War of Northern Aggression, England was neutral. N-E-U-T-R-A-L. Had England been on the CSA side, they would have (a) given the CSA diplomatic recognition and (b)used their superior naval force to lift Mr Lincoln’s blockade.

The British gave ships from the CSA the same rights as Union ships. This, combined with their constellation of facilities throughout the world, permitted the rebs to attack Union ships across the globe. For comparison, imagine that the entire southwest US from California to New Mexico and from Nevada to Colorado declared their intention to become part of Mexico. Now imagine Canada declaring “neutrality” but allowing California and Texas carrier battle-groups to be supplied at Nanaimo, British Columbia for their ongoing strikes against the US. We wouldn’t much like Canada for doing that, would we?