[193] was not to be considered, which alarmed the Southerner for the future of his children and his happiness and peace in the union. The sections had grown more and more to mistrust each other. Finally a President had been elected by a sectional majority in the electoral college, who had declared that the country ‘could not exist half slave and half free.’ Then it was, not undervaluing union, but despairing of hope of longer living in peace and honor under the union of his fathers, the Southerner, in obedience to the instincts of self-preservation and the teachings of a lofty courage, declared that he would‘depart in peace,’ and that denied him, would stake all upon his sword. That was denied him, and then came the gun at Sumter, and then the Confederate soldier.