Virginians feel S.C. is dragging her into war…

From the Staunton Spectator, February 5, 1861:

As there is some conservatism in Virginia, and we seem anxious to secure an honorable settlement, South Carolina is about to apply the spur again.

She first rejects unanimously the resolutions of Virginia.

She secondly declares that her secession is final.

Lastly, she is going to force a collision. She has instructed Gen. Hayne to demand Fort Sumter at once, and if it is not surrendered, it is to be taken at all hazards.”*

They know this will shed blood, and blood is necessary to “fire the Southern heart.”

We trust Virginia will scorn South Carolina. Let her fight her own battles. She has kicked us enough. She has dragged us enough. We were for protecting South Carolina against coercion by the Federal Government. But she is not satisfied with this. We must enter upon a crusade with her for a civil war.

The prospects for a settlement are brightening every day. Mr. [John Singleton] Millson writes to Mr. [Alfred M.] Barbour, of Culpeper, that “he has never had so confident an expectation of a satisfactory adjustment.”

On the heels of this comes the effort to get up a collision. We cannot utter our indignation.–If the people of Virginia are fools enough to be dragooned any longer by South Carolina–we say, go ahead. God means to destroy you, and the efforts of man are vain.

*The statement now is, that Col. Hayne will not make this demand, but that the Convention which met at Montgomery on yesterday will do so.