Executive, and his earnest wish to avoid a resort to coercion; to
represent, however, that, without submission, coercion must be the resort;
but to invite them, at the same time, to return to the demeanor of faithful
citizens, by such accommodations as lay within the sphere of Executive
power. Pardon, too, was tendered to them by the Government of the United
States and that of Pennsylvania, upon no other condition than a
satisfactory assurance of obedience to the laws.

Although the report of the commissioners marks their firmness and
abilities, and must unite all virtuous men, by shewing that the means of
conciliation have been exhausted, all of those who had committed or abetted
the tumults did not subscribe the mild form which was proposed as the
atonement, and the indications of a peaceable temper were neither
sufficiently general nor conclusive to recommend or warrant the further
suspension of the march of the militia.

Thus the painful alternative could not be discarded. I ordered the militia
to march, after once more admonishing the insurgents in my proclamation of
the 25th of September last.

It was a task too difficult to ascertain with precision the lowest degree
of force competent to the quelling of the insurrection. From a respect,
indeed, to economy and the ease of my fellow citizens belonging to the
militia, it would have gratified me to accomplish such an estimate. My very
reluctance to ascribe too much importance to the opposition, had its extent
been accurately seen, would have been a decided inducement to the smallest
efficient numbers. In this uncertainty, therefore, I put into motion fifteen
thousand men, as being an army which, according to all human calculation,
would be prompt and adequate in every view, and might, perhaps, by rendering
resistance desperate, prevent the effusion of blood. Quotas had been