Note 70 — Chapter XXVI

When the use of military force was first suggested, Randolph, the secretary of state, expressed his fears that such a measure would bring on a general collision that might destroy the Union. Governor Mifflin partook of this fear. “The Pennsylvanians,” says Hildreth, “at first, were rather backward, and a draft ordered by Mifflin seemed likely—by reason, it was said, of defects in the militia laws—to prove a failure. But the legislature, on coming together, having first denounced the insurgents in strong terms, to save the delays attendant on drafting, authorized the government to accept volunteers, to whom a bounty was offered. As if to make up for his former hesitation, and with a military sensibility to the disgrace of failing to meet the requisition, Mifflin, in a tour through the lower counties, as in several cases during the Revolutionary struggle, by the influence of his extraordinary popular eloquence, soon caused the ranks to be filled up. As a further stimulus, subscriptions were opened to support the wives and children of the volunteers during their absence,” —History of the United States, second series, i, 570.