Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/245

 ACTION OF GENERAL COURT. 193 The General Court hears the parties and though the mem- bers are on the side of the petitioners in their sympathies, the way does not seem clear to oppose so large a majority of the people, and the fojlovving order passed : Oct. 24, 171 1. — In Council. On Consideration Of the Pleas and Papers offered on the part of the Petitioners, and on the part of the town, This Court see not reason to divide Swansea into two distinct towns, but approve the good & Laudable Inclinations of the Petitioners to Encourage Religion in that part ; and recommend to them the Establishment & Support of a learned orthodox minister of good Conversation and to Endeavor a subscription for his comfortable and honorable maintenance. Sent down for concurrence. J. L. Addington : Secretary. Again in 171 2, our petitioners for a new town appear before the General Court, as appears by the following record of the Massachusetts General Court, June 18, 1712 : "Upon reading a petition of the Inhabitants of the lands on the West side of the town of Swansea, praying to be made a township, concurred with the order passed thereon in the House of Representatives, which was that Nathaniel Byfield, Esq., Joseph Brown and Mr. Edward Fobes be a Committee with such as the Honorable Board shall appoint to go upon the place, inquire into the circumstances of the Town and consider the Reasonableness of the desire of the petitioners and report to this Court at their session next fall what they apprehend most expedient to be done in th^e affair." Thomas Leonard was added to the Committee. They are opposed by their fellow townsmen and the selectmen of Swansea as before, and are for the second time allowed to withdraw their suit, with the advice already given. For the next five years, the establishment of a Con- 13