Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/351

 EASTERN BOUNDARY. 279 Majesty's will could be known." A partial explanation of the report of this commission may be found in the fact that Sir Robert spent some days with Mr. Willett at his resi- idence at Wannamoisett, and persuaded him to go to New York to confer with Col. Nichols, another member of the commission ; soon after which Mr. Willett was made the Mayor of that town. In 1678 Plymouth again opened the Eastern boundary controversy only to arouse bad blood and bitterness of spirit on both sides of the case. After the union of Plymouth with Massachussetts Bay Colony, in 1692, the boundary dispute was transferred to a more powerful adversary, and the decision of the case was referred by the Sovereigns, William and Mary, to the Council of New York. The unsettled condition of affairs disturbed the collection of taxes and other legal matters in the towns on the eastern shores of the bay, as Massachusetts and Rhode Island not only claimed but exercised authority over the same territory. The years from 1700 to 1741 were full of trouble and dispute, when a joint Commission, appointed by the two colonies, after long and able discussion, made judgment in effect as follows : " Defining Narragansett Bay to end at Bullock's Point, it gave to Rhode Island all the land within three miles of the shore, south and east of a line measured three miles north-east from the end of Bullock's Neck, and designated five places, to the south and east whence the three mile lines were to be run, to define this Eastern boundary. From the south-west corner of Bullock's Neck to Pawtucket falls, high water mark, was to be the di- viding line, and thence a due north line to the accepted boundary of Massachusetts." That the sympathy of the people of Swansea was with Rhode Island is clear from the vote of the town, February 24th 1741. " Resolved that it is our unanimous wish to come under the Rhode Island gov- ernment, as we apprehend we do belong there." Both Massachusetts and Rhode Island appealed from parts or the whole of the decision, and the King of England was made the umpire to settle the long standing, blood-stirring