setts commission. 210 In the meantime another effort at local settlement was 
made by commissioners of the two colonies meeting to determine the boundary 
211 But by October, 1739, the colonies, unable to agree, were reduced to 
awaiting a royal commission. 212 The proposed commission was drafted, approved, 
and issued under the Great Seal on September 4, 1740. An additional 
commission meeting within three months of the determination was provided 
to allow either or both parties to enter appeals. If neither party appealed at 
that time, the determination, confirmed by the King in Council, was to be 
conclusive. 213 
The initial meeting of the commissioners was held at Providence, Rhode 
Island, on April 7, 1741. In swift succession preliminaries were disposed of as 
the commission was read, clerks appointed, designated representatives presented, 
and the claims of the parties read. 214 After a survey of the disputed 
lands had been ordered, Rhode Island commenced to present its proofs on 
June 3. 218 Presentation of evidence by both parties was continued almost daily 
until June 23. 216 On the next day Daniel Updike and William Bollan presented 
the Rhode Island argument; the Massachusetts Bay case as presented by John 
Read, Samuel Wells, and William Shirley occupied three days. On June 27 
the Rhode Island counsel closed their case, Massachusetts being allowed an 
answer to a new point raised by the smaller colony with a reply thereto by 
Rhode Island. 217 On June 30 the commissioners rendered their judgment. As 
to the claim of Massachusetts, as based upon a grant from the Council of New 
England, it was declared that the patent to that body had not been produced 
and that the recital thereof in the 1629 grant to William Bradford and his associates 
was insufficient evidence as against a royal charter. The Council of 
New England, being a corporation, could not create another corporation, and 
no jurisdiction within the royal dominions in America could be held by prescription. 
The 1664 determination of the boundaries of Rhode Island and 
210 AFC, Col., #323. An attempt was made 
to have the commission issue by Order in 
Council and not under the Great Seal as an 
economy measure (i Correspondence of the 
Colonial Governors of Rhode Island, ioo-ioi), 
but the Committee did not think such a commission 
proper {ibid., 103-4). The cost of a 
commission under the Great Seal was about 
sterling. For the heads of the commission 
proposed by Rhode Island see ibid., 
131-38. 
211 4 Rec. Col. R. 1., 559-60; 6 MS Mass. 
Archives (Colonial, 1724-7;), 547-48, 549- 
50, 558-59; 53 MS Mass. Archives (Letters, 
'738-50), 38-39- 
212 4 Rec. Col. R. 1., 562; 53 MS Mass. Archives 
(Letters, 1738-50), 54-55. 
2i3 3 APC, Col, #323; 4 Rec. Col. R. 1., 
587-90; 15 four. House Rep. Mass., 150-52. 
214 MS Proc. R.1.-Mass. Boundary Cotnm., 
1741 (transcript in R.I. State Archives), 1-9. 
The copy transmitted to England is in CO 
5/1303. In December, 1740, Rhode Island had 
appointed both a committee to prepare the 
colony's case for representation before the 
commissioners and the two public officers 
required by the commission (4 Rec. Col. R. 1., 
590-91). 
215 MS Proc. R.1.-Mass. Boundary Comm., 
1741, 14-18. 
2 ™lbid., 18-224. 
™lbid., 225-27.