SEPARA TION FROM HINGHAM. 267 



Wherefore we humbly pray that the same may now be Consid- 

 ered and Acted upon as to your Excellency and Honours Shall 

 Seem meet. 



And your Petitioners as in Duty bound Shall ever pray &c. 



ISAAC LINCOLN Junr 

 JOHN STEPHENSON Junb 

 LAZs BEAL Junk 



The matter was deferred until the following March 28, 

 1770, when the answer of the Hingham committee ap- 

 pointed to prevent the separation was read. 



It was plainly an advantage to Hingham that the Co- 

 hasset section be retained on account of the strength of 

 numbers and of wealth, which any town needs in the per- 

 formance of its domestic ordinances as well as in its larger 

 functions of State legislation. 



It was fitting, therefore, that the most eminent political 

 leaders of Hingham should be appointed to preserve the 

 integrity of the town. 



The following is their noble plea in remonstrance to the 

 Cohasset petition : — 



To his Honor Thomas Hutchinson Esq. Lieut. Gov. & Com- 

 mander in Chief of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, the 

 Honbi his Majesties Council and House of Representatives in 

 General Court assembled. 



The Respondants to a Petition of the Second Parish in Hing- 

 ham beg leave to observe that your Petitioners in the first place 

 say " by Reason of the Badness of the Roads the Difficulty of 

 the Season and their distance from the Place where Town Meet- 

 ings are alway held the most of them living more than five some 

 six or seven and some nine miles as the Road goes are often 

 Deprived of the Priviledge of having a voice in the affairs Trans- 

 acted at their annual Meeting in March, and that they are 

 obliged to assemble Oftener then they would if they were made a 

 District " 



As to the Roads, they have been Repaired by the united assist- 

 ance of the whole Town and are now very passable and are not 

 Difficult to travel in Even with Carriages. 



