Walter Whoa. Please don't misunderstand me. Under no circumstances do I mean to blacken the name of Thomas Southwell, whom I sometimes mistakenly call 'Lord'. He was a mere baronet, i.e. Sir Tho., not "ennobled" until rather later (if ever...). I occasionally get him confused with Thomas Wyndham-Quin, Lord Dunraven of Adare, who comes on the scene sometime later. No. Quite simply, if it weren't for the general good Thomas brought to the whole colonial experiment, well, me Daddy for one would not have gone to Rathkeale No 2 school. Nor would I be typing this. The Southwell accounts might have been fudged at times, as we shall see. He might also have had a keen eye to his own interests. But by and large he was a benign force. I think. That Thomas was a very beneficial influence in respect of the Palatines, is my opinion. And that is exactly the point. It's my opinion. My interpretation. Which brings me to the matter of my focus when posting these Transcripts. I believe we are very privileged to have access to this material: it is first-hand, man-on-the-spot information. We don't have to study the background of the Palatines through the (sometimes biased or simply mistaken) interpretations of historians. We make up our own minds what is going on. We are using the information the historians and analysts might also have used. But we know it's TRUE. No-one could invent this kind of documentation. Much of it is official Parliamentary proceedings and Treasury data, too. It's authentic and verifiable. And we can interpret it as we choose. I started in 1713 to set the stage, as it were. To give a flavour of the foot-dragging, sometimes toadying attitudes of British and Irish officialdom. These guys, whilst ostensibly well-meaning and generally loyal to the cause, nevertheless jockeyed for some status and profit to themselves. This is the reason the Palatines were kept hanging around from the Spring of 1709, when they left their native villages, drifting down the Rhine (with 24 tollbooths and customs posts to manipulate) for between 4 and 6 weeks, a further 6 weeks or so in Rotterdam, 7 days across the North Sea, up to 2 months at Blackheath/Camberwell and then the journey overland to Chester, followed by the crossing to Ireland and many more months on end in Dublin. God almighty - the journey would have killed most of us. But the havering didn't stop there. OK, Walter. Maybe I was a bit too flippant with my little comments, but I mean them to help in understanding the purpose of these texts. It's fine if you see a parallel between Mayor Daley and Thomas Southwell. That's your interpretation. Affectionately Terry