The large number of Palatines in the late summer and early fall of 1717 in London was not easily resolved. A memorandum of October 3, 1717, shows a new element has entered the picture as this material from Sandra Yelton shows..
This last note seems to have followed almost immediately by:
Treasury Warrants October 4, 1717, William Lowndes to Mr. Coleby. His Majesty is willing to be at the expense of transporting back to Holland so many of the poor foreigners lately arrived here from Wurtemberg... My Lords direct you to take up shipping upon the best and cheapest terms for their immediate transport to Rotterdam [. . .] [Calendar of Treasury, vol. 21, p. 600.] [John Vat was asked to assist with the return of those to Holland.]
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Though these items are sketchy, it is clear that the number of Germans who arrived in London late in the shipping year, say about August, was larger than I had thought previously. Only a fraction of them were able to go on to America. Apparently about one hundred were able to secure transportation, presumably with Capt. Tarbett on the ship Scott, on the basis that they would provide for their transportation costs by their agreement to offer themselves as servants in Pennsylvania.
Much earlier in these notes, I had written of the petition of a number of the Germans asking for transportation costs back to Germany. At that time, I had noted that there was no evidence that the petition had been approved. It now appears that His Majesty [King George] agreed to pay their costs back. How many accepted this offer is not clear.
(02 Jun 06)
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