American Quakers and Their London Lobby

AMERICAN QUAKERS AND THEIR LONDON LOBBY By Kenneth L. Carroll* Quakerism first appeared in the north of England in 16521 and spread so rapidly that it reached into Ireland and Scotland by 1654, to continental Europe and the West Indies by 1655, and to the British colonies on the American mainland by 1656.2 From the beginning of its outward movement into the larger world the Society of Friends was marked by a strong sense of fellowship and community. The missionary efforts of "traveling" or "public" Friends and the frequent exchange of epistles continued to foster the ties which bound the various Quaker bodies together in an Atlantic community.3 Early Quakers, wherever they lived, were subject to widespread suffering and persecution. This was true both in England and the American colonies, for the Quaker testimony against oaths, "hat honor," and war led to great misunderstanding and anger on the part of governing officials. Their refusal to pay tithes or to attend services of the established church, as well as their witness against a "hireling ministry," provoked bitter responses on the part of ecclesiastical officials in Anglican colonies in the South and in the West Indies, as well as in the "Presbyterian" or "Independent" New England provinces. As a result of these misunderstandings, anger, and bitterness Friends suffered greatly-—experiencing, among other things, hangings, whippings, imprisonments, exile, fines, and destruction or seizure of property. In the closely-knit Quaker community of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries knowledge of suffering in any of the colonies soon came to the attention of Friends in England. By the last quarter of the seventeenth century, British Friends had developed a highly organized system of church government which concentrated "Professor of Religion, Southern Methodist University. 1.Although the birth of Quakerism is usually dated in 1652 (the year of George Fox's great experiences at Pendle Hill and Firbank Fell) it should be noted that Fox had begun his preaching and won some converts several years earlier. 2.William Charles Braithwaite, The Beginnings of Quakerism, second edition and notes by Henry J. Cadbury (Cambridge, 1955), pp. 210-223, 226-232. 3.Cf. Frederick B. Tolles, Quakers and the Atlantic Culture (New York, 1960), pp. 3, 13-14, 20, 115, 130. 22 American Quakers and Their London Lobby23 the power of their religious movement in London, where both their annual Yearly Meeting and its subordinate (weekly) Meeting for Sufferings assembled. It was to these bodies that Quakers all over the Atlantic world reported and to which they looked for guidance and assistance in matters both spiritual and material. These London Quakers increasingly proved to be a powerful lobby, exerting great influence on behalf of their American brethren— approaching King, Council, Board of Trade, proprietors, governors , and courts in order to lessen the suffering of their colleagues in the New World. Among the earliest recorded examples of the work of this Quaker "London Lobby" (even before such an effort became organized) is the case of Gilbert Latey who often approached Lord Baltimore "in OUver's time" on behalf of Friends in Maryland where "the old Adversary and Enemy . . . [had] stirred up some there to inflict Hardship upon them on account of their tender Consciences."4 These efforts, following Lord Baltimore's 1658 return to power, proved to be fruitful, for it is reported that "God blessed Gilbert's frequent Attendance and Sollicitation of him, and it had a place with him, so that he was prevailed upon, for the ease of Friends there."5 Another early effort to ease the lot of Friends in Maryland , where mainland American Quakerism may have first appeared ,6 took written form as English Friends published two closely related works in 1660. One of them bore the title For the King and both Houses of Parliament and contains a thorough listing of the many 1658 and 1659 sufferings experienced by Maryland Quakers.7 The second 1660 title, Howgill's The Deceiver of the 4.Concerning these early sufferings of Quakers in Maryland, see Kenneth L. Carroll, "Persecution of Quakers in Early Maryland (1658-1663)," Quaker History, LIII (1964), 67-80. 5.Richard Hawkins, A Brief Narrative of the Life and Death of...