Editing George Fox (section)

===Travels in North America and Europe===
{{wikisource|Letter to the Governor of Barbados, 1671}}

[[File:George Fox Stone, Flushing, NY IMG 3655.JPG|225px|right|thumb|This stone in [[Flushing, Queens|Flushing]], New York, located across from the [[John Bowne]] House commemorates the place where George Fox preached a sermon on 7 June 1672.]]

By 1671 Fox had recovered and Margaret had been released by order of the King. Fox resolved to visit the English settlements in North America and the West Indies, remaining there for two years, possibly to counter any remnants of Perrot's teaching there.<ref name=ingle/> After a voyage of seven weeks, during which dolphins were caught and eaten, the party arrived in [[Barbados]] on 3 October 1671.<ref>Diary of John Hull, quoted in Nickalls, pp.580–592</ref> From there, Fox sent an [[Epistle (Quaker)|epistle]] to Friends spelling out the role of women's meetings in the Quaker marriage ceremony, a point of controversy when he returned home. One of his proposals suggested that the prospective couple should be interviewed by an all-female meeting prior to the marriage to determine whether there were any financial or other impediments. Though women's meetings had been held in London for the last ten years, this was an innovation in Bristol and the north-west of England, which many there felt went too far.<ref name=ingle/>

Fox wrote a letter to the governor and assembly of the island in which he refuted charges that Quakers were stirring up the slaves to revolt and tried to affirm the orthodoxy of Quaker beliefs. After a stay in [[Jamaica]], Fox's first landfall on the North American continent was at [[Maryland]], where he participated in a four-day meeting of local Quakers. He remained there while various of his English companions travelled to the other colonies, because he wished to meet some Native Americans who were interested in Quaker ways—though he relates that they had "a great dispute" among themselves about whether to participate in the meeting. Fox was impressed by their general demeanour, which he saw as "courteous and loving".<ref>Fox in Nickalls, p. 618; Jones, chapter 18, using alternate sources, has "a great debate" and "carried themselves very courteously and lovingly".</ref> He resented the suggestion (from a man in [[North Carolina]]) that "the Light and Spirit of God&nbsp;... was not in the Indians", a proposition which Fox rejected.<ref>Fox in Jones, chapter 18; Nickalls, p. 642, has more complicated wording but the same meaning.</ref> Fox left no record of encountering slaves on the mainland.

Elsewhere in the colonies, Fox helped to establish organizational systems for the Friends, along the same lines as he had done in Britain.<ref>Fox in Nickalls, p. 621</ref> He also preached to many non-Quakers, some but not all of whom were converted.
[[File:Berckheyde, Gerrit - Dam square Amsterdam - Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Dresden).jpg|thumb|right|Fox established a Yearly Meeting in [[Amsterdam]] for Friends in the Netherlands and German states.]]

After extensive travels round the various American colonies, George Fox returned to England in June 1673 confident that his movement was firmly established there. Back in England, however, he found his movement sharply divided among provincial Friends (such as William Rogers, John Wilkinson and John Story) who resisted establishment of women's meetings and the power of those who resided in or near London. With [[William Penn]] and [[Robert Barclay]] as allies of Fox, the challenge to Fox's leadership was eventually put down.<ref name=ingle/> But in the midst of the dispute, Fox was imprisoned again for refusing to swear oaths after being captured at [[Armscote]], Worcestershire.<ref>Though now in [[Warwickshire]], until the re-arrangement of county boundaries in the twentieth century Armscote was in an outlying part of Worcestershire.</ref> His mother died shortly after hearing of his arrest and Fox's health began to suffer.<ref>Fox in Nickalls, pp.666–676</ref> Margaret Fell petitioned the king for his release,<ref>Fox in Nickalls, p. 701</ref> which was granted,<ref>Fox in Nickalls, p. 705</ref> but Fox felt too weak to take up his travels immediately. Recuperating at Swarthmoor, he began dictating what would be published after his death as his journal and devoted his time to his written output: letters, both public and private, as well as books and essays.<ref>[[Henry Cadbury|Cadbury, Henry J.]] (1952) "George Fox's Later Years" in Nickalls, pp. 713–756</ref> Much of his energy was devoted to the topic of oaths, having become convinced of its importance to Quaker ideas. By refusing to swear, he felt that he could bear witness to the value of truth in everyday life, as well as to God, whom he associated with truth and the [[inner light]].

For three months in 1677 and a month in 1684, Fox visited the Friends in the [[Netherlands]], and organised their meetings for discipline. The first trip was the more extensive, taking him into what is now Germany, proceeding along the coast to [[Friedrichstadt]] and back again over several days. Meanwhile, Fox was participating in a dispute among Friends in Britain over the role of women in meetings, a struggle which took much of his energy and left him exhausted. Returning to England, he stayed in the south to try to end the dispute. He followed with interest the foundation of the colony of [[Pennsylvania]], where Penn had given him over {{convert|1000|acre|km2}} of land.<ref name=ingle/> Persecution continued, with Fox arrested briefly in October 1683. Fox's health was worsening, but he continued his activities – writing to leaders in [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland]], [[Denmark]], Germany and elsewhere about his beliefs and their treatment of Quakers.