Title: Letter from George Fox to William Caton in Amsterdam, concerning John Bowne [fragmentary]
Document ID: BFP #2018.1.12-09
Date: Circa 2nd month [April] 1663
This document is from the series “Bowne Family Papers: Miscellaneous Correspondence.”
Letter, George Fox to William Caton, 1663 (Bowne House Archives)
DECSCRIPTION & NOTES
In this fragmentary letter from George Fox, the Quaker founder and leader requests William Caton of Amsterdam to aid John Bowne in his appeal to the Dutch West India and enlist the community of Friends there to assist. As the top part of the letter is missing, his account begins in mid-sentence: “…by them in New Netherlands his goods are sent unto Holland which they took [from] him, and how they acted contrary to their own patent and how he hath m[any] of the patentees’ and others’ names of his peaceable deportment…” Fox’s focus on the Patent or Charter of Flushing, with its guarantee of “liberty of conscience,” is remarkable. He clearly believed that if it were upheld, New Netherland could function as a sanctuary for the Society of Friends. “Do your best endeavor that he may have justice and right from them, and something under their hands according to the patent to carry back from the magistrates there…which may be a great service to all Friends in them parts under that power and may occasion to stop further trouble.” Fox emphasizes again: “let him not pass away without something under the magistrates’ hands…” Unfortunately, the Dutch West India Company had the same realization about the patent and its promise. While Bowne sought a written exoneration that would set a legal precedent, the Directors chose to exonerate him and reprove Stuyvesant “off the record,” at the last minute denying him a vindication in black and white that he could keep for himself.
Note: Spelling and punctuation in these quotations has been modernized for ease of reading. A faithful transcription of the letter may be downloaded below.