[4] Since the founding of Pennsylvania by the followers of William Penn, the Native American peoples perceived that they were treated by Quakers universally, without violence and with equality, justice and respect.
The setting for his involvement was that in December, 1792, the Quaker meetings in Philadelphia had addressed an urgent letter to President Washington asking him to take prompt and just measures to terminate the American Indian Wars.
This demand created an impasse, no treaty was concluded, and the Quaker 'peace riders' were obliged to return home via the Niagara and St. Lawrence Rivers and New York City.
In 1794, again at the request of Native Americans, a Quaker delegation was sent to New York State to assist them in the land negotiations held between the Six Nation Indians and Colonel Timothy Pickering, US commissioner.
On May 18, 1796, Savery traveled to Europe with a small party of Quaker ministers; Samuel Emlen, Deborah Darby, Rebecca Young, Sarah Talbot, and Phoebe Speakman.
[12] Before leaving Britain, Savery visited Ireland and stayed at Anner Mills, Clonmel, the home of the Irish Quaker businesswoman and social benefactor, Sarah Pim Grubb.
Savery was greatly troubled by the widespread poverty he saw in Ireland and on June 27, 1799, back in London, he reported to William Wilberforce on the destitute state of the people there.