Miller, however, and his companions having escaped from prison, met the deputies in England, and as the supporters of the Navigation Laws were sustained by a powerful interest there, Culpepper when about to embark for America was arrested in his turn on the charge of interrupting the collection of duties and their embezzlement. He demanded his trial in Carolina, where the act was committed. “Let no favour be shown,” cried the adverse party; and he was brought to trial. Shaftesbury, however, then in the zenith of his popularity, appeared on his behalf, declaring, “that there never had been a regular government in Albermarle; that its disorders were only feuds among the planters, which could not amount to treason,”—and he was acquitted. On the acquittal of Culpepper, the proprietaries found themselves in a difficult position. After looking at the question in every point of view, excepting that which was simple and straightforward, “they resolved,” says Chalmers, in his “Political Annals of Carolina,” “to govern in future according to that portion of obedience which the insurgents should be disposed to yield.” The wise exclaiming, in the language of prediction, that a government actuated by such principles cannot possibly be of long continuance. Means were now employed to heal former disorders; and upon members of the insurgent party high offices in the state were conferred. The proprietaries bade them “settle order among themselves,” and they did so, by establishing “a wise moderation in government,” though some charge, it is true, stands against them, of a persecuting spirit towards their political opponents.