Acting upon the above principle, the Privy
Council caused immediately to be arrested, about thirty of the Scotch
and English nobility, the majority of whom fell by the bloody axe of
the executioner, whilst the remainder were sentenced to perpetual
banishment.
Amongst this latter class of insurgents, was George Armstrong, Earl of
Derwentwater, who succeeded to his father's rank and title, immediately
after his decease, which happened somewhere about the year 1694. Some
time previous to his death, however, the old earl, through his influence
with the crown, had obtained the grant of a large tract of land in the
province of South Carolina, near the mouth of the Roanoke river, which
was soon after settled by these minor and remote branches of his own
extensive family, whose fortunes had become sadly dilapidated by the
frequent intestine revolutions which happened in Great Britain during
the latter part of the seventeenth century. Upon the accession of Queen
Anne to the English throne, the old earl fell into disgrace with the
ministry, and with his family retired soon after that event, to his
plantations in America. Shortly after his arrival, however, the change
of climate proved fatal to his advanced age, and brought on an
intermittent fever, which ended his life, and caused his only son,
George Armstrong, to succeed to his grand title and extensive estates.
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