Chief-yustice Trott and the Carolina Pirates. 1o, 171 8, Chief-Justice Trott presiding, with ten assistant judges and Richard Allein as prosecuting attorney. There had to be a special act of the Assembly providing for the trial of the pirates, the old statute of Henry VIII, relative to piracy, then in force in the province, not being considered suffi cient to cover the exigencies of the case. The act of the Assembly also provided lists of those from whom the two juries, grand and petit, should be drawn. From the moment of Bonnet's appear ance in court, Trott's overbearing manner impressed all who saw it. He also many times overstepped his authority. In short, instead of being the calm, impartial, and dig nified judge, he became not only the prose cutor but the unrelenting Nemesis as well. Bonnet's own demeanor, quiet, gentlemanly, forbearing, was in so marked contrast to Trott's, that, in spite of themselves, specta tors found their sympathies turning to Bon net. The chief-justice constantly interro gated the accused as well the witnesses; en deavoring at each passage of words to probe as deep as possible, and to expose .every weak point in Bonnet's plea. Under the English law it was the duty of the judge, especially as the accused was deprived of counsel, to see that he not only had a fair trial, but also to take care of his interests. The course of Trott through the entire trial was diametrically opposed to every prompting of humanity and justice. He not only assailed every point of the defense, but he also brought to bear upon the case the testimony of various of the pirates at the pre ceding trials, when Bonnet had not been present. On Bonnet's attempting to reply he was either silenced or overwhelmed by the judge's arrogance. Bonnet was sentenced on November 12, and executed about three weeks later. One remarkable thing about this famous trial was the knowledge of Scripture displayed by both the corrupt judge and the bloodthirsty pirate. On sentencing Bonnet, Trott made use
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among several other similar ones, of the fol lowing sentences, stopping after each to read the passage from Scripture : " You being a gentleman that have had the advantage of liberal edueation, and being generally es teemed a man of letters, I believe it will be needless for me to explain to you the nature of repentance and faith in Christ, they being so often and so fully explained in the Scrip tures that you cannot but know them. . . . For had your delight been in the law of the Lord, and that you had meditated therein, day and night (Psalm i, 2 ), you would then have found that God's Word was a lamp unto your feet, and a light to your path ( Psalm cxix, 105), and that you would account all other knowledge but loss in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus (Phil.iii, 8), who to them that are called is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor. i, 24), even as the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world ( 1 Cor. ii. 7)." Bonnet, who had borne himself bravely during the entire trial, broke down com pletely on being sentenced, and from thence till the day of his execution made many ab ject pleas for his life. In his letters to both the governor and the chief-justice he used frequent quotations from the scriptures. To Governor Johnson he wrote: — "I heartily beseech that you will permit me to live, and I'll voluntarily put it forever out of my power by separating my limbs from my body, only reserving the use of my tongue to call continually on and pray to the Lord, my God, and mourn all my days in sackcloth and ashes to work out confident hopes of my salvation, at that great and dreadful day when all righteous souls shall receive their just reward . . . "Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in
