s pardoned
fourteen Negroes. Then they turned their judicial minds to the case of
William Kane _vs_. John Ury. First, he was charged with having
counselled, procured, and incited a Negro slave, Quack, to burn the
king's house in the fort: to which he pleaded not guilty. Second, that
being a priest, made by the authority of the pretended See of Rome, he
had come into the Province and city of New York after the time limited
by law against Jesuits and Popish priests, passed in the eleventh year
of William III., and had remained for the space of seven months; that
he had announced himself to be an ecclesiastical person, made and
ordained by the authority of the See of Rome; and that he had appeared
so to be by celebrating masses and granting absolution, etc. To these
charges Ury pleaded not guilty, and requested a copy of the
indictments, but was only allowed a copy of the second; and pen, ink,
and paper grudgingly granted him. His private journal was seized, and
a portion of its contents used as evidence against him. The following
was furnished to the grand jury:--

"Arrived at Philadelphia the 17th of February, 1738. At
Ludinum, 5th March.--To Philadelphia, 29th April.--Began
school at Burlington, 18th June. Omilta Jacobus
Atherthwaite, 27th July.--Came to school at Burlington, 23d
January, 1740.--Saw ----, 7th May.--At five went to
Burlington, to Piercy, the madman.--Went to Philadelphia,
19th May.--Went to Burlington, 18th June.--At six in the
evening to Penefack, to Joseph Ashton.--Began school at
Dublin under Charles Hastie, at eight pounds a year, 31st
July, ---- , 15th October, ---- , 27th ditto.--Came to John Croker
(at the Fighting Cocks), New York, 2d November.--I boarded
gratis with him, 7th November,--Natura Johannis Pool, 26th
December.--I began to teach with John Campbell, 6th April,
1741.--Baptized Timothy Ryan, born 18th April, 1740, son of
John Ryan and Mary Ryan, 18th May.--Pater Confessor Butler,
two Anni, no sacramentum non confessio."[250]

On the 21st of July, Sarah Hughson, who had been respited, was put on
the witness-stand again. There were some legal errors in the
indictments against Ury, and his trial was postponed until the next
term; but he was arraigned on a new indictment. The energies of the
jury and judges received new life. Here was a man who was a
Catholic,--or had been a Catholic,--and the spirit of religi