attended by
all the judges then in office, namely, Sir Orlando Bridgman, Chief-Baron
of the Exchequer;[26] Justices Foster[27] and Hide of the Common
Pleas;[28] Justice Mallet[29] of the King's Bench; together with Sir
Geoffry Palmer,[30] the King's Attorney; Sir Heneage Finch,[31] the
King's Solicitor; Sir Edward Turner, Attorney to the Duke of York; Mr.
Wadham Windham, of Lincoln's Inn; and Mr. Kelyng,[32] the reporter. It
was there resolved to try the prisoners at Newgate by commission of Gaol
Delivery, rather than by a special commission of Oyer and Terminer, so
as to proceed with the trial at once; that all the prisoners should be
arraigned the first day; that the King's counsel might privately manage
the evidence before the Grand Jury (the practice of allowing any
advocates to appear before the Grand Jury has long fallen into disuse);
that the murder of the King should be precisely laid in the indictment,
and be made use of as one of the overt acts to prove the compassing of
his death; that any act tending to the compassing of the King's death
besides the one laid in the indictment might be given in evidence; that
the two witnesses required in treason need not speak to the same overt
act;[33] that the fact that a juror had already found another prisoner
guilty on the same indictment was no good ground for a challenge; that
the prisoners should not be tried in irons; that the murder of the King
should be stated to have been committed by _quidam ignotus_, with a
visor on his face;[34] that the compassing of the King's death should be
laid to have been committed on the 29th Jan. 24 Car. I., and the murder
itself on _tricesimo mensis ejusdem Januarii_, without naming any year
of any king; and that the indictment should conclude '_contra pacem
nuper domini regis coron' et dignitat' suas_,' etc.; and other technical
matters were settled in the same way. The indictment was in Latin, being
preferred after Michaelmas, until which time English was allowed by the
Convention which was sitting when the King was restored.

The trials began on the 9th of October 1660, at Hick's Hall in the
County of Middlesex, when the Grand Jury were charged by the Lord
Chief-Baron Bridgman. True bills were found against thirty-one
persons,[35] a true bill being found against Hulet on the 12th.

On the next day Thomas Harrison[36] was put up to plead.

CLERK--Thomas Harrison, How sayest thou? Art thou Guilty of the
treason whereof th