text:  However on being brought to trial he said that he now pleaded not guilty that he might avoid the appearance of contemning death--an appearance not suitable to his present condition; that on second thoughts he had considered the plea of guilty as rendering him accessory to a second peril of his life; and that he thought that he could pay his debt more effectually to the justice of the country by suffering his offences to be proved by evidence and submitting to the forms of a regular trial