This procedure was again changed in England, in the year 1827 by the more humane rule, that upon a failure or refusal of the defendant in a felony charge to plead to the indictment, “a plea of not guilty should be entered for the person accused,”[35] and he was thus given the benefit of the legal presumption of innocence, which the criminal law surrounds all prisoners with and he could be convicted and sentenced for the offense charged in the indictment only after this presumption of innocence had been overcome by the proof of his guilt, even though he stood mute and refused to enter his formal plea. This latter statute, in substance, has been adopted in most of the United States and the cases arising under these statutes illustrate the beneficence of the new procedure. In Commonwealth vs. Braley,[36] in the year 1804, the defendant stood mute and refused to plead and the court proceeded to empanel a jury to try the defendant to ascertain if he stood mute wilfully, or by Act of God, just as the court proceeded when the _peine forte et dure_ was in force and on the return of the verdict that the defendant wilfully refused to plead, the court remanded him to jail. In Commonwealth vs. Moore,[37] in the year 1812, the defendant was arraigned upon a charge of larceny and stood mute and upon a finding of the jury that he stood mute through wilfullness, the court proceeded to sentence him, just as if he had been regularly convicted, evidently proceeding under the statute, 12 George III., c. 20. In State vs. Hare, in the year 1818, in Maryland, the prisoner stood mute and refused to plead, but the court entered up a plea of not guilty for him and proceeded to try him, just as if he had himself entered his formal plea. This enlightened procedure was adopted by Congress at the beginning of the past century, in all cases where prisoners stood mute. It was provided by Act of Congress, March 3’, 1825, that “If any person, upon his or her arraignment, upon any indictment, before any court of the United States, for any offense not capital, shall stand mute or will not answer or plead to such indictment, the court shall notwithstanding, proceed to the trial of the person so standing mute, or refusing to answer or plead, as if he or she had pleaded not guilty, and, upon a verdict being returned by the jury, may proceed to render judgment accordingly.”[38] Since the enactment of this federal statute, similar acts have been adopted in most of the United States and the practice now quite generally obtains of entering a formal plea of not guilty, whenever the prisoner stands mute, for any reason and the trial proceeds just as if the defendant had himself entered his plea.[39] The punishment for standing mute and refusing to plead, as one of the cruel and extreme methods of procedure of the olden times, has attracted the attention of the poets and writers in the English language.