Ishmael advanced, bowed to the magistrate, and stood waiting.
"Ross, administer the oath," said the magistrate.
The clerk took a copy of the Holy Scriptures and held them towards Ishmael, at the same time dictating the oath, according to the custom of such officials.
But Ishmael, at the very onset, courteously interrupted him by saying gently:
"I am conscientiously opposed to taking an oath; but I will make a solemn affirmation of the truth of what I am about to state."
There was some objection made by the counsel for the prisoners, some hesitation upon the part of the clerk, some consultation with the magistrate; and finally it was decided that Mr. Worth's solemn affirmation should be accepted in lieu of an oath.
"I am sorry," said Ishmael courteously, "to have made this difficulty about a seemingly small matter; but in truth, no point of conscience is really a small matter."
"Certainly no," responded the magistrate.
Ishmael then made his formal affirmation, and gave in his testimony. First of all he identified the negroes—Catherine Mortimer, James Mortimer, and Sarah Sims—as the servants, first of Judge Randolph Merlin, of Maryland, and of his daughter Claudia, Lady Vincent. Then he testified to the fact of the finding of the negroes, each in a state of slavery, in the island of Cuba; their recovery by Judge Merlin; and their return, in his company, to Scotland.
At the conclusion of this evidence the counsel for the prisoners made some sarcastic remarks about the reliability of the testimony of a witness who refused to make his statement upon oath; but he was sharply rebuked for his pains by the magistrate.