The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-23
Oaths and Affirmations.
From the Washington Star.

Ever since there have been courts mar
tial particular stress has been placed upon
the matter of administering the oath to
the witnesses. In order that il may be
binding and tine loophole of informality
may be, as far as possible reduced, it has
been the custom to swear witnesses in the
manner considered most binding in their
native lands. The march of civilization
has, in this instance, tended toward ac-
cepting the methods for Protestants and
Roman Catholics employed in this coun-
try as those best suited to impress upon
witness the solemnity and significance of
the oath, though there are occasions when
it became necessary to resort to other
methods.
All court martial witnesses who are
Protestants are sworn by laying their
hand, unglOved, on the Bible, closed or
open, while the oath is recited. kissing
the book is frequently required in addi-
tion to the laying on of the hand Rails
ing the right hand ana keeping it raised
during the recital of the oath is also a
form adopted by a number. There are
many who prefer to affirm rather than to
swear, and those are accommodated by
saying: "You do solemnly affirm, " in
stead of "solemnly swear" the right
hand being raised or placed on the Bible
as before. Formerly it was required to
place the right hand on the open Evange-
lists.
In swearing Roman Catholics the Bible
is closed and has marked on the outer
cover cross, generally cut out of white
paper and pasted on. Sometimes a cruel
fix is placed upon it, which the witness,
after the oath is recited, kisses when
there is any suspicion in the mind of the
President of the court martial or in that
of any of its members. The witness, if a
Roman (NafhOlip n FLOR 1ricoipor
is frequently directed to cross himself
For convenience, the oaths to be admin
1stered by the president of the court to
the Judge advocate of the court, and to
the witnesses that are called before it to
give testimony, are often written out on
paper and pasted on one of the covers of
the Bible, so as to be at hand to refresh
the memory of HIM whose duty it is to ad-
minister the oaths.
The Jews are customarily sworn by the
five books of Moses and the great God of
Israel, that the evidence they give shall
be the truth, the whole truth, and moth
ing but the truth Frequently, however.
there is no departure in the methods used
with this race from that which ordinarily
obtains.
The statutes in the time of George ",
king of England, contain several sections
in relation to the administration of the
oath in various cases, and among them
are one or two referring TO the Quakers
as well as to the Moravians These
statutes have been embraced in our own
methods of procedure, and they allow
people of the sects named solemnly, sin
cerely, and truly to declare and affirm
that the evidence which they give shall
be the truth the whole truth and so forth.
The Scotch cOvenanters have always
held that holding up the right hand is
sufficiently binding, consequently they do
not think it at all necessary either to
place the hand upon the Bible or to kiss
the holy book.
Mohammedans think the oath only posi-
lively binding when they are sworn upon
the Koran, while the Hindoo prefers to
swear by touching with his hand the foot
of a Brahmin.
In this country the Chinese do not in
sist upon the same method that were once
in force. Very likely the chinaware
dealers wish they did, as they are so
much more numerous than when the fol-
lowing was their custom. In England, at
the old Bailey prison, a Chinaman was
presented as witness in an important
case, and for some time the nature of an
oath and all that it implied could not be
impressed upon him. Neither could the
authorities quite make out lust
what the Mongolian did consider binding.
Finally, through the aid of an inter
prefer, IL was decided to break a saucer
over the head of the proposed witness.
When this was done the Chnaman APP
pealed TO the supreme being whom he
worshiped, praying that his own body
might be broken into as many pieces as
the saucer IT the testimony he was about
TO give should not be the entire truth.
As a general thing, in courts martial
held in foreign waters, where native wit
nesses are required to give evidence, and
Vaat,s t1av. l,
of the Christian faith, care is taken to
ascertain and adopt the ceremony of the
religions of the witnesses respectively
1t is also considered a wise plan, especi-
ally in important cases, that priest Of
the creed of the witnesses be present
when the oath is administered in order
to give 1t greater force and sanctty.