The order was produced and read by the President, who said:
"This is not in conformity with the Constitution of the United States, that makes me commander-in-chief, or with the terms of your commission."
General Emory said: "That is the order which you have approved and issued to the army for our government."
The President then said: "Am I to understand that the President of the United States cannot give an order except through the head of the army, or General Grant?"
In the course of the conversation, General Emory informed the President that eminent lawyers had been consulted, that he had consulted Robert J. Walker, and that all of the lawyers consulted had expressed the opinion that the officers of the army were bound by the order whether the statute was constitutional or unconstitutional.
When General Grant was before the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives during the impeachment investigation, this question was put to him:
"Have you at any time heard the President make any remark in regard to the admission of members of Congress from rebel States in either House?"
"I cannot say positively what I have heard him say. I have heard him say as much in his public speeches as anywhere else. I have heard him say twice in his speeches that if the North carried the election by members enough to give them, with the Southern members, the majority, why should they not be the Congress of the United States? I have heard him say that several times."
That answer was followed by this question:
"When you say the North, you mean the Democratic Party of the North, or, in other words, the party advocating his policy?"