General Harris, in rejoinder, stated that under the rules adopted by the Commission gentlemen appearing as counsel for the accused must either produce a certificate of having taken the oath of loyalty or take it before the Court, and that therefore the Court had a right to inquire whether counsel held such opinions as to be incompetent to take the oath. He then expressed his gladness "to give the gentleman the benefit of his disclaimer. It is satisfactory to me, but it is, I must insist, a tacit admission that there was some ground for the view upon which my objection was founded." Mr. Johnson closed this irritating discussion by saying: "The order under which you are assembled gives you no authority to refuse me admission because you have no authority to administer the oath to me. I have taken the oath in the Senate of the United States--the very oath that you are administering; I have taken it in the Circuit Court of the United States; I have taken it in the Supreme Court of the United States; and I am a practitioner in all the Courts of the United States in nearly all the States; and it would be a little singular if one who has a right to appear before the supreme judicial tribunal of the land, and who has a right to appear before one of the Legislative departments of the Government whose law creates armies, and creates judges and courts-martial, should not have a right to appear before a court-martial. I have said all that I proposed to say." The President of the Court, who had already made himself a party to this gross insult to a distinguished counsel--as if disappointed that the affair was about to end so smoothly--here burst out: "Mr. Johnson has made an intimation in regard to holding members of this Court personally responsible for their action. "Mr. Johnson.--I made no such intimation; did not intend it. "The President.--Then I shall say nothing more, sir. "Mr. Johnson.--I had no idea of it. I said I was too old to feel such things, if I even would. "The President.--I was going to say that I hoped the day had passed when freemen from the North were to be bullied and insulted by the humbug chivalry; and that, for my own part, I hold myself personally responsible for everything I do here. The Court will be cleared." On reopening, the Judge-Advocate read a paper from General Harris withdrawing his objection because of Mr. Johnson's disclaimer. General Wallace remarked that it must be known to every member of the Commission that Mr. Senator Johnson had taken the oath in the Senate of the United States. He therefore suggested that the requirement of his taking the oath be dispensed with. "The suggestion was acquiesced in, _nem. con._ "Mr. Johnson.--I appear, then, as counsel for Mrs. Surratt."