"Is it not in vain, I ask you, Senators, that the people have thus vindicated by battle the supremacy of their own Constitution and laws, if, after all, their President is permitted to suspend their laws and dispense with the execution thereof at pleasure, and defy the power of the people to bring him to trial and judgment before the only tribunal authorized by the Constitution to try him? That is the issue that is presented before the Senate for decision by these articles of impeachment. By such acts of usurpation on the part of the ruler of a people, I need not say to the Senate, the peace of nations is broken, as it is only by obedience to law that the peace of nations is maintained, and their existence perpetuated. Law is the voice of God and the harmony of the world:-- "'It doth preserve the stars from wrong, Through it the eternal heavens are fresh and strong.' "All history is but philosophy, teaching by example. God is in history, and through it teaches to men and nations the profoundest lessons which they learn. It does not surprise me, Senators, that the learned counsel for the accused asked the Senate, in the consideration of this question, to close that volume of instruction, not to look into the past, and not to listen to its voices. Senators, from that day when the inscription was written upon the graves of the heroes of Thermopylæ, 'Stranger, go tell the Lacedemonians that we lie here in obedience to their laws,' to this hour, no profounder lesson than this has come down to us: that through obedience to law comes the strength of nations and the safety of men.