In the earlier ages of our republic, and under the rule of those whose moral character had been corrupted by war, party spirit ran higher and was less pure than at later periods in our history.  The object of the principal leaders of the great political parties was then to render the opinions of the opposite party odious:  now, their only object is to sustain their own opinions by argument.  Then, each party claimed to itself an exclusive love of country, and stigmatized the other as aliens and the natural enemies of the state:  now, they both practise great forbearance, love, and charity, towards political opponents.  Then, men obtained place through intrigue and corruption, and a universal scramble for the loaves and fishes of office on the one side, and a universal political proscription on the other, were regarded as the natural results of an election:  now, this disgusting strife for office has ceased; men no longer seek place, but wait, like Cincinnatus, to be called from their ploughs; and none are proscribed for opinion’s sake.  Then, in electing men to office the most important social and constitutional principles were forgotten or violated:  now, we have the august spectacle of a nation-choosing its rulers under the guidance of strict moral principle.  Then, the halls of congress were frequently filled with demagogues, and tiplers, and the small men of community:  now, the ablest and best of the country are always sought for as representatives.  Then, the magnates of party were the mere timid, temporizing slaves of expediency, looking, not to the justice and wisdom of their measures, but to their probable popularity with then sneaking train of followers:  now, they rely for respect and support upon the judgment of the honest and enlightened.  Then, the rank and file of party were mere political hirelings, who sold their manhood for place, who reviled and glorified, and shouted huzzas and whispered calumnies, just as they were bidden; they could fawn upon those who dispensed political patronage with a cringing servility that would shame the courtiers of Louis XIV., or the parasites and hirelings of Walpole:  now, all political partisans, deriving their moral tone from the piping times of peace, are pure, disinterested patriots, who, like the Roman farmer, take office with great reluctance, and resign it again as soon as the state can spare their services.  Then, prize-fighters, and blacklegs, and gamblers, having formed themselves into political clubs, were courted by men high in authority, and rewarded for their dirty and corrupting partisan services by offices of trust and responsibility:  now, no man clothed with authority would dare to insult the moral sense of community by receiving such characters in the national councils, or by bestowing public offices upon these corrupt and loathsome dregs of society.