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Show POLITICAL.<br><br> The candidates of the two great political parties have lately issued their letters of acceptance and have given therein a statement of the political principles of their respective constituencies. Of course these letters read well. They overflow with sentiments of the most exalted patriotism. They condemn in the most uncompromising manner any attempt at fraud. They are full of protestations of the purity of the conduct and [line missing/unreadable] represent.<br><br> If these letters were actually truthful statements and correct representations of the conduct and motives of the politicians and political parties in whose behalf they speak, we might well expect that the next administration would be one of such patriotism, purity, wisdom and statesmanship as would transform the Union into the veritable "happy-land" we sometimes dream about but never expect to see this side of the blowing of Gabriel's horn.<br><br> But party platforms and the protestations of presidential candidates, are, to a great extent, mere screens to hid the secret policy and intentions of politicians. The latter denounces fraud on the part of their opponents, but do not hesitate to perpetrate it themselves. They call ballot-box stuffing a crime, if committed by any but their supporters. They prate of patriotism, and steal from the government. They protest a veneration for the constitution, but trample upon its most sacred provisions. They cry out for a free ballot, but bulldoze opposing voters, and altogether, there is an amount of shame, hypocrisy and deceitful cunning in such protestations, as shakes confidence in human nature.<br><br> The contest this fall promises to be one of the closest and hottest that has ever taken place in our history. The Republicans will no doubt resort to any measure which promises to enable them to retain possession of the government, and will molify their consciences, should the means used be wrong, by urging that it is their duty as patriots, to prevent the government from falling into the hands of the "Southern Brigadiers" as they term the leaders of the democratic party, on the ground, that should such an event occur, all that was gained by the war would be lost.<br><br> The Democrats, on the other hand, deem it their solemn duty to rescue the government from the hands of the "corruptionists" who have so long controlled it, and, acting under the conviction that they were defrauded out of their rights at the last election, will no doubt work most earnestly to win this time, and it is a wide-spread opinion that, in selecting Hancock as their candidate, they believed they had a leader who would fight rather than surrender as Tilden did, if he had good reason to believe himself elected.<br><br> We do not know that there are good and definite grounds for predicting bloodshed before the election is over and its results accepted by the whole country, but there are the strongest reasons for believing that the leading politicians of the country will make desperate efforts to win by fair means or foul. |