The Portland daily press., 1866-06-28
Letter from Rev. VIM. A. Drew.

AeIuer IrOLn lev. WIN. a. Drew.
To the Editor OF the Prees
lsee you have published in the Press of
Monday last, June %, from the Gospe: Ban
rer, the letter of Rev. z. THOMPSON to the
editor OF that paper. declining, after the ex-
ample of his brother DILLINGHAM; and my
sell, Ito whose names he might quite as well
have added those OF Gems. Perry and Shepley,)
the use of his name for gubernatorial honors,
and giving his reasons therefor-the principal
OF which is, that he once held the office Of
District School Agent which he found too
weighty for him to sustain beyond the re-
sponsibilities of single year. OF course his
letter was designed as burlesque upon our
example which he has chosen to folIop; and
as it made no point Of serious nature, or
one looking to any public interest, need not
be the subject of any further notice from me.
But as you also published, in preceding
number, the fact, taken from the same paper,
(the Banner that your correspondent, the
writer of this, had now publicly, as well as
heretofore privately, forbidden any of his
friends, who, he is happy to know, are nu-
merous in almost every part of Maine, to use
his name in connection with that or any other
political office, but did not publish his reasons
therefor, which were public and serious ones
entitled to general consideration, and which
were the only thing cared to have the news
paper press notice at all, venture to restate
those reasons and ask you ami your readers,
to say whether they are or are not worth
something more than a ridiculous considera-
ton.
But first allow me to lemark, that, howey-
er strange it may seem to those who have
chosen to make discourteous reference to nv
communication in the Banner-a paper which
established, and which conducted more
than twenty years CT its publications. haze
been requested several times in years that are
now "a t, and twice certainly by letters this
spring, from highly respectable men, to know
if would allow them to propose my humble
name in their communities. as a candidate
tor Governor. The idea always struck me as
inconsistent with my clerical profession, and
therefore has uniformly been discountenanced
by me. True, having in early life, when i'm
pressions are most vivid and lasting, had my
young mind impressed with the political his.
tory ofour country during the exciting periods
OF the non-intercourse, embargo and war
with Great Britain, and having for thirty
years oeen an editor of several religious, agri-
cultural and secular journals, having lectured
in various parts of the State on literary and
other subjects before lyccums, &C.. having al
so resided at the stste capitol ever since the
seat of government was established in An
gusta, where my acquaintance with the nub,ic
men and measures of our State, in which T
have always taken a patrioticpride, has been
extensive and intimate; my position and ex-
perience may be presumed, as it seems thew
have been presumed by some, to have given
me tolerable knowledge OF the history of ou
times and the wants and INTEREST," of om
goodly State. 1t is this, perhaps, which has
suggested the thought of my qualifications fol
public service. But knowing myself how ia,
below the true standard of gubernatoria]
qualifications, my own attachments al e. con.
Tess was willing to make my own back the
fulcrum over which would administer a time.
~ rebuke to those aspirants for office who, af