The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-11-25
PARIS, Nov. 23, 1867.

Z {tnIA H.tIi ft+ itH..
,ueo aa PARIS, Nov. 23, 1867.
To the Editor of the Press: t i,-.at.a
Hon. Ephraim Flint, having filed the Of
fice OF Secretary of State with marked ability
for the past four years, declines reelection.
In looking around for suitable man to take
his place, the eyes of a large number of the
people have very naturally turned toward
Hon. JOHN j. PERRY of Oxford and among
the reasons urged in favor of his election TO
the office of Secretary of State are the follow
ing: 45 -e t
1. He had strong and influential supp ort
in the last Legislature for the place; received
large vote in the Legislative caucus and
would undoubtedly have been nominated, had
it not been thought good policy to retain Mr.
Flint for a fourth term. -.ra
2. His large experience in public life en-
inently qualsfes him Tor the position; for in
all the stations he has occupied, the expecta-
tons bis friends have been more than full
filed. -..lrf sa.ti
3. He is a gentleman of undoubted talent
and high moral standing. No one acquant-
ed with Gen. Perry will for a moment doubt
his ability to fill the position to which his
friends desire to elevate him, or his stern in
tegrity in the administration of public affairs.
a.. He has always been the advocate of a
strict and rigid economy in the administra-
tion OF government, not only in theory but in
practice. Whether in Congress, in the State
Legislature, or in the Executive Council his
votes uniformly stand recorded against all ex-
travagant expenditures and doubtful appro-
priations. Hs-a
8. He is a selfmade man, and the author
OF his own fame. When young he was left
entirely upon his own resources, and in a
brief biographical sketch in Lanman's Die
tionary OF Congress it is stated that when a
boy at the Seminary where he received the
principal part of his education, he worked
i've hours each day on a farm to pay bis way"
and that, term alter term.
o. His long and eminent services in the
Republican cause certainly entitle him to the
favorable consideration of the plrty. He was
one OF the pioneers of the Republican move
ment, and no man in the State labored with
his pen, upon the stump and elsewhere, with
more zeal or energy, or with greater success.
when the party was struggling into life. At
the second session Of the 3Gth Congress. in an
eloquent speech, widely circulated at the time,
he boldly denounced the treasonable designs
OF the rebel members of Congress and warn
ed the country that they were plotthg war
and rebellion. During the war, as the eu''"r VI
Republican paper he vigorously supported
the administration of the President and what
were known as the radical measures" of the
Republican party; and in, private circles, at
least IL is well known that he would have en-
tered the army had not the care of an ased,
dependent father, stricken down with paraly-
sis, demanded his constant care at home.
Gen. Perry's election would be well de-
served compliment to Oxford county, which
never had Secretary of State. Her dele
cation in the last Legislature were unani-
nous in presenting his name for that Office,
and it is well known that they will be equally
united in doing the same at the next session.
In stating some of the reasons which influ-
ence the action Of Gen. Perry's friends up
on this question, it is not my purpose to