Gazette Of The United States, & Philadelphia Daily Advertiser

Extract from a Virginia paper

" Men of modesty submit to the calumny, without
attempting to repel the darts of their adversaries.
Convinced of the purity of their intentions, they
confide in the justice of their country, and entrust
their reputation to the reason of calmer times and
more impartial judges.

As total silence, however, is liable to be construed
into a consciousness of guilt, it becomes a duty on
the real friends of the country, to expose the
misrepresentations of party, and to exhibit an
impartial representation of things to the unbiased
judgment of the public.

With these views, gentlemen, I beg leave to join a
large proportion of my fellow-citizens in recommending
to your choice, as President, John Adams. L. L. D.
a gentleman, a native of the United States, a worthy
member of society, of innocent manners and excellent
moral character - a man of genius and extensive
erudition; an eminent lawyer, politician and civilian;
a warm friend to civil and religious liberty; an early
and distinguished patriot; a strenuous advocate for
the rights of his country; a faithful defender of her
insulted principles, and an undaunted and vigorous
opponent of the encroachments and tyranny of the
British parliament - one who influenced by his
example, convinced, persuaded and animated by his
writings who repelled danger by his vigilance and
activity, frustrated the designs of our enemies by his
enlightened councils, and defeated their best concerted
plans - one whose superior soul, glowing with the
ardent flame of liberty, disdained the notice of
difficulties deemed insurmountable by inferior minds
and contemplating the resources of his country, sought
with eager expectation the issue of the impending
contest - one who regarded his wealth, his fame and
life itself as the property of his country, and to
advance its interests, voluntarily hazarded them on
the precarious event of the unequal war - one whose
generous spirit was never subject to the controlling
influence of avarice or self interest, but whose virtue
and disinterestedness shone most eminently in times of
trial and danger, in times when the efforts of avowed
enemies and the treachery of false friends shook the
foundation of our hopes and threatened our destruction,
and whose fortitude inspired our councils with decision
and supported the languishing spirits of his countrymen
in the darkest season of the revolution - a delegate to
the first continental congress, and a leader on the
grand question which gave birth to the liberty and
national existence of this country - An Ambassador to
different powers of Europe; to whose negotiations the
United States are indebted for the acknowledgment of
their independence by the states general of the United
Netherlands, for the completion of a treaty of amity
and commerce with that republic on principles of
reciprocal advantage, for the procurement of a
seasonable loan for the support of our credit and
relief of our exhausted finances, for the enlargement
of our territory, for the security of our fisheries, and
in conjunction with his honorable colleagues, for the
adjustment of the articles of the definitive treaty of
peace - A man, whose virtue and talents procured him a
gracious reception at foreign courts, and whose embassy
was rewarded with singular success; who was courted by
men of eminence and respectability, and received an
honorary mark of distinction from the citizens of the
metropolis in which he resided, as a testimony of their
veneration and esteem - A man who undertook the
defence of the constitutions of his country, in
opposition to principles unfriendly to good government,
and to an opinion at that time entertained of their
being incompetent to the preservation of civil liberty -
a man whose uniformity and consistency of character
demonstrate the goodness of his principles, and whose
conduct from the beginning of the war has been one
uniform series of public services, and for whose
persevering industry and unabating zeal, his country is
as much indebted as to any of her sons - A man who is
the delight of his friends, a blessing to society, and
an honor to his country; whose past services have a
claim (as far as merit can claim) a right not only to
the gratitude, but to the justice of his country, and
whose present pretensions derive strength from a
comparison with those of his competitors. '