He was al-so one of three men to go to France and ask for the aid which
she gave to A-mer-i-ca, in the spring af-ter that hard win-ter at
Val-ley Forge. Do you see why this trip at this time was a brave act,
and one by which Ad-ams ran a great risk of los-ing his life? Eng-land
had no wish that he should reach France, and her ships tried in vain to
get him. If he had been caught he would have been hung, as a man who was
false to his land and his king. You know that he went to France though,
and did his work well. He stood up for our rights and had a bill passed
which made the ports of France and Eng-land free to our goods. At the
end of the war he was sent to Eng-land to look out for our rights there;
and, though now this is a pleas-ant task, it was not then, for it was
hard for Ad-ams to be true to A-mer-i-ca and yet not an-ger the Eng-lish
king, George III.
[Illustration: GEORGE III.