Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/115

 JOHN ADAMS 85 tirely by his advice and opinion. Franklin would have followed these instructions; Adams and Jay deliberately disobeyed them, and earned the grati tude of their countrymen for all coming time. For Adams s share in this grand achievement it must certainly be cited as the fifth signal event in his career. By this time he had become excessively home sick, and as soon as the treaty was arranged he asked leave to resign his commissions and return to America. He declared he would rather be &quot;cart ing street-dust and marsh-mud&quot; than waiting where he was. But business would not let him go. In September, 1783, he was commissioned, along with Franklin and Jay, to negotiate a commercial treaty with Great Britain. A sudden and violent fever prostrated him for several weeks, after which he visited London and Bath. Before he had fully recovered his health he learned that his presence was required in Holland. In those days, when we lived under the articles of confederation, and congress found it impossible to raise money enough to meet its current expenses, it was by no means unusual for the superintendent of finance to draw upon our foreign ministers and then sell the drafts for cash. This was done again and again, when there was not the smallest ground for supposing that the minister upon whom the draft was made would have any funds wherewith to meet it. It was part of his