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of steers to draw them.[1] The spade and shovel, hoe and mattox, continued to be the only agricultural implements.
As Dale was now satisfied with the general condition of the Colony, he decided in the spring of 1616 to return to England,[2] affairs in Virginia being left in the guardianship of George Yeardley as deputy governor. The first act of Yeardley, in this new character, was one of extraordinary importance in its relation to the future growth of the country. By the terms of their agreement with Sir Thomas Gates made previous to his departure in 1614, the laborers in Charles Hundred could claim their freedom at the end of three years, and from this time enjoy the full returns of their own industry. They demanded now
- ↑ Ralph Hamor’s True Discourse, p. 23.
- ↑ The work accomplished by Dale in Virginia was of the greatest importance. The extraordinary progress of the Colony during the few years he, in the absence of Gates, directed its affairs, is the best evidence of his energy and sagacity. Like Smith, he was eminently practical in his cast of mind, and soon formed a just notion of the conditions which had to be met in order to place the colonial settlements upon a footing of lasting prosperity. The previous military training of the two men, as well as their resolute characters, were of the highest advantage to the common enterprise in which they were engaged in successive periods. That Dale was able for the time being to effect more than Smith, was due not only to his longer tenure and larger resources in men and supplies, but also to the more unquestioned liberty of action which he enjoyed. As showing how essentially alike were the wisdom and the spirit of these two remarkable men, the two greatest associated with the early history of Virginia, it is interesting to compare the letter which Dale addressed from Jamestown to Salisbury in August, 1611 (see Brown’s Genesis of the United States, pp. 501-508), with Smith’s letter to the Treasurer and Council for Virginia, Works, pp. 442-445, and his Answer to the Commissioners’ Questions, pp. 615-620. No unprejudiced person can read these compositions without a feeling of the highest admiration for the sagacity as well as for the rugged manliness of the authors, typical Englishmen who possessed those great qualities of administration and leadership which have made their nation the foremost in the modern world.
