Despite the one point of difference, Dinwiddie, in proroguing the Assembly, praised them for their "dutiful obedience to his Majesty's commands," and their compliance with what he himself had recommended. He had told them earlier in the summer that his health had been failing and that he had asked permission to resign his office and return to Great Britain. Now he said goodbye. "I shall always retain a sincere regard for the prosperity of this dominion," he said.[34] He sailed from Yorktown in January, 1758. To Robert Dinwiddie goes a large part of the credit for saving the major part of North America for British civilization. It was he who saw the meaning of the encroachments of the French in the Ohio Valley; it was he who sounded the alarm in both Great Britain and America. And when the fateful struggle with France was under way, his appreciation of what was at stake made him subordinate other issues to it. He broke his instructions repeatedly because he thought it necessary in order to win the war. This resulted in substantial gains for self-government in Virginia. In voting funds, not only did the Assembly specify the uses to which they should be put, but tried to supervise each disbursement. In sending the Acadians to England and forcing Dinwiddie to raise Loudoun's embargo they showed their spirit of independence. The issuing of paper money was in direct conflict with the Governor's instructions. And the British government dared not take steps to curb them so long as the French threat remained. But there is abundant evidence that the King's Ministers were merely biding their time. The old laissez-faire policy of Sir Robert Walpole was giving way to a closer scrutiny of colonial affairs. When the Earl of Loudoun was made Governor General of Virginia, he received more than a hundred instructions. He must guard zealously the prerogative of the Crown, he must permit no riders to acts of Assembly, he must accept no gifts from the Assembly, he must not permit the issuing of paper money. The twenty-fourth instruction is especially revealing of the accepted view in Great Britain that American interests must be disregarded if they clashed with those of the mother country. The Governor was not to assent to any act putting duties on slaves to "the great discouragement" of British merchants, or duties on felons, since this was contrary to the act of Parliament for "preventing robbery, burglary, and other felonies, and for the more effectual transportation of felons." It has often been said that had the French power in America not been broken, the colonists would not have dared to rebel against Great Britain. It would be more to the point that if the French threat had not been removed the British government would not have dared to drive the Americans into rebellion. So long as the war with France lasted the colonial Assemblies were masters of the situation; when it was over the assault on their liberty was not long delayed.