community, at first almost exclusively composed of Boers, who had been
too sturdy and stubborn to tolerate any effective interference by the
Netherlands Company and other authorities in Holland, and who resented
both English domination and the advent of English colonists which more
than doubled the white population in less than two decades." "The
Governors sent out from Downing Street had tasks imposed upon them which
were beyond the powers of even the wisest and worthiest. Most of the
English colonists found it easier to fall in with the thoughts and
habits of the Boers than to uphold the purer traditions of life and
conduct in the mother country, and it is not strange that many of the
officials should have been in like case."[10]

Great Britain abolished the Slave Trade in 1807, which prevented the
further importation of Slaves, and the traffic in them.

The great Emancipation Act, by which Great Britain abolished Slavery in
all lands over which she had control, was passed in 1834.

The great grievance for the Burghers was this abolition of slavery by
Great Britain. According to a Parliamentary Return of March, 1838, the
slaves of all sorts liberated in Cape Colony numbered 35,750. The
British Parliament awarded as compensation to the slave owners
throughout the British dominions a sum of £20,000,000, of which, nearly
£1,500,000 fell to the share of the Burghers. Concerning this Act of
Compensation there have been very divided opinions; there is not a doubt
that the British Government intended to deal fairly by the former slave
owners, but it is stated that there was great and culpable carelessness
on the part of the British agents in distributing this compensation
money. It seems that many of the Burghers to whom it was due never
obtained it, and these considered themselves aggrieved and defrauded by