their emancipation money by their appointed proxies or agents, or else
had to submit to exorbitant charges and commissions; a great number
voluntarily renounced all in disgust.

By that time the existence had become known of promising tracts of
country lying north of the Orange River beyond the confines of the
British colonies, and a large number of Boers combined with the
intention of establishing an independent community northwards free from
British restraint.

The British authorities appeared at that time not to fully realize that
that movement was rife with future dangers and complications to their
own colonial interests, that it meant the creation of a nucleus of a
people openly averse to the English, and who would independently carry
out practices in near proximity, especially in dealing with aborigines,
which would seriously compromise them and become a standing menace
against peaceful expansion and civilization.

It was, on the other hand, anticipated that the movement could only end
in disaster, the people being too few to make a successful stand against
the numerous hostile Kaffir tribes. The Government, therefore, refrained
from preventive measures, and confined its efforts to discouraging the
emigration and to reconcile the malcontents. Those efforts, however,
proved fruitless; the people held to their project with resolute
fearlessness and self-confidence, and were even content to sacrifice
their farms and homesteads, their sale being in some cases forbidden by
special enactment.

The terms of "Boer" and "Boer nation" do not convey or mean anything
disparaging, rather the contrary. Boer simply means farmer, as a rule