In the beginning of the second English regime there was a fair promise of peace and of the gradual fusion of the Africander and the English elements in a homogeneous people. The Dutch, from whom the Africanders were principally descended, and the English were cognate nations. Though separated as to national life and history by fourteen centuries, they possessed the same fundamental principles that give tone to character—the two languages were so far alike that the one people found it easy to learn the speech of the other; they both loved liberty, and they both held the Protestant faith. On the surface of things there was every reason to expect that the common features in blood, language, political ideals and religion would lead to kindly intercourse, intermarriages, and a thorough blending of the two races in one. The first few years of experience seemed to strengthen this promise of good into certainty. Two successive British governors were men of righteousness and wisdom. The restrictions upon trade imposed by the Dutch East India Company were removed. Schools were founded. Measures were taken to improve the breed of horses and cattle. The trade in slaves was forbidden, and missionaries were sent among the natives. The administration of this period was careful to leave untouched as far as possible the local institutions, the official use of the Dutch language, and the Dutch-Roman law, which had become the common law of all civilized South Africa, both Dutch and English. Under these favoring influences the two peoples became friendly and began to intermarry. In 1820 the British government promoted emigration from England and Scotland to South Africa, to the extent of about five thousand. From that time there was a steady increase of the population from Great Britain, and to a much smaller extent from Germany, France and other European nations. The newcomers from continental Europe soon lost their nationality and learned to speak either English or the local Dutch dialect. The promise of peace, and of the complete fusion of all the elements in one people loyal to the British crown, was not fulfilled. The causes of the failure—then insidious, but now easy to detect and analyze—must be considered at this point, for only in their light can we understand the Africander people and form a just judgment of their subsequent course.