last quarter of the century, when the Netherlands had lost its economic
supremacy to France and Britain and the Dutch East India. Company, on
the verge of bankruptcy, was in no position to satisfy the demands of the
Cape burghers.
By 1778, leading Cape Town businessmen and arable farmers had accu-
mulated considerable wealth. In that year they initiated another agitation.
They sent two delegations to the Netherlands, appealing not only to the
directors of the company but also to the States-General, complaining of the
effects of the company's economic policies and demanding freedom to
trade with foreign ships and effectivepolitical representation. The alliance
between urban and rural interests, however, was fragile and soon began to
fall apart. Moreover, the quarrel became embroiled in the ideological and
political struggle in the Netherlands, where supporters of the status quo
were confronted by "Patriots," who were influenced by the revolution in
North America and the democratic ideas of the Enlightenment. The direc-
tors were conservative, and when their faction triumphed in 1787, they
were able to ignore the burghers' demands.
Slavery created far the most significant division in Cape society. As in
other slave societies, the relationship was rooted in the fact and threat of