The agitation did not fade away without further achievements, as it had thrown up a generation of local leaders who believed that Britain did not understand or sympathise with local issues. The momentum of this, South Africa's first mass-movement, continued as a drive to obtain a free, representative government for the colony. The British government granted this concession, which had been previously promised by Lord Grey, and a constitution was established in 1854 of almost unprecedented liberality. The first Cape Parliament was elected in the same year.