CHIEF WARS--MOROSI--DEATH OF MOLAPO--INFLUENCE OF THE MISSIONARIES--COLONEL GRIFFETH--GENERAL GORDON--1843 TO PRESENT TIME--GOVERNMENT HUT TAX--MISSION SOCIETIES. The chief wars, apart from tribal disturbances, in which the Basuto have been engaged, are the Basuto-Dutch War, 1863-1868; the Morosi Campaign in 1879; and the Gun War in 1880-1881. The Basuto-Dutch War of 1863 to 1868 was caused by the long-continued plundering of the Basuto all along the border. At that time Mosheshue was growing old, his people were half-starving savages, with large bands of cannibals among them. The Orange Free State was rich in grain and in flocks and herds; the Mosuto is always at heart a cattle thief; he knows no temptation so great as that of "cattle lifting." No wonder, then, that, with the added force of starvation and their hatred of the Boers, the Basuto took to plundering those homesteads near the border. In addition to this, the young "braves" thought they were too strong even for the English power to subdue--the result of the retreat of Sir George Cathcart in 1852, which they looked upon as a sign of weakness on our part, and they received no check from Mosheshue, who seems to have allowed his people a free hand. Undoubtedly they had great cause to hate the Boers for the many wrongs received from them, and to this day there is no love lost between Boer and Basuto. But we will enter into this subject later on. The eventual result of these devastations was war, which raged for five years between the two nations. At first the Basuto were everywhere victorious; hunger was no longer known in their midst, and they became boastful, vain-glorious, and altogether over-confident. Then came the Boers' turn. Their commandos entered the Lesuto, which they conquered bit by bit, until the whole country of the northern part, from what is now called Winburg to Thaba Bosigo, was in their hands. This strong fortress had resisted all attempts to conquer it; but the Basuto were thoroughly frightened, and Mosheshue, dreading to fall into the hands of the Dutch, earnestly entreated the Governor of Cape Colony (Sir Philip Wodehouse) to protect them. Accordingly, the Lesuto was proclaimed British territory under the Colonial Government, and the Dutch were requested to return to the Free State. Soon afterwards the Governor went to Thaba Bosigo, when he laid down, with President Brand, the boundary of what is now the Lesuto, and which deprived the Basuto of that fertile tract of country, west of the Caledon River, which has since been called the conquered territory. Colonel Griffeth was appointed Commissioner, and the country became subject to British rule in 1869.