"In 1857, the Basutos asked Her Majesty's Government to arbitrate and settle their quarrels. This request was refused. "In 1858 the Free State interfered to protect their settlers, and a war ensued, and the Free State was reduced to great extremities, and asked Her Majesty's Government to mediate. This was agreed to, and a frontier line was fixed by Her Majesty's Government. "In 1865 another war broke out between the Free State and the Basutos, at the close of which the Basutos lost territory, and were accepted as British subjects by Her Majesty's Government for the second time, being placed under the direct government of Her Majesty's High Commissioner. "In 1871 Basutoland was annexed to the _Crown_ Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, without the Basutos having been consulted. "In 1872 the _Crown_ Colony became a colony with a responsible Government, and the Basutos were placed virtually under another power. The Basutos asked for representation in the Colonial Parliament, which was refused, and to my mind here was the mistake committed which led to these troubles. "Then came constant disputes, the Disarmament Act, the Basuto War, and present state of affairs. "From this chronology there are four points that stand out in relief:-- "1. That the Basuto people, who date back generations, made treaties with the British Government, which treaties are equally binding, whether between two powerful states, or between a powerful state and a weak one. "2. That, in defiance of the treaties, the Basutos lost land. "3. That, in defiance of the treaties, the Basutos, without being consulted or having their rights safeguarded, were handed over to another power--the Colonial Government. "4. That that other power proceeded to enact their disarmament, a process which could only be carried out with a servile race, like the Hindoos of the plains of India, and which any one of understanding must see would be resisted to the utmost by any people worth the name; the more so in the case of the Basutos, who realised the constant contraction of their frontiers in defiance of the treaties made with the British Government, and who could not possibly avoid the conclusion that this disarmament was only a prelude to their extinction. "The necessary and inevitable result of the four deductions was that the Basutos resisted, and remain passively resisting to this day.