The Establishment Of The Protectorate (Part 19) � �The Three Dikgosi Begin Their Journey�

The petitions had, moreover, arrived with the additional news that the three monarchs had left their respective towns with the intention of coming together to Britain to press their case.

For his part, Rhodes was worried that the turn of events could undermine his grand conspiracy to take over the Transvaal by overthrowing President Paul Kruger’s Boer regime. In a telegraph to his partner Alfred Beit he asserted that: “we must have the right of administration [over the Bechuanaland Protectorate] to collect our forces at Gaberoones [Gaborone Police Camp] as soon as possible as Johannesburg is ready.” Seemingly buying into the Dr. Jameson’s by then misguided belief that Khama was prepared to back down if the Company abandoned its support for Raditlhadi, Rhodes further observed: