otherwise. On November 6, they met with him again in
London. The chiefs spoke through an interpreter:
Chamberlain: I will speak about the lands of
the Chiefs, and about the railway, and about
the law which is to be observed in the territory
of the Chiefs … Now let us look at the
map … We will take the land that we want for
the railway, and no more.
Khama: I say, that if Mr. Chamberlain will
take the land himself, I will be content.
Chamberlain: Then tell him that I will make
the railway myself by the eyes of one whom I
will send and I will take only as much as I
require, and will give compensation if what I
take is of value.
Khama: I would like to know how [i.e., where]
the railway will go.
Chamberlain: It shall go through his territory
but shall be fenced in, and we will take no
land.
Khama: I trust that you will do this work as for
myself, and treat me fairly in this matter.
Chamberlain: I will guard your interests.
The next day, Edward Fairfield, at the Colonial Office,
explained Chamberlain’s settlement in more detail:
Each of the three chiefs, Khama, Sebele and
Bathoen, shall have a country within which
they shall live as hitherto under the protection
of the Queen. The Queen shall appoint an
officer to reside with them. The chiefs will rule
their own people much as at present.
Rhodes’s reaction to being outmaneuvered by the three
African chiefs was predictable. He cabled to one of his
employees, saying, “I do object to being beaten by three
canting natives.”
The chiefs in fact had something valuable that they had
protected from Rhodes and would subsequently protect
from British indirect rule. By the nineteenth century, the