The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-12-04
ORANGE FREE sTATD.


President Steyn and His Eearly Train | ing.
 The Orange Free State Republic is
 ideal In many respects It is almost at ] the center of the white mans South
 Africa. The bulk of the travel from
 Table Bay to the gold fields of Johan-
 nesburg is through it's territory. It sells | it's corn and cattle in the markets
 created by the gold and diamond dg- gers. In 1854 the English flag waved 1 last over the little fort. The troops and i officials parted from the inhabitants in friendship. The whole population num- ! bered but 15,000, whereas the hostile
 black tribes numbered their hundreds of thousands. It was what we would ! have called "the frontier" where cab- ins passed as houses, where all men worked with their hands, where all lived on pretty much the same level,
 where none were very rich and none
 very poor How deeply the raid of
 Jameson injured South Africa is shown by the revival of race hatred, which
 designates the feeling between English and Dutch.
 President Steyn has eyes in which one
 sees the reflection of a mind resigned to the injuries that usually come to the
 one determined to do his duty. The
 whole expression of his face is eminent
 ly that of harmony and strength. His
 ample forehead and full beard add to
 this dignity. He leads a singularly
 simple and regular life; he is fond of
 all outdoor exercise, and seizes every
 occasion for a day on the prairie with
 his rifle. He enjoyed in his youth the
 best education which South Africa
 could afford. Here two languages are
 in use side by side, some of the text books being in Dutch and some in Eng fish, The pupils from the Transvaal make the long journey to Grey college. After leaving school young Steyn worked on farm of his fathers No doubt at that time he looked forward to a life devoted to his cattle and his black workmen. When he was 19 years of age he received a visit from Justice Buchanan of the Orange Free State high court, during one of his circuits, when the judges are made welcome at the best farms along their route. When he met the elder Steyne he gave the father a glowing account of the boy who had entertained him, saying that | the young man had talents which | should be developed, and finally per- suaded him to send his son abroad to | study law. %
 This was the turning point in the | youths life. It was a costly experi- ment. From Bloemfontein to the coast there were as yet no railways The nearest port was 300 miles away through a wild and dangerous country. Cape Town was 600 miles off. In fact, when young Steyn, in 1876, began his long journey of 300 miles to the coast, and his 1000 miles of sea journey around the Cape to England, I doubt if in one person in 300 ever heard the name of the Orange Free State. No one dreamed that any white people would ever go there for the purpose of becoming Afrikanders.
 Young Steyn threw himself heart and soul into the work before him, and studied law, not only in England but In Holland as we'll Six years he spent In Europe. In that time he was learn Ing more than law. He was studying the means by which little England dot ted the seas with her merchant ships, [ and rolled up at home ever-increasing comfort and population. To-day the acts of President Steyn are influenced oy the education he received there.
 With the Boers, Steyn believed that |, England Is powerful because she main- .ains soldiers and war ships. Soon, however, he saw the source of power in England resided not in the queen, not In he House of Lords, not in the fighting 'orces of the army and navy. He saw hot it, cfr If perIo nd Ioy ip | he collective strength of strong Eng ishmen exercising their energies in governed with freedom Steyn studied the English constitution closely, and there learned that the mak-