23 2 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



the conquerors of their country. After having com- 

 bated them with the utmost energy, we cannot but 

 esteem them. Time, which heals so many wounds, is 

 speeding onward ; a sincere respect for their religion 

 and customs, great equity in our administration, and 

 a constant solicitude for the welfare of the people and 

 for their education, will aid us to conquer their hearts, 

 just as the bravery of our soldiers has overcome their 

 armed resistance. 



I have mentioned the name of Abd-el-Kader. Those 

 who knew him during his captivity and in Syria, 

 where he saved the Christians from Turkish barbarity, 

 have admired the noble simplicity of his manners, the 

 even benevolence of his disposition, and the loftiness 

 of his mind and ideas. 



He preserved his prestige undiminished, and when- 

 ever he came forward to express tolerant feelings in 

 the face of Europe, it was with the conviction that he 

 would not lose the confidence of his co-religionists. 



A few years ago I wrote to ask him to send me a 

 circular, which had been addressed to all the Arab 

 chiefs of the region in which the late Commander 

 Eoudaire was about to conduct his researches with 

 regard to the formation of an inland sea in the Tunisian 

 and Algerian chotts. His letters of recommendation 

 proved very useful, and facilitated the accomplish- 

 ment of M. Roudaire's mission ; and I trust that this 

 scheme, calculated to effect the pacification of Southern 

 Algeria and Tunis, will be carried out. 



