I have just returned from Amboise; I spent several days there under the hospitable roof of its old castle, in the sweetest intimacy with an illustrious captive. More than many others, I believe I now know and can appreciate Abd-el-Kader.

However, on my return to Bordeaux, on my way, everywhere, I find a crowd of people, worthy of all confidence, who have a false, incomplete idea of this extraordinary man, and who, as a result, contribute, more than they certainly suspect, to delay the still uncertain time when justice will finally be done to him.

I believe, on the contrary, that if everyone in France knew Abd-el-Kader as much as I know him now, this era would no longer be far away.

So, I imagine that it is for me a duty of humanity, until I can do more, to try to reestablish the truth about him, with regard to certain facts, in particular, of very serious nature. and delicate nature for the most part, and to perhaps hasten thereby the moment when the clouds in which it has been enveloped for too long will dissipate.

This persuasion, which is dear to me in more than one way, and which I admit that I cannot resist, will be my best excuse to those into whose hands these few simple, conscientious pages will fall, and which seem to me to be as much an act of true patriotism as an act of Christian charity.

I ask God to bless them.

Bordeaux, March 15, 1849

Ant.-Ad. Dupuch

Former bishop of Algiers