Sanderson, the faithful commemorator of great nineteenth-century
patriots, a high authority on modern Africa.

The famous Treaty of the Tafna, concluded between Abd-el-Kader and
Bugeaud, was a triumph for the Arab Sultan. With the consent of all the
great sheiks, the leaders of cavalry contingents, the venerable
Marabouts, and the most distinguished warriors of the Province of Oran,
the Sultan, not acknowledging the sovereignty of France, but ceding to
her a limited portion of the Provinces of Oran and Algiers, reserved the
free exercise of their religion for all Arabs dwelling on French
territory. He undertook to supply the French army with a large quantity
of corn and oxen and to confine the commerce of the Regency to French
ports. In return he received the administration of the larger part of
the Provinces of Oran and Algiers, and the whole of Tittery; the
important right of buying powder, sulphur, and weapons in France; and
freedom of trade between the Arabs and the French. In ceding the
Province of Tittery, Bugeaud had violated the strict orders of the
French Government, alleging in excuse to the Minister of War that any
other arrangement was "impossible." The treaty, in fact, confined the
French to a few towns on the seacoast, with small adjacent territories.
All the fortresses and strongholds in the interior were left in the
hands of Abd-el-Kader. He was the possessor of two-thirds of Algeria,
and he appeared before the world as the friend and ally of France.

The treaty was held by the French Government to be a high stroke of
policy, converting an enemy into an ally. The French people regarded it
as a humiliating surrender of French territory to a rival power. It was
the culminating point of Abd-el-Kader's career.

During the year 1839 the Sultan was engaged in the work of a statesman,