Note 77 — Chapter VIII · CADIZ.

“Thing incomprehensible! History shows us the Arabs as the least exacting, the least cruel of all conquerors. They have shown the example of those peaceful conquests, which we recommend to the governments of the nineteenth century. By the capitulations which the earliest Arab chiefs granted to the Christians of Spain, these last retained the free exercise of their religion. This toleration, scrupulously respected, facilitated and rendered more prompt the reconciliation of the two people. Ocba, Gehrarben-Muhamad, Youzef, have left, in the Spanish chronicles, written even by the Christians, the most touching instances of tolerance, justice, and magnanimity.”—La France en Afrique, p. 17.