Page 55 - PERSIAN 2 1879_1883

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RESIDENCY AND MUSKAT POLITICAL AGENCY POR 1879-80. 43
On receipt .of the Viceroy's demands, the Wallace Amir de­
spatched a reply couched in submissi ve terms, urging that the spoil taken
from Medina by uis father was not in his possession, and saying that
Mohammed 'Ali might send a representative to govern Ncjd, or impose
tribute which would bo cheerfully paid; but lie begged to be excused
from proceeding to Constantinople. The Amir also wrote at the same
time to Tousoun Pasha asking him to intercede in his favor with the
Viceroy. The latter refused and returned the presents which accom­
[Monjfin.] panied the Amir's letter, and announced
bis intention of sending his sou Ibrahim
Pasha with an army to destroy El-Der'cyyah and bring the Amir a
prisoner to Constantinople. 'Abdullah thereupon despairing of a peace­
ful issue prepared to fight.
Arrangements having been completed for renewal of the campaign
A y 1S1G against the Wahabees, Ibrahim Pasha,
who was selected on account of hi*
ability to conduct the operations, set out from Egypt in September 1810
at the head of a considerable force and proceeded to the scene of action.
The first encounter seems to have taken place at El-Ma'wiyah, where
' AbdulIah-bin-Su'ood attacked the
May. A.D. 1817.
Egyptian army and suffered a signal
defeat. On this occasion Ibrahim Pasha put to death all prisoners
taken. The Pasha then advanced with 4,000 infantry and 1,200
cavalry, besides contingents of the friendly Arab tribes Eenu-Khalid, El-
Mut % r, El-'Oteybah, El-Harb, and El-Suhool against El-Bass, which was
held by a Wababee garrison. Before this town Ibrahim Pasha suffered
a sit: :-3 check, and after besieging it for three and a half months,
having lost 3,000 men, he was obliged to agree to an armistice and
abandon the siege. The Egyptian General, however, masking El-Uass,
continued to advance eastward on 'Aneyzah, and the Amir retired south
to Burcvdah. After six days' bombardment the fort of*'Aneyzah
surrendered, and the entire district of El-Kaseoin then submitted to the
Egyptian Commander. 'Abdullah retired on Shakrah, a town in the
district of El-Washam, where he halted two months for reinforcements.
During this time the Pasha succeeded in detaching from the Wababee
cause many of the Arab Bedoos who at heart disliked the strictness and
severity of that sect and government. Amongst those who,^ actuated
by ancient enmity against the Wababee, had from the outset joined the
Egyptian side, was the powerful Shaikh of the Muteyr, Peysal-el-Dawish,
who trusted in a promise made to him by Ibrahim to place him in
Der'evvah as Governor of Nejd, a promise which the Pasha had no
inteution of fulfilling.
Having received at Burcvdab a reinforcement of 800 men and two
guns, a3 well as supplies of provisions aud am munition, Ibrahim Pash*
Was able to continue his advance on Shakrah at the head or 4,
Turkish, Albanian, and Moorish troops
December, A.D. 1817. in addition to Arab contingents. About
10,000 camels accompanied the force, and the infantry soldier* were
usually mounted two on a camel. The \rn.r ’Abdallah meantime
retired on his capital wasting the country before the enemy and sending
the surplus cattle and Cooks to El-HasS. This was in the latter part of