"WAHABEES WAKEFIELD. 



the fruits of three victories, sent three sacks of 

 Wahabees' ears to Constantinople. No subsequent 

 progress, however, was made : on the contrary, 

 Jussuff Pacha, who now fought with his father, 

 Mohammed Ali, on the side of the Turks, was 

 forced to retreat, (he died soon after of the plague.) 

 But- the Wahabees, betrayed by their ally, the 

 sherif of Mecca, and abandoned by several Arab 

 tribes, suffered new defeats in the defiles of Sofra 

 and Judeyda, and were altogether driven from the 

 route to Medina. This holy city was weakly gar- 

 risoned, and, therefore, easily conquered by the 

 Turks. Mecca, also, soon after fell into their 

 power. The solemn delivery of the keys of the 

 regained cities of the faith, was celebrated with 

 great rejoicings at Constantinople. These victo- 

 ries had done much for the security of Mohamme- 

 danism, which finds one of its chief supports in the 

 possession of Mecca and Medina, and the uninter- 

 rupted pilgrimages of the faithful to those cities. 

 This formidable sect was as yet, however, far from 

 being suppressed. Mohammed Ali, pacha of Egypt, 

 therefore, renewed his preparations ; but he lost a 

 fortified place called Kumsidal, containing great 

 stores of arms and ammunition, which the Waha- 

 bees took by surprise. The Persian disturbances 

 were also very favourable to them ; and they found 

 opportunity to form a new union with several Arab 

 tribes. But their daring was not accompanied with 

 prudence. They undertook the boldest predatory 

 excursions, while their enemy, the Pacha of Egypt, 

 adopted judicious measures for their entire over- 

 throw. After the death of their sovereign, Sehud 

 II., in 1814, when quarrels arose on the subject of 

 the succession, they suffered several defeats. A 

 decisive victory was obtained by Mohammed Ali, in 

 the beginning of 1815, at Bassila, not far from the city 

 of Tarabe. It was, nevertheless, difficult to attack 

 them in the centre of their power. Ibrahim, the 

 son of the pacha, finally succeeded, in 1818, in in- 

 flicting a total defeat on the Wahabees, under their 

 sovereign, Abdallah Ben Sund, and in blocking 

 them up in their fortified camp, four days' march 

 from their capital, Derayeh.* The camp was 

 stormed September 3, eighty pieces of artillery 

 taken, 20,000 soldiers put to death, and Abdallah 

 himself made prisoner. The inhabitants of the 

 city now surrendered, but demanded an amnesty, 

 and that their lives and houses should be spared ; 

 but the conquerors declared that the sultan alone 

 could grant or refuse these terms. Meanwhile the 

 arrival of the prisoner, who, both as a rebel and an 

 apostate, was of great political importance to the 

 sublime Porte, was celebrated in Constantinople as 

 a national triumph. With his mufti and treasurer, 

 he was then carried in chains before the sultan, 

 tried by the divan, and beheaded, with his fellow 

 prisoners, December 17, 1818. 



Detached bands of Wahabees are still said to 

 rove through the desert ; and the heroic daughter 

 of the founder of the sect is said to be their leader ; 

 but the sultan, having left the conquered to the 

 pleasure of the pacha of Egypt, he entirely destroy- 

 ed their principal seat ; and the inhabitants, after 



Derayeh, in the Arab province of Nedsjpp, protected by 

 irts and mountains, was situated in 42 14' K. Ion. 26 N . 



of Bassora. and 1GO leagues south-east of Jerusalem. It was 

 two leagues long, hair a league broad, exposed to frequent 

 inundations, and contained 2500 houses of stone, 28 mosques, 

 and 30 schools. The former rulers resided in the suburb of 

 'I ereif . 



the loss of their property, were dispersed. The 

 severity of Ibrahim, who is remembered as the 

 scourge of Arabia, and the curse of Derayeh, did 

 not, however, put an end to the Wahabite refor- 

 mation, nor to the spirit of resistance by which 

 its abettors were animated. The war was re- 

 newed in 1824, with as much ferocity as ever, and 

 apparently with increased means, on the part of 

 the insurgents, of bringing it to a successful issue. 

 It was protracted during the three following years, 

 with alternate advantage ; having been, during the 

 latter portion of that interval, allowed to slumber, 

 owing to the struggle made by the Greeks in the 

 Morea, to recover their liberty. See Planat's 

 Histoire de la Regeneration de I'Egypte (Geneva, 

 1830,) for an account of Mohammed All's cam- 

 paign against the Wahabees. 



According to some accounts, the Wahabees are 

 divided into three classes soldiers, field labourers, 

 and artizans ; but since, like the other Arabs, every 

 able man was destined for predatory excursions, it is 

 more correct to divide them into priests, soldiers, 

 and slaves. The sect of the Wahabees is still 

 very numerous in Arabia. 



WAHLSTADT; a generic German term for 

 field of battle (from Wai, which means fight, and 

 also dead body ; hence Walhalla, or Valhalla.) 

 As a geographical name, it belongs to a large vil- 

 lage in Silesia, near Liegnitz, on the Katzbach, 

 where Henry II., duke of Silesia, fought a bloody 

 battle, April 9, 1241, against the Tartars, in which 

 he lost his life, and the latter were victorious. In 

 memory of this battle, the place and village were 

 called Wahlstadt. In the same place, Blucher was 

 victorious over the French, Aug. 26, 1813 (see 

 Katzbach,) and, in reward of this and other vic- 

 tories, was made prince of Wahlstadt. 



WAHOO. See Elm. 



WAIFS. See Estrays. 



WAKEFIELD; a town of England, in the 

 West Riding of Yorkshire, nine miles south of 

 Leeds, and 182 N.N.W. of London. It is plea- 

 santly situated on the side of a hill, sloping south- 

 ward to the river Calder, in the midst of a fertile 

 and beautiful country. The town consists of spa- 

 cious and regular streets, and the houses are well- 

 built and handsome. The parish church is a Go- 

 thic structure ; the spire is upwards of 237 feet in 

 height. There is a handsome stone bridge over the 

 Calder, built in the reign of Edward III., in the 

 centre of which is a chapel, in the richest style of 

 Gothic perpendicular architecture, ten yards in length , 

 and about eight in breadth. Wakefield is one of 

 the greatest corn markets in England, and contains 

 immense corn warehouses. By the reform act of 

 1832, Wakefield was constituted a borough, return- 

 ing one member to parliament. Population of town 

 in 1841, 18,486 ; of town and parish, 29,992. 



WAKEFIELD, GILBERT, a distinguished scholar 

 and critic, son of the reverend George Wakefield 

 of Nottingham, was born in 1756, and entered, in 

 1772, Jesus College, in Cambridge, where he pursu- 

 ed his studies with great ardour, in 1776 graduated 

 bachelor of arts, and was soon after elected a fel- 

 low. In the same year, he gave the public a small 

 volume of Latin poems, with a few critical notes 

 on Homer. In 1778, he received deacon's orders, 

 and, on leaving college, engaged in a curacy at 

 Stockport, in Cheshire, and subsequently he obtain- 

 ed another near Liverpool. The dissatisfaction 

 which he entertained at the doctrines and li- 

 turgy of the church of England, progressively in 



