300 HISTORY OF THE WAHABEES. 



with the order of his father, the Wahabee chief must 

 immediately take his departure for Egypt. The 

 condition was alarming ; but it seemed to be the only 

 means of averting a more tragical catastrophe, and 

 the generous Abdallah accepted it. 



Trusting to the hopes of security expressed by the 

 conqueror, and that his family and capital would be 

 saved from destruction, in token of which he had 

 received a white handkerchief, the emblem of peace^ 

 he quitted his palace amid the tears and regrets of 

 his friends, crossed the desert with a small train of 

 attendants, and was received at Cairo by the vice* 

 roy with every outward demonstration of respect. 

 After a short conference he was despatched to Con- 

 stantinople under an escort of Tartars. The parti- 

 sans of Ali give him the credit of interposing with 

 the sultan to pardon the obnoxious captive ; for 

 such was now the situation of the too credulous 

 Abdallah. But the Ottoman divan were implacable. 

 Mercy is no attribute either of the religion or the 

 policy of the Turks ; and, after being paraded over 

 the city for three days, the unhappy chief, with his 

 two companions in misfortune, his secretary and 

 treasurer, were beheaded (December 19, 1818) in 

 the public square of St. Sophia. The pasha and his 

 son were complimented on their victories by the 

 Sublime Porte, and honoured with several costly 

 presents. 



The fall of the Wahabee capital may be said to 

 have completed the conquest of Nejed. The prov- 

 ince of Haryk was reduced after a slight resist- 

 ance. Other districts sent deputies offering volun- 

 tary submission. The want of sufficient provisions, 

 rendered more severe by the destructive operations 

 of the siege, occasioned a very general mutiny in 

 the Turkish army. The soldiers committed all sorts 

 of excess, plundering the houses and pillaging the 

 country. Ibrahim himself narrowly escaped assas- 

 sination ; but his well-timed intrepidity, and the 



