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pedition, fixed his eyes upon Mecca, persuaded that, 
could he seize upon this holy city, the centre of Islam- 
ism, he should acquire a new title to the sovereignty of 
the Mussulmen countries that surround it. 
Fearing the vengeance of the Pacha of Bagdad, on 
account of his expedition against Imam Hossein, he 
was unwilling to absent himself from his territory: he 
therefore sent his son Saaoud with a strong army to 
take possession of Mecca, which he did in 1802, after 
a slight opposition. The Sultan Scherif Ghaleb retired 
first to Medina, which he abandoned, and afterwards to 
Djedda, which he put in a state of defence against any 
attack of the Wehhabites. 
Saaoud ordered all the mosques and chapels conse- 
crated to the memory of the Prophet and his family to 
be razed to the ground. He destroyed also the se- 
pulchres of the saints and heroes, which were held in 
veneration. 
The palace of the Sultan Scherif shared the same fate; 
and there remains now nothing but a heap of ruins of 
all these edifices. The temple alone was respected and 
preserved entire. 
Saaoud soon after set out to attack Djedda; and at 
the same time he sent a body of troops to attack Medi- 
na. These two expeditions, against fortified towns, 
failed completely; and he found himself obliged to 
retire to Draaiya with the remains of his army, con- 
siderably diminished by the desertion of several tribes, 
the plague, and the killed in battle. He, however, left a 
small garrison at Mecca, to support in the country the 
idea of the sovereignty of his father over the holy city; 
but it could not oppose the return of the Sultan Scherif 
Ghaleb. 
A short time afterwards, Abdelaaziz was assassinated. 
Vol. 11= U 
