Seized by panic, Tawfik accepted the Army‘s requests and Ryad Pasha had no choice but to present the resignation of his cabinet.  The Khedive asked Cherif Pasha to form a new Cabinet.

Cherif Pasha disliked the fact that he was called upon to form a new Cabinet at the request of the Army with Orabi Bey interfering to impose his choice of Ministers.  He was also against the army meddling in politics; but, to save the situation, he reluctantly accepted and only after Orabi Bey and his colleagues promised him that the Army will be kept out of politics and obedient to the Government.  From day one, Cherif Pasha faced a very difficult situation.  Even though he was the favorite of the Army, the Representatives of the Foreign Powers and particularly England and France looked upon him with suspicion.  But, during his short Premiership, 5 months all in all, his Cabinet achieved quite a lot.  It modified the Military Laws ameliorating the Military Pensions; it established a fair basis for promotions within the Army; it reorganized the Military Schools and modernizing their curriculum; it appointed Ahmad Orabi Bey as Under Secretary at the Jihadya Ministry; It modernized the Judicial system and stipulated that laws could be enforced only thirty days after their publication in the Official Monitor; it changed the laws implemented in the Mixed Courts (Al Mahakem Al Mokhtalata) in such a way that they should not contradict the Islamic Laws.

On December 3, 1881, it carried on a census of the population of Egypt.  As a result of this census, it appeared that the population of the land reached 6,806,381 inhabitants!

At the request of the Cabinet, the Khedive issued on October 4, 1881, a High Order inviting the Population to elect a Parliament (Majlis Shouri Al Nouwab) and, on October 30, Cherif Pasha sent an order to the Provinces Governors ordering not to interfere in the results of the vote.

The new Parliament was inaugurated on December 26, 1881 and, in the first few days of its life, it approved its own status which gave it the authority to legislate all laws and decrees, even the Financial Laws, and also to approve or reject the Budgets that would be submitted by the Cabinet.  Needless to say that the Foreign Government were horrified by the vast power that the “Majlis” personified and presented a note to the Khedive indicating that Egypt was not ready as yet for a Democratic Parliamentary system of Government!  At the request of the Khedive, Cherif Pasha urged the “Majlis” to skip the article concerning its authority to approve or disapprove the financial decisions of the Cabinet and specially the Budget.

Shocked by the Foreign Note and Cherif‘s interference, the “Majlis”, in a large majority vote, withdrew its Confidence from the Cherif Cabinet and urged the Khedive to dismiss the Cherif Cabinet and to appoint a new Cabinet led by Mahmoud Sami Al Baroudi Pasha, the favorite candidate of the Armed Forces.  Khedive Tawfik had no choice but to approve the “Majlis” decision. 

 Mahmoud Sami Al Baroudi was of a cherkess (circassian) origin.  He was born in 1839 and he studied in the Military Schools established By Mohammad Ali Pasha.  He had a bright Military career during which he reached the Rank of “Amiralay” (2).  He participated with great success in suppressing the Crete Rebellion and fought brilliantly against the Russians, which earned him the Rank of “Lewaa” (3).  On July 5, 1979, he was appointed as Minister of Education (Nazer Al Ma’aref) and that was his first Cabinet post.  He was a poet, a close friend of Orabi and very popular in the Army.

The Al Baroudi Cabinet was in fact the “Revolution Cabinet’.  It included all the leaders of the (Orabi) revolution and Orabi was appointed as Minister of the Army and Navy (Nizarat Al Jahadya wa Nizarat al Bahrya).  Al Baroudi kept Mustafa Fahmi Pasha as Minister of Foreign Affairs because of his good relationship with the Foreign Consuls (he occupied that same post in the previous Cabinet).  The Cabinet met twice at the Abdine Palace, presided by the Khedive and attended by the Consuls of Britain and France.  It was decided during those meetings to approve the Parliament Internal Constitution except for the articles concerning the Parliament’s right to approve or the disapprove the tribute paid annually to the Ottoman Empire or the amounts of principal and interest payments of the Public Debt.  Those exceptions were approved by the Cabinet with the hope of calming down the Ottoman Empire and the Foreign Powers.  The Cabinet, in its short life, decided, at the request of the Suez Canal Company to dig a sweet water canal from the town of Ismailya to the town of Port-Said; it also approved an electoral law according to which elections should be carried on in two stages.  The Parliament was to be composed of 125 Members elected for a period of five years.  Voters should have a minimum age of twenty-one years and should be taxpayers paying at least five pounds a year.  Only professionals, like “Ulamas”, Doctors, Pharmacists, lawyers and other professionals, were exempted from the tax condition.  Candidates should have a minimum age of twenty-five and twelve seats of the Parliament were to be allocated to Deputies representing the Sudanese Provinces.  A yearly allocation of 100 pounds per Deputy was approved.  Each Deputy was to consider himself as representing the whole Nation and not only his district.  The Speaker was to be chosen by the Khedive amongst three candidates submitted by the Parliament.

The Cabinet, fearing Foreign Military Intervention, adopted steps to improve the fighting capacity of the Armed Forces.  Not all those steps which were anyway too little too late, pleased all the Officers Corp and, on April 1882, a plot to overthrow the Cabinet and assassinate its members was discovered.  The plot, which had received a sympathetic nod from the Khedive, was uncovered and forty-eight Cherkess and Turks Officers were arrested including Othman Rifqi Pasha, an ex. “Nazer Al Jihadya”.  A Military Court sentenced 40 Officers, including Rifqi, to be stripped of their Military Ranks and sent into permanent exile in the Sudan.  The Khedive and the Ottoman Sultan objected this harsh sentences and the Court changed it to overseas exile.

Meanwhile, Britain and France carried a naval demonstration at the large of Alexandria and gave an ultimatum to Al Baroudi Pasha requesting the temporary exile, outside Egypt of Orabi Pasha, the house arrest both Abdel A’al Fahmi Pasha and Ali Fahmi Pasha and the resignation of the Cabinet.

Al Baroudi Pasha showed the ultimatum to the Khedive who accepted it as a fair request by the Foreign Powers.  The Prime Minister then had no alternative but to present the resignation of his Cabinet, which was quickly accepted by the Khedive.

Kamal K. Katba

 
 

(2) Amiralay = One star General, in the United States, or Brigadier in Europe (3) Lewaa = Two stars General, in the United States, or Major General in Europe

( To be continued)