Before analyzing the fourth and last Cherif Cabinet I would like to compare between the British invasion of Egypt in 1882 and the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.  In 1882, the British invaded Egypt claiming that the country and its people were not ready for the democracy proclaimed by Orabi, while in 2003 the American invaded Iraq to establish democracy.  In fact both invaders had other strategical and economical objectives on their mind.

The leaders of the 1882 and 1952 revolutions, Orabi and Mohammad Naguib, were both of solid Egyptian background and were genuinely guided by their resolve to establish a true democracy in Egypt. Both failed in their sacred objective defeated from without, in 1882, and from within, in 1952.  Both paid dearly for their love of freedom and democracy.
 
 

In a historical Cabinet meeting, in Alexandria, on September 17, 1882, the Cherif Cabinet, under the Presidency of the Khedive decreed to abolish the Egyptian Army.  Exceptions were made of those (Turkish and Cherkess) officers who did not support Orabi and those troops who were garrisoning the Sudanese Provinces during the Revolution.

On the other hand, when General Wolseley asked the Egyptian Government to grant a pardon for those officers below the rank of Major (Second Lieutenant, Lieutenant and Captains), Moustafa Ryad Pasha, the Minister of Defense in the Cherif Cabinet, refused the British request declaring that the financial situation of the country could sustain their pensions!!!

On the light side, the Cherif Government agreed to build twenty-three public lavatories in the different streets of Cairo at the cost of thirty Egyptian Pounds each. 

The cholera epidemic hit Egypt in 1883 and the Cherif Government promptly approved an extra budget to fight successfully against that deadly disease.  But it was also during the Cherif Cabinet that British officials occupied the senior civil and military positions of the Government, particularly at the Ministries of Public works, Finances and National Defense.  The army was to be reorganized and led by a British Commander with the title of Sirdar.  Even the Police Force was reshuffled and an English General, Valentine Baker Pasha, was appointed to lead it.  A new British Resident General, Sir Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer), was appointed in Cairo where he became the virtual leader of Egypt.

In 1883, the Mahdist Rebellion in the Sudan was gaining ground and the British Resident urged the Egyptian Government to withdraw its troops from the Sudan.  Cherif Pasha, who felt the Sudanese Provinces belonged to the Ottoman Sultan and only held in custody by Egypt, refused to abide by the British request and had to resign his Cabinet on January 7, 1884.

Sir Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer) was born in 1841 to a wealthy Jewish banking family of German origin (like the Rotchilds).  He did not have an Oxbridge (either Oxford or Cambridge) education, like many British Leaders of the Victorian Era, but he graduated from the Woolwich Military Academy, a well-known Artillery School.  He was sent to India as a Secretary to his cousin, Lord Northbrook, the British Viceroy in India.

His ability in the administration field was quickly recognized and, eight years after, he was sent to Egypt (in 1877) as Britain‘s Representative to the “SANDOUK EL DAYN” (the fund for the administration of the Egyptian debt).  In 1883, just after the British occupation of Egypt, he was named as the British Agent (Resident) General in Egypt.

Thus, Baring was a solid member of the British Establishment.  He represented the status quo and, by breeding and by instinct, he defended it with a steady zeal and unemotional discipline.  He was a cold, composed and methodical man who belonged, from the beginning of his career to the inner ring of high finance in Europe.

As soon as he arrived in Egypt, he made himself its virtual ruler.  He completely lacked spontaneity and the flair of seeing into the simple truth of things.  His was the official world of caution and safe negative.

His mission in Egypt was to promote to the maximum the British interests, to solidify the British Occupation and to pay back the Egyptian National Debt.  He succeeded in all these objectives and, as a reward, Queen Victoria granted him the title of Lord Cromer in 1892.  To raise the necessary funds to eradicate the Egyptian Debt, he reduced drastically the Egyptian Budgets allocated for Education, Health and Social Services, the results of which are still felt in Egypt to the present time.

From the British point of view he was an extremely successful Agent, but, from the Egyptian side, his twenty four years “RULE” was a black chapter in its Modern History.

After the sad massacre of “DENSHIWAY” (in 1906), his presence in Egypt became intolerable and he was recalled to England in 1907.

He had a well-deserved reputation of rudeness and he managed to become the “ BÊTE NOIRE” not only of the Egyptian People but also of his own British Subordinates, one of them (name unknown) wrote the following verses:

(To be continued) 
 

Kamal K. Katba