Another
important reason why Lord Cromer disliked Fakhri Pasha and
would not accept his Premiership is the fact that when the Pasha was Minister
of Justice, just a few days before the death of Khedive Tawfik,
he refused to implement the “Scott Commission Report” which tended
to reform the Egyptian Judicial System (Sir John Scott was the British
appointed Advisor to the Egyptian Ministry of Justice). The
Pasha was then forced to resign and earned a prominent place on the British
“Black List”.
The
forced resignation of the Fakhri Cabinet was not well received by
the Egyptian population and left lots of bitterness. To repair the
damage, Lord Cromer
recommended to Khedive Abbas the appointment
of a Cabinet led by Mustafa Ryad Pasha. As mentioned in previous
chapters,
Ryad was well known as a strict Muslim (some even claim
that he was fanatical about his faith) and, as such, he was quite popular.
At
its first meeting, the
Ryad Cabinet decided that the Foreign Advisors
would not be authorized to attend its meeting unless and until matters
pertaining to the Ministries they advise would be discussed. All
in all, the Ryad Cabinet held fifty-four meetings twenty of them
presided by Khedive Abbas.
On
several occasions, the Cabinet issued orders to the different Ministries
and Administrations restricting the appointment of foreigners whenever
possible, unless the positions to be filled were highly technical with
no Egyptian capable of holding it. Needless to say that such a decision
increased the popularity of the Ryad Cabinet. The Cabinet
Ministers were urged to train their Egyptian staff so that the positions
vacated by Foreigners could be filled with Locals.
One
of the most important actions of the Ryad Cabinet was its genuine
interest in irrigation and agriculture. To use wisely the Nile
water and to protect the Country against the sometime severe floods of
the river, the Cabinet formed a committee of three notorious European Engineers
to study the feasibility of building several dams and to decide about their
emplacements. That decision was the prelude to the erection of several
dams, particularly the Aswan Dam, that were built a few years later.
On
the light side, the Cabinet appointed a French Sculptor to built a statue
for Solayman Pasha and another for Lazoghli at a cost of
two
hundred pounds. As nobody had a photograph of Lazoghli
and as the sculptor insisted on having one, the Governor of Cairo sent
a water seller (“saqqa”), from the Khan El Khalili District,
to pose for the sculptor claiming that he was a Lazoghli look alike.
Both statues still adorn
Cairo.
To
give credit to Ryad
Pasha, he stood on several occasions beside
Khedive
Abbas supporting him in his conflicts with Lord Cromer.
On one of those occasions, he supported the Khedive when he refused
to appoint a British Officer to the vacant post of Deputy Minister of
War. The Khedive and Ryad prevailed and appointed
Mohammad
Maher Pasha, the Governor of Alexandria, to the post, on the
ground that the position was strictly
administrative and did not need an experienced military officer.
On another occasion and while attending a General Military Parade in Wadi
Halfa, the Khedive made a few criticism of the parade which
infuriated General Sir Horatio Herbert Kitchener, the then Sirdar
(Commander In Chief) of the Egyptian Army. Kitchener
took the
Khedive ‘s criticism as an insult to the British officers
serving with the Egyptian Army and requested an apology. When the
Khedive
refused
to apologize, Kitchener threatened to resign and Lord Cromer
talked about obtaining the Khedive ‘s abdication. At this
point, Ryad advised the Khedive to settle the matter to the
satisfaction of the Brits.
That
incident eroded the confidence and close relationship between them and
RyadPasha
felt unwanted and resigned his Cabinet.
Because
of Nubar Pasha close relationship with the Foreigners, in general,
and the Brits, in particular, he was called upon to form a cabinet which
main objective would be to mend the fence between the Khedive and
the British authorities.
To
appease the Occupiers, the Nubar Cabinet adopted a decision to form
a special Court to which would be submitted the cases of attacks perpetrated
by Locals against British Officers and Troopers. It was also agreed
by the Cabinet that such trials would take place at the location of the
attacks and that a British Officer would sit at the Bench of these Courts.
The sentences of these Courts would not be subjected to appeals even in
cases of Capital Punishments. 
Needless to say that this Cabinet decision was extremely unpopular and
led to lots of resentment. A young Egyptian Patriot,
Mustafa Kamel
(1), the
future leader of the “National Party, who had just returned to
Egypt from France where he obtained a Law Degree, wrote his
first article in the “Ahram” newspaper condemning that decision.
The appointment of
a British officer as a Deputy Minister of the most important Ministry
of Interior was another step to appease the occupiers and to enrage
the Egyptians.
At
another Cabinet meeting, it was decided to regulate the appointment (and
not election) of “Omdahs”
and “Sheikh Balads”. According
to that decision, the appointees should have a minimum age of twenty-five
years, own at least ten “feddans”
and be capable of reading
and writing. The positions would pay no salaries but the first
five “feddans” they owned would be exempted of taxation and their children
would be exonerated from the compulsory military service.
To
reduce the alienation caused by its appeasement policy, the Nubar
cabinet added two thousand pounds to the Azhar budget for the purpose
of restoration and renovation of the Azhar Mosque and University.
The Cabinet also formed a Committee presided by Sheikh Hassouna Al Nawawi,
the then rector, to establish a fair basis for salaries and other compensations
for the Azhar Professors and employees. Another popular move
was the Cabinet decision to appoint Egyptian to high positions, some of
them previously occupied by foreigners. Thus, Ismail Sirri Bey
(father of Husein Sirri Pasha) was appointed as Minister of Public
Works, Ahmed Ziwar Bey as Attorney General, Abdel
Khalek Sarwat and
Ismail Sidqi as Prosecutors.
The last three would eventually become Prime Ministers. Ismail
Sabri was nominated as Attorney General in replacement of the
French occupant of the post.
But,
the best achievements of the Nubar Cabinet were in the irrigation
fields. The Cabinet allocated the amount of two thousand five
hundred and seventy five pounds to dig drainage canals in several
provinces. It also requested the Minister Of Public works
to carefully study the project of building a large dam in Aswan,
without flooding the Philae Temple, and two other dams in Assyut
and Ziftah. The unpopular crossing fees over the Delta
Barrage was abolished which facilitated the commerce between the towns
and villages surrounding it. To fight the cotton worm, which plagued
the cotton crop every now and then, a Committee with a five hundred
pounds budget was created to study means of prevention. The
Cabinet also approved and signed a fifty years contract with a Belgian
Company to create and operate eight tramways lines in the city of Cairo.
In
conclusion, the Cabinet approved the request of the Minister Of War
to pay a small pension to the Army officers who lost their commission because
of their participation in the Orabi Revolution. They would
receive that pension for the duration of three years which would
give them ample time to start new careers; thus, an “Amiralay”
(Brigadier) and a “Qaimaqam” (Full Colonel) would get
four pounds a month, a “Bikbashi” (Lieutenant Colonel) three
pounds and a half, two pounds for each “Sagh” (Major), a pound
and a half for each “Youzbashi” (Captain)
and
one pound to each “ Moulazem awal and Moulazem Thani”
(First
and Second Lieutenants).
At
the beginning of 1895, the health of the exiled Khedive Ismail,
grandfather of Khedive Abbas, had deteriorated and he expressed
the wish to return and die in Egypt. Abbas submitted the request
to the Nubar Cabinet, but at the insistence of Lord Cromer, the
Cabinet refused the Khedive‘s request, which deteriorated the relationship
between
Nubar
and
Abbas.
Ismail
died in exile, in
Italy,
on March 6, 1895 and, by mid 1895,
Nubar‘s health
prevented him from attending many of the Cabinet meetings. Abbas
jumped
on that opportunity to request the resignation of the Nubar
Cabinet
and, to satisfy the Brits and protect himself from their wrath, he asked
Mustafa Fahmi Pasha,
Britain‘s best friend in Egypt,
to form a new Cabinet.
(To be continued)
Kamal K. Katba
(1)
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