Mohammed Said Pasha
(1854 - 1863)

Mohammed Said was the fourth surviving son of Mohammed Ali. Born in 1822 A.D., his father chose for him a career in the navy and sent him to learn naval arts and sciences. By his command he was treated no differently than any other navy cadet. Upon finishing his studies, Said joined the navy and got accustomed to the routine naval life. Said rose in naval ranks until, towards the end of his father's reign, he became Admiral of the fleet. Said is asid to have had many good traits about him, amongst which were bravery, inclination to charity, benevolence, clemency and love of justice.

During Said Pasha's era Egypt underwent many reforms in all areas:

In the economic sector, taxes on agricultural land were reduced and the foreign debt amounting to L.E 8,000,000 was settled. As a consequence, farmers were eased from a burden of taxes that weighed heavily on them as tax collectors attempted to collect unpaid arrears. Farmers were also given the right to own land in accordance with Said's renowned law "Al-La'iha As-Sa'idiyyah" that was issued on 5 August 1858. It provided farmers much satisfaction. In addition, Said lifted the tax imposed on warehouses and stores; the tax rested hard on civilians and caused prices to increase and cost of living to rise. As a result, the lifting of the tax came as a relief to civilians and promoted a liberalization of internal trade. Said Pasha also cleaned up Al-Mahmoudiyya Canal, finished the railway line running from Cairo to Alexandria that Abbas Pasha had started and constructed a railway line between Cairo and Suez that was open for travel in 1858. The port of Suez benefited greatly. Moreover, Said helped internal and external merchant shipping through the establishment of two shipping companies, a River Nile company (1854) and a maritime company (1857)

In the social and cultural fields, Said issued a pension statute for retired employees, reconstructed the Majlis Al-Ahkam after making some changes to its structure and made reforms to the judicial law. Said prohibited the transfer abroad of Egyptian antiquities that were being stolen by antiquity dealers and adventurers and instead gathered them in a storage house in Boulak. He restored the As-Sayyid Al-Badawi mosque in Tanta, regulated the system of administration and unraveled the mix in the Hijri, Christian and Coptic calendars and set an area of use for each one.

As for his military accomplishments, Said shortened the military service period and broadened it to include all male youths of all social classes. The average period of service was reduced to one year, thus providing parents of drafted soldiers reassurance about the long absences of their sons. Said was also concerned with the welfare of the soldiers and the care they were given in terms of nutrition, residence, clothing and treatment. He strongly believed in the system that promoted Egyptian officers.

During Said Pasha's reign, Egypt engaged in two wars. The first was the crimean War that had begun under Abbas Pasha; Said sent reinforcements to the Egyptian army, and as a result of the valor they displayed Turkey and its allies defeated the Russians and forced them to the negotiation table in 1856 A.D. at the Congress of Paris.

Said's second war was the Mexican War. When Napoleon III, the emperor of the French, requested that Said Pasha send an Egyptian military force to support emperor maxmillian's attempt to establish a monarchy in Mexicao in 1862, Said, who had become friends with Napolean, felt obliged to help. Napoleon had requested 1,500 troops; Said sent a contigent of 500, most of them Suadanese recruits in the Egyptian army who were believed to be better adapted to survive the tropical Mexican weather. They performed their duties with reat distinction.

However, Said Pasha is chiefly associated with the building of the Suez Canal. Enemies of Said like to picture this project as one of the downsides of his era; nevertheless, one must admit that today, the Canal, in addition to the Nile, the High Dam, petroleum and others, is of paramount importance to Egyptian economic life. On 30 November, 1854 A.D, Said granted his friend, Ferdinand de Lesseps a concession to establish the "Universal Suez Canal Company- with the aim of building the canal and exercising control over it for a period of 99 years from the date of the opening thereof for navigation. The concession is known as the first act of concession and is distinguished from the second act of concession dated 5 January 1856 A.D, the conditions of which, from the point of view of some historians, did Egypt no justice.

Why was Said Pasha known as the farmers' friend
Do you think that Said was wrong to agree to the digging of the Suez Canal, or that the terms of the concession were unfair