Riyad Pasha Riyad Pasha ( 1835 or 1836 – 1911 ) was an Egypt ian statesman . His name can also be spelled Riaz Pasha and Riyāḍ Bāshā ( ) . He served as Prime Minister of Egypt three times during his career . His first term was between September 21 , 1879 and September 10 , 1881 . His second term was from June 9 , 1888 to May 12 , 1891 . His final term lasted from January 17 , 1893 to April 16 , 1894 . Origin and ascension . Riyad was of a Circassian family , but was said to be of Jewish ancestry . Little is known of his early life , except that , until the accession of Ismail Pasha to the khediviate of Egypt in 1863 , he occupied a humble position . Ismail , recognizing in this obscure individual a capacity for hard work and a strong will , made him one of his ministers , to find , to his chagrin , that Riyad was also an honest man possessed of a remarkable independence of character . When Ismail ' s financial straits compelled him to agree to a commission of inquiry , Riyad was the only Egyptian of known honesty sufficiently intelligent and patriotic to be named as a vice - president of the commission . He filled this office with distinction , but not to the liking of Ismail . Khedive Ismail , however , felt compelled to nominate Riyad as a member of the first Egyptian cabinet , when , as a sop to his European creditors , he assumed the position of a constitutional monarch in 1878 . For the few months this government lasted ( September 1878 - April 1879 ) Riyad was minister of the interior . When Ismail dismissed the cabinet and attempted to resume autocratic rule , Riyad fled the country . Administration . Upon the deposition of Ismail , in June 1879 , Riyad was sent for by the British and French controllers , and he formed the first ministry under Khedive Tawfiq . His administration , marked by much ability , lasted only two years , and was overthrown by the agitation which had Urabi Pasha as its figurehead . Riyad treated the beginnings of this movement as of no consequence . In reply to a warning of what might happen he said , " But this is Egypt ; such things do not happen ; you say they have happened elsewhere , perhaps , but this is Egypt . " On the evening of 9 September 1881 , after the military demonstration in Abdin Square , Riyad was dismissed ; broken in health he went to Europe , remaining at Geneva until the fall of Urabi . After Urabi ' s fall , Riyad accepted office as minister of the interior under Muhammad Sharif Pasha . Had Riyad had his way , Urabi and his associates would have been executed forthwith ; so when the British insisted that clemency should be extended to the leaders of the revolt , Riyad refused to remain in office as interior minister , resigning in December 1882 . He took no further part in public affairs until 1888 , when , on the dismissal of Nubar Pasha , he was summoned to form a government . He now understood that the only policy possible for an Egyptian statesman was to work in harmony with the British agent , Sir Evelyn Baring ( later known as Lord Cromer ) . This he succeeded in doing to a large extent , witnessing if not initiating the practical abolition of the corvée and many other reforms . The appointment of an Anglo - Indian official as judicial adviser to the khedive was , however , opposed by Riyad , who resigned in May 1891 . In January 1893 , he again became prime minister under Abbas II , being selected as comparatively acceptable both to the khedivial and British parties . In April 1894 Riyad finally resigned office on account of ill - health . Personality . Superior , probably , both intellectually and morally to his great rival Nubar , he lacked the latter ' s broad statesmanship as well as his pliability . Riyad ' s standpoint was that of the benevolent autocrat ; he believed that the Egyptians were not fitted for self - government and must be treated like children , protected from ill - treatment by others and prevented from injuring themselves . In 1889 he was made an honorary GCMG . A worthy tribute to Riyad was paid by Lord Cromer in his farewell speech at Cairo on 4 May 1907 .