Britain’s policy dismantled Mehmed Ali’s army, monopolies, and industrial enterprises together

Evidence

This last stipulation was the most significant for it clearly referred to the Balta Liman Commercial Convention that had been signed in 1838 between the Sublime Porte and the British Empire. In that Convention the Ottoman Empire’s import and export duties were fixed, the level of internal duties was drastically reduced and, most importantly, monopolies within all the provinces of the Ottoman Empire were banned. Having effectively stripped the Pasha of his army which formed a significant outlet for his locally produced commodities, forced him to withdraw from Syria, Crete and Arabia, and coerced him to abolish internal monopolies, Britain, it is argued, succeeded in ruining Mehmed Ali’s commercial and industrial enterprises and thus aborted one of the most impressive development projects outside of Europe. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1565

Categorization

• XREF: The 1838 Balta Liman Convention connects to the reader’s interest in Britain’s role opposing Egypt; also echoes the excerpt from PAUL R. MILGROM on institutions and trade.
• QUESTION: The author flags that this ‘European malice’ narrative needs interrogation — worth chasing the chapter’s promised discussion of Britain’s actual reasons.