Conscription removed more farmers from agriculture than it actually enlisted

Evidence

The fellahin’s reaction to conscription was as drastic and unprecedented as the Pasha’s orders had been and for some time the authorities seemed to have lost control over the process of collecting and guarding the conscripts. Furthermore, it had become obvious that this process was far from efficient and although it succeeded in gathering a considerable number of men from their villages, this had not been without its costs. Dr. Bowring, who was against conscription as a matter of principle, also opposed it not only for the brutal means that were employed to carry it out but also because it “removes from labor a far greater number of men than are required for the army as multitudes abandon their lands, and multitudes deprive themselves of their limbs for the purpose of evading the conscription.” — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 410