Mehmed Ali signaled defiant independence from both Ottoman and British power at first meeting

Evidence

On 25 November 1826 Mehmed Ali Pasha, the Ottoman Governor of Egypt, received in his palace Mr. John Barker in order to accept his credentials as the new British Consul in Alexandria. In a sign of deference, the Pasha stood up to greet the new consul, but ignored the official papers containing his credentials that he had in his hand. After a brief discussion of Mr. Barker’s predecessor who, the Pasha said, never contradicted “his will, or dispute [d] his opinions,” the Pasha then embarked upon a monolog that lasted for more than half an hour in which he told his British visitor a story about his childhood in Albania. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 42

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader theme of Mehmed Ali’s negotiated autonomy amid Ottoman and European pressure that recurs throughout this book.