Mehmed Ali valued senior trained staff over the cost of student training

Evidence

Financial constraints seem also to be behind the turning of a blind eye to the law in the following case involving Mohtar Bey, the first Director of the Schools Department. The case related to a serious incident concerning one of the students of the Translations School, Captain Abdallah by name, who dared to verbally abuse and hit the Director of the school, Rifā‘a Bey al-Ṭahṭāwī, himself. Owing to the seriousness of the case, a special council was convened which decided after long deliberation to punish the student by demoting him two ranks, from captain to second lieutenant. When Mehmed Ali was informed of the case he wondered why the letter of the law (which stipulated that in such cases the offender should be imprisoned for five years) has not been implemented, especially since it was Rifā‘a Bey and not an ordinary officer who was involved. To this Mohtar Bey answered saying that the reason for not executing the letter of the law was that he felt that since Abdallah Efendi had previously been sent to France and given that the government had incurred considerable expense in sending him on this mission, it would not have been very wise to expel him from school. Mehmed Ali did not like this answer and said that the student in question should be given three hundred lashes and then expelled from school. He explained this harsh treatment by saying that Rifā‘a Bey had trained many people with the rank of captain; in effect, that it was more profitable to appease him than be concerned about the money spent on the student. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 921