Palmerston backed Ottoman Tanzimat reform over Mehmed Ali’s Egyptian reforms
Evidence
In Mustafa Rasid, on the other hand, Palmerston found the man who could fulfill his dream of imperialism couched in liberal terms: an Ottoman official who was bent on genuine reform but who acknowleged European superiority. It was Rasid after all who had drafted the imperial edict of Gülhane, the main piece of legislation that ushered in the Tanzimat period in earnest and which used a language of liberalism, equality and freedom, a language that Palmerston could understand and deal with. By drafting that imperial edict, Rasid proved himself to be the one person in the capital who could frustrate Mehmed Ali’s ambitions. He did this by beating Mehmed Ali at his own game: that of trying to impress the West, especially Great Britain, of how reform-oriented he was. These reforms, Palmerston believed, were necessary if the Sick Man of Europe, as the Sultan’s empire was infamously known, was to regain some of his former strength in order to fight the menacing Russian colossus. The Pasha tried half-heartedly to introduce some of these reforms but his efforts did not go far enough. Mehmed Rasid’s did, however. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1586
Categorization
- XREF: Directly feeds the reader’s goal on the performance of Ottoman Pashas and British Lords; connects to the birth of the Egyptian army narrative.
- DEFINE: Identifies the GĂĽlhane edict as the formal start of the Tanzimat period, with context for why it mattered.