The Sultan accepted revenue loss to weaken Mehmed Ali without Russian entanglements

Evidence

After lengthy and difficult negotiations the Balta Liman Treaty was signed which, while reducing the Sultan’s own revenue was, Rasid thought, a fair price to be paid if the Empire was to be saved from Mehmed Ali’s menace without being caught in the Russian trap. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1583