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.

XREF: Connects to earlier highlights about Mehmed Ali's utilitarian calculus of officers (loc 920) and his harsh discipline of the army (loc 919). DEFINE: Illustrates how Mehmed Ali weighed trained officers' value against the expense of educating individual students.

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 921