If one sees Mehmed Ali as a governor of an Ottoman province who was constantly concerned about his position within the Empire and was anxious about the future of his family after his death, as he himself certainly was, then the person who appears as the Pasha’s nemesis whom he spent all his life fighting was not Sultan Mahmud, not even Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary (to whom we will turn shortly), but Mehmed Husrev Pasha, his old enemy whom he first encountered in 1801 and who since then had been appointed as governor of various provinces in Anatolia and Rumelia, as Grand Admiral of the Ottoman navy, who eventually became Grand Vizier more than once in his long career of public service. In fact, the careers and mentalities of both men appear remarkably similar: both were keen, yet distant, observers of the European scene; both were interested in military reform; and both were concerned about the fate of the Empire and eager to help defend it.

XREF: Builds on earlier claim at loc 423 about Husrev Pasha training Mamluks in French style, and loc 1551 about the dynastic struggle framing. Builds on: "Husrev Pasha trained Mamluks in French military style using French officers."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 1553