After sending his troops to Syria and after undertaking what could only be taken as a blatant act of rebellion against the authority of the Sultan, Mehmed Ali was still hoping to acquire Syria and to be pardoned by Mahmud at the same time. Documents abound showing how Mehmed Ali in 1832 still thought that he could get away with his act and that he could, in effect, both have his cake and eat it too.

DEFINE: Clarifies the historically documented simultaneous pursuit of contradictory goals by Mehmed Ali in 1832. Builds on: "Ottoman sultan resisted Egypt's Syrian expansion with armed threats."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 258