Palmerston finally found his answer in the person of another rival of Mehmed Ali in Istanbul, a man much less known to the old Pasha in Cairo than Husrev was, but much more resourceful and perceptive of the grave condition of the Empire than either old men had ever been. He was a man of a younger generation who did not inherit their personal, mutual grudges and was much better informed about the European scene and about the interests of the main European player, Great Britain, a fact that was to prove decisive for the future of the Ottoman Empire. This was Mustafa Rasid Pasha, later to become Grand Vizier for the exceptionally long period of six years and one of the most original of the so-called Tanzimat men.

DEFINE: Introduces Mustafa Rasid Pasha as an architect of the Tanzimat reforms, a key figure in the Ottoman-Egyptian rivalry. Builds on: "Great-power rivalry turned Egypt's crisis into a European-balance matter."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 1537