By drafting that imperial edict, Rasid proved himself to be the one person in the capital who could frustrate Mehmed Ali's ambitions. He did this by beating Mehmed Ali at his own game: that of trying to impress the West, especially Great Britain, of how reform-oriented he was. These reforms, Palmerston believed, were necessary if the Sick Man of Europe, as the Sultan's empire was infamously known, was to regain some of his former strength in order to fight the menacing Russian colossus.

Pays off: "Great-power rivalry turned Egypt's crisis into a European-balance matter."

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