If I have spoken of my enthusiasm for Japan before him, it is that I cannot hide my opinion and my sentiments;...You are astonished that I am for the Japanese; all my people agree with me. Pray examine the thing from the Egyptian and Mussulman [Muslim] point of view. Of the two combatants, Japan has done no harm to Egypt nor to Islam; on the other hand Russia has done to Egypt, at the time of its greatness under Mehmet Ali [Mohammad Ali the Great], the greatest evil in burning its fleet, in concert with England, always treacherous, and France, always deceived [Kamil was referring to the 1827 Battle of Navarino when a Anglo-Franco-Russian fleet destroyed the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet off the coast of Greece].