Don Pacifico Incident

This incident concerned a Portuguese Jew, named David Pacifico (known as Don Pacifico), who was a trader in Athens during the reign of King Otto. When an anti-Semitic crowd burned his house, in 1847, he sued the Greek government for damages - with little result, until he appealed to Britain for intervention on the grounds that he was a British citizen (as a result of being born in Gibraltar).

Liberal British Foreign Minister Palmerston, a philhellene and supporter of the Greek War for Independence 1828-1829, sent a Royal Navy squadron into the Aegean in 1850 to seize Greek ships and property equal to the value of Don Pacifico's claims. The squadron eventually blockaded the port of Piraeus, the main port of the capital, Athens.

Since Greece was a state under the joint protection of three powers, Russia and France protested against its coercion by the British fleet, and the French ambassador temporarily left London, which promptly led to the termination of the affair. Damage to the reputation of King Otto in Athens was immediate.

The issue was taken up in the British Parliament with great warmth. After a memorable debate (June 17), Palmerston's policy was condemned by a vote of the House of Lords. The House of Commons was moved by Roebuck to reverse the sentence, which it did (June 29) by a majority of 46, after having heard from Palmerston the most eloquent and powerful speech ever delivered by him, in which he sought to vindicate, not only his claims on the Greek government for Don Pacifico, but his entire administration of foreign affairs. It was in this speech, which lasted five hours, that Palmerston made the well known declaration that a British subject Civis Romanus sum, in other words "a British citizen, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England will protect him against injustice and wrong".

This principle, of military intervention (or Gunboat Diplomacy)to protect the rights of British subjects became a defining characteristic of Victorian foreign policy and was followed by both Liberal and Conservative governments. It has since become a controversial and often maligned action and Don Pacifico is sometimes used as a watchword for inappropriate military intervention against a sovreign nation. ¹

Notes and References

Civitas Review Volume 2, Issue 1; March, 2005