David Pacifico

Don Pacifico became famous in 1850 as the trigger of a notorious international incident. Pacifico was a Portuguese Jew who had been born in Gibraltar. It was this claim to British citizenship that was the cause of the incident.

He had been living in Greece for a period of time, owning some property and running a business. In 1847 Pacifico's business was attacked and vandalised. He appealed to the Greek government for compensation for his injury. When the Greek government was not forthcoming with assistance he appealed in 1848 to the British government for support.

Lord Palmerston was the foreign secretary at this time and he took unilateral action in support of Pacifico. He sent the Royal Navy to Greece to blockade Greek ports and threaten Greek shipping. The blockade lasted 2 years, and caused great tensions with France and Russia. The affair ended only when the Greek government agreed to compensate Pacifico, after Greek ships were seized by the Royal Navy.

Palmerston received a great deal of criticism from both foreign powers and domestic politicians. However, Palmerston made an impassioned speech defending his actions before the House of Commons in which he compared the British Empire to the Roman Empire. Where a Roman citizen could say "Civis Romanus Sum" or, "am I a citizen of Rome" and demand the full protection of the Roman Empire. He argued that British citizens should be able to do the same, thus justifying his particular style of gunboat diplomacy.