David Pacifico

David Pacifico, known as Don Pacifico, was a merchant and diplomat in Portuguese service. An incident, known as Don Pacifico Affair, put him in the middle of international politics.

David Pacifico was born in Gibraltar what made him a British subject. In 1812 his business activities took him to Lagos, Portugal, where he settled. In Portugal he entered into diplomatic service and was appointed Portuguese consul to Morocco (1835 – 1837) and to Greece (1837 – 1842). After his mission as consul was ended, pacific remained in Athens, being apparently engaged in business.

In 1847 Pacifico’s house was devastated in an anti-Semitic riot. He demanded a sum of 800,000 drachmas (then equivalent to ￡26,618) as compensation but the Greek government refused to consider his claim and even confiscated his real estate. As Pacifico was born in Gibraltar, and was thus a British subject, Britain’s foreign secretary, Lord Palmerston supported his claims. In support of Pacifico, Lord Palmerston sent a naval squadron to blockade the Greek coast (January 1850) and force the Greeks to meet Pacifico’s demands. The action brought protests from the French and the Russians, with whom Britain shared a protectorate of Greece. Nevertheless, the Greek government was compelled to pay 120,000 drachmas and ￡500 to Pacifico who moved to London, where he lived until his death on April 12, 1854.

Palmerston’s action almost cost him his career but he turned it to his advantage by comparing British and Roman Empire in a speech in the House of Commons. Palmerstone claimed that just as a Roman could claim his rights anywhere in the world with the words “Civis Romanus sum” (“I am a Roman citizen”), “so also a British subject, 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.”