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David Pacifico, known as
Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...
Pacifico (1784? – 12 April 1854), was a
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
merchant and diplomat. He was considered a British subject by birth and was the central figure in the Anglo-Greek dispute of 1850, known as the
Don Pacifico Affair The Don Pacifico affair was a diplomatic episode which occurred in 1850 and concerned the governments of Greece, the United Kingdom and Portugal, and is considered an example of gunboat diplomacy. The affair is named after David Pacifico, a Jewis ...
.


Biography


Early life

Pacifico was a
Sephardic Jew Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
of
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
descent. Pacifico's grandfather, of the same name, was born in
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
eventually settled down in Gibraltar. His family had been expelled from Spain with the rest of the Jews in 1492. His ancestors reached Italy, particularly
Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...
, first Leghorn and then
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
. As Pacifico grew up in Portugal because of his father's work, he was speaking fluent
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
. That led to the myth of Portuguese descent for the Pacificos, who were actually of Spanish descent.Roy Jenkins, ''Gladstone: A Biography'' (Random House, 2002). Pacifico's parents were married in
Bevis Marks Synagogue Bevis Marks Synagogue, officially Qahal Kadosh Sha'ar ha-Shamayim ( he, קָהָל קָדוֹשׁ שַׁעַר הַשָׁמַיִם, "Holy Congregation Gate of Heaven"), is the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom in continuous use. It is loc ...
in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 1761. He gave varying accounts of his birth, placing it either in Oran, which belonged to
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
at the time, or in
Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...
, which was a British possession. He once claimed to be a Spanish subject.David Steele
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living in Portugal during the Liberal Wars">Civil War of 1828–34, he was persecuted by the Miguelists. In 1835, after the war, he was rewarded by the victorious liberals with a consulship in Morocco and Portuguese citizenship. From 1837 to 1842, he served as consul-general in Athens, during which time he also engaged in commerce and became prominent in the local Jewish community.


Greece

Pacifico continued residing in Greece after he was stripped of his position for repeatedly overstepping his authority in 1842.Giannis Kairofylas, ''The History of Psiri District'' ιστορία της συνοικίας του Ψυρή(Athens: Filippotis Editions, 2000), p. 102 In April 1847, in order not to offend a visiting French Jewish financier, a member of the Rothschild family, the government banned the traditional burning of
Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betraye ...
in effigy during Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations. An angry mob sacked Pacifico's house as police looked on. Pacifico then enlisted the aid of the British legation in claiming £32,000 in compensation from the Greek government for damage to his property, plus 10% interest and £500 for physical violence against Pacifico himself. The claim was approved by
Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...
, then
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...
. He also claimed compensation for land of his that had been acquired by the state. While this latter claim was accepted, the Greek government ignored his claims relating to the riot. The affair came to a head in January 1850, when the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are leg ...
d Athens to force Greece to settle Pacifico's claims and others'. Through French and Russian intervention, his claims were reduced, the blockade lifted and Greece agreed to pay.


London

The Don Pacifico affair provoked a debate in
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
. Palmerston justified his actions in a speech to the house on 25 June 1850, using the phrase, '' Civis romanus sum'', translated as "I am a Roman citizen", the declaration by a Roman to protect him from harm anywhere in the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
. He railed against the anti-Semitic prejudice that "because a man is of the Jewish persuasion, he is fair game for any outrage." In a vote on an opposition motion, the right of a British subject to appeal for aid anywhere in the world was affirmed by the house with a majority of forty-six. Despite his international prominence, Pacifico was unpopular with London's Jews. He died at 15 Bury Street in London on 12 April 1854 and was buried two days later at the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' cemetery at Mile End Road. In an obituary published 21 April, ''
The Jewish Chronicle ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' called him an "individual who … caused so much sensation in the political world."


See also

*
List of Gibraltarians The Gibraltarians (also called '' Llanitos/as'', es, link=no, Gibraltareños/as) are a cultural group or nation from the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The following is a list of notable Gibraltarians or people born in Gibraltar, ...


References


External links

*

' *
voll. 18, 19, Jewish Historical Society of England, 1958, p. 1
', "( ... ) The Pacifico family is of Italian Jewish origin ( ... )" *

"(..) Pacifico, the Elder, Joshua's son, was born in 1707 in Italy and arrived in Gibraltar in 1726 (...)"

Roy Jenkins, Gladstone: A biography, Random House, 2002, "(...) Pacifico was a Spanish jew (...)"



( ... )Don Pacifico, the hero of the 1847–48 claims, was a naturalized British subject ( ... )", House Documents - Vol. 1-2;Vol 270 - Page 1339 Congress House of Representatives - 1874

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacifico, Don 1780s births 1854 deaths Gibraltarian Sephardi Jews Greek Sephardi Jews Portuguese Jews Portuguese people of Italian descent Gibraltarian emigrants to Greece History of Greece (1832–1862) Antisemitic attacks and incidents in Europe Victims of antisemitic violence