chapter 5._

ALSO IN: _L. Sergeant, New Greece, part 2, chapter 8-10._

GREECE: A. D. 1846-1850. Rude enforcement of English claims. The Don Pacifico Affair.

"Greek independence had been established under the joint guardianship of Russia, France, and England. Constitutional government had been guaranteed. It had however been constantly delayed. Otho, the Bavarian Prince, who had been placed upon the throne, was absolute in his own tendencies, and supported by the absolute Powers; and France, eager to establish her own influence in the East, … had sided with the Absolutists, leaving England the sole supporter of constitutional rule. The Government and administration were deplorably bad. … Any demands raised by the English against the Government—and the bad administration afforded abundant opportunity for dispute—were certain to encounter the opposition of the King, supported by the advice of all the diplomatic body. Such questions had arisen. Ionians, claiming to be British subjects, had been maltreated, the boat's crew of a Queen's ship roughly handled, and in two cases the money claims of English subjects against the Government disregarded. They were trivial enough in themselves; a piece of land belonging to a Mr. Finlay [the historian of mediæval and modern Greece], a Scotchman, had been incorporated into the royal garden, and the price—no doubt somewhat exorbitant—which he set upon it refused. The house of Don Pacifico, a Jew, a native of Gibraltar, had been sacked by a mob, without due interference on the part of the police. He demanded compensation for ill-usage, for property destroyed, and for the loss of certain papers, the only proof as he declared of a somewhat doubtful claim against the Portuguese Government. {1610} Such claims in the ordinary course of things should have been made in the Greek Law Court. But Lord Palmerston, placing no trust in the justice to be there obtained, made them a direct national claim upon the Government. For several years, on various pretences, the settlement of the question had been postponed, and Palmerston had even warned Russia that he should some day have to put strong pressure upon the Greek Court to obtain the discharge of their debts. At length, at the close of 1849, his patience became exhausted. Admiral Parker, with the British fleet, was ordered to the Piræus. Mr. Wyse, the English Ambassador, embarked in it. The claims were again formally laid before the King, and upon their being declined the Piræus was blockaded, ships of the Greek navy captured and merchant vessels secured by way of material guarantee for payment. The French and the Russians were indignant at this unexpected act of vigour." The Russians threatened; the French offered mediation, which was accepted. The French negotiations at Athens had no success; but at London there was promise of a friendly settlement of the matter, when Mr. Wyse, the English Minister at the Greek Court, being left in ignorance of the situation, brought fresh pressure to bear upon King Otho and extorted payment of his claims. The French were enraged and withdrew their Minister from London. "For the time, this trumpery little affair caused the greatest excitement, and, being regarded as a typical instance of Lord Palmerston's management of the Foreign Office, it formed the ground of a very serious attack upon the Government."

_J. F. Bright, History of England, period 4, pages 200-203._

ALSO IN: _S. Walpole, History of England, from 1815,

_J. McCarthy, History of Our Own Times,