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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Don Pacifico Incident
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(1847–50) An event which polarized mid-19C attitudes to British foreign policy. David Pacifico, known as Don Pacifico, was a Portuguese Jew trading in Athens, but was a British subject by virtue of being born in Gibraltar. In 1847 an anti-Semitic crowd burnt his house. He sued the Greek government for damages, and in 1850 the prime minister, *Palmerston, sent a British naval squadron to seize Greek ships to the value of the claim. Censured in the House of Lords, Palmerston won a majority in the Commons where he argued that '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'.
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