e another strong effort to obtain the recognition of his colleague's
claim to his seat. He was supported in this not only by most of the Whigs
in the House of Commons, but also by three such prominent men of the
opposition as Lord Bentinck, Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli, himself of
Jewish lineage. As heretofore, this proposed reform was accepted by the
Commons only to be rejected by the Lords, now installed in their new House
of Peers. Otherwise, Lord Russell's Ministry followed largely in the
footsteps of their immediate predecessors. Palmerston pursued his wonted
vigorous foreign policy.

[Sidenote: Don Pacifico affair]

[Sidenote: British retaliation]

[Sidenote: Palmerston obdurate]

It had been customary in Greek towns to celebrate Easter by burning an
effigy of Judas Iscariot. This year the police of Athens were ordered to
prevent this performance, and the mob, disappointed of their favorite
amusement, ascribed the new orders to the influence of the Jews. The house
of one Don Pacifico, a Portuguese Jew of Gibraltar, happened to stand near
the spot where the Judas was annually burned. Don Pacifico was known to be
a Jew, and the anger of the mob was wreaked upon him accordingly. On April
4, his house was sacked. Don Pacifico made a claim against the Greek
Government for compensation. He estimated his losses, direct and indirect,
at nearly L32,000. Another claim was made at the same time by another
British subject, Finlay, the historian of Greece. The Greek Government,
which was all but bankrupt, was dilatory in settling these claims. A
British fleet was ordered to the Piraeus. It seized all the Greek vessels
belonging to the government and to private merchants that were found within
those waters. The Greek Government appealed to France and Russia as Powers
joined with England in the treaty to protect the independence of Greece.
France and Russia both made bitter complaint of not having been consulted
in the first instance by the British Government, nor was their feeling
softened by Lord Palmerston's peremptory reply that it was all a question
between England and Greece. It was on this occasion that Palmerston made
the famous speech harking back to the sentiment expressed in the old Roman
boast "Civis Romanus Sum."

[Sidenote: Troubles in China]

[Sidenote: Bogue forts recaptured]

[Sidenote: A Chinese protest]

Next, new troubles arose with China. During the previous year riots broke
out in Canton, by rea