Notes for Palmerston’s ‘Civis Romanus sum’ speech, June 1850
In the Don Pacifico affair, Palmerston robustly defended the rights of British subjects abroad in a lengthy speech in the Commons: ‘as the Roman in days of old, held himself free from indignity, when he could say 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.’ The mob destroyed the house of Don Pacifico, a British citizen and Portuguese consul in Athens. Protection from the Greek authorities was not forthcoming.
