VICTORIA. 



743 



There lived, too, for a time, the Italian Orsini 

 who formed the conspiracy to murder the Emperor. 

 with a view to removing what he believed to be 

 the influence that kept England from interfering 

 to release Italy from Austrian rule. It was be- 

 lieved in France that the plot was arranged in 

 England ; the bombs thrown by the plotters, which 

 killed 10 persons and wounded 150, were made in 

 Birmingham. The French were very angry, and 

 accused England of harboring conspirators and 

 murderers. The French Minister for Foreign Af- 

 fairs sent a dispatch asking if England considered 

 that hospitality was due to assassins. The English 



Eeople were likewise excited, and the fact that 

 ord Palmerston made no reply to that insulting 

 dispatch, but brought in a bill to suppress con- 

 spiracies to murder, gave the impression that he 

 was currying favor with Napoleon, and that " the 

 very right of asylum which England had so long 

 afforded to the exiles of all nations was to be 

 sacrificed at the bidding of one who had been 

 glad to avail himself of it in his hour of need." 

 The result of the feeling aroused by this episode 

 was the fall of Lord Palmerston's ministry, which 

 just before had seemed secure in the favor of the 

 people. 



Louis Napoleon once more found a refuge in Eng- 

 land after the disasters of the Prussian War and 

 the loss of his throne, and he died there as had 

 Louis Philippe more than twenty years earlier on 

 liis abdication, in consequence of the revolution 

 that opened the way of the third Napoleon to 

 power. 



In 1860 a commercial treaty was concluded with 

 France, by which some duties were removed and 

 others greatly reduced. 



When Louis Napoleon set up the empire in Mex- 

 ico during the war of secession, England, which 

 had united with him in a movement ostensibly 

 to obtain satisfaction for certain claims against the 

 Mexican Government, withdrew when his designs 

 became evident. During the Franco-Prussian War 

 tb? sympathies of the English people appear to 

 have gone over to the French after their reverses, 

 with the idea that Prussia was dealing too hardly 

 with a fallen foe. 



Great Britain and France entered into a con- 

 troversy over their respective rights in East Africa 

 about 1890. England obtained from Germany and 

 Italy recognition of her right to the whole valley 

 of the upper Nile as coming within her sphere 

 of influence. France protested, and the diplomatic 

 correspondence that ensued ended in the with- 

 drawal of France from the post she had taken on 

 the Nile. This was the much-discussed " Fashoda 

 incident." 



The alliances with France in the Crimean War 

 and the troubles with China are spoken of else- 

 Avhere in this article. 



Relations -with Greece. An Athenian mob 

 in 1847 came very near involving England in war 

 with France and Russia. The name of Don Pa- 

 cifico, a Jew and British subject living in Athens, 

 became a familiar word in Europe, though there 

 was nothing remarkable about Don Pacifico except 

 the exalted value which he placed upon his house- 

 hold effects. In that year orders were given in 

 Athens prohibiting the usual Easter entertain- 

 ment of Christians, consisting of the burning of 

 an effigy of Judas Iscariot. The disappointed 

 Christian mob, by way of consolation, wrecked 

 and robbed the house of Don Pacifico. which stood 

 near the place where the effigy was usually burned. 

 He appealed to the Greek Government for com- 

 pensation, placing his loss at 32,000. Among 

 the items was a bedstead and its belongings which 

 occupied a large place in the discussions of the sub- 



ject. He valued the bedstead at 150, the sheets 

 at 30, the coverings at 25, and a pillowcase 

 at 10. About the same time another British 

 subject, Mr. Finlay, made a claim against the 

 Greek Government for some of his land which had 

 been taken for the King's grounds: he had de- 

 clined to accept the price offered. Further, a 

 British midshipman had been arrested by mistake 

 at Patros, and there were complaints from some 

 subjects of the Queen in the Ionian Islands, which 

 had been placed under a British protectorate by 

 the treaty of Vienna. The English Government 

 in 1850, by Lord Palmerston, who was the For- 

 eign Secretary, made the claims a national de- 

 mand, and as the Greek Government did not re- 

 spond, the British fleet was ordered to the Piraeus 

 and seized all the Greek vessels found there. 

 France and Russia protested, but Palmerston re- 

 plied that it was a question between Greece and 

 England. In time, however, the Government ac- 

 cepted an offer from France of arbitration; but 

 this was not successful, and a difficulty arose 

 which caused the withdrawal of the French min- 

 ister from London, and the peace of Europe seemed 

 to be in danger. At length, however, England 

 yielded, and the claims were arbitrated, Don 

 Pacifico receiving something over 1,000. The 

 incident is noteworthy for the celebrated speech 

 Lord Palmerston made in defense of his policy. 

 The House of Lords passed a resolution which was 

 in effect a vote of censure ; in the Commons a reso- 

 lution commending the action of the Government 

 was passed after a debate of four days, in which 

 Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Disraeli, Mr. 

 Sidney Herbert, and Sir Robert Peel took part 

 against Lord Palmerston, and Mr. Cockburn, after- 

 ward Lord Chief Justice, spoke in favor of his 

 action. Lord Palmerston's speech lasted about 

 five hours, and his victory probably had much to 

 do with his subsequent elevation to the premier- 

 ship. He assumed that the question was whether 

 England should protect her subjects wherever they 

 might be or should leave them defenseless to for- 

 eign oppression. He said in conclusion : " I there- 

 fore fearlessly challenge the verdict which this 

 house, as representing a political, a commercial, 

 a constitutional country, is to give on the question 

 now brought before it whether the principles on 

 which the foreign policy of her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment has been conducted, and the sense of duty 

 which has led us to think ourselves bound to afford 

 protection to our fellow-subjects abroad, are proper 

 and fitting guides for those who are charged with 

 the government of England ; and whether, as the 

 Roman in days of old held himself free from in- 

 dignity when he could say Ciris Rom<ams sum, 

 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 debate is also memorable as being the last 

 in which Sir Robert Peel engaged. Going home 

 from a ride in the park on the afternoon of the 

 day when the division was taken, he was thrown 

 from his horse, which shied in sudden fright, and 

 after two or three days the injuries he had sus- 

 tained resulted in his death. 



In 1858, when Sir Edward Lytton was Secretary 

 for the Colonies, Mr. Gladstone was appointed Lord 

 High Commissioner to the Ionian Islands, the peo- 

 ple of which had become restless under the British 

 protectorate and desired union with the kingdom 

 of Greece. The effect of the appointment, as de- 

 scribed by Mr. McCarthy, is interesting: "The 

 appointment created much surprise, some anger, 

 and a good deal of ridicule at home. Sir Edward 

 Bulwer Lytton had alluded in his dispatch to Mr. 



