It is not without diffidence that I venture again to call your attention to my case. I purchased the property in question from Turkish proprietors, who were authorized to sell their estates under the provisions of a protocol having for its object to establish tran quillity in Greece, and to which Great Britain was a party. This property has been seized by the Greek Government, not for public purposes, but for the private gratification of the Sovereign selected by the protecting Powers; and the Greek Government has been supported in all its acts by Great Britain and the other parties to the protocols for establishing order and law in Greece. I have submitted to numerous acts of injustice on the part of the Greek Government, which have caused me large pecuniary losses, without complaint; but I feel impelled by a sense of duty to resist acts of direct personal oppression. The Sovereign of Greece, in spite of the distressed state of that country, is still sufficiently wealthy to pay all his debts; his civil list even now amounts to at least 800,000 drachmas, and few indeed, if any, of his subjects possess estates yielding an income exceeding 25,000 drachmas. My case appears to me to have acquired additional claims on the attention of Her Majesty's Government from an occurrence of recent date, which, if I may trust the “Gazette," seems to show that His Majesty the King of Greece is personally not only willing to do justice to British subjects, but even to confer on them the highest marks of his favour. Had my case, therefore, been so fortunate as to have been brought under the consideration of His Hellenic Majesty, His Majesty would doubtless have repaired the wrong, on proof of the injury. High honours are rarely conferred on Englishmen except for services to the country or Sovereign conferring them; and Englishmen are so rarely allowed to avail themselves of the favour of foreign Sovereigns, that I have myself not ventured to make the application. Yet it has been publicly announced that a Member of Parliament, high in office under the present Administration, who visited Greece during the revolution, has received the order of knighthood of His Hellenic Majesty, without having served Greece in a military, naval, or civil capacity, either with his person or his purse. Others who have not received this honour have some claims on Greece for services in the field, for pecuniary contributions to the country during war, and to its institutions since peace has been established; and as for literary eminence, there are English names connected with the literature of the country known to all Europe. But an official Member of Parliament having been selected by His Majesty the King of Greece as particularly representing his country, and permission having been granted by Government to this gentleman to accept this foreign Order, I hope I am authorised to infer that the relations between Great Britain and Greece are such that Her Majesty's Government can now consent to accept favours from the Government of Greece. It will be the dawn of returning prosperity to that country, for the Greek Government can no longer deny justice to British subjects, and security of property will be a consequence. I presume, therefore, to remind you that my case has remained undecided; and I venture to solicit that you would again lay it before the Earl of Aberdeen, with the allegation that I offer to prove that I have been illegally deprived of my property by the Crown in Greece, and that in that country no action can be brought by a private individual against the Sovereign. H. U. Addington, Esq. I have, &c. GEORGE FINLAY. No. 5.-The Earl of Aberdeen to Sir Edmund Lyons. SIR, Foreign Office, June 30, 1843. In my despatch of the 31st of October last, I transmitted to you a copy of a letter from Mr. Finlay, requesting the good offices of Her Majesty's Government in pressing a claim for indemnification on the Greek Government, in the matter of some property near Athens, of which he had been deprived by that Government. I at the same time instructed you to follow up the representations which it appeared you had made to the Government of Greece in favour of Mr. Finlay's claim. As it appears that no despatch has been received from you upon the subject, and Mr. Finlay having addressed to me a further letter, complaining that his case still remains undecided, I have again to instruct you to press the matter upon the attention of the Greek Government, with a view to hasten the settlement of the claim in question. Sir Edmund Lyons. I am, &c. ABERDEEN. No. 6.—Mr. Finlay to the Earl of Aberdeen. MY LORD, St. Helen's Place, August 23, 1843. I HAD the honour of addressing your Lordship on the 18th of October, 1842, stating that I had been deprived by His Majesty the King of Greece of property purchased from Turkish proprietors, under the provisions of a protocol to which Great Britain was a party. I was informed by a communication from the Foreign Office, dated November 7, 1842, that your Lordship had been pleased to direct Her Majesty's Minister at Athens to continue to use his good offices with a view to obtain for me the compensation to which I may be entitled. I am now on the eve of returning to Greece without having received any redress, though the Greek Government does not appear to attempt to deny the justice of my claim. I hope I may be pardoned, therefore, if I venture again humbly to solicit your Lordship's attention to the facts in my case. His Majesty the King of Greece seized my property by force, without form or process of law; and I have no means of obtaining redress unless through the protection due to me as a British subject. In a pecuniary point of view my loss may appear trifling in England, but it is a matter of very serious importance under a despotic Government to be looked upon as a helpless stranger who may be oppressed by the official authorities, without being able to obtain the protection of his own Government even when treated with injustice. To this misfortune I have been unquestionably exposed for many years, and several proofs of the fact are on record in the Foreign Office. Other Englishmen have nevertheless been so fortunate as to obtain not only justice, but even honours from the Greek Government, during the interval of my vain solicitations, either by the official interference or by the employment of the good offices of the British Government or its representatives. I allude particularly to the cases of Mr. Emerson Tennent, the Hon. Colonel Leicester Stanhope, Mr. Edward Garston, and Mr. George Cochrane. The injustice I have suffered is now in a great measure irreparable, but equity still requires that I should be paid for that part of my property of which His Majesty the King of Greece is enjoying the arbitrary possession. My petition to your Lordship is confined to soliciting your Lordship to employ the influence of Her Majesty's Government, in order to obtain for me from His Majesty King Otho such an indemnity as according to the strictest rules of justice I may be entitled to claim. I have, &c. The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T. SIR, GEORGE FINLAY. No. 7.-Mr. Addington to Mr. Finlay. Foreign Office, August 31, 1813. In reply to your letter of the 23rd instant, again soliciting the interference of Her Majesty's Government to obtain from the Greek Government a settlement of your claim, I am directed by the Earl of Aberdeen to acquaint you that his Lordship addressed a further despatch to Her Majesty's Minister at Athens on the 30th of June last, directing him to press this matter upon the attention of the Greek Government; aud I am also directed to state to you that if a reply be not shortly received from Sir E. Lyons on this subject, further instructions will be sent out to Sir E. Lyons. G. Finlay, Esq. I am, &c. H. U. ADDINGTON. No. 8.-Sir Edmund Lyons to the Earl of Aberdeen.—(Rec. Sept. 16.) MY LORD, Athens, August 16, 1843. AFTER the receipt of your Lordship's despatch of October 31, 1842, inclosing Mr. Finlay's request of October 18, 1812, for the good offices of Her Majesty's Government to obtain indemnification from the Greek Government for the occupation of part of his land in the neighbourhood of Athens for the site of the King's palace; and again, after the receipt of your Lordship's despatch of the 30th ultimo, on the same subject, I had several discussions with M. Rizo, and I can assure your Lordship that if what passed had been heard by any person unacquainted with the deplorable manner in which the most pressing and important matters are treated by the Greek Government, he must have come to the conclusion that the Minister thought it would be impossible for his Royal Master to inhabit the palace without previously causing a settlement to be made with the proprietors of the ground upon which it is built, and that he himself would rather resign office than sanction any further delay in a question which so materially affects the honour and credit of His Hellenic Majesty's Government. But I regret to have to report to your Lordship, that neither those discussions, nor a late one which I had with M. Rizo a few days before King Otho took up his residence in the palace, have had any apparent effect whatever. The palace is actually built upon property belonging to the Russian Consul-General, M. Paparigopulo, and to the American Episcopalian Society, which has, through the agency of the Rev. Mr. Hill and his family, conferred incalculable benefits on the rising generation of Greeks, and Mr. Finlay's land forms part of the garden under the windows of their Majesties' private apartments. All that Mr. Finlay states to your Lordship in his letter of October 18, 1842, is susceptible of proof. Indeed the proof is palpable, and I feel bound to say that he, as well as his fellowsufferers, M. Paparigopulo and Mr. Hill, have acted throughout this affair with a degree of delicacy which does them great honour. Duty and inclination have equally prompted my Russian colleague and me to treat this anxious question with the utmost moderation and circumspection, and we are not without hopes that by persevering in the same course a short time longer, we may arrive at a satistory result. I have, &c. The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T. EDMUND LYONS. SIR, No. 9.-Mr. Addington to Mr. Finlay. Foreign Office, September 20, 1843. WITH reference to my letter to you of the 31st ultimo, informing you that Her Majesty's Minister at Athens had been instructed to press your claim upon the attention of the Greek Government, I am directed by the Earl of Aberdeen to inform you that in a despatch dated the 16th ultimo, Sir E. Lyons reports that he has upon several occasions brought your case under the notice of the Greek Government; and though Sir E. Lyons does not hold out any positive expectations. of obtaining an immediate settlement of your claim, yet he expresses a hope that by persevering in his applications a short time longer he may arrive at a satisfactory result. I am, &c. G. Finlay, Esq. H. U. ADDINGTON. No. 10.-Sir Edmund Lyons to the Earl of Aberdeen.-(Rec. July 27.) YOUR Lordship will have seen by my despatch of August 16, 1813, that in obedience to your Lordship's instructions of October 31, 1812, and June 30, 1813, the good offices of this mission had been employed in favour of Mr. Finlay's claim to indemnification for the loss he has sustained in consequence of his land having been taken possession of, and inclosed in the garden of King Otho's palace many years ago. My good offices have been continued to the present moment, but with so little success, that Mr. Finlay has addressed a letter to me, requesting me to lay his case before Her Majesty's Government; and I have the honour to transmit to your Lordship a copy of that letter, together with copies of the correspondence I have had with the Greek Government since I had the honour to receive your Lordship's instructions above mentioned. I have, &c. The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T. SIR, EDMUND LYONS, (Inclosure 1.)—Mr. Finlay to Sir Edmund Lyons. Athens, May 25, 1846. I HAVE perused the despatch of M. Coletti to you, dated the 7th February, 1846, which you have done me the honour to communicate to me since my return from Syria. In that despatch, M. Coletti repeats his previous declaration, that the Greek Government rejects my claim to an equitable estimation of the indemnity due to me for the land now forming part of the private garden of the King of Greece, and persists in offering me a sum fixed, or to be fixed, by a commission composed of 2 of its own officials. The ground of refusal to admit my claim to an equitable indemnity is stated to be that, by admitting it, the 2-[1849-50.] 2 E |