The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-25 00:00:00

for some time King of Naples, put there by Nape
end t ^ wee elereene 1-et
seie aed apples to les own purp,mes esrtnia Areerlcani
property, and in a short twee terws rde v, as exr"lel
end shot. The h,f•ritalkh, coo:,
Governria(•ith.e3t in itita --(.:laugh.) "13nt,"s9Y3
qa. nee tisucti —the Arne-
leguinadte Goven,into ~f "he is usurper;
we hire turned him out and soot t,i,rt." "We cannot
help in pay us," and the ca,,to,y was paid under a threat
of arnoia.y the American fleet to Nt, ;low comes it
Oa', the excitable disposilinn of thWgentleinen on these
bsechss has net found out all this? how comes it that
they bore the bombardment of Vera Cruz witteut
murmur—that they aihoesd France to go to Morocco
and demand satisfaction? Hew comes it that they lead
no sensibility at all? Why, because it would net chime
in wine their peculiar policy. The same thing has oc-
curred as regards England; and I may mention that 41
1831, at the time of tee Reform Bill, and while the
House of Commons was looking on, an English fleet
was sent to Portugal to demand the redress of injuries
received by some of her subjects in the time of Deol •
Migu••l. That was refused, and hostilities were actually
commenced. Now, for many years, and herein lies the
misfortune of the Noble Lord (Palmerston); for many
years there were constant cases arising with regard to
the Greek Government, and complaints were many on
behalf of English subjects resident in that country. The
whole tone and manner of that Government deserves to
be described. Letters written by our ambassador re-
mained sometimes six mouths, sometimes two years un-
answered; reiterations of one complaint after another,
and yet no answer. We forebore, knowing our own.'
strength; but every time the demands became necessa
rily more importunate, and in one case no less than 13'
is
years passed without any attempt at redress. There
the case of Mr. Finlay. and the first letter I light upon'
is one from Lord Aberdeen.—(Hear.) His first reply t°' -
Mr. Finlay's application was in 1842, in which be de-
scribes his claim as arising out of a protocol entered into'
between England, Prussia and France to enable certaita•
Turkish proprietors to sell their land, and among others In
part was purchased by Mr. Finlay. The rule or the law
in Greece is this: that the Government may apply thee
land of a private person to public purposes, two condi-
tions being precedent—namely, that there should be an"
ordinance describing the land, and that the value of the>
land should be paid before they took possession. Two'
more just and proper conditions could not be conceive&
What took place in Mr. Finlay's case ? His land wail
taken possession of without any ordinance. lie applies
to know how that can be, and he is told that the G'°'"
vernment has not yet taken possession of it. He there"'
upon went to take possession of it, and he is very Bron-
trarily laid hold of and turned out, and then he write
to the Greek Government again. " Yes," they say, "is
is taken for public purposes." And by whom Not for
a great national purpose or interest, not to provide all,t;
arsenal, or construct a mole—uot for any great national'.
work, such as a railway, or even a poor-house, unless W.
call the palace a poor-house. It is taken for the par:
pose of the King's garden, in which he might dispor'
himself at the expense of the people of this country.'
(Hear, hear) They turned Mr. Finlay out of poss,lB"
sion, and refused all payment whatever. At lust, t
tee
man tired of making importunity, does what he is TY Ir,
fectly entitled to do, and as he read the policy of E' tg;
land so I read it—as he read the duty of the Noble L )r°
so I read it—be applied to Lord Aberdeen to inters ode
with the Greek Government to obtain for him pay
of his land. The first thing Lord Aberdeen does is• to
acknowledge the justice of his claim:—
"It appears from Mr. Finlay's statement that you ere
already aware of the merits of his case, and that you have bad
some communication with the Greek Government therm) tpo°'
It is only necessary, therefore, that I should instruct y( a
follow up your representations in favour of Mr. Fin lay
'
claim in such manner as you may deem best calculate td t°
obtain that compensation to which Mr. Finlay may appearto
be entitled."
What is the answer to that? The people of Atlieo°
appear to have retained, at least, one quality of their Or
cestors—they are capital at a law suit, and they try by
quirks to get out of the difficulty. They say, " %;\ rbt
not try the tribunal?" The idea of trying a Gr ee"'
tribunal!—(A laugh.) What was the poor man to tl°?
One thing was quite clear—that there was no chant 9 01
obtaining any satisfaction but by appealing to his co an'
try. He said, "I came here to aid in advancing til,e,
liberties of Greece and to resist Turkey—l gave yo 5."
I could in the shape of assistance, and you are now sue'
cessful. I bought this land under an English protocol,
and I now demand that protection to which, as an. Nog:
lishman, lam entitled." But the Grecian Goveretraero
found protectors here, and I find that great autiaorinie9
have been quoted to sanction the refusal of the Gre alt
Government. The great name of Lord Mansfield lOs
been brought forward to show that Mr. Finlay had do 0
wrong in appealing to this country. I ask those w 111::
made use of that authority if they know the case ?
cannot believe that the Noble Lord who quoted it 0
Lord Mansfield's could have known the circumetani
under which that opinion was given. It was given, 10"
by Lord Mansfield, but by Mr. Murray—not that I etil.
going to do what others have done, to attribute to
law-officers of the Crown that they would give 11,.°
opinion to suit the views of the Government with ;eh i..l`
they were connectel. The Noble Lord who made t ttis
assertion judged by himself rather than from any high' 'r
standard.—(Hear, hear, and cries of " Oh.") Aunt/11l
instance may be cited. A loan was entered into I
the Emperor of Germany; Maria Theresa succee6
him, and the King of Prussia took Silesia, which 111:51:
been mortgaged, as it were, for the debt; and when be
took possession of Silesia he engaged to ,pay the di Pr,
Afterwards certain injuries were done to some of
subjects, by vessels being taken and brought to be oe;
cided upon in our Admiralty Courts as prizes. W 10;
did the King of Prussia do ? He said—" I care not al 0111'
your Admiralty Courts. I assume that they are vvr
and will confiscate that debt because certain injuries I. 10"
beea inflicted upon my subjects." What was the ens bey
made by Mr. Murray and Sir George Leigh ? T 10;Jri;
said, as a matter of tact, "First, the injury you comp Into
of has not been done, for the vessels taken have g Ole
through the Admiralty Court, and have almost all le ae"
released. They have gone fairly through these col it t:
With respect to some there is a doubt, and by and I elnd
decision will be come to." But he went further, 'B'4
said, " Here is a case in which the personal honey
the King is concerned, and he, having entered int ice,
treaty with certain individuals to pay this debt, toot : 0,0
idea of confiscating the debt because other individ a oio
of the same nation had done an injury to some of 110
subjects."—(Hear, bear.) But is even that a parse
~
case? Here is the case of an injury done by the 4'o
vernment itself. The sufferer has no chance of redr99
and in that case he has a right to call in the aidl ie,
of
ternational law, and appeal to his country. I must
pose that the Noble Lord who referred to it never I se%
this case, otherwise he never would have said sty Pio
thing. I beg pardon of the House. but I must refs t.
one or two of the letters from our Ambassador. Ile t
in one dated " Athens, Aug. 7, 1849—1 have not rent: 1110
any answer from the Greek Government to my note o,
2d July, respecting the claims of M. Pacifico and 0%,
Finlay." " August 20.—1 am still without 111310
answer from the Greek Government to my n' )1;0
I shall only trouble the House with one extract from 0
letter of Sir Edmund Lyons to M. Coletti, which gi,"3of
clear, fair, and unequivocal statement of the natures
Mr. Finlay's claim :
With regard to that part of my note .of the 24th Octoli eot
in which I had the honour to Worm you that I had brie,
instructed by Viscount Palmerston to call 'your attention t;
the ether unsatisfied demands of her Majesty's Goveram, 0010
and to request that they should be immediately settled, Sne
say that if any of those demands have remained unansw Pit
by your predecessors you wish that they may be pointed
,°,OO
to you, in order that you may give your immediate atter .1.40
to'them. In reply to your request I;beg leave'to observe 'o'4
I have not had the honour to receive any answer to the t.',1.0
I addressed to you on the 7th October last [and, mark, tl
written on the 6th of December—W. W.] by desire of f.'eo
count Palmerston, reminding you that no answers had 1.1'.0
returned to the demands of her Majesty's Government, NO 10f
were made in my notes to your predecessors of the 14t?
March and 12th of April last on the important subject of: of
fulfilment of treaty engagements respecting the Greek 1011 to
60,1'00,000 of francs. Nor has any answer been returns ijoe
the note which I addressed to M. Coletti on the 20th 1 lito
1847, requiring, for the third time, in the name and by el 39,4,
of her Majesty's Government, that that of Greece she -rby
without any further delay, make good the loss sustain'! l 0t
the masters of six. lonian boats who had been plunder! '',lol
the Custom-house at Salcina in October, 1846. Nor hest ' tjs,
answer been returned to the note I addressed to M. Glisl
on the 2 tst October, 1847, by desire of Viscount Palm' ersat
repeating the demand for compensation which I had a ticeg,
made ors behalf of two lonians who had been illegal IX et
rested and cruelly flogged by the police authori tinno
Pyrgos, on the 15th of May, 1e47, and on behalf also o'. t 0
other lonians who had been arrested and ill-used 1 liton
police at Patras, on the 30th of May, 1847, and stating 's Diet
regard to those demands as well as to the others whir 41.411
not been satisfied, that her Majesty's Government ear rt`il
hoped that the Greek Government would no longer II" to
complying with them; for the Greek Government on & soli
be aware that it must do so sooner or later, and that tb adptf
effect of further procrastination must be to render it tb e e to
of her Majesty's Government to increase in proporti loafer
such delay the amount of compensation which it requi -
the injured parties, and adding that the Greek Gover s:.100(1
would act unwisely for ins own interests if it misundt
the forbearance which had been shown on these matt float
her Majesty's Government, and if it were to infer free teeter'
forbearance that the British Government were not close
mined to compel the Greek Government to accede to t;:of
demands, if it should not be induced to do so spontanss 1"-
by its own sense of justice and of right." i 0
anything in that language unnecessarily stringer 15,.icts
Now, I ask the House of Commons whether the re
.)
uncourteous, or anything more than was due to the ;_vo-jor
geucies of tho case ? The language was Perl eoa
suited to the occasion; and if I were to seek for Ell 4,0
the letter of Lord Aberdeen, and ask the House 00
ample of an imperious tone, I should not hesitatetto!
pare it with that dispatch. Lord Aberdeen's letter
demanded, but I think the language is far more on r
probably not more insulting or offensive than alcoa
rough than any language used by Sir Edmund '
and then comes at last a long reiteration of the w tOost
been 13 years unsettled. Vulg 00
Various dispatches were sent reiterating the dot 070 of
the demands, going over them step by step, ehowit a; 001 ,
some of them had
wretched pretexts are urged against the religion 0113
Ae
of the claimants—a religion, by the way, from whi'' 005
derive our own. When it was found that M. Pacific °to-
(' Jew, he was described as the Jew who had bet/Alibi
Hanedmtihgehtahnasvweesrawido,:biohoet,
,db,
eußecause
eowyu
or
hui
imsamr(el immortal
Jett lne
dbwa;:_di
do you deal thus with me?"
fore"they are entitled to dispute payment. Nowt pre:
intßh
But
tyt the
rnks habiti3d.eerhaoo
judice against Jews, Ust be excessive, and the (Hear.) It would seerlialla
remembered that in this country there is a grek—ae
and, among other things, 51"bo0
nwfaiaster Monday of burning onestonn
hrmiacuiphype,Tanfresat•etthoatb eyes, He may
the
hree p
Christiansr esen ta i ve
deal
lthe i
tJheaw
riche
but jeo;
oe
A rich Jew comes to Athens. " Ohl" say theft joe
be
orb.eafftecAt
thaenlos,anth'e' • not
aid to
Rfoaoret;J:cwuhdLael d 10:::10whreti a'01110110::
wealth when belongtng even troe
burned.—(Laughter.) Such is the deference P beard
be conciliated beet%
Judea, it appears, was not then burnt. Bat TtneeiP-
strutAed Greeks did not wish to be deprived gn""'

wt.)