the landlord. Finlay was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, without the option of a fine, and the publication of the 'Northern Whig' was suspended from August 1826 until May 1827. From the first Finlay advocated the emancipation of the Roman catholics, and it was in the columns of the 'Northern Whig' that William Sharman Crawford [q.v.] propounded his celebrated views on tenant-right. Some comments in the 'Northern Whig' on the conduct of Lord Hertford's agent led to another prosecution for libel in 1830, which, however, was abandoned when it transpired that Daniel O'Connell had volunteered for the defence. On a similar charge he was found guilty on 23 July 1832 and sentenced to three months' imprisonment and fined 50l. In spite, however, of these proceedings, the 'Northern Whig' continued from time to time to give expression to similar views which were adjudged libellous and occasioned its proprietor very heavy legal expenditure. To the extension of the suffrage, the disestablishment of the Irish church, and the reform of the land laws Finlay through his paper gave a steady and zealous support; but, though a personal friend of O'Connell, he opposed the movement for the repeal of the union and the later developments of Irish disaffection, such as the Young Irelandism of Mitchell and the agitation which resulted in the abortive insurrection of Smith O'Brien. He died on 10 Sept. 1857, bequeathing his paper to his son, Francis Dalzell Finlay, by whom it was conducted until 1874, when it was transferred to a limited company. Finlay married in 1830 Marianne, daughter of the Rev. William Porter, presbyterian minister, of Newtonlimavady, co. Derry.
[Northern Whig, 12 Sept. 1857; information from F. D. Finlay, esq.]
FINLAY, GEORGE (1799–1875), historian, was son of Captain John Finlay, R.E., F.R.S., and brother of Kirkman Finlay (d. 1828) [q. v.] His grandfather, James Finlay, was a Glasgow merchant. He was born 21 Dec. 1799, at Faversham, Kent, where his father was inspector of the government powder mills. The latter died in 1802, and George was for some time instructed by his mother, to whose training he attributed his love of history. His education was continued at an English boarding-school, and in the family of his uncle, Kirkman Finlay of Glasgow [q. v.], under private tutors. He subsequently studied law in Glasgow, and proceeded about 1821 to the university of Göttingen to acquaint himself with Roman jurisprudence. While there he began to doubt his vocation for law, and, partly influenced by his acquaintance with a Greek fellow-student, 'resolved to visit Greece and judge for myself concerning the condition of the people and the chances of the war.' In November 1823 he met Byron at Cephalonia. 'You are young and enthusiastic,' said Byron, 'and therefore sure to be disappointed when you know the Greeks as well as I do.' The number of Hellenes and Philhellenes about Byron gave umbrage to the Ionian government, which was bound to remain neutral. Finlay quitted the island on a hint from Sir Charles Napier, and, after narrowly escaping shipwreck, made his way successively to Athens and Missolonghi, where for two months he spent nearly every evening with Byron, who, Parry says, 'wasted much of his time' in conversation with the future historian and other such frivolous persons. Quitting Missolonghi before Byron's death, Finlay joined Odysseus on an expedition into the Morea, but, disgusted with the general venality and rapacity, returned to the headquarters of the government, where things were no better. A malarious fever compelled him to return to Scotland, where he passed his examination in civil law, but was soon again in Greece at the invitation of his intimate friend Frank Abney Hastings [q. v.], who had built a steamer in which Finlay took his passage. He continued fighting for Greece, or engaged in missions on her behalf, until the termination of the war, when he purchased an estate in Attica, 'hoping to aid in putting Greece into the road that leads to a rapid increase of production, population, and material improvement.' 'I lost my money and my labour, but I learned how the system of tenths has produced a state of society, and habits of cultivation, against which one man can do nothing. When I had wasted as much money as I possessed, I turned my attention to study.' His unfortunate investment had at least the good results of compelling his continual residence in the country, with which he became most thoroughly acquainted, and of stimulating his perception of the evils which, in the past as in the present, have deteriorated the Greek character and injured the credit and prosperity of the nation. The publication of his great series of histories commenced in 1844, and was completed in 1861, when he wrote the autobiographical fragment which is almost the sole authority for his life. His correspondence is lost or inaccessible, and, notwithstanding his courteous hospitality, acknowledged by many travellers, little more seems to be known of his life in Greece than his constant endeavours to benefit the country by good advice, sometimes expressed in language of excessive
