The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-07 00:00:00

THREATENING THE EARL OF ABERDEEN.

Thomas Whitehead, an artist, was brought before Mr.
Henry, at the Bow-street Police-office, yesterday after-
noon, charged with sending a threatening letter to the
Earl of Aberdeen.
Mr. Reynolds, the solicitor to the Treasury, conducted
the prosecution.
Mr. Clinton Geo. Dawkins, the private secretary of
• Lord Aberdeen, proved that he received the letter pro-
duced on the 16th of June. It was addressed to his
lordship, and signed " Thomas Whitehead." It was
subsequently placed in the hands of the police authorities.
Superintendent Pearce, F division, deposed that he
waited upon the prisoner at his lodgings, 57, Great Wild-
street, on the 23d and 27th June. He had some con-
versation with the prisoner, who admitted that he was
the writer of the letter to Lord Aberdeen, and com-
plained that he had been prosecuted by different Go-
vernments year after year. He said that he had made
frequent complaints upon the subject, but to no pur-
pose. Witness understood him to say that the detec-
tive police had been instructed to keep a constant watch
upon him.
The Chief Clerk read the letter in question. It was
very long, and dwelt upon some unexplained persecution
to which the writer imagined himself subject, and for
the removal of which he said he had applied in vain to
several Cabinets in succession. The following is an
extract :
" I know not, my lord, what you may have to say about
those illegal and unwarrantable proceedings ; but this I
say, that there is and can be but one inference drawn
therefrom, and that is, that the Government seem to have
wanted, and it would appear that they do want still, to
snake a victim of me, and consequently they have done
everything they can to provoke me to crime. I have been
by them reduced to the greatest depths of misery : for five
years and a half I have endured these ineffable privations
with a patience and a fortitude that I believe there would
be scarcely one in a thousand to do the same. But, my
lord, human patience has its bounds, and these bounds
have already been passed. Everything has been done to
blast my good name, and, not satisfied with that, every-
thing has been done to deprive me of the commonest means
of existence. Beware, my lord, what you do in this mat-
ter ; for if the saying be true that ' self preservation is the
first law of nature,' then, my lord, you have reduced me
to a most painful alternative. Your policy, my lord, like
your predecessors in this affair, has been, and still is, most
pernicious and subversive. You have taught a lesson of
implacable vindictiveness and of unprecedented pertinacious
cruelty that will be cherished by thousands with a savage
satisfaction till the latest day of the it death. You have
' sown the wind,' and if your lordship should persist in
the same suicidal course, you must not be surprised if you
should one day ' reap the whirl-wind.' You have, my lord,
like your predecessors, returned me evil for good, and that
too in such a sweeping manner that I have been completely
ruined thereby ; and I can only say that if this facinerous
flood of evil is to continue, then, my lord, you will compel
me to retaliate out of self-defence • and if I should be
goaded on to do that out of self-defence which my soul
abhors, remember, my lord, that the guilt will be upon
your head, and the heads of your colleagues.—l am, &c.,
THOS. WHITEHEAD.-57, Great Wild-street& Lincoln's-
inn-Fields.—The Right Hon. the Earl of Aberdeen."
(During the reading of the letter the chief clerk was
once or twice assisted in the interpretation of doubtful
words by the prisoner himself.)
The prisoner admitted that he was the author of the
letter.

Mr. Dawkins expressed his belief that the Earl of
Aberdeen was in danger of personal violence, from some
of the language used therein.
The prisoner—l cannot see that any such inference is
to be drawn from any portion of the letter.
Mr. Henry—The expression, "I shall be goaded on
to do that which my soul abhors," is certainly calculated
to justify such an apprehension. Can you explain it in
any other way ?
The prisoner— Since my claim of 1848 up to the
moment when that letter was written, I have been con-
stantly watched and insulted by the secret police.
Mr. Henry--I have heard your letter read from first
to last ; but am wholly at a loss to know to what it
alludes.

The prisoner—lf lamto be dogged and assailed by
the detective police, in every form of disguise, like a
pack of hounds ; and if, besides their insulting bearing
towards me, they are to circulate defamatory remarks
to my prejudice, shall I not be justified in knocking that
man down ?

.Mr. Henry—What man ?
The prisoner—Any man who thus insults and degrades
me.

Mr. Henry—What is your business or calling ?
The prisoner—l have no occupation.
In answer to further questions, the prisoner stated
that be had no relations in London, but he had a brother
at Liverpool. He lost a fortune in 1847, and had been
unable to procure any vocation since, owing to the
espionage of the secret police. And not only of the
police, for in 1849 he found that the soldiers at the back
of the National Gallery had their eye upon him, and
were arrayed against him. He did not wish his brother
to be communicated. He only wanted it to be settled
as between man and man.

1
Mr. Henry—But what is it that you want settled 2
Has he ever complained of the police ?
Superintendent Pearce said he had ascertained from
the books at Scotland-yard, that the prisoner made some
complaints respecting the dectective force two or three
years ago, and also against some soldiers. They were
' inquired into by Mr. Beresford, but none of the con-
stables knew anything of him.
Mr. Henry—Has any medical gentleman seen him ?
Mr. Brooks, surgeon, of Bedford-street, Covent-gar-
den, stated that be had conversed with the prisoner, and
upon the one one subject of espionage believed him to be
decidedly of unsound mind. He was evidently labouring
under a delusion.

Mr. Henry—That is also my opinion.
The prisoner—l was prepared for anything almost but
such an astounding assertion as that. If the govern.•