The Sun.
London, England, 1831-06-16 00:00:00

OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We redeem our promise of commenting on the
'etets relative to the Church Establishment in Ire-
land, which appeared in the abstract of the Parlia-
mentary document published in yesterday's Paper.
The Tories make it a reproach to the Reform Bill,
that from it will speedily follow a systematic war-
fare upon the Church of Ireland, and eventually .on
that of England. Those who make such probabilities
a topic of complaint have pretty notions of what is
is that constitutes the real merit of Reform, and of
that in which consists the danger of the
.Church Esta-
blishment. We are sure, and the Tories may take
the full benefit of the confession, that if it had not
been for hopes entertained of effecting a Reform in
the administration of the Established Church, many
thousands of wise and virtuous men would have
looked at every other Reform with snitch comparative
indifference. •A
strict but well-tempered inquiry
into the condition of that establishment, is likely to
spring—first, from the manifest preponderancy of
public feeling in favour of such a course, and 2dly,
from the sympathy which will henceforth exist be•
tween the people and their representatives. That
Parliament will begin with the Church of Ireland, is
Probable, for reasons which need not here be enu-
merated. If indeed there be one interest more
than another which demands a speedy revision of
the temporal affairs of the Church of Irlatid, it is the
interest of that very church, both temporal and as
being instrumental to the cause of true religion. The
Church of Ireland not having, like that of England,
any root in the affections or prepossessions of the
people, amongst whom, though not/cr whom, it is
established,—of those by whom it is maintained,
though it renders them no service in return,—ought
to feel itself doubly bound, by policy as well as gene-
rosity, to cultivate those mild and unessuming.graces,
which might attract the esteem of a nation dissen-
tient from its doctrines. The Irish Church ought,
above all others, to exhibit its members as upright
and disinterested men. There ought to be there a
studious and even, so to speak, a morbid, avoidance
of every thing like cupidity, or rapacity, or taint of
worldly-minded selfishness,—no squeezing of the
poor,—no jobbing,—no nepotine,--no combination
for higher wages and diminished work,—no pre-
suming upon the state preference afforded it, as an
encouragement to insolence in its treatment of the
flocks of other churches, or their pastors ;—no, if the
higher clergy of the Church of Ireland had known
in what their own welfare and the stability of their
vast institution consisted, we should have found
them, by this time, so strong in the consciousness
of purity, and in the enjoyment of popularity,
and in the desire to fortify that favourable opinion
in the sunshine of which they flourished, as one
and all to vie in zeal with the most strenuous ad-
vocates of Parliamentary Reform, for the sake of
the fresh light which every added opportunity
of public investigation into the state of the Church
would throw upon the virtues of its Ministers; or,
if the desire of proselytism should animate them, for
the sake of that flattering contrast in which the sa-
cred edifice of their reformed religion, as represented
by their persons, would appear when placed by the
side of envious and hostile hierarchies. Now what
is the conduct of the Irish Church—proad polities ?
It is inveterately adverse to Reform ; and what is its
conduct in relation to other matters—natnely, to the
fulfilment of its own adminiitrative duties, in the
management of patronage, for example ? The do-
cument which we published yesterday supplies the
answer; and proh! pudor! what an answer'—Times.

The execution of the patriot Menotti has cut
off one of the firmest friends to the independence
of his country which degenerate Italy possessed;
but his martyrdom to the cause of liberty
will be among the recollections that will yet
add strength to the cause for which he died.
The tyrant of Moderns, who provoked the people
to resistance—who fled from their just demands
for a reformed Government, and returned under the
protection of Austrian arms to celebrate his cowardly
triumph with sanguinary rites, cannot efface with the
blood of Menotti the remembrance of the virtue
which sustained him in his dying hour. That remem-
brance will one day have for his countrymen all the
force of an inspiring example. The tyrant can crush
life, but he cannot by the axe and gibbet extinguish
the high and holy sentiment under the influence of
which brave men lay down existence at the sacred
call of country. That sentiment increases in strength
with the sacrifices made to it. Its moral power
grows, in whatever soil it once takes root, only the
more vigorously for every effort made to extirpate it
by savage force. Poland is a memorable instance,
where all the blood which Muscovite tyrants had shed
from the first partition, nearly 60 years ago, up to
last November, instead of strengthening their domi-
nion by connecting it with examples of terror, has
only excited a deeper resentment for wrongs endured—
made the fearless sacrifice of life familiar—and ren-
dered a heroic resistance to the oppressor the uni-
versal virtue of the people. How truly and how
touchingly did Menotti say in his last moments,
when he viewed the apparatus of a death with that
undismayed serenity which disappoints a tyrant of
the sweetest portion of his revenge—" The cause of
tyranny has no other support than that afforded
by executioners and gibbets. The cause of freedom
has on its side the force of opinion and the union of
sentiments--the success of the latter does not de-
pend on the fate of individuals. I have done my
duty, and free from remorse I descend into the
grave." This man was worthy a nobler people than
the Italian race of the present day, who crawl the
slaves of foreign dominion, amid the magnificent
ruins of the glory of their land, and burrow in the
grave of the Empire which their ancestors created.
His sentiments showed that he, at least, had not
looked around among his contemporaries for the
maxims of life. He had imbibed the spirit of the
ancient school of Roman virtue. The vindictive
exercise of power gave him the opportunity to dis-
play it. Had his enemy been less of a tyrant,
Menotti might have appeared less of a patriot. The
spirit of vengeance that destroyed his life has im-
mortalized his memory. Though he failed to
achieve the freedom of his country, he has left
a name, which, along with that of his dis-
tinguished friend Borelli, who perished along with
him, will be inscribed in those records of the
illustrious dead which exercise the most vir-
tuous influence on the hearts of the living.
Nor should his last advice be neglected by his
countrymen :—" I expected France would have in-
terfered—perhaps it is better that she did not ; my
death will teach the Italians to detest foreign inter-
vention ; they must place their sole confidence in
the strength of their own arms." There is no doubt
that the Italian patriots relied too much upon the
pompous declaration of the French Government that
they would not allow any foreign intervention in the
internal affairs of other States. They were cruelly
undeceived by the pusillanimous conduct of that
Government when the Austrian armies put its sin-
cerity to the test. Let them now learn that a
entry that would be free must be her own de-
tiverer.--Morning Herald.
We have more than once called the attention of
our readers to the important truth for which the
world is indebted
ttho political economy—that nations
arc interested in
osperity of each other; that
whatever impoverisher neighbouringfi nation, re-acts
on ourselves Just as weaben
The generealtdbitruwhatever adds to
its resources.
we
trust,
of this im-
portant truth will, in time,
ari,seeno far to ut
all end to wars. Most wars have
of the.h
caprice of Kings, or the ignorance of nat?toutti
respect to their true interests. The sears nations with
the
last century were either wars of the Oligarchy, or
wars to gain commercial advantages. The know-
ledge that commercial advantages never can be
gained by war becomes more and more general ;
and it is a great consolation to think, that the
people themselves will soon be no longer open to
the seductions of those who would persuade them
that they can benefit by war. Where a is
governed by men responsible for their conduct to
the nation itself —i. e. where there is a national go-
vernment there can be no desire of war for any

ether object than self-defence, or sympathy witl.
oations exposed to danger from unjust aggression. But
Governments, as we well know, are not national
Governments. Where the nation contrommls the Govern-
ment the real or supposed interest of the nation will
influencethe
7,sGi power, e;r,eerriment. Where a particular order
on
the Government will be con-
ducted for the real or sopposed benefit of that order
The people of Russia would, for instance, be much
happier if the empire was less extensive. Their
resources are wasted in the support of armies em-
ployed in defending boundless frontiers, An army
generally carves out work for itself, and every con-
quest only leads to further conquests. If the army
is not employed in foreign war, it will employ itself
at home. In the mean time, all domestic improve-
ment is rendered nearly impossible by the incom-
illj patibility of combining the virtues by which corn•
munities flourish with military supremacy. The
Government of England has hitherto been anti-
national in another way. It has been conducted,
not for the benefit of the people, but of a com-
paratively small number of individuals, who have
commanded a majority in the two Houses of Parlia-
ment. These individuals, the Oligarchy, have an
interest diametrically opposed to that of the nation.
It is for the interest of the nation that the public
expenditure should be as low as possible. It is for
the interest of the Oligarchy that it should be as
high as possible. It is for the interest of the nation
that there -Mould be no war for any other than
purely national objects. It is for the interest of the
Oligarchy that we should be frequently at war, that
profitable occupation may be found for their chil-
dren and dependents. It is for the interest of the
nation that its resources should not be expended on
foreign possessions. It is for the interest of the
Oligarchy, that wherever there is a rock in the
ocean it shruld be garrisoned by British soldiers—
wherever there is a wilderness it should be seized,
in order that Governorships may be found for Lord
Charleses, &c. It is for the interest of the nation
that no more should be expended on the instruction
of the people, than a fair remuneration for the exer-
dons of the teachers. It is for the interest of the
Oligarchy that the instruction of the people should
serve as a pretext for dividing among themselves a
large share of the produce of the land and labour of
the community, of which a small share only is really
expended on the instruction. The time, we trust,
is fast approaching, when the people throughout
Europe will be enabled to compel those who con-
duct their respective Governments to consult the
interest of the people, instead of viewing the people
merely as instruments for furthering the views of the
Governors. Those nations which possess, or are
on the eve of possessing national Governments,have
a strong interest in the universal prevalence of
similar Governments. The Oligarchy of this
country have always been instinctively led to
support anti-national Governments, and to up-
hold vicious institutions. The Oligarchy and clergy
looked always with an evil eye on the state of things
in the New England colonies, and were bent on
their ruin. From the moment of the breaking out
of the French revolution the same bodies were hos-
tilely disposed to it. And while they were persecut-
ing the Catholics in Ireland, to guard against any
danger to the possession of tithes and church lands,
they were exerting themselves to build up Popery
in Italy, and to prevent the emancipation of the
people from the priests. The principle by which
They are guided is obvious. Every acquisition to
the cause of good government diminishes the
strength of the Governments opposed to the im-
provement, and pro hullo, their ability to ensure
each other. But what is for the benefit of the ene-
mies of the people cannot be for the benefit of the
people. It is for the interest of the nations that
national Governments should be everywhere esta-
blished, because, as the nations have an interest in
the prosperity of each other, every accession to the
number of good governments diminishes the chances
of wars, and all those calamities by which the im-
provement of mankind is retarded. It does not fol-
low that nations, any more than individuals, may
not mistake their interests ; and therefore a na-
tional Government may not pursue the best course
for promoting the national interest. But, as we
have said, the presumption is that truth will in the
end prevail, and Europe must have a better
prospect of tranquillity from Governments hav-
ing the same interest with the nations, than
from Governments having interests opposed to
those of the nations. Wherever, therefore,
the people have any controul over their Go-
vernment, they ought to insist that the great object
should always be kept in view, of favouring as
much as possible the growth of free institutions.
We may be sure that the anti-national Governments
will lose no opportunity of throwing their influence
into the opposite scale, anti that if they remain in-
active, it is purely from fear of their own subjects.
Thank God, throughout the greatest part of
Eu-
rope, the intelligence of time people is such as to
compel the Governments to respect them more than
they did formerly. Without meaning to contend that
a people should on all occasions be ready to go to
war in support of a nation struggling for its inde-
pendence, we may go so far as to say, that wherever
an opportunity of befriending an oppressed nation
presents itself, it should be seized. In the case of
the struggle, for instance, between the Russians and
Poles, all opportunity now presents itself for ma-
terially aiding the latter, without any danger to our-
selves. All free nations have a common interest
in wresting Poland from Russia. The Russians
have no means of injuring this country or France.
If the present opportunity is lost, we may never
have another; and Russia will not, when the time
favours her, fail to avail herself of it. These things
certainly deserve consideration. We are not for
rashly incurring the dangers of war, or for incurring
expence unnecessarily ; but we apprehend that great
good may be done now, without risk, and at little
cost.—Morning Chronkle.

We have inserted in another column a communi-
cation from a good source in Copenhagen, giving
'an account of the Constitution lat Ely granted by
the Sovereign of Denmark. Oar correspondent
assigns the reason why it has been thought advisable
rather to take a preliminary step towards the esta-
blishment of a Constitutional Monarchy, than to
confer on the people at once a Constitution in the
proper sense of the word. But Prince Christian,
the heir apparent, is liberally inclined, and he was
the founder of the Constitutional Charter of Norway,
under which the people now enjoy as great a degree
of freedom as the people of any country in Europe,
and which he established before he was compelled
to leave that country in 1814. While we are or,
this subject, we may also mention the fact, that every
man in Denmark can read and write, schools of
mutual instruction being established throughout the
country. In that respect how superior to England!
—Alorning Chronicle.

If the argument of " virtual representation" yet
required either logic or practice to assert its validity,
both would be sufficiently manifest in the present
Parliament. The feelings of counties are repre-
sented, not by their actual Members, but by the
Members of the smaller boroughs ; and the man who
sits for Gatton or Old Sarum upon conservative
principles, represents in his person more mind, more
wealth, more integrity, than all the Members for
Essex, Cumberland, and Dorsetshire thrown toge-
ther into a lump. This statement will easily admit of
proof. In the first place we may quote an exceedingly
Ingenious table lately published in a periodical
Magazine; this table presents a summary of four-
teen contested elections for counties•—it shows that
the gross amount of freeholders that polled was
something more than thirty-four thousand, and that
the majority " for the Bill" upon this large number
,hot kfonwdliyll denistpicoispeatoefd
,tv.asn.tnerely one thousand six hundred ! This, we
praised and mis-stated
tbhat enthusiasticb
Government,Unanimity
b e.
bt e
doubt. that
tth:et if all the Tory
the Revolutionary
Press, but in fact exhibiteyd by the rabble.
There cannot be much
fpurotllt:erthlnsr.nall
candidates had tried the issue of
A nobule.
majority would have undergone a
tion in favour of the aggregate party.-

effort would have
_b_cen_Jiladt in Kent, principle
would have been heard in Northumberland, and
wealth and intelligence would have spoken in York-
shire. We will not tarry here to investigate the
causes which have shackled for a while the exertions
patriotism ; it is enough to point out that the
Honourable Members for the fourteen counties re-
present 17,868 freeholders, while the equal!)
Honourable Members for the smaller boroughs, in
addition to their own constituency, represent the
opinions of no less titan 16,250. Now, when we
aro told that the " County Members are all against
us," we shall refer to this calculation and the sum
total, sixteen hundred, which is in fact the amottio
represented, if the pros and cons on either side pan
off, and which is about equal to one-half of the con-
stituency of the Right Hon. John Calcraft, by whose
apostacy the Bill was carried to its second read-
ing. And so in the old parliament the majority
of Members in favour of the Bill was " one ;"
and in the new Parliament, the majority return-
ing Members pledged to the Bill, with all its
amiable errors, amounts nearly to the average
constituency of "one"—awful preponderance! Now
this majority, such as it is, was not composed
of rural voters; its elements were drawn from cities
and large towns, the hot-beds of sedition and the
orbits of the Radical Press. These electors, having
given their suffrages for the town to some clamorous
demagogue, went off in clouds to do the same fa-
vour by the counties they inhabited; and thus it
happens that many of the double-pledged Bill-
swallowing delegates, though sitting apparently for
different places, do in fact represent the same majo-
rity of constituents, who have frequently been " like
Cerberus, three gentlemen at once." But the vir-
tual representation. effected by these boroughs is not
s;mply that of the prodigious minority, which could
not in any other way (mark this !) have made known
its sentiments within the walls of Parliament ; (and
is this no argument for the maintenance of close
boroughs ?) but it is the virtual representation of
seven-eighths of the country gentlemen throughout
England ;—it is the representation of all the gentry
in Northamptonshire who supported Mr. Cartwright,
save six who dined with Lord Althorp;—it is the
representation of all the gentry iii Hampshire, for
every one refused to grace Sir J.Nlacdonald's ovation,
and they were in consequence visited with that Baro-
net's displeasure, though the possessor of a property in
that county, as small as it was new ;—it is the
representation of all the gentry of Dorsetshire
except three ;—it is the representation of those
noble, wealthy, and respectable names which were
attached to declarations previously to the dissolution,
arid which have lately been gloriously increased by
the addition of thecounties of Warwick and Stafford.
We confess that it tries our patience to hear such
language about the County Members, whether it
proceed from boldness or despondency; doubtless to
the words" County Members" there belonga certain
dignity and weight, derived from the ancient and
sarong connection that used to subsist between a
representative and all that was great and good in
the county he sat for. It is so no longer ; and we
must therefore recollect, that, in opposing a measure
backed and led by some scores of such gentlemen,
we are riot opposing the great mass of those who by
education, by habit, by interest in the soil, and sub-
stantial influence (however it may be momentarily
shaken), have the real power and confidence of the
country. If this be so, we have firm foundations,
though our superstructure may be tottering under
so great violence of assault ; our business must be
to prop and strengthen, in the full hope that the
madness of- the people will not endure for ever.
The Commons first, and then the Lords, should the
Bill reach them, will firmly and discreetly analyse
the various ingredients of this Circean compound;
they will shew where it is perilous, where unjust ;
nor will they omit to set forth the points in which it
is at once both ridiculous and wicked. Clause after
clause will be temperately debated, that the country
may have time to consider its progress, and receive
instruction upon it as a whole, and as taken in its
details. Should this be done with judgment, but
still with resolution, we do not hesitate to express
our opinion that the Ministers and their radical Press
will be foiled in their attempts to maintain excite-
ment arid error; and that wealth and intelligence,
and ancient services, and honest character, will, by
the blessing of God, reassume their station, and lead
a willing people to a right understanding of its own
happiness.—Morning Post.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

110 TV- S TREE T.

Yesterday John Regan, formerly a police con.
stable, was brought before Mr. Mristmt., charged
with bigamy.
The prisoner had been charged at this office with
having deserted his first wife, with whom he has
had four children, and the parish officers of St. Mar-
tin-in-the-Fields, to whom his family became charge-
able, applied to have them passed to Ireland, the
prisoner and his wife being natives of that country.
The prisoner consented to he passed with his family,
but having proceeded some distance on the road, he
returned to London to renew a connection he had
formed with a widow, who keeps a brothel in La-
zenby-court, Strand, and to whom it appeared he
had previously been married, having represented
himself to her as a single man. Some months after,
the first wife returned to London to claim support
from her husband for herself and her two surviving
children, the other two having died on the journey"
from Ireland, owing to the hardships they endured
on the road. She again became chargeable to St.
Martin's parish, and an arrangement was finally
agreed upon, that the prisoner should allow her 7s.
a week. The subsequent apprehension of the pi i-
Goner on the charge of bigamy was resolved upon
by the p,rish, with the full consent of the second
wife, whom it appeared lie had beaten and other-
wise ill-treated.

The certificate of the last marriage, which it ap-
peared was celebrated in February last, at St. Ann's
church, Soho, was put in as evidence, and also the
deposition of the prisoner, which was taken before
Sir R. Birnie, when the order of removal was made,
and in which he acknowledged his first wife by the
name of Mary.
The prisoner denied that he had ever been mar-
ried in Ireland, and said he signed the deposition for
the purpose of having his children passed home.
A solicitor who attended for the prosecution, pro-
duced a certificate in Latin, according to the custom
of the Catholic church, from which it appeared that
the prisoner had been married at Adair, near Lime-
rick, in Ireland, by the parish priest of that place,
whose name was Flynn. The solicitor added, that
as this certificate would be required to be authenti-
cated, a person had been sent to Ireland for the pur-
pose of bringing over the priest whose name was
attached to the document, who would prove its
authenticity, and identify the parties whom he bad
so married.

The prisoner said that Father Flynn was a dis-
carded priest, and that consequently he could_ not
have legally performed the functions of a priest.
It was finally arranged that the case should be
adjourned for a fortnight, to give time for the pro-
duction of witnesses to establish the first marriage.

ELOPEMENT.—On Sunday last the daughte
of a highly respectable Clergyman, not 50 miles from
Carmarthen, eloped with an embryo divine, and before their
friends had concluded their morning devotions the fair
fugitive bad tied the indissoluble knot. Her father and
the rest of the family were on their route to church, when
the young lady suddenly pretended to have forgotten
something, and returned home to procure it. The party
proceeded unsuspectingly to church, whilst our heroine,
having got out of sight, bounded along with lightsome
heart, undeterred by hedges and ditches, to an appointed
place, where she found her expectant lover with a chaise,
ready to convey her to a neighbouring parish church,
where they were duly married. On their way to the
altar they actually passed the lady's family going to church,
hut they had adopted the necessary precaution of pulling
lip the blinds, to screen themselves from observation.
They had chosen Sunday, it is supposed, from the per-
suasion that " the better the day the better the deed. "--
Carmarthen Jacarrial.

EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF WHEAT-

LEY, THE SWINDLER.

About six months ago Mr. Harrison, the pawn-
broker, in Wardour-street, Soho, was defrauded of
watches and jewellery to the amount of nearly 200/.
by a person who called himself the Rev. William
Wheatley, then staying at Walker's Hotel, in Dean-
street; and with this booty, and a vast quantity of
other portable property obtained from different other
tradespeople, the Rev, swindler decamped to the
continent, leaving a bill unpaid at Walker's Hotel of
above 70/.; but so thoroughly did he ingratiate
himself into the good opinion of Mr. Walker, to
whom he represented that he was the Rector of
Farringdon, in Berkshire, that even still Mr. Weikel
entertains hopes of being ultimately paid. Ever
since the flight of Wheatley from the country Mr.
Harrison has been indefatigable in his exertions to
have him apprehended on the continent, yet it ha-
been found impracticable hitherto to have this long-
practised swindler brought to punishment.
Owing to the publicity given at the time to the
fraud practised by this soi-disant clergyman, Mr.
Harrison has received communications respecting
him, not only from various places in England and
Scotland, but also from different parts of the conti-
nent, detailing the most extraordinary histories of
his swindling exploits; and an innkeeper at Sheer-
ness has given up to Mr. Harrison a trunk full of
papers left there by Wheatley about four years ago
in hen of an unsettled account, amongst which are
some very remarkable correspondences of Wheat-
ley's with many persons of rank, and a systematic
set of memoranda kept by him of his own villanies,
with the names of his victims appended. It appears
by documents, that would seem of some importance,
amongst these papers too, that Wheatley made a
joint sale with others of a considerable estate that
reverted to them in Nottinghamshire to the present
Duke of Norfolk, and that he has since been endea-
vouring to extort more money from the Duke on the
plea that he withheld some necessary title deeds.
The principal sufferer by the rogueries of this per-
son is a Dr. Bowles, the proprietor of an extensive
school at Farringdon Hall, in Berkshire, who, through
an advertisement, engaged Wheatley for two years
as an assistant at the school, where the latter con-
ducted himself so well as to become the favourite of
the whole establishment, and so gained on the un-
suspecting good nature of Dr. Bowles as to obtain
from him advances of money to the amount of above
2,0001. to establish his claim, which he persuaded
Dr. Bowles was indispensable, to the dropped title of
Duke of Ancaster, and to all the estates that be-
longed to tha' dormant peerage ; and he actually so
completely hoodwinked Dr. Bowles upon this sub-
ject, as to induce him to promise that he would give
up his school and come and reside with him (Wheat-
ley), when Duke of Ancaster, as his companion and
friend, and Dr. Bowles in fact sent circulars to the
parents of his pupils that after a certain time he was
to relinquish his establishment.
Sir George Naylor, who, it seems, knew some-
thing of Wheatley a great many years ago, was the
person represented by Wheatley as having made out
the claim to the Ancaster Dukedom through Sir
George's connection with the Herald's College;
and to give a colour to this representation he ma-
naged to renew his acquaintance with Sir George,
and to open a correspondence with him ; but it was
on a very different subject, for he was all the while
representing to Sir George Naylor that Dr. Bowles
was about taking him into partnership in the school,
so exeful did he find him ; and he persuaded Sir
George to introduce him to his solicitor, and actually
had a deed of partnership, on his representation,
drawn up as between himself and Dr. Bowles, in
which he induced Sir George to allow himself to be
named as his trustee, and this deed he has carried
with him, leaving Sir George to pay for drawing it
up; and, it is said, has found it as useful to exhibit
in his continental speculations as he did here before
he quitted.
Wheatley never was a graduate of any College,
although he has generally passed himself off as a cler-
gyman of the Church of England, and that he had
leiter) a degree at Oxford ; but be was only a very
short time at that University, when he was obliged
to quit it for his malpractices; and in truth he is as
great an impostor in literature as in other matters,
for although he has in some instances imposed him-
self as a profound classical scholar, it would appear
from several classical books found in his trunks, with
the original on one side and a clo,e translation on
the other, and the painstaking that appears by a
multiplicity of marks in both, to acquire a knowledge
of the corresponding meaning of the words, that the
fellow's acquirements must in this way have been of
the most superficial kind.
It is an undoubted fact that at one time this
swindler, when he had not a shilling, agreed on
terms for the purchase of the extensive estates of
Hadley Hall, in Essex, and Hayford, in Wales, and
to the mansion on the latter estate he sent down, to
prepare for his own arrival there, a retinue of ser-
vants, horses, carriages, &c., from London, all en-
gaged, hired, or purchased on the faith of the deeds
for conveying him to the estate, in preparation in
the hands of a solicitor, to whom he referred all the
parties for the truth of his being the purchaser.
Wheatley having, on one occasion that he carried
on an extensive system of swindling in Yorkshire,
where he occupied a splendid mansion, and of
which county he is a native, his father having been
a curate of the established church there, when hard
pressed by creditors, suddenly feigned madness, by
pretending to imagine that his head was made of
glass, and nothing could persuade him to lie down
in bed, or put on a hat, until his arrangements were
complete for making his final bow to the Yorkshire
people, and then he put on his hat and walked off.
His exploits on the Continent are as varied and ex-
tensive as in England. At Lausanne, in Switzer-
land, he was allowed to preach and officiate in the
Protestant English Church there, and was a great
favourite, as a pious devout man, until one day he
departed, having swindled almost every one in the
place, native as well as Engiish, and amongst them
at
Mr. Verey, the confectioner, in Regent-street, then
Lausanne, and took with him, at his departure, a
valuable carriage that he had on hire. At Vienna
he not only preached and performed divine service in
the English chapel, but was appointed treasurer to
its funds, with the whole of which he ran away.—
At Paris he persuaded the then King, Louis
XVIII., in a correspondence by which he imposed
on his Majesty, that he had been brought up in a
Roman Catholic convent, was a zealous adherent of
that faith, but being disgusted with the world he
had determined to become a hermit, and begged of
his Majesty to allow him a spot in one of the Royal
forests to have a cell excavated, in which to pass the
remainder of his days. To this the good-natured
King assented, and gave orders to have the cell
prepared, but Wheatley, before it was half dug out,
having got a HIM of money from his 'Majesty's
bounty to buy religious books, &c. left the cell for
his Majesty's own occupation.
Mr. Harrison, although he could not lay hold of
this notorious swindler since his last trip to the
continent, has made the place very hot for him, for
he has pursued him by agents, arid with the English
newspapers giving an account of his robberies
through his whole route, from Calais to Bruges,
where he had the impudence to take a house, and
get into the best society for a few days, thence to
Brussels, Tourney, Coblentz, &c., and last to Eumes,
in the Duchy of Nassau, where he at present is a
detenue" for 1.501. he owes for good living, car-
riages, &c. at the hotel there where he is stopping;
and he has within a few days sent to England, at
the expense of the hotel-keeper, and had very nearly
sent the hotel-keeper himself, a youth, the son of a
poor w i
woman Hogsden, whom he inveigled away
with hiin n his flight, and passed off as his nephew,
with a large sealed parcel, addressed to Sir George
Naylor; and has it seems told the Eumes innkeeper
that his nephew is to return very soon with a sum
of money from Sir George, as an advance on the
title deeds of his estates contained in this parcel.
The boy on his arrival in London, took the parcel
to Sir George Naylor, who on opening it found
only some folds of brown paper, and a number

-if old ballads, with: a--letter from Wheatley,
strongly recommending Sir George to quit England
altogether, and give up the Herald's College, and
zo over to live with him (W.) at Eumes, where
the climate and scenery was so delightful that he %vas
;ure it would be beneficial to his health. He also
addressed a letter to Dr. Bowles, advising him to
relinquish Farringdon Hall, and go over and set up
a school at Eumes, where there was a good opening,
and that he (Wheatley) would assist him. The
yonth who was the bearer of the package Mr. Har-
rison, on hearing of his arrival, had taken before a
Nlagistrate as an accomplice in the fraud practised
on him ; for this lad was with Wheatley at the time
in Mr. Harrison's shop, and called Wheatley (as no
doubt instructed) " uncle ;" but the lad has pro-
mised to give a great deal of curious information
respecting Wheatley, and Mr. Harrison has, there-
fore, for the present suspended proceedings against
him. Although Mr. Harrison has received a great
deal of advice, a vast number of letters, and been put
to a large expense of postage, &c. from the mune.
rous ether victims to Wheatley's frauds, he seems
to be the only one who has had the public spirit,
the perseverance, and the cost of hunting up this
great delinquent. In fart Mr. Harrison has traced
him from his commencement in crime, when at the
age of fourteen he robbed a schoolfellow of his
watch, through all his villainies, including a forgery
of the name of Mr. C. W. Wynn to a document,
as a security he gave for money he borrowed
of a lady, and for which he was committed
to Dorchester gaol, but the I idy being 1111.
willing to prosecute he escaped. It has been also
ascertained that Wheatley was tried and convicted
at the Old Bailey, on the prosecution of the pro-
prietor of Marshal Thompson's Hotel, in Berkeley-
square, where he gave a fictitious cheque on a bank-
ing-house, for a large .bill he incurred in the name of
Sir G. Hewit, by which title he pissed there, and
for this offence he was sentenced to a term of
impri-
sonment in Giltspur-street Compter. In 1827
Wheatley took the benefit of the Insolvent Debtors'
Act, the debts on his schedule amounting to eighty-
three thousand pounds, and not one shilling of assets;
arid, after his discharge on this occasion, an adver-
tisement appeared in the newspapers, giving a full
description of his person and character, and caution-
ing the public against his frauds, and the alarm of
this 'advertisement it was that drove him for con-
cealment, for a time, into the service of Dr. Bowles.
Wheatley's mother died a pauper in St. Pancras
workhouse, at an advanced age, and some time be-
fore her death her hopeful son went to pay a filial
visit, and stole from her her only cloak, and pawnedl
it for six shillings, the duplicate for which Mr.
rlarrison has found amongst his papers, and a vast
number of other duplicates for a variety of property
pawned for years back; many of the articles pledged
at Mr. Harrison's own shop, so that he would seem
to have been an old customer there.