The arm of the British Government when it is stretched
in earnest is very long. Mr. Whitaker Wright was arrested on the 15th inst. at New York, it is supposed for the issue of false balance-sheets, but according to one account on a charge of forgery, and was at once conveyed to the Tombs. He had gone to New York by the Havre Line, taking passages for him- self and a niece as M. and Mlle. Andreoni, and his route was traced through the numbers of the notes with which he paid his way. The proceedings for his extradition will, it is said, occupy many weeks, Mr. Wright having decided to claim American nationality, and to assert that popular prejudice runs too strong in London to allow of a fair trial there. The American Government, however, is said to be willing to facili- tate his extradition, and there is no evidence that the American people are anxious to retain him. Their prejudice, indeed, would be against a man accused of the offences alleged in his case.
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