This reply led to wagers totalling £15,000 (i.e. about £1.8 million in 2001)[4] being offered that Whaley could not travel to Jerusalem and back within two years and provide proof of his success.
The reasoning of those offering the bets was based on the belief that, as the region was part of the Ottoman Empire and had a reputation for widespread banditry, it would be too dangerous for travellers and it would be unlikely that Whaley could complete the journey.
In a meeting reported in Whaley's memoirs later, he encountered the Wāli (governor) (and de facto ruler) of Acre and Galillee, Ahmed al-Jazzar.
It was a signed certificate from the superior of this institution, along with detailed observations of the buildings of Jerusalem, that would provide the proof needed to prove the success of his journey.
[1] Following his Jerusalem exploit, Whaley remained in Dublin for around two years and later spent time in London and travelling in Europe, including Paris during the Revolutionary period.
Whaley, accompanied by his companion, a Miss Courtney, and their children, left Dublin to take up residence in the Isle of Man, where he had a house built near Douglas.
A recovery in the state of his finances enabled Whaley to be re-elected to the Irish House of Commons, this time representing the constituency of Enniscorthy from 1798 until his death in 1800.
The cause of death was attributed to rheumatic fever, although a popular story circulated in Ireland that he was stabbed in a jealous rage by one of two sisters, both of whom were objects of his attention.