Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to manipulate one’s accounts to pay off one debt while incurring another.

c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Apostles to manoeuvre the Apostles i.e. Rob Peter to pay Paul. To borrow money from one man to pay another. See Peter.
1788		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd edn) n.p.: Manoeuvring the Apostles. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, i.e. borrowing of one man to pay another.
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) n.p.: Apostles. To manoeuvre the apostles, i.e. rob Peter to pay Paul; that is, to borrow money of one man to pay another.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1788].
1822		Life and Trial of James Mackcoull 37: He had [...] subsisted by borrowing from one acquaintance to pay another, and, to use his own phrase, had been forced, not only to manoeuvre the apostles, but to pull the devil by the tail.
1862		E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 316/1: to manœuvre the apostles, [...] découvrir Pierre pour couvrir Paul, emprunter d’un côté pour payer de l’autre.