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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Smugglers, by Charles G. Harper,
+Illustrated by Paul Hardy
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Smugglers
+       Picturesque Chapters in the Story of an Ancient Craft
+
+
+Author: Charles G. Harper
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 1, 2014  [eBook #45856]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SMUGGLERS***
+
+
+This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler
+
+                     [Picture: “The Gentlemen go by”]
+
+
+
+
+
+                              THE SMUGGLERS
+
+
+                       PICTURESQUE CHAPTERS IN THE
+                        STORY OF AN ANCIENT CRAFT
+
+                                    BY
+
+                            CHARLES G. HARPER
+
+              “_SMUGGLER_.—_A wretch who_, _in defiance of_
+              _the laws_, _imports or exports goods without_
+                  _payment of the customs_.”—DR. JOHNSON
+
+                 ILLUSTRATED BY PAUL HARDY, BY THE AUTHOR
+                   AND FROM OLD PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS
+
+                          [Picture: Title page]
+
+                       LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LTD.
+
+                                   1909
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                           PRINTED AND BOUND BY
+                      HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.,
+                          LONDON AND AYLESBURY.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+_OPINIONS have ever been divided on the question of the morality_, _or
+the immorality_, _of smuggling_.  _This is not_, _in itself_,
+_remarkable_, _since that subject on which all men think alike has not
+yet been discovered_; _but whatever the views held upon the question of
+the rights and wrongs of the_ “_free-traders_’” _craft_, _they have long
+since died down into abstract academic discussion_.  _Smuggling is_,
+_indeed_, _not dead_, _but it is not the potent factor it once was_, _and
+to what extent Governments are justified in taxing or restricting in any
+way the export or the import of goods will not again become a living
+question in this country until the impending Tariff Reform becomes law_.
+_There have been those who_, _reading the proofs of this book_, _have
+variously found in it arguments for_, _and others arguments against_,
+_Protection_; _but_, _as a sheer matter of fact_, _there are in these
+pages no studied arguments either way_, _and facts are here presented
+just as they are retrieved from half-forgotten records_, _with no other
+ulterior object than that of entertainment_.  _But if these pages also
+serve to show with what little wisdom __we are_, _and generally have
+been_, _governed_, _they may not be without their uses_.  _England_, _it
+may surely be gathered_, _here and elsewhere_, _is what she is by sheer
+force of dogged middle-class character_, _and in spite of her statesmen
+and lawgivers_.
+
+                                                       _CHARLES G. HARPER_
+
+_PETERSHAM_, _SURREY_,
+      _July_ 1909.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+INTRODUCTORY                                                         1
+                              CHAPTER I
+THE “OWLERS” OF ROMNEY MARSH, AND THE ANCIENT EXPORT                12
+SMUGGLING OF WOOL
+                              CHAPTER II
+GROWTH OF TEA AND TOBACCO SMUGGLING IN THE EIGHTEENTH               24
+CENTURY—REPRESSIVE LAWS A FAILURE
+                             CHAPTER III
+TERRORISING BANDS OF SMUGGLERS—THE HAWKHURST GANG—ORGANISED         39
+ATTACK ON GOUDHURST—“THE SMUGGLERS’ SONG”
+                              CHAPTER IV
+THE “MURDERS BY SMUGGLERS” IN HAMPSHIRE                             47
+                              CHAPTER V
+THE “MURDERS BY SMUGGLERS” _continued_—TRIAL AND EXECUTION          60
+OF THE MURDERERS—FURTHER CRIMES BY THE HAWKHURST GANG
+                              CHAPTER VI
+OUTRAGE AT HASTINGS BY THE RUXLEY GANG—BATTLE ON THE                78
+WHITSTABLE-CANTERBURY ROAD—CHURCH-TOWERS AS SMUGGLERS’
+CELLARS—THE DRUMMER OF HERSTMONCEUX—EPITAPH AT
+TANDRIDGE—DEPLORABLE AFFAIR AT HASTINGS—THE INCIDENT OF “THE
+FOUR BROTHERS”
+                             CHAPTER VII
+FATAL AFFRAYS AND DARING ENCOUNTERS AT RYE, DYMCHURCH,              94
+EASTBOURNE, BO-PEEP, AND FAIRLIGHT—THE SMUGGLERS’ ROUTE FROM
+SHOREHAM AND WORTHING INTO SURREY—THE MILLER’S TOMB—LANGSTON
+HARBOUR—BEDHAMPTON MILL
+                             CHAPTER VIII
+EAST COAST SMUGGLING—OUTRAGE AT BECCLES—A COLCHESTER               111
+RAID—CANVEY ISLAND—BRADWELL QUAY—THE EAST ANGLIAN “CART
+GAPS”—A BLAKENEY STORY—TRAGICAL EPITAPH AT HUSTANTON—THE
+PEDDAR’S WAY
+                              CHAPTER IX
+THE DORSET AND DEVON COASTS—EPITAPHS AT KINSON AND WYKE—THE        119
+“WILTSHIRE MOON-RAKERS”—EPITAPH AT BRANSCOMBE—THE WARREN AND
+“MOUNT PLEASANT” INN
+                              CHAPTER X
+CORNWALL IN SMUGGLING STORY—CRUEL COPPINGER—HAWKER’S               129
+SKETCH—THE FOWEY SMUGGLERS—TOM POTTER, OF POLPERRO—THE
+DEVILS OF TALLAND—SMUGGLERS’ EPITAPHS—CAVE AT WENDRON—ST.
+IVES
+                              CHAPTER XI
+TESTIMONY TO THE QUALITIES OF THE SEAFARING SMUGGLERS—ADAM         151
+SMITH ON SMUGGLING—A CLERICAL COUNTERBLAST—BIOGRAPHICAL
+SKETCHES OF SMUGGLERS—ROBERT JOHNSON, HARRY PAULET—WILLIAM
+GIBSON, A CONVERTED SMUGGLER
+                             CHAPTER XII
+THE CARTER FAMILY, OF PRUSSIA COVE                                 165
+                             CHAPTER XIII
+JACK RATTENBURY                                                    183
+                             CHAPTER XIV
+THE WHISKY SMUGGLERS                                               201
+                              CHAPTER XV
+SOME SMUGGLERS’ TRICKS AND EVASIONS—MODERN                         228
+TOBACCO-SMUGGLING—SILKS AND LACE—A DOG DETECTIVE—LEGHORN
+HATS—FOREIGN WATCHES
+                             CHAPTER XVI
+COAST BLOCKADE—THE PREVENTIVE WATER-GUARD AND THE                  239
+COASTGUARD—OFFICIAL RETURN OF SEIZURES—ESTIMATED LOSS TO THE
+REVENUE IN 1831—THE SHAM SMUGGLER OF THE SEASIDE—THE MODERN
+COASTGUARD
+INDEX                                                              249
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+“The Gentlemen go by”                                  _Frontispiece_.
+                                                                  PAGE
+The Owlers                                                          12
+The Owlers chase the Customs Officers into Rye                      16
+Goudhurst Church                                                    40
+“The Cautious turned their Faces away while the                     46
+Freetraders passed”
+Breaking open the Custom-house at Poole.  _From an                  48
+old Print_
+The “Red Lion,” Rake                                                54
+Sufferings of Daniel Chater.  _From an old Print_                   56
+Murder of Hawkins at the “Dog and Partridge.”                       64
+_From an old Print_
+The “Dog and Partridge,” Slindon Common                             66
+“For our Parson”                                                    76
+The Chop-backs                                                      78
+The Drummer of Herstmonceux                                         82
+Tandridge Church                                                    84
+Tombstone at Tandridge                                              86
+“Run the Rascal through!”                                           92
+Barham meets the Smugglers                                          96
+A Landing at Bo-Peep                                                98
+Smugglers’ Tracks near Ewhurst                                     102
+The Miller’s Tomb                                                  104
+Langston Harbour                                                   106
+Bedhampton Mill                                                    110
+The “Green Man,” Bradwell Quay                                     112
+Kitchen of the “Green Man”                                         114
+“The Light of other Days”                                          136
+The Devils of Talland                                              144
+Escape of Johnson                                                  156
+Johnson putting off from Brighton Beach                            158
+“Oft from yon bat-haunted tow’r”                                   168
+Prussia Cove                                                       170
+In a French Prison                                                 174
+Jack Rattenbury.  _From an old Print_                              184
+Smugglers hiding Goods in a Tomb                                   214
+Dragoons dispersing Smugglers                                      222
+Smugglers attacked.  _From a mezzo-tint after Sir                  228
+Francis Bourgeois_
+Smugglers defeated.  _From a mezzotint after Sir                   234
+Francis Bourgeois_
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY
+
+
+Customs dues and embargoes on imports and exports are things of
+immemorial antiquity, the inevitable accompaniments of civilisation and
+luxury; and the smugglers, who paid no dues and disregarded all
+prohibitions, are therefore of necessity equally ancient.  Carthage, the
+chief commercial community of the ancient world, was probably as greatly
+troubled by the questions of customs tariffs and smuggling as was the
+England of George the Third.  Without civilisation, and the consequent
+demand for the products of other lands, the smuggler’s trade cannot
+exist.  In that highly organised condition of so-styled civilisation
+which produces wars and race-hatreds and hostile tariffs and swollen
+taxation, the smuggler becomes an important person, a hateful figure to
+governments, but not infrequently a beneficent being to the
+ill-provided—in all nations the most numerous class—to whom he brought,
+at a reasonable price, and with much daring and personal risk, those
+comforts which, when they had paid toll to the Chancellor of the
+Exchequer, were all but unattainable.
+
+The chief defence, on the score of morals, set up by those few smugglers
+who ever were at pains to prove that smuggling could be no crime, was
+that customs duties were originally imposed in the time of Charles the
+Second to provide funds for the protection of our coasts from the
+Algerine and Barbary pirates who then occasionally adventured thus far
+from their piratical lurks in the Mediterranean and ravaged the more
+remote villages of our seaboard.  When these dangers ceased, contended
+these smugglers on their defence, the customs dues should automatically
+have been taken off; but they were, on the contrary, greatly increased.
+
+This view, or excuse, or defence—call it how we will—was, however,
+entirely without historical foundation.  It is true, indeed, that some
+ports had been taxed, and that customs dues had been imposed for this
+purpose, but customs charges were immemorially older than the seventeenth
+century.  There were probably such imposts in that lengthy era when
+Britain was a Roman colony, and we certainly hear of customs charges
+being levied in the reign of Ethelred, when a toll of one halfpenny was
+charged upon every small boat arriving at Billingsgate, and one penny
+upon larger boats, with sails.
+
+These pages will show that not only import, but also export smuggling was
+long continued in England, and not only so, but that the export
+smuggling, notably that of wool, was for centuries the most important, if
+not the only, kind.  The prohibition of sending wool out of the kingdom
+was, of course, introduced with the object of fostering the cloth
+manufacture; but there are always two sides to any question, and in this
+case the embargo upon wool soon taught the cloth-workers that, in the
+matter of prices, they had the wool-growers at their mercy.  By law they
+could not sell to foreign customers, or (later) only upon paying heavy
+dues; and the cloth-workers could therefore practically dictate their own
+terms.  In this pitiful resort—an example of the disastrous effect of
+government interference with trade—there was nothing left but to set the
+law at defiance, which the wool-growers and their allies, the “owlers,”
+accordingly did, risking life and limb in the wholesale exportation of
+wool.  It is the duty of every citizen to oppose bad laws, but this
+opposition to ill-conceived enactments creates a furtive class of men,
+very Ishmaelites, who, with their liberty, and even their lives, forfeit,
+are rendered capable, in extremity, of any and every enormity.  Hence
+arose those reckless bands of smugglers who in the middle of the
+eighteenth century became highly organised and all-powerful in Kent,
+Sussex, and Hampshire, and, realising their power, developed into
+criminals of the most ferocious type.  They were, properly regarded, the
+products of bad government, the creatures brought into existence by a
+vicious system that took its origin in the coming of William the Third,
+the “Deliverer,” as history, tongue in cheek, styles him.
+
+The growth of customs dues in the last years of the seventeenth century,
+and so onward, in a vicious progression until the opening years of the
+nineteenth, was not in any way owing to consideration for home traders,
+or to a desire for the protection of British industries.  They grew
+exactly in proportion as the needs of the Government for revenue
+increased; and were the direct results of that long-continued policy of
+foreign alliances and aggressive interference in continental
+politics—that “spirited foreign policy” advocated even in our own
+times—which was introduced with the coming of William the Third.  We did
+well to depose James the Second, but we might have done better than bring
+over his son-in-law and make him king; and we might, still more, have
+done better than raise the Elector of Hanover to the status of British
+sovereign, as George the First.  Then we should probably have avoided
+foreign entanglements, at any rate, until that later era when increased
+intercourse between the nations rendered international politics
+inevitable.
+
+Foreign wars, and the heavy duties levied to pay for them, brought about
+the enormous growth of smuggling, and directly caused all the miseries
+and the blood-stained incidents that make the story of the smugglers so
+“romantic.”  Glory is very fine, and stirs the pulses in reading the
+pages of history, but it is a commodity for which victorious nations, no
+less than the defeated, are called upon to pay in blood, tears, and
+privation.
+
+With the great peace that, in 1815, succeeded the long and harassing
+period of continual war, the people naturally looked forward towards a
+time when the excessively heavy duties would be reduced, and many
+articles altogether relieved from taxation.  As a matter of fact, some of
+these duties scarce paid the cost of their collection, and simply helped
+to keep in office a large and increasing horde of officials.  But the
+price of glory continues to be paid, long after the laurels have faded;
+and not for many years to come were those imposts reduced.
+
+Sydney Smith, writing in 1820 on the subject of American desire for a
+large navy, even then very manifest, warned the people of the United
+States of the nemesis awaiting such indulgence.  “We can inform
+Jonathan,” he said, “what are the inevitable consequences of being too
+fond of glory: Taxes upon every article which enters into the mouth, or
+covers the back, or is placed under the foot; taxes upon everything which
+it is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste; taxes upon warmth,
+light, and locomotion; taxes on everything on earth, and the waters under
+the earth; on everything that comes from abroad, or is grown at home;
+taxes on the raw material, taxes on every fresh value that is added to it
+by the industry of man; taxes on the sauce which pampers man’s appetite
+and the drug that restores him to health; on the ermine which decorates
+the judge and the rope which hangs the criminal; on the poor man’s salt
+and the rich man’s spice; on the brass nails of the coffin and the
+ribands of the bride; at bed or board, couchant or levant, we must pay.
+The schoolboy whips his taxed top; the beardless youth manages his taxed
+horse with a taxed bridle on a taxed road; and the dying Englishman,
+pouring his medicine, which has paid seven per cent., into a spoon that
+has paid fifteen per cent., flings himself back upon his chintz bed which
+has paid twenty-two per cent., makes his will on an eight-pound stamp,
+and expires in the arms of an apothecary who has paid a licence of a
+hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death.  His whole
+property is then immediately taxed from two to ten per cent.  Besides the
+probate, large fees are demanded for burying him in the chancel; his
+virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed marble; and he is then
+gathered to his fathers—to be taxed no more.”
+
+The real cost of military glory was aptly shown by a caricaturist of this
+period, who illustrated the general rise of prices consequent upon war in
+the following incident of an old country-woman buying a halfpenny candle
+at a chandler’s shop:
+
+“Price has gone up,” said the shopkeeper curtly, when she tendered the
+money.
+
+“What’s that for, then?” asked the old woman.
+
+“On account of the war, ma’am.”
+
+“Od rot ’em! do they fight by candlelight?” she not unnaturally asked.
+
+Housekeepers of the present day may well enter—although somewhat
+ruefully—into the humour of this simple story, for in the great and
+continued rise of every commodity since the great Boer War, it is most
+poignantly illustrated for us.  In short, the people who pay for the
+glory see nothing of it, and derive nothing from it.
+
+How entirely true were those witty phrases of Sydney Smith we may easily
+guess from the mere rough statement that there were, in 1787, no fewer
+than 1,425 articles liable to duty (very many of them taxed at several
+times their market value), bringing in £6,000,000 a year.
+
+In 1797 the customs laws filled six large folio volumes.  The total
+number of Customs Acts prior to the accession of George the Third was
+800, but no fewer than 1,300 were added between the years 1760 and 1813,
+and newer Acts, partly repealing and partly adding to older enactments,
+were continually being added to this vast mass of chaotic legislation
+down to the middle of the Victorian era, until even experts were
+frequently baffled as to the definite legal position of many given
+articles.  Finally—it is typical of our English amateur way of doing
+things—in 1876, when so-called “Free Trade” had come in, and few articles
+remained customable, the customs laws were consolidated.
+
+Many years before, at one swoop, Sir Robert Peel had removed the duties
+from four hundred different dutiable articles, leaving, however, many
+hundreds of others more or less heavily assessed.
+
+In consequence of this relief from taxation, smuggling rapidly decreased,
+and the Commissioners of Customs were enabled to report: “With the
+reduction of duties, and the removal of all needless and vexatious
+restrictions, smuggling has greatly diminished, and the public sentiment
+with regard to it has undergone a very considerable change.  The smuggler
+is no longer an object of general sympathy, as a hero of romance; and
+people are beginning to awaken to a perception of the fact that his
+offence is not only a fraud on the revenue, but a robbery of the fair
+trader.  Smuggling is now almost entirely confined to tobacco, spirits,
+and watches.”
+
+No fewer than four hundred and fifty other dutiable articles were struck
+off the list in 1845, and the Cobdenite era of Free Trade, to which, it
+was expected, all other nations would speedily be converted, had opened.
+
+“Free Trade,” we are told, “killed smuggling.”  It naturally killed
+smuggling so far as duty-free articles were concerned; but this
+all-embracing term of “Free Trade” is altogether a mockery and a
+delusion.  There has never been—there is not now—complete Free Trade in
+this so-called free-trade country.  Wines and spirits, tobacco, tea and
+coffee, cocoa and sugar, are not they in the forefront of the articles
+that render regularly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer?  There have
+been, indeed, throughout all the years of the Free Trade era, some forty
+articles scheduled for paying customs duty on import into the United
+Kingdom.  They help the revenue to the extent of about £27,000,000 per
+annum.
+
+The romance of smuggling has very largely engaged the attention of every
+description of writers, but we do not hear so much of its commercial
+aspects, although it must be evident that for men to dare so greatly as
+the smugglers did with winds and waves and with the customs’ forces, the
+possible gains must have been great.  Time and again a cargo of tea or of
+spirits would be seized, and yet the smugglers be prepared with other
+ventures, knowing, as they did, that one entirely successful run would
+pay for perhaps two failures.  When tea could be purchased in Holland at
+sevenpence a pound, and sold in England at prices ranging from 3_s._
+6_d._ to 5_s._, and when tobacco, purchased at the same price, sold at
+2_s._ 6_d._, it is evident that great possibilities existed for the
+enterprising free-trader.
+
+As regards spirits, if we take brandy as an example, we find almost equal
+profits; for excellent cognac was shipped from Roscoff, in Brittany, from
+Cherbourg, Dieppe, and other French ports in tubs of four gallons each,
+which cost in France £1 a tub, and sold in England at £4.  One of the
+ordinary smuggling luggers, generally built especially for this traffic,
+on racing lines, would hold eighty tubs.
+
+On such a cargo being brought, according to preconcerted plan, within
+easy distance off-shore, generally at night, a lantern or other signal
+shown from cliff or beach by confederates on land would indicate the
+precise spot where the goods were most safely to be beached; and there
+would be assembled a sufficient company of labourers engaged for the job.
+A cargo of eighty tubs required forty men, who carried two each, slung by
+ropes over chest and back.  According to circumstances, they marched in
+company on foot, inland; or, if the distance were great, they went on
+horseback, each man with a led horse, carrying three or four tubs in
+addition.  These labourers, although not finally interested in the safe
+running of the goods, and not paid on any other basis than being hired
+for the heavy job of carrying considerable weights throughout the night,
+were quite ready and willing to fight any opponents that might be met, as
+innumerable accounts of savage encounters tell us.  Besides these
+carriers, there were often, in case of opposition to the landing being
+anticipated, numerous “batsmen,” armed with heavy clubs, to protect the
+goods.
+
+The pay of a labourer or carrier varied widely, of course, in different
+places, at different times, and according to circumstances.  It ranged
+from five shillings to half a sovereign a night, and generally included
+also a present of a package of tea or a tub of brandy for so many
+successful runs.  It is recorded that the labourers engaged for riding
+horseback, each with a led horse, from Sandwich, Deal, Dover, Folkestone,
+or Romney, to Canterbury, a distance of some fifteen miles, were paid
+seven shillings a night.  The horses cost the smugglers nothing, for they
+were commandeered, as a general rule, from the neighbouring farmers, who
+did not usually offer any objection, for it was not often that the gangs
+forgot to leave a tub in payment.  The method employed in thus
+requisitioning horses was quite simple.  An unsigned note would be handed
+to a farmer stating that his horses were wanted, for some purpose
+unnamed, on a certain night; and that he was desired to leave his stables
+unlocked for those who would come and fetch them.  If he did not comply
+with this demand he very soon had cause to regret it in the mysterious
+disasters that would shortly afterwards overtake him: his outbuildings
+being destroyed by fire, his farming implements smashed, or his cattle
+mutilated.
+
+The farmers, indeed, were somewhat seriously embarrassed by the
+prevalence of smuggling.  On the one hand, they had to lend their horses
+for the smugglers’ purposes, and on the other they discovered that the
+demand for carriers of tubs and other goods shortened the supply of
+labour available for agricultural purposes, and sent up the rate of
+wages.  A labourer in the pay of smugglers would often be out three
+nights in the week, and, with the money he received and with additional
+payment in kind, was in a very comfortable position.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+  THE “OWLERS” OF ROMNEY MARSH, AND THE ANCIENT EXPORT SMUGGLING OF WOOL
+
+THE earliest conflicts of interests between smugglers and the Government
+were concerned with the export of goods, and not with imports.  We are
+accustomed to think only of the import smuggler, who brought from across
+Channel, or from more distant shores, the spirits, wines, tea, coffee,
+silks, laces, and tobacco that had never yielded to the revenue of the
+country; but before him in point of time, if not also in importance, was
+the “owler” who, defying all prohibitions and penalties, even to those of
+bodily mutilation and death, sold wool out of England and secretly
+shipped it at night from the shores of Kent and Sussex.
+
+English wool had from a very early date been greatly in demand on the
+Continent.  The England of those distant times was a purely agricultural
+country, innocent of arts, industries, and manufactures, except of the
+most primitive description.  The manufacturers then exercised their
+skilled trades largely in France and the Low Countries; and, in especial,
+the cloth-weaving industries were practised in Flanders.
+
+                          [Picture: The Owlers]
+
+So early as the reign of Edward the First the illegal exportation of wool
+engaged the attention of the authorities, and an export duty of £3 a bag
+(in modern money) was imposed, soon after 1276.  This was in 1298
+increased to £6 a bag, then lowered, and then again raised.  English wool
+was then worth 1_s._ 6_d._ a pound.
+
+In the reign of Edward the Third a strenuous attempt was made to
+introduce the weaving industries into England, and every inducement was
+offered the Flemish weavers to settle here and to bring their art with
+them.  In support of this policy, the export of wool was, in various
+years, subjected to further restrictions, and at one time entirely
+forbidden.  The royal solicitude for the newly cradled English weaving
+industries also in 1337 forbade the wearing of clothing made with cloth
+woven out of the country; but it is hardly necessary to add that edicts
+of this stringency were constantly broken; and in 1341 Winchelsea,
+Chichester, and thirteen other ports were named, whence wool might be
+exported, on payment of a duty of 50_s._ a sack of twenty-six
+stone—_i.e._ 364 lb.
+
+The interferences with the sale and export of wool continued, and the
+duty was constantly being raised or lowered, according to the supposed
+needs of the time; but nearly always with unforeseen and disastrous
+effects.  The wool staple was removed to the then English possession of
+Calais in 1363, and the export of it absolutely forbidden elsewhere.  The
+natural result, in spite of the great amount of smuggling carried on, was
+that in a long series of years the value of wool steadily fell; the
+cloth-makers taking advantage of the accumulation of stocks on the
+growers’ hands to depress the price.  In 1390 the growers had from three
+to five seasons’ crops on hand, and the state of the industry had become
+such that in the following year permission to export generally, on
+payment of duty, was conceded.  This duty tended to become gradually
+heavier, and, as it increased, so proportionably did the “owling” trade.
+
+The price of wool therefore declined again, and in 1454 it was recorded
+as being not more than two-thirds of what it had been a hundred and ten
+years earlier.  The wool-growers, on the brink of ruin, petitioned that
+wool, according to its various grades, might not be sold under certain
+fixed prices; which were accordingly fixed.
+
+But to follow, _seriatim_, the movements in prices and the complete
+reversals of Government policy regarding the export, would be wearisome.
+We will, therefore, pass on to the Restoration of the monarchy, in 1660,
+when the export of wool was again entirely forbidden.  Smuggling of it
+was in 1662 again, by the reactionary laws of the period, made a felony,
+punishable with death; yet the active smugglers, the rank and file of the
+owling trade, who performed the hard manual labour for wages, at the
+instigation of those financially interested, continued to risk their
+necks for twelvepence a day.  The low price their services commanded is
+alone sufficient to show us that labour, in spite of the risks, was
+plentiful.  Not only Kent and Sussex, but Essex, and Ireland as well,
+largely entered into this secret “stealing of wool out of the country,”
+as the phrase ran; and “these caterpillars” had so many evasions, and
+commanded so many combinations and interests among those officials whose
+business it was to detect and punish, that few dared interfere: hence the
+readiness of the labourers to “risk their necks,” the risk being, under
+the circumstances, small.
+
+Indeed, readers of the adventures of these owling desperadoes and of the
+customs officers who hunted them will, perhaps, come to the conclusion
+that the risks on either side were pretty evenly apportioned, and they
+will see that the hunters not seldom became the hunted.
+
+The experiences of one W. Carter, who appears to have been in authority
+over the customs staff in the Romney Marsh district, towards the close of
+the seventeenth century, were at times singularly vivid.  His particular
+“hour of crowded life” came in 1688, while he was engaged in an attempt
+to arrest a body of owlers who were shipping wool into some French
+shallops between Folkestone and New Romney.
+
+Having procured the necessary warrants, he repaired to Romney, where he
+seized eight or ten men who were carrying the wool on their horses’ backs
+to be shipped, and desired the Mayor of Romney to commit them, but,
+greatly to the surprise of this zealous officer, who doubtless imagined
+he had at last laid some of these desperate fellows securely by the
+heels, the Mayor of Romney consented to the prisoners being admitted to
+bail.  Mr. Carter, to have been so ingenuously surprised, must have been
+a singularly simple official, or quite new to the business; for what
+Mayor of Romney in those days, when every one on the Marsh smuggled, or
+was interested financially in the success of smuggling, would dare not
+deal leniently with these fellows!  Nay, it was even abundantly probable
+that the Mayor himself was financially committed in these ventures, and
+perhaps even among the employers of Mr. Carter’s captives.
+
+Romney was no safe abiding-place for Carter and his underlings when these
+men were enlarged; and they accordingly retired upon Lydd.  But if they
+had fondly expected peace and shelter there they were woefully mistaken,
+for a Marshland cry of vengeance was raised, and a howling mob of owlers,
+ululating more savagely than those melancholy birds from whom they took
+their name, violently attacked them in that little town, under cover of
+night.  The son of the Mayor of Lydd, well disposed to these sadly
+persecuted revenue men, advised them to further retire upon Rye, which
+they did the next morning, December 13th, pursued hotly across the
+dyke-intersected marshes, as far as Camber Point, by fifty furious men.
+
+        [Picture: The Owlers chase the Customs Officers into Rye]
+
+At Guilford Ferry the pursuers were so close upon their heels that they
+had to hurriedly dismount and tumble into some boats belonging to ships
+lying near, leaving their horses behind; and so they came safe, but
+breathless, into Rye town.
+
+At this period Calais—then lost to England—alone imported within two
+years 40,000 packs of wool from Kent and Sussex; and the Romney Marsh men
+not only sold their own wool in their illicit manner, but bought other
+from up-country, ten or twenty miles inland, and impudently shipped it
+off.
+
+In 1698, the severe laws of some thirty years earlier having been thus
+brought into contempt, milder penal enactments were introduced, but more
+stringent conditions than ever were imposed upon the collection and
+export of this greatly vexed commodity, and the civil deterrents of
+process and fine, aimed at the big men in the trade, were strengthened.
+A law was enacted (9 & 10 William the Third, c. 40, ss. 2 and 3) by which
+no person living within fifteen miles of the sea in the counties of Kent
+and Sussex should buy any wool before he became responsible in a legal
+bond, with sureties, that none of the wool he should buy should be sold
+by him to any persons within fifteen miles of the sea; and growers of
+wool in those counties, within ten miles of the coast, were obliged,
+within three days of shearing, to account for the number of fleeces
+shorn, and to state where they were stored.
+
+The success of this new law was not at first very marked, for the means
+of enforcing it had not been provided.  To enact repressive edicts, and
+not to provide the means of their being respected, was as unsatisfactory
+as fighting the wind.  The Government, viewing England as a whole,
+appointed under the new Act seventeen surveyors for nineteen counties,
+with 299 riding-officers: a force barely sufficient for Kent and Sussex
+alone.  It cost £20,000 a year, and never earned its keep.
+
+Henry Baker, supervisor for Kent and Sussex, writing on April 25th, 1699,
+to his official chiefs, stated that there would be shorn in Romney Marsh,
+quite apart from the adjacent levels of Pett, Camber, Guilford, and Dunge
+Marsh, about 160,000 sheep, whose fleeces would amount to some three
+thousand packs of wool, “the greatest part whereof will immediately be
+sent off hot into France—it being so designed, preparations in great
+measure being already made for that purpose.”
+
+In fact, the new law at first did nothing more than to give the owlers
+some extra trouble and expense in cartage of their packs; for, in order
+to legally evade the extra disabilities it imposed, it was only necessary
+to cart them fifteen miles inland and make fictitious sale and re-sale of
+them there; thence shipping them as they pleased.
+
+By this time the exportation of wool had become not only a kingly
+concern—it had aroused the keen interest of the nation at large, fast
+becoming an industrial and cloth-weaving nation.  For two centuries and
+more past the cloth-workers had been growing numerous, wealthy, and
+powerful, and they meant, as far as it was possible for them to do, to
+starve the continental looms out of the trade, for sheer lack of
+material.  No one cared in the least about the actual grower of the wool,
+whether he made a loss or a profit on his business.  It is obvious that
+if export of it could have been wholly stopped, the cloth-workers, in the
+forced absence of foreign buyers, would have held the unfortunate growers
+in the hollow of their hands, and would have been able to dictate the
+price of wool.
+
+It is the inalienable right of every human being to fight against unjust
+laws; only we must be sure they are unjust.  Perhaps the dividing-line,
+when self-interest is involved, is not easily to be fixed.  But there can
+be no doubt that the wool-growers were labouring under injustice, and
+that they were entirely justified in setting those laws at naught which
+menaced their existence.
+
+However, by December 1703, Mr. Baker was able to give his superiors a
+more favourable report.  He believed the neck of the owling trade to have
+been broken and the spirit of the owlers themselves to have been crushed,
+particularly in Romney Marsh.  There were not, at that time, he observed,
+“many visible signs” of any quantities of wool being exported: which
+seems to us rather to point to the perfected organisation of the owling
+trade than to its being crushed out of existence.
+
+“But for fine goods,” continued the supervisor, “as they call them
+(_viz._ silks, lace, etc.), I am well assured that the trade goes on
+through both counties, though not in such vast quantities as have been
+formerly brought in—I mean in those days when (as a gentleman of estate
+in one of the counties has within this twelve months told me) he has been
+att once, besides at other times, at the loading of a wagon with silks,
+laces, etc., till six oxen could hardly move it out of the place.  I doe
+not think that the trade is now so carried on as ’twas then.”
+
+Things being so promising in the purview of this simple person, it seemed
+well to him to suggest to the Commissioners of the Board of Customs that
+a reduction of the annual charge of £4,500 for the preventive service
+along the coasts of Kent and Sussex might be effected.  At that time
+there were fifty preventive officers patrolling over two hundred miles of
+seaboard, each in receipt of £60 per annum, and each provided with a
+servant and a horse, to help in night duty, at an estimated annual cost
+of £30 for each officer.
+
+We may here legitimately pause in surprise at the small pay for which
+these men were ready to endure the dangers and discomforts of such a
+service; very real perils and most unmistakable disagreeables, in midst
+of an almost openly hostile country-side.
+
+Mr. Baker, sanguine man that he was, proposed to abolish the annual
+allowance to each of these hard-worked men for servant and horse, thus
+saving £1,500 a year, and to substitute for them patrols of the Dragoon
+regiments at that time stationed in Kent.  These regiments had been
+originally placed there in 1698 to overawe the owlers and other
+smugglers, the soldiers being paid twopence extra a day (which certainly
+did not err upon the side of extravagance) and the officers in
+proportion: the annual cost on that head amounting to £200 per annum.
+This military stiffening of the civil force employed to prevent
+clandestine export and import appears to have been discontinued in 1701,
+after about two years’ experiment.
+
+These revived patrols, at a cost of £200, the supervisor calculated,
+would more efficiently and economically undertake the work hitherto
+performed by the preventive officers’ horses and men, still leaving a
+saving of £1,300 a year.  With this force, and a guard of cruisers
+offshore, he was quite convinced that the smuggling of these parts would
+still be kept under.
+
+But alas for these calculations!  The economy thus effected on this
+scheme, approved of and put into being, was altogether illusory.  The
+owling trade, of which the supervisor had supposed the neck to be broken,
+flourished more impudently than before.  The Dragoons formed a most
+inefficient patrol, and worked ill with the revenue officers, and, in
+short, the Revenue lost annually many more thousands of pounds sterling
+than it saved hundreds.  When sheriffs and under-sheriffs could be, and
+were, continually bribed, it is not to be supposed that Dragoons,
+thoroughly disliking such an inglorious service as that of chasing
+smugglers along muddy lanes and across country intricately criss-crossed
+with broad dykes rarely to be jumped, would be superior to secret
+advances that gave them much more than their miserable twopence a day.
+
+Transportation for wool-smugglers who did not pay the fines awarded
+against them was enacted in 1717; ineffectually, for in 1720 it was found
+necessary to issue a proclamation, enforcing the law; and in five
+successive years from 1731 the cloth-workers are found petitioning for
+greater vigilance against the continued clandestine exportation, alleging
+a great decay in the woollen manufactures owing to this illegal export;
+150,000 packs being shipped yearly.  “It is feared,” said these
+petitioners, fighting for their own hand, regardless, of course, of other
+interests, “that some gentlemen of no mean rank, whose estates border on
+the sea-coast, are too much influenced by a near, but false, prospect of
+gain”: to which the gentlemen in question, being generally brought up on
+the dead classic languages, might most fairly have replied, had they
+cared to do so, with the easy Latinity of _Tu quoque_!
+
+This renewed daring and enterprise of the Sussex smugglers led to many
+encounters with the customs officers.  Among these was the desperate
+engagement between sixty armed smugglers and customs men at Ferring, on
+June 21st, 1720, when William Goldsmith, of the Customs, had his horse
+shot under him.
+
+A humorous touch, so far at least as the modern reader of these things is
+concerned, is found in the Treasury warrant issued about this time, for
+the sum of £200, for supplying a regiment with new boots and stockings;
+their usual allowance of these indispensable articles having been “worn
+out in the pursuit of smugglers.”
+
+In spite of all attempts to suppress these illegal activities, it had to
+be acknowledged, in the preamble of an Act passed in 1739, that the
+export of wool was “notoriously continued.”
+
+The old-established owling trade of Romney Marsh at length, after many
+centuries, gave place to the clandestine import of silks, tea, spirits,
+and tobacco; but it was only by slow and insensible degrees that the
+owlers’ occupation dwindled away, in the lessening foreign demand for
+English wool.  The last was not heard of this more than
+five-centuries-old question of the export of wool, that had so severely
+exercised the minds of some twenty generations, and had baffled the
+lawgivers in all that space of time, until the concluding year of the
+final wars with France at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
+
+Many other articles were at the same time forbidden to be exported; among
+them Fuller’s-earth, used in the manufacture of cloth, and so, of course,
+subject to the same interdict as wool.  A comparatively late Exchequer
+trial for the offence of exporting Fuller’s-earth was that of one Edmund
+Warren, in 1693.  Fortunately for the defendant, he was able to show that
+what he had exported was not Fuller’s-earth at all, but potter’s clay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+ GROWTH OF TEA AND TOBACCO SMUGGLING IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY—REPRESSIVE
+                              LAWS A FAILURE
+
+SIDE by side with the export smuggling of wool, the import smuggling of
+tobacco and tea grew and throve amazingly in later ages.  Every one,
+knowingly or unsuspectingly, smoked tobacco and drank tea that had paid
+no duty.
+
+“Great Anna” herself, who was among the earliest to yield to the refining
+influence of tea—
+
+             Great Anna, whom three realms obey,
+    Doth sometimes counsel take, and sometimes tay—
+
+in all probability often drank tea which had contributed nothing to the
+revenue.  Between them tea and tobacco, in the illegal landing of the
+goods, found employment for hundreds of hardy seafaring men and stalwart
+landsmen, and led to much violence and bloodshed, beside which the
+long-drawn annals of the owlers seem almost barren of incident.
+
+Early in the eighteenth century, when continental wars of vast magnitude
+were in progress, the list of dutiable articles began to grow quickly,
+and concurrently with the growth of this list the already existing tariff
+was continually increased.  The smugglers’ trade grew with these growths,
+and for the first time became a highly organised and widely distributed
+trade, involving every class.  The time had come at last when every
+necessary of daily use was taxed heavily, often far above its ordinary
+trading value; and an absurd, and indeed desperate, condition of affairs
+had been reached, in which people of all ranks were more or less faced
+with the degrading dilemma of being unable to afford many articles
+generally consumed by persons of their station in life, or of procuring
+them of the smugglers—the “free traders,” as they rightly styled
+themselves—often at a mere one-third of the cost to which they would have
+been put had their illicit purchasers paid duty.
+
+The Government was, as we now perceive, in the mental perspective
+afforded by lapse of time, in the clearly indefensible position of
+heavily taxing the needs of the country, and of making certain practices
+illegal that tended to supply those needs at much lower rates than those
+thus artificially created, and yet of being unable to provide adequate
+means by which these generally detested laws could be enforced.  It was,
+and is, no defence to hold that the revenues thus hoped for were a
+sufficient excuse.  To create an artificial restraint of trade, to
+elevate trading in spite of restraint into a crime, and yet not to
+provide an overmastering force that shall secure obedience, if not in one
+sense respect, for those unnatural laws, was in itself a course of action
+that any impartial historian might well hold to be in itself criminal;
+for it led to continual disturbances throughout the country, with
+appalling violence, and great loss of life, in conflict, or in the darker
+way of secret murder.
+
+But no historian would, on weighing the evidence available, feel
+altogether sure of so sweeping an indictment of the eighteenth-century
+governance of England.  It was corrupt, it was self-seeking, it had no
+breadth of view; but the times were well calculated to test the most
+Heaven-sent statesmanship.  The country, as were all other countries, was
+governed for the classes; and governed, as one would conduct a business,
+for revenue; whether the revenue was to be applied in conducting foreign
+wars, or to find its way plentifully into the pockets of placemen, does
+not greatly matter.  This misgovernment was a characteristic failing of
+the age; and it must, moreover, be recognised that the historian, with
+his comprehensive outlook upon the past, spread out, so to speak,
+map-like to his gaze, has the advantage of seeing these things as a
+whole, and of criticising them as such; while the givers and
+administrators of laws were under the obvious disadvantages of each
+planning and working for what they considered to be the needs of their
+own particular period, with those of the future unknown, and perhaps
+uncared for.  That there were some few among those in authority who
+wrought according to their lights, however feeble might be their
+illumination, must be conceded even to that age.
+
+At the opening of this era, when Marlborough’s great victories were yet
+fresh, and when the cost of them and of other military glories was
+wearing the country threadbare, the most remarkable series of repressive
+Acts, directed against smuggling, began.  Vessels of very small tonnage
+and light draught, being found peculiarly useful to smugglers, the use of
+such, even in legalised importing, was strictly forbidden, and no craft
+of a lesser burthen than fifteen tons was permitted.  This provision, it
+was fondly conceived, would strike a blow at smuggling, by rendering it
+impossible to slip up narrow and shallow waterways; but this pious
+expectation was doomed to disappointment, and the limit was accordingly
+raised to thirty tons; and again, in 1721, to forty tons.  At the same
+time, the severest restrictions were imposed upon boats, in order to cope
+with the ten, or even twelve and fourteen-oared galleys, rowed by
+determined “free-traders.”
+
+To quote the text of one among these drastic ordinances:
+
+    “Any boat built to row with more than four oars, found upon land or
+    water within the counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, or Sussex, or
+    in the river Thames, or within the limits of the ports of London,
+    Sandwich, or Ipswich, or any boat rowing with more than six oars
+    found either upon land or water, in any other port, or within two
+    leagues of the coast of Great Britain, shall be forfeited, and every
+    person using or rowing in such boat shall forfeit £40.”
+
+These prohibitions were, in 1779, in respect of boats to row with more
+than six oars, extended to all other English counties; the port of
+Bristol only excepted.
+
+As for smuggling craft captured with smuggled goods the way of the
+revenue authorities with such was drastic.  They were sawn in three
+pieces, and then thoroughly broken up.
+
+The futility of these extraordinary steps is emphasised by the report of
+the Commissioners of Customs to the Treasury in 1733, that immense
+smuggling operations were being conducted in Kent, Sussex, Essex, and
+Suffolk.  In twelve months, this report declared, 54,000 lb. of tea and
+123,000 gallons of brandy had been seized, and still, in spite of these
+tremendous losses, the spirit of the smugglers was unbroken, and
+smuggling was increasing.  An additional force of 106 Dragoons was asked
+for, to stiffen that of 185 already patrolling those coasts.
+
+It was clearly required, with the utmost urgency, for such a mere handful
+of troops spread over this extended seaboard could scarce be considered a
+sufficient backing for the civil force, in view of the determined
+encounters continually taking place, in which the recklessness and daring
+of the smugglers knew no bounds.  Thus, in June 1733, the officers of
+customs at Newhaven, attempting to seize ten horses laden with tea, at
+Cuckmere, were opposed by about thirty men, armed with pistols and
+blunderbusses, who fired on the officers, took them prisoners, and kept
+them under guard until the goods were safely carried off.
+
+In August of the same year the riding-officers, observing upwards of
+twenty smugglers at Greenhay, most of them on horseback, pluckily essayed
+to do their duty and seize the goods, but the smugglers fell furiously
+upon them, and with clubs knocked one off his horse, severely wounded
+him, and confined him for an hour, while the run was completed.  Of his
+companions no more is heard.  They probably—to phrase it delicately—went
+for assistance.
+
+In July 1735, customs officers of the port of Arundel, watching the
+coast, expecting goods to be run from a hovering smuggler craft, were
+discovered by a gang of more than twenty armed smugglers, anxiously
+waiting for the landing, and not disposed for an all-night trial of
+endurance in that waiting game.  They accordingly seized the officers and
+confined them until some boatloads of contraband had been landed and
+conveyed away on horseback.  In the same month, at Kingston-by-the-Sea,
+between Brighton and Shoreham, some officers, primed with information of
+a forthcoming run of brandy, and seeking it, found as well ten smugglers
+with pistols.  Although the smugglers were bold and menacing, the customs
+men on this occasion had the better of it, for they seized and duly
+impounded the brandy.
+
+A more complicated affair took place on December 6th of the same year,
+when some customs officers of Newhaven met a large, well-armed gang of
+smugglers, who surrounded them and held them prisoners for an hour and a
+half.  The same gang then fell in with another party, consisting of three
+riding-officers and six Dragoons, and were bold enough to attack them.
+Foolish enough, we must also add; for they got the worst of the
+encounter, and, fleeing in disorder, were pursued; five—armed with
+pistols, swords, and cutlasses, and provided with twelve horses—being
+captured.
+
+A fatal encounter took place at Bulverhythe, between Hastings and
+Bexhill, in March 1737.  It is best read of in the anonymous letter
+written to the Commissioners of Customs by a person who, for fear of the
+smuggling gangs, was afraid to disclose his real name, and subscribed
+himself “Goring.”  The letter—whose cold-blooded informing, the work
+evidently of an educated, but cruel-minded person, is calculated to make
+any reader of generous instincts shiver—is to be found among the customs
+correspondence, in the Treasury Papers.
+
+    “May it please [your] Honours,—It is not unknown to your Lordships of
+    the late battle between the Smuglers and Officers at Bulverhide; and
+    in relation to that Business, if your Honours but please to advise in
+    the News Papers, that this is expected off, I will send a List of the
+    names of the Persons that were at that Business, and the places’
+    names where they are usually and mostly resident.  Cat (Morten’s man)
+    fired first, Morten was the second that fired; the soldiers fired and
+    killed Collison, wounded Pigon, who is since dead; William Weston was
+    wounded, but like to recover.  Young Mr. Bowra was not there, but his
+    men and horses were; from your Honours’
+
+                    “Dutifull and Most faithfull servant,
+
+                                                                  “GORING.
+
+    “There was no foreign persons at this Business, but all were Sussex
+    men, and may easily be spoke with.
+
+    “This [is] the seventh time Morten’s people have workt this winter,
+    and have not lost anything but one half-hundred [of tea] they gave to
+    a Dragoon and one officer they met with the first of this winter; and
+    the Hoo company have lost no goods, although they constantly work,
+    and at home too, since they lost the seventy hundred-weight.  When
+    once the Smuglers are drove from home they will soon all be taken.
+    Note, that some say it was Gurr that fired first.  You must well
+    secure Cat, or else your Honours will soon lose the man; the best way
+    will be to send for him up to London, for he knows the whole Company,
+    and hath been Morten’s servant two years.  There were several young
+    Chaps with the Smuglers, whom, when taken, will soon discover the
+    whole Company.  The number was twenty-six men.  Mack’s horses,
+    Morten’s, and Hoak’s, were killed, and they lost not half their
+    goods.  They have sent for more goods, and twenty-nine horses set out
+    from Groombridge this day, about four in the afternoon, and all the
+    men well armed with long guns.
+
+    “And if I hear this is received, I will send your Honours the Places
+    names where your Honours will intercep the Smuglers as they go to
+    Market with their Goods, but it must be done by Soldiers, for they go
+    stronger now than ever.  And as for Mr. Gabriel Tompkin, Supervisor
+    of Dartford, there can be good reason given that Jacob Walter brought
+    him Goods for three years last past, and it is likewise no dispute of
+    that matter amongst allmost all the Smuglers.  The Bruces and Jacob
+    fought about that matter and parted Company’s, and Mr. Tompkin was
+    allway, as most people know, a villain when a Smugler and likewise
+    Officer.  He never was concern’d with any Body but Jacob, and now
+    Jacob has certainly done with Smugling.  I shall not trouble your
+    Honours with any more Letters if I do not hear from this, and I do
+    assure your Honours what I now write is truth.
+
+    “There are some Smuglers with a good sum of money, and they may pay
+    for taking; as Thomas Darby, Edward King, John Mackdanie, and others
+    that are rich.
+
+    “The Hoo Company might have been all ruined when they lost their
+    goods; the Officers and Soldiers knew them all, but they were not
+    prosecuted, as [they] was not at Groombridge, when some time since a
+    Custom House Officer took some Tea and Arms too in Bowra’s house at
+    Groombridge.
+
+    “The first of this Winter, the Groombridge Smuglers were forced to
+    carry their goods allmost all up to Rushmore Hill and Cester Mark,
+    which some they do now, but Tea sells quick in London now, and Chaps
+    from London come down to Groombridge allmost every day, as they used
+    to do last Winter.  When once they come to be drove from home, they
+    will be put to great inconveniences, when they are from their friends
+    and will lose more Goods than they do now, and be at more Charges.
+    Do but take up some of the Servants, they will soon rout the Masters,
+    for the Servants are all poor.
+
+    “Young Bowra’s House cost £500 building, and he will pay for looking
+    up.
+
+    “Morten and Bowra sold, last Winter, some-ways, about 3,000 [lb.]
+    weight a week.”
+
+We hear nothing further of “Goring,” and there is nothing to show who was
+the person whose cold malignance appears horribly in every line of his
+communication.  Any action that may have been officially taken upon it is
+also hidden from us.  But we may at least gather from it that the
+master-men, the employers of the actual smugglers of the goods, were in a
+considerable way of business, and already making very large profits.  We
+see, too, that the smuggling industry was even then well on towards being
+a powerful organisation.
+
+Still sterner legislative methods were, accordingly, in the opinion of
+the authorities, called for, and the Act of Indemnity of 1736 was the
+first result.  This was a peculiarly mean and despicable measure, even
+for a Revenue Act.  There is this excuse—although a small one—for it;
+that the Government was increasingly pressed for money, and that the
+enormous leakage of customs dues might possibly in some degree be
+lessened by stern and not very high-minded laws.  By this Act it was
+provided that smugglers who desired (whether on trial or not) to obtain a
+free pardon for past offences, might do so by fully disclosing them; at
+the same time giving the names of their fellows.  The especial iniquity
+of this lamentable example of frantic legislation, striking as it did at
+the very foundations of character in the creation of the informer and the
+sneak, is a sad instance of the moral obliquity to which a Government
+under stress of circumstances can descend.
+
+The Act further proceeded to deal with backsliders who, having purged
+themselves as above, again resumed their evil courses, and it made the
+ways of transgressors very hard indeed; for, when captured, they were
+charged with not only their present offence, but also with that for which
+they had compounded with the Dev— that is to say, with the law.  And,
+being so charged, and duly convicted, their case was desperate; for if
+the previous offence had carried with it, on conviction, a sentence of
+transportation (as many smuggling offences did: among them the carrying
+of firearms by three, or more men, while engaged in smuggling goods), the
+second brought a sentence of death.
+
+With regard to the position of the pardoned smuggler who had earned his
+pardon by thus peaching on his fellows, it is not too much to
+say—certainly so far as the more ferocious smuggling gangs of Kent and
+Sussex were concerned—that by so doing he had already earned his capital
+sentence; for the temper of these men was such, and the risks they were
+made to run by these ferocious Acts were so great, that they would
+not—and, in a way of looking at these things, could not—suffer an
+informer to live.
+
+Thus, even the additional inducements offered to informers by
+statute—including a reward of £50 each for the discovery and conviction
+of two or more accomplices—very generally failed to obtain results.
+
+Many other items of unexampled severity were included in this Act, and in
+the yet more drastic measures of 1745 and the following year.  By these
+it was provided that persons found loitering within five miles of the
+sea-coast, or any navigable river, might be considered suspicious
+persons; and they ran the risk of being taken before a magistrate, who
+was empowered, on any such person being unable to give a satisfactory
+account of himself, to commit him to the House of Correction, there to be
+whipped and kept at hard labour for any period not exceeding one month.
+
+In 1746, assembling to run contraband goods was made a crime punishable
+with death as a felon, and counties were made liable for revenue losses.
+Smuggled goods seized and afterwards rescued entailed a fine of £200 upon
+the county; a revenue officer beaten by smugglers cost the county £40; or
+if killed, £100; with the provision that the county should be exempt if
+the offenders were convicted within six months.
+
+As regards the offenders themselves, if they failed to surrender within
+forty days and were afterwards captured, the person who captured them was
+entitled to a reward of £500.
+
+Dr. Johnson’s definition of a smuggler appears on the title-page of the
+present volume.  It is not a flattering testimonial to character; but, on
+the other hand, his opinion of a Commissioner of Excise—and such were the
+sworn enemies of smugglers—was much more unfavourable.  Such an one was
+bracketed by the doctor with a political pamphleteer, or what he termed
+“a scribbler for a party,” as one of “the two lowest of human beings.”
+Without the context in which these judgments are now placed, it would be
+more than a little difficult to trace their reasoning, which sounds as
+little sensible as it would be to declare at one and the same time a
+burglar to be a dangerous pest and a policeman a useless ornament.  But
+if smugglers can be proved from these pages wicked and reckless men, so
+undoubtedly shall we find the Commissioners of Excise and Customs, in
+their several spheres, appealing to the basest of human instincts, and
+thus abundantly worthy of Johnson’s censure.
+
+The shifts and expedients of the Commissioners of Customs for the
+suppression of smuggling were many and ingenious, and none was more
+calculated to perform the maximum of service to the Revenue with the
+minimum of cost than the commissioning of privateers, authorised to
+search for, to chase, and to capture if possible any smuggling craft.
+“Minimum of cost” is indeed not the right expression for use here, for
+the cost and risks to the customs establishment were _nil_.  It should be
+said here that, although the Acts of Parliament directed against
+smuggling were of the utmost stringency, they were not always applied
+with all the severity possible to be used; and, on the other hand,
+customs officers and the commanders of revenue cutters were well advised
+to guard against any excess of zeal in carrying out their instructions.
+To chase and capture a vessel that every one knew perfectly well to be a
+smuggler, and then to find no contraband aboard, because, as a matter of
+fact, it had been carefully sunk at some point where it could easily be
+recovered at leisure, was not only not the way to promotion as a zealous
+officer; but was, on the contrary, in the absence of proof that
+contraband had been carried, a certain way to official disfavour.  And it
+was also, as many officers found to their cost, the way into actions at
+law, with resultant heavy damages not infrequently awarded against them.
+It was, indeed, a scandal that these public servants, who assuredly
+rarely ever brought to, or overhauled, a vessel without reasonable and
+probable cause, should have been subject to such contingencies, without
+remedy of any kind.
+
+The happy idea of licensing private adventurers to build and equip
+vessels to make private war upon smuggling craft, and to capture them and
+their cargoes, was an extension of the original plan of issuing letters
+of marque to owners of vessels for the purpose of inflicting loss upon an
+enemy’s commerce; but persons intending to engage upon this private
+warfare against smuggling had, in the first instance, to give security to
+the Commissioners of a diligence in the cause thus undertaken, and to
+enter into business details respecting the cargoes captured.  It was,
+however, not infrequently found, in practice, that these privateers very
+often took to smuggling on their own account, and that, under the
+protective cloak of their ostensible affairs, they did a very excellent
+business; while, to complete this picture of failure, those privateers
+that really did keep to their licensed trade generally contrived to lose
+money and to land their owners into bankruptcy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+  TERRORISING BANDS OF SMUGGLERS—THE HAWKHURST GANG—ORGANISED ATTACK ON
+                     GOUDHURST—THE “SMUGGLERS’ SONG”
+
+BUT the smugglers of Kent and Sussex were by far the most formidable of
+all the “free-traders” in England, and were not easily to be suppressed.
+Smuggling, export and import, off those coasts was naturally heavier than
+elsewhere, for there the Channel was narrower, and runs more easily
+effected.  The interests involved were consequently much greater, and the
+organisation of the smugglers, from the master-men to the labourers, more
+nearly perfect.  To interfere with any of the several confederacies into
+which these men were banded for the furtherance of their illicit trade
+was therefore a matter of considerable danger, and, well knowing the
+terror into which they had thrown the country-side, they presumed upon
+it, to extend their activities into other, and even less reputable,
+doings.  The intervals between carrying tubs, and otherwise working for
+the master-smugglers became filled, towards the middle of the eighteenth
+century, with acts of highway robbery and house-breaking, and, in the
+home counties, at any rate, smuggling proved often to be only the first
+step in a career of crime.
+
+Among these powerful and terrorising confederacies, the Hawkhurst gang
+was pre-eminent.  The constitution of it was, necessarily, a matter of
+inexact information, for the officers and the rank and file of such
+societies are mentioned by no minute-books or reports.  But one of its
+principals was, without question, Arthur Gray, or Grey, who was one of
+those “Sea Cocks” after whom Seacox Heath, near Hawkhurst, in Kent, is
+supposed to be named.  He was a man who did things on, for those times, a
+grand scale, and was said to be worth £10,000.  He had built on that then
+lonely ridge of ground, overlooking at a great height the Weald of Kent,
+large store houses—a kind of illicit “bonded warehouses”—for smuggled
+goods, and made the spot a distributing centre.  That all these facts
+should have been contemporaneously known, and Gray’s store not have been
+raided by the Revenue, points to an almost inconceivable state of
+lawlessness.  The buildings were in after years known as “Gray’s Folly”;
+but it was left for modern times to treat the spot in a truly sportive
+way: when Lord Goschen, who built the modern mansion of Seacox Heath on
+the site of the smuggler’s place of business, became Chancellor of the
+Exchequer.  If the unquiet ghosts of the old smugglers ever revisit their
+old haunts, how weird must have been the ironic laughter of Gray at
+finding this the home of the chief financial functionary of the
+Government!
+
+                       [Picture: Goudhurst Church]
+
+In December 1744 the gang were responsible for the impudent abduction of
+a customs officer and three men who had attempted to seize a run of goods
+at Shoreham.  They wounded the officer and carried the four off to
+Hawkhurst, where they tied two of them, who had formerly been smugglers
+and had ratted to the customs service, to trees, whipped them almost to
+death, and then took them down to the coast again and shipped them to
+France.  A reward of £50 was offered, but never claimed.
+
+To exhume yet another incident from the forgotten doings of the time: In
+March 1745 a band of twelve or fourteen smugglers assaulted three
+custom-house officers whom they found in an alehouse at Grinstead Green,
+wounded them in a barbarous manner, and robbed them of their watches and
+money.
+
+In the same year a gang entered a farmhouse near Sheerness, in Sheppey,
+and stole a great quantity of wool, valued at £1,500.  A week later £300
+worth of wool, which may or may not have been a portion of that stolen,
+was seized upon a vessel engaged in smuggling it from Sheerness, and
+eight men were secured.
+
+The long immunity of the Hawkhurst Gang from serious interference
+inevitably led to its operations being extended in every direction, and
+the law-abiding populace of Kent and Sussex eventually found themselves
+dominated by a great number of fearless marauders, whose will for a time
+was a greater law than the law of the land.  None could take legal action
+against them without going hourly in personal danger, or in fear of
+house, crops, wheat-stacks, hay-ricks, or stock being burnt or otherwise
+injured.
+
+The village of Goudhurst, a picturesque spot situated upon a hill on the
+borders of Kent and Sussex, was the first place to resent this ignoble
+subserviency.  The villagers and the farmers round about were wearied of
+having their horses commandeered by mysterious strangers for the carrying
+of contraband goods that did not concern them, and were determined no
+longer to have their houses raided with violence for money or anything
+else that took the fancy of these fellows.
+
+They had at last found themselves faced with the alternatives, almost
+incredible in a civilised country, of either deserting their houses and
+leaving their property at the mercy of these marauders, or of uniting to
+oppose by force their lawless inroads.  The second alternative was
+chosen; a paper expressive of their abhorrence of the conduct of the
+smugglers, and of the determination to oppose them was drawn up and
+subscribed to by a considerable number of persons, who assumed the style
+of the “Goudhurst Band of Militia.”  At their head was a young man named
+Sturt, who had recently been a soldier.  He it was who had persuaded the
+villagers to be men, and make some spirited resistance.
+
+News of this unexpected stand on the part of these hitherto meek-spirited
+people soon reached the ears of the dreaded Hawkhurst Gang, who contrived
+to waylay one of the “Militia,” and, by means of torture and
+imprisonment, extorted from him a full disclosure of the plans and
+intentions of his colleagues.  They swore the man not to take up arms
+against them, and then let him go; telling him to inform the Goudhurst
+people that they would, on a certain day named, attack the place, murder
+every one in it, and then burn it to the ground.
+
+Sturt, on receiving this impudent message, assembled his “Militia,” and,
+pointing out to them the danger of the situation, employed them in
+earnest preparations.  While some were sent to collect firearms, others
+were set to casting bullets and making cartridges, and to providing
+defences.
+
+Punctually at the time appointed (a piece of very bad policy on their
+part, by which they would appear to have been fools as well as rogues)
+the gang appeared, headed by Thomas Kingsmill, and fired a volley into
+the village, over the entrenchments made.  The embattled villagers
+replied, some from the houses and roof-tops, and others from the leads of
+the church-tower; when George Kingsmill, brother of the leading spirit in
+the attack, was shot dead.  He is alluded to in contemporary accounts as
+the person who had killed a man at Hurst Green, a few miles distant.
+
+In the firing that for some time continued two others of the smugglers,
+one Barnet Wollit and a man whose name is not mentioned, were killed and
+several wounded.  The rest then fled, pursued by the valorous “Militia,”
+who took a few prisoners, afterwards handed over by them to the law, and
+executed.
+
+Surprisingly little is heard of this—as we, in these more equable times,
+are prone to think it—extraordinary incident.  A stray paragraph or so in
+the chronicles of the time is met with, and that is all.  It was only one
+of the usual lawless doings of the age.
+
+But to-day the stranger in the village may chance, if he inquires a
+little into the history of the place, to hear wild and whirling accounts
+of this famous event; and, if he be at all enterprising, will find in the
+parish registers of burials this one piece of documentary evidence toward
+the execution done that day:
+
+    “1747, Ap. 20, George Kingsmill, Dux sclerum glande plumbeo emisso,
+    cecidit.”
+
+All these things, moreover, are duly enshrined, amid much fiction, in the
+pages of G. P. R. James’s novel, “The Smuggler.”
+
+And still the story of outrage continued.  On August 14th, 1747, a band
+of twenty swaggering smugglers rode, well-armed and reckless, into Rye
+and halted at the “Red Lion” inn, where they remained drinking until they
+grew rowdy and violent.
+
+Coming into the street again, they discharged their pistols at random,
+and, as the old account of these things concludes, “observing James
+Marshall, a young man, too curious of their behaviour, carried him off,
+and he has not since been heard of.”
+
+History tells us nothing of the fate of that unfortunate young man; but,
+from other accounts of the bloodthirsty characters of these Kentish and
+Sussex malefactors, we imagine the very worst.
+
+Others, contemporary with them—if, indeed, they were not the same men, as
+seems abundantly possible—captured two revenue officers near Seaford,
+and, securely pinning them down to the beach at low-water mark, so that
+they could not move, left them there, so that, when the tide rose, they
+were drowned.
+
+Again, on September 14th of this same year, 1747, a smuggler named
+Austin, violently resisting arrest, shot a sergeant dead with a
+blunderbuss at Maidstone.
+
+In “The Smugglers’ Song” Mr. Rudyard Kipling has vividly reconstructed
+those old times of dread, when, night and day, the numerous and
+well-armed bodies of smugglers openly traversed the country, terrorising
+every one.  To look too curiously at these high-handed ruffians was, as
+we have already seen, an offence, and the most cautious among the rustics
+made quite sure of not incurring their high displeasure—and incidentally
+of not being called upon by the revenue authorities as witnesses to the
+identity of any among their number—by turning their faces the other way
+when the free-traders passed.  Mothers, too, were careful to bid their
+little ones on the Marshland roads, or in the very streets of New Romney,
+to turn their faces to the hedge-side, or to the wall, “when the
+gentlemen went by.”  And—
+
+    If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse’s feet,
+    Don’t go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street;
+    Them that ask no questions isn’t told a lie,
+    Watch the wall, my darling, while the gentlemen go by.
+
+          Five and twenty ponies
+          Trotting through the dark—
+          Brandy for the parson;
+          ’Baccy for the clerk;
+          Laces for a lady; letters for a spy,
+
+    And watch the wall, my darling, while the gentlemen go by.
+
+             [Picture: The cautious turned their faces away]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+                 THE “MURDERS BY SMUGGLERS” IN HAMPSHIRE
+
+THE most outstanding chapter in the whole history of smuggling is that of
+the cold-blooded “Murders by Smugglers” which stained the annals of the
+southern counties in the mid-eighteenth century with peculiarly revolting
+deeds that have in them nothing of romance; nothing but a long-drawn
+story of villainy and fiendish cruelty.  It is a story that long made
+dwellers in solitary situations shiver with apprehension, especially if
+they owned relatives connected in any way with the hated customs
+officers.
+
+This grim chapter of horrors, upon which the historian can dwell only
+with loathing, and with pity for himself in being brought to the telling
+of it, was the direct outcome of the lawless and almost unchecked doings
+of the Hawkhurst Gang, whose daring grew continually with their
+long-continued success in terrorising the countryside.
+
+The beginnings of this affair are found in an expedition entered upon by
+a number of the gang in September 1747, in Guernsey, where they purchased
+a considerable quantity of tea, for smuggling into this country.
+Unfortunately for their enterprise, they fell in with a revenue cutter,
+commanded by one Captain Johnson, who pursued and captured their vessel,
+took it into the port of Poole, and lodged the tea in the custom-house
+there.
+
+The smugglers were equally incensed and dismayed at this disaster, the
+loss being a very heavy one; and they resolved, rather than submit to it,
+to go in an armed force and recover the goods.  Accordingly a mounted
+body of them, to the number of sixty, well provided with firearms and
+other weapons, assembled in what is described as “Charlton Forest,”
+probably Chalton Downs, between Petersfield and Poole, and thence
+proceeded on their desperate errand.  Thirty of them, it was agreed,
+should go to the attack, while the other thirty should take up positions
+as scouts along the various roads, to watch for riding-officers, or for
+any military force, and so alarm, or actively assist, if needs were, the
+attacking party.
+
+It was in the midnight between October 6th and 7th that this advance
+party reached Poole, broke open the custom-house on the quay, and removed
+all the captured tea—thirty-seven hundredweight, valued at £500—except
+one bag of about five pounds weight.  They returned in the morning, in
+leisurely fashion, through Fordingbridge; the affair apparently so public
+that hundreds of people were assembled in the streets of that little town
+to see these daring fellows pass.
+
+         [Picture: . . breaking open the Customs House at Poole]
+
+Among these spectators was one Daniel Chater, a shoemaker, who recognised
+among this cavalcade of smugglers a certain John Diamond, with whom he
+had formerly worked in the harvest field.  Diamond shook hands with him
+as he passed, and threw him a bag of tea.
+
+It was not long before a proclamation was issued offering rewards for the
+identification or apprehension of any persons concerned in this impudent
+raid, and Diamond was in the meanwhile arrested on suspicion at
+Chichester.  Chater, who seems to have been a foolish, gossiping fellow,
+saying he knew Diamond and saw him go by with the gang, became an object
+of considerable interest to his neighbours at Fordingbridge, who, having
+seen that present of a bag of tea—a very considerable present as the
+price of tea then ran—no doubt thought he knew more of the affair than he
+cared to tell.  At any rate, these things came to the knowledge of the
+Collector of Customs at Southampton, and the upshot of several interviews
+and some correspondence with him was that Chater agreed to go in company
+with one William Galley, an officer of excise, to Major Battin, a Justice
+of the Peace and a Commissioner of Customs at Chichester, to be examined
+as to his readiness and ability to identify Diamond, whose punishment, on
+conviction, would be, under the savage laws of that time, death.
+
+Chater, in short, had offered himself as that detestable thing, a hired
+informer: a creature all right-minded men abhor, and whom the smugglers
+of that age visited, whenever found, with persecution and often with the
+same extremity to which the law doomed themselves.
+
+The ill-fated pair set out on Sunday, February 14th, on horseback, and,
+calling on their way at Havant, were directed by a friend of Chater’s at
+that place to go by way of Stanstead, near Rowlands Castle.  They soon,
+however, missed their way, and calling at Leigh, at the “New Inn,” to
+refresh and to inquire the road, met there three men, George and Thomas
+Austin, and their brother-in-law, one Mr. Jenkes, who accompanied them to
+Rowlands Castle, where they all drew rein at the “White Hart”
+public-house, kept by a Mrs. Elizabeth Payne, a widow, who had two sons
+in the village, blacksmiths, and both reputed smugglers.
+
+Some rum was called for, and was being drank, when Mrs. Payne, taking
+George Austin aside, told him she was afraid these two strangers were
+after no good; they had come, she suspected, with intent to do some
+injury to the smugglers.  Such was the state of the rural districts in
+those times that the appearance of two strangers was of itself a cause
+for distrust; but when, in addition, there was the damning fact that one
+of them wore the uniform of a riding-officer of excise, suspicion became
+almost a certainty.
+
+But to her remarks George Austin replied she need not be alarmed, the
+strangers were only carrying a letter to Major Battin, on some ordinary
+official business.
+
+This explanation, however, served only to increase her suspicions, for
+what more likely than that this business with a man who was, among other
+things, a highly placed customs official, was connected in some way with
+these recent notorious happenings?
+
+To make sure, Mrs. Payne sent privately one of her sons, who was then in
+the house, for William Jackson and William Carter, two men deeply
+involved with smuggling, who lived near at hand.  In the meanwhile Chater
+and Galley wanted to be gone upon their journey, and asked for their
+horses.  Mrs. Payne, to keep them until Jackson and Carter should arrive,
+told them the man who had the key of the stables was gone for a while,
+but would return presently.
+
+As the unsuspecting men waited, gossiping and drinking, the two smugglers
+entered.  Mrs. Payne drew them aside and whispered her suspicions; at the
+same time advising Mr. George Austin to go away, as she respected him,
+and was unwilling that any harm should come to him.
+
+It is thus sufficiently clear that, even at this early stage, some very
+serious mischief was contemplated.
+
+Mr. George Austin, being a prudent, if certainly not also an honest, man,
+did as he was advised.  Thomas Austin, his brother, who does not appear
+to have in the same degree commanded the landlady’s respect, was not
+warned, and remained, together with his brother-in-law.  To have won the
+reader’s respect also, she should, at the very least of it, have warned
+them as well.  But as this was obviously not a school of morals, we will
+not labour the point, and will bid Mr. George Austin, with much relief,
+“goodbye.”
+
+Mrs. Payne’s other son then entered, bringing with him four more
+smugglers: William Steel, Samuel Downer, _alias_ Samuel Howard, _alias_
+“Little Sam,” Edmund Richards, and Henry Sheerman, _alias_ “Little
+Harry.”
+
+After a while Jackson took Chater aside into the yard, and asked him
+after Diamond; whereupon the simple-minded man let fall the object of his
+and his companion’s journey.
+
+While they were talking, Galley, suspecting Chater would be in some way
+indiscreet, came out and asked him to rejoin them; whereupon Jackson,
+with a horrible oath, struck him a violent blow in the face, knocking him
+down.
+
+Galley then rushed into the house, Jackson following him.  “I am a King’s
+officer,” exclaimed the unfortunate Galley, “and cannot put up with such
+treatment.”
+
+“You a King’s officer!” replied Jackson, “I’ll make a King’s officer of
+you; and for a quartern of gin I’ll serve you so again!”
+
+The others interposed, one of the Paynes exclaiming, “Don’t be such a
+fool; do you know what you are doing?”
+
+Galley and Chater grew very uneasy, and again wanted to be going; but the
+company present, including Jackson, pressed them to stay, Jackson
+declaring he was sorry for what had passed.  The entire party then sat
+down to more drink, until Galley and Chater were overcome by drunkenness
+and were sent to sleep in an adjoining room.  Thomas Austin and Mr.
+Jenkes were by this time also hopelessly drunk; but as they had no
+concern with the smugglers, nor the smugglers with them, they drop out of
+this narrative.
+
+When Galley and Chater lay in their drunken sleep the compromising
+letters in their pockets were found and read, and the men present formed
+themselves into a kind of committee to decide what should be done with
+their enemies, as they thought them.  John Race and Richard Kelly then
+came in, and Jackson and Carter told them they had got the old rogue, the
+shoemaker of Fordingbridge, who was going to give an information against
+John Diamond the shepherd, then in custody at Chichester.
+
+They then consulted what was best to be done to their two prisoners, when
+William Steel proposed to take them both to a well, a little way from the
+house, and to murder them and throw them in.  Less ferocious proposals
+were made—to send them over to France; but when it became obvious that
+they would return and give the evidence after all, the thoughts of the
+seven men present reverted to murder.  At this juncture the wives of
+Jackson and Carter, who had entered the house, cried, “Hang the dogs, for
+they came here to hang us!”
+
+Another proposition that was made—to imprison the two in some safe place
+until they knew what would be Diamond’s fate, and for each of the
+smugglers to subscribe threepence a week for their keep—was immediately
+scouted; and instantly the brutal fury of these ruffians was aroused by
+Jackson, who, going into the room where the unfortunate men were lying,
+spurred them on their foreheads with the heavy spurs of his riding-boots,
+and, having thus effectually wakened them, whipped them into the kitchen
+of the inn until they were streaming with blood.  Then, taking them
+outside, the gang lifted them on to a horse, one behind the other, and,
+tying their hands and legs together, lashed them with heavy whips along
+the road, crying, “Whip them, cut them, slash them, damn them!” one of
+their number, Edmund Richards, with cocked pistol in hand, swearing he
+would shoot any person through the head who should mention anything of
+what he saw or heard.
+
+From Rowlands Castle, past Wood Ashes, Goodthorpe Deane, and to Lady Holt
+Park, this scourging was continued through the night, until the wretched
+men were three parts dead.  At two o’clock in the morning this gruesome
+procession reached the Portsmouth Road at Rake, where the foremost
+members of the party halted at what was then the “Red Lion” inn, long
+since that time retired into private life, and now a humble cottage.  It
+was kept in those days by one Scardefield, who was no stranger to their
+kind, nor unused to the purchase and storing of smuggled spirits.  Here
+they knocked and rattled at the door until Scardefield was obliged to get
+out of bed and open to them.  Galley, still alive, was thrust into an
+outhouse, while the band, having roused the landlord and procured drink,
+caroused in the parlour of the inn.  Chater they carried in with them;
+and when Scardefield stood horrified at seeing so ghastly a figure of a
+man, all bruised and broken, and spattered with blood, they told him a
+specious tale of an engagement they had had with the King’s officers:
+that here was a comrade, wounded, and another, dead or dying, in his
+brew-house.
+
+                     [Picture: The “Red Lion,” Rake]
+
+Chater they presently carried to an outhouse of the cottage of a man
+named Mills, not far off, and then returned for more drink and discussion
+of what was to be done with Galley, whom they decided to bury in Harting
+Combe.  So, while it was yet dark, they carried him down from the ridge
+on which Rake stands, into the valley, and, digging a grave in a
+fox-earth by the light of a lantern, shovelled the dirt over him, without
+inquiring too closely whether their victim were alive or dead.  That he
+was not dead at that time became evident when his body was discovered
+eight months later, hands raised to his face, as though to prevent the
+earth from suffocating him.
+
+The whole of the next day this evil company sat drinking in the “Red
+Lion.”  Richard Mills, son of the man in whose turf-shed Chater lay
+chained by the leg, passing by, they hailed him and told him of what they
+had done; whereupon he said he would, if he had had the doing of it, have
+flung the man down Harting Combe headlong and broken his neck.
+
+On this Monday night they all returned home, lest their continued absence
+might be remarked by the neighbours; agreeing to meet again at Rake on
+the Wednesday evening, to consider how they might best put an end to
+Chater.
+
+When Wednesday night had come this council of murderers, reinforced by
+others, and numbering in all fourteen, assembled accordingly.  Dropping
+into the “Red Lion” one by one, it was late at night before they had all
+gathered.
+
+They decided, after some argument, to dispatch him forthwith, and, going
+down to the turf-shed where he had lain all this while, suffering agonies
+from the cruel usage to which he had been subjected, they unchained him.
+Richard Mills at first had proposed to finish him there.  “Let us,” said
+he, “load a gun with two or three bullets, lay it upon a stand with the
+muzzle of the piece levelled at his head, and, after having tied a long
+string to the trigger, we will all go off to the butt-end, and, each of
+us taking hold of the string, pull it all together; thus we shall be all
+equally guilty of his death, and it will be impossible for any one of us
+to charge the rest with his murder, without accusing himself of the same
+crime; and none can pretend to lessen or to mitigate his guilt by saying
+he was only an accessory, since all will be principals.”
+
+                  [Picture: Chater being kicked and cut]
+
+Thus Richard Mills, according to the story of these things told in horrid
+detail (together with a full report of the subsequent trial) by the
+author of the contemporary “Genuine History.”  The phraseology of the
+man’s coldly logical proposals is, of course, that of the author himself;
+since it is not possible that a Sussex rustic of over a hundred and sixty
+years ago would have spoken in literary English.
+
+Mills’s proposition was not accepted.  It seemed to the others too
+merciful and expeditious a method of putting an end to Chater’s misery.
+They had grown as epicurean in torture as the mediæval hell-hounds who
+racked and pinched and burnt for Church and State.  They were resolved he
+should suffer as much and as long as they could eke out his life, as a
+warning to all other informers.
+
+The proposal that found most favour was that they should take him to
+Harris’s Well, in Lady Holt Park, and throw him in.
+
+Tapner, one of the recruits to the gang, thereupon inaugurated the new
+series of torments by pulling out a large clasp-knife, and, with a
+fearful oath, exclaiming, “Down on your knees and go to prayers, for with
+this knife I will be your butcher.”
+
+Chater, expecting every moment to be his last, knelt down as he was
+ordered, and, while he was thus praying, Cobby kicked him from behind,
+while Tapner in front slashed his face.
+
+The elder Mills, owner of the turf-shed, at this grew alarmed for his own
+safety.  “Take him away,” he said, “and do not murder him here.  Do it
+somewhere else.”
+
+They then mounted him on a horse and set out for Lady Holt Park; Tapner,
+more cruel, if possible, than the rest, slashing him with his knife, and
+whipping him with his whip, all the way.
+
+It was dead of night by the time they had come to the Park, where there
+was a deep dry well.  A wooden fence stretched across the track leading
+to it, and over this, although it was in places broken and could easily
+have been crawled through, they made their victim climb.  Tapner then
+pulled a rope out of his pocket and tied it round Chater’s neck, and so
+pushed him over the opening of the well, where he hung, slowly
+strangling.
+
+But by this time they were anxious to get home, and could afford no more
+time for these luxuries of cruelty, so they dropped him to the bottom of
+the well, imagining he would be quite killed by the fall.  Unfortunately
+for Chater, he was remarkably tenacious of life, and was heard groaning
+there, where he had fallen.
+
+They dared not leave him thus, lest any one passing should hear his
+cries, and went and roused a gardener, one William Combleach, who lived a
+little way off, and borrowed a ladder, telling him one of their
+companions had fallen into Harris’s Well.  With this ladder they intended
+to descend the well and finally dispatch Chater; but, seeing they could
+not manage to lower the ladder, they were reduced to finding some huge
+stones and two great gateposts, which they then flung down, and so ended
+the unhappy man’s martyrdom.
+
+The problem that next faced the murderers was, how to dispose of the two
+horses their victims had been riding.  It was first proposed to put them
+aboard the next smuggling vessel returning to France, but that idea was
+abandoned, on account of the risk of discovery.  It was finally decided
+to slaughter them and remove their skins, and this was accordingly done
+to the grey that Galley had ridden, and his hide cut up into small pieces
+and buried; but, when they came to look for the bay that Chater had used,
+they could not find him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+    THE “MURDERS BY SMUGGLERS” _continued_—TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF THE
+              MURDERERS—FURTHER CRIMES BY THE HAWKHURST GANG
+
+EVEN in those times two men, and especially men who had set out upon
+official business, could not disappear so utterly as Chater and Galley
+had done without comment being aroused, and presently the whole country
+was ringing with the news of this mysterious disappearance.  The
+condition of the country can at once be guessed when it is stated that no
+one doubted the hands of the smugglers in this business.  The only
+question was, in what manner had they spirited these two men away?  Some
+thought they had been carried over to France, while others thought,
+shrewdly enough, they had been murdered.
+
+But no tidings nor any trace of either Galley or Chater came to satisfy
+public curiosity, or to allay official apprehensions, until some seven
+months later, when an anonymous letter sent to “a person of distinction,”
+and probably inspired by the hope of ultimately earning the large reward
+offered by the Government for information, hinted that “the body of one
+of the unfortunate men mentioned in his Majesty’s proclamation was buried
+in the sands in a certain place near Rake.”  And, sure enough, when
+search was made, the body of Galley was found “standing almost upright,
+with his hands covering his eyes.”
+
+Another letter followed upon this discovery, implicating William Steel in
+these doings, and he was immediately arrested.  To save himself, the
+prisoner turned King’s evidence, and revealed the whole dreadful story.
+John Race, among the others concerned, voluntarily surrendered, and was
+also admitted as evidence.
+
+One after another, seven of the murderers were arrested in different
+parts of the counties of Hants and Surrey, and were committed to the
+gaols of Horsham and Newgate, afterwards being sent to Chichester, where
+a special Assize was held for the purpose of overawing the smugglers of
+the district, and of impressing them with the majesty and the power of
+the law, which, it was desired to show them, would eventually overtake
+all evil-doers.
+
+We need not enter into the details of that trial, held on January 18th,
+1749, and reported with painful elaboration by the author of the “Genuine
+History,” together with the sermon preached in Chichester Cathedral by
+Dean Ashburnham, who held forth in the obvious and conventional way of
+comfortably beneficed clergy, then and now.
+
+Let it be sufficient to say that all were found guilty, and all sentenced
+to be hanged on the following day.
+
+Six of them were duly executed, William Jackson, the seventh, dying in
+gaol.  He had been for a considerable time in ill health.  He was a Roman
+Catholic and the greatest villain of the gang, and, like all such,
+steeped in superstition.  Carefully sewed up in a linen purse in his
+waistcoat pocket was found an amulet in French, which, translated, ran as
+follows:
+
+                             Ye three Holy Kings,
+                         Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar,
+                  Pray for us now, and in the hour of death.
+
+    These papers have touched the three heads of the Holy Kings at
+    Cologne.
+
+    They are to preserve travellers from accidents on the road,
+    headaches, falling sickness, fevers, witchcraft, all kinds of
+    mischief, and sudden death.
+
+His body was thrown into a pit on the Broyle, at Chichester, together
+with those of Richard Mills, the elder, and younger.  The body of William
+Carter was hanged in chains upon the Portsmouth road, near Rake; that of
+Benjamin Tapner on Rook’s Hill, near Chichester, and those of John Cobby
+and John Hammond upon the sea-coast near Selsea Bill, so that they might
+be seen for great distances by any contrabandists engaged in running
+goods.
+
+Another accomplice, Henry Shurman, or Sheerman, _alias_ “Little Harry,”
+was indicted and tried at East Grinstead, and, being sentenced to death,
+was conveyed to Horsham Gaol by a strong guard of soldiers and hanged at
+Rake, and afterwards gibbeted.
+
+In January 1749, a brutal murder was committed at the “Dog and Partridge”
+inn, on Slindon Common, near Arundel, where Richard Hawkins was whipped
+and kicked to death on suspicion of being concerned in stealing two bags
+of tea, belonging to one Jerry Curtis.  Hawkins was enticed away from his
+work at Walberton, on some specious pretext, by Curtis and John Mills,
+known as “Smoker,” and went on horseback behind Mills to the “Dog and
+Partridge,” where they joined a man named Robb: all these men being
+well-known smugglers in that district.  Having safely got Hawkins thus
+far, they informed him that he was their prisoner, and proceeded to put
+him under examination in the parlour of the inn.  There were also present
+Thomas Winter (afterwards a witness for the prosecution), and James
+Reynolds, the innkeeper.
+
+Hawkins denied having stolen the tea, and said he knew nothing of the
+matter, whereupon Curtis replied, “Damn you; you do know, and if you do
+not confess I will whip you till you do; for, damn you, I have whipped
+many a rogue and washed my hands in his blood.”
+
+Reynolds said, “Dick, you had better confess; it will be better for you.”
+But his answer still was, “I know nothing of it.”
+
+Reynolds then went out, and Mills and Robb thereupon beat and kicked
+Hawkins so ferociously that he cried out that the Cockrels, his
+father-in-law, and brother-in-law, who kept an inn at Yapton, were
+concerned in it.  Curtis and Mills then took their horses and said they
+would go and fetch them.  Going to the younger Cockrel, Mills entered the
+house first and called for some ale.  Then Curtis came in and demanded
+his two bags of tea, which he said Hawkins had accused him of having.
+Cockrel denied having them, and then Curtis beat him with an oak stick
+until he was tired.  Curtis and Mills then forcibly took him to where his
+father was, at Walberton, and thence, with his father, behind them on
+their horses, towards Slindon.
+
+Meanwhile, at the “Dog and Partridge,” Robb and Winter placed the
+terribly injured man, Hawkins, in a chair by the fire, where he died.
+
+Robb and Winter then took their own horses and rode out towards Yapton,
+meeting Curtis and Mills on the way, each with a man behind him.  The
+men, who were the Cockrels, were told to get off, which they did, and the
+four others held a whispered conversation, when Winter told them that
+Hawkins was dead, and desired them to do no more mischief.
+
+“By God!” exclaimed Curtis, “we will go through it now.”  Winter again
+urged them to be content with what had already been done; and Curtis then
+bade the two Cockrels return home.
+
+Then they all four rode back to the “Dog and Partridge,” where Reynolds
+was in despair, saying to Curtis, “You have ruined me.”
+
+                [Picture: The whipping of Richard Rowland]
+
+Curtis replied that he would make him amends; and they all then consulted
+how to dispose of the body.  The first proposition was to bury it in a
+park close at hand, and to give out that the smugglers had deported
+Hawkins to France.  But Reynolds objected.  The spot, he said, was too
+near, and would soon be found.  In the end, they laid the body on a horse
+and carried it to Parham Park, twelve miles away, where they tied large
+stones to it, and sunk it in a pond.
+
+This crime was in due course discovered, and a proclamation issued,
+offering a pardon to any one, not himself concerned in the murder, nor in
+the breaking open of the custom-house at Poole, who should give
+information that would lead to the capture and conviction of the
+offenders.
+
+William Pring, an outlawed smuggler, who had heard some gossip of this
+affair among his smuggling acquaintance, and was apparently wishful of
+beginning a new life, determined to make a bid for his pardon for past
+offences, and, we are told, “applied to a great man in power,” informing
+him that he knew Mills, and that if he could be assured of his pardon he
+would endeavour to take him, for he was pretty certain to find him either
+at Bristol or Bath, whither he knew he was gone, to sell some run goods.
+
+Being assured of his pardon, he set out accordingly, and found not only
+Mills, but two brothers, Lawrence and Thomas Kemp, themselves smugglers
+and highway robbers, and wanted for various offences; Thomas Kemp being
+additionally in request for having broken out of Newgate.
+
+The informer, Pring, artfully talking matters over with these three, and
+observing that the cases of all of them were desperate, offered the
+advice that they should all accompany him towards London, to his house at
+Beckenham, where they would decide upon some plan for taking to highway
+robbery and house-breaking, in the same manner as Gregory’s Gang {66}
+used to do.
+
+This they all heartily agreed to, and confidentially, on the journey up
+to Beckenham, spoke and bragged of their various crimes.
+
+Arrived at Beckenham, Pring made a plausible excuse to leave them awhile
+at his house, while he fetched his mare, in exchange for the very
+indifferent horse he had ridden.  It would never do, he said, when on
+their highway business, for one of the company to be badly horsed.
+
+He left the house and rode hurriedly to Horsham, whence he returned with
+eight or nine mounted officers of excise.  They arrived at midnight, and
+found his three guests sitting down to supper.
+
+The two Kemps were easily secured, and tied by the arms; but Mills would
+not so readily submit, and was slashed with a sword before he would give
+in.
+
+            [Picture: The “Dog and Partridge,” Slindon Common]
+
+John Mills was a son of Richard Mills, and a brother of Richard Mills the
+younger, executed at Chichester for the murder of Chater and Galley, as
+already detailed, and he also had taken part in that business.  Brought
+to trial at East Grinstead, he said he had indeed been a very wicked
+liver, but he bitterly complained of such of the witnesses against him as
+had been smugglers and had turned King’s evidence.  They had, he
+declared, acted contrary from the solemn oaths and engagements they had
+made and sworn to among themselves, and he therefore wished they might
+all come to the same end, and be hanged like him and damned afterwards.
+
+He was found guilty and duly sentenced to death, and was hanged and
+afterwards hung in chains on a gibbet erected for the purpose on Slindon
+Common, near the “Dog and Partridge.”
+
+Curtis, an active partner in the same murder, fled the country, and was
+said to have enlisted in the Irish Brigade of the French Army.  Robb was
+not taken, and Reynolds was acquitted of the murder.  He and his wife
+were tried at the next Assizes, as accessories after the fact.
+
+The “Dog and Partridge” has long ceased to be an inn, but the house
+survives, a good deal altered, as a cottage.  In the garden may be seen a
+very capacious cellar, excavated out of the soil and sandstone, and very
+much larger than a small country inn could have ever required for
+ordinary business purposes.  It is known as the “Smugglers’ Cellar.”
+
+At the same sessions at which these bloodstained scoundrels were
+convicted a further body of five men, Lawrence and Thomas Kemp, John
+Brown, Robert Fuller, and Richard Savage, were all tried on charges of
+highway robbery, of housebreaking, and of stealing goods from a wagon.
+They were all members of the notorious Hawkhurst Gang, and had been
+smugglers for many years.  All were found guilty and sentenced to death,
+except Savage, who was awarded transportation for life.  The rest were
+executed at Horsham on April 1st, 1749.  One of them had at least once
+already come near to being capitally convicted, but had been rescued from
+Newgate by a party of fellow-smugglers before justice could complete her
+processes.
+
+These rescuers were in their turn arrested on other charges, and brought
+to trial at Rochester Assizes, with other malefactors, in March 1750.
+They were four notorious smugglers, Stephen Diprose, James Bartlett,
+Thomas Potter, and William Priggs, who were all executed on Penenden
+Heath, on March 30th.
+
+Bartlett, pressed to declare, after sentence, if he had been concerned in
+any murders, particularly in that of Mr. Castle, an excise officer who
+had been shot on Selhurst Common by a gang of smugglers, would not give a
+positive answer, and it was therefore supposed he was concerned in it.
+
+Potter described some of the doings of the gang, and told how, fully
+armed, they would roam the country districts at night, disguised, with
+blackened faces, and appear at lonely houses, where they would seize and
+bind the people they found, and then proceed to plunder at their leisure.
+
+In the short interval that in those days was allowed between sentence and
+execution Potter was very communicative, and disclosed a long career of
+crime; but he declared that murder had never been committed by him.  He
+had, it was true, proposed to murder the turnkey at Newgate at the time
+when he and his companions rescued their friends languishing in that
+doleful hold: but it had not, after all, been found necessary.
+
+This, it will be conceded, was sufficiently frank and open.  The official
+account of that rescue was that Thomas Potter and three other smugglers
+came into the press-yard at Newgate to visit two prisoners, Thomas Kemp
+and William Grey, also of the Hawkhurst Gang, when they agreed at all
+hazards to assist in getting them out.  Accordingly the time was fixed
+(Kemp having no irons, and Grey having his so managed as to be able to
+let them fall off when he pleased), and Potter and the other three went
+again to the press-yard and rang the bell for the turnkey to come and let
+them in.  When he came and unlocked the door Potter immediately knocked
+him down with a horse-pistol, and cut him terribly; and Kemp and Grey
+made their escape, while Potter and his companions got clear away without
+being discovered.  Three other prisoners at the same time broke loose,
+but were immediately recaptured, having irons on.
+
+All these men were, in fact, originally smugglers, and had, from being
+marked down as criminals for that offence, and from being “wanted” by the
+law, found themselves obliged to keep in hiding from their homes.  In
+default of being able to take part in other runs of smuggled goods, and
+finding themselves unable to get employment, they were driven to other,
+and more serious, crimes.
+
+On April 4th of the same year four other members of the terrible
+Hawkhurst Gang—Kingsmill, Fairall, Perrin, and Glover by name—were
+together brought to trial at the Old Bailey, charged with being concerned
+in the Poole affair, the breaking open of the custom-house, and the
+stealing of goods therefrom.  They had been betrayed to the Government by
+the same two ex-smugglers who had turned King’s evidence at the
+Chichester trial, and their evidence again secured a conviction.  Glover,
+recommended by the jury to the royal mercy, was eventually pardoned; but
+the remaining three were hanged.  Fairall behaved most insolently at the
+trial, and even threatened one of the witnesses.  Glover displayed
+penitence; and Kingsmill and Perrin insisted that they had not been
+guilty of any robbery, because the goods they had taken were their own.
+
+Kingsmill had been leader in the ferocious attack on Goudhurst in April
+1747, and was an extremely dangerous ruffian, ready for any extremity.
+
+Fairall was proved to be a particularly desperate fellow.  Two years
+earlier he had been apprehended, as a smuggler, in Sussex, and, being
+brought before Mr. Butler, a magistrate, at Lewes, was remitted by him
+for trial in London.
+
+Brought under escort overnight to the New Prison in the Borough, Fairall
+found means to make a dash from the custody of his guards, and, leaping
+upon a horse that was standing in Blackman Street, rode away and escaped,
+within sight of numerous people.
+
+Returning to the gang, who were reasonably surprised at his safe return
+from the jaws of death, he was filled with an unreasoning hatred of Mr.
+Butler, the justice who, in the ordinary course of his duty, had
+committed him.  He proposed a complete and terrible revenge: firstly, by
+destroying all the deer in his park, and all his trees, which was readily
+agreed to by the gang; and then, since those measures were not extreme
+enough for them, the idea was discussed of setting fire to his house and
+burning him alive in it.  Some of the conspirators, however, thought this
+too extreme a step, and they parted without coming to any decision.
+Fairall, Kingsmill, and others, however, determined not to be baulked,
+then each procured a brace of pistols, and waited for the magistrate,
+near his own park wall, to shoot him when he returned home that night
+from a journey to Horsham.
+
+Fortunately for him, some accident kept him from returning, and the party
+of would-be assassins, tired of waiting, at last said to one another,
+“Damn him, he will not come home to-night!  Let us be gone about our
+business.”  They then dispersed, swearing they would watch for a month
+together, but they would have him; and that they would make an example of
+all who should dare to obstruct them.
+
+Perrin’s body was directed to be given to his friends, instead of being
+hanged in chains, and he was pitying the misfortunes of his two
+companions, who were not only, like himself, to be hanged, but whose
+bodies were afterwards to be gibbeted, when Fairall said, “_We_ shall be
+hanging up in the sweet air when _you_ are rotting in your grave.”
+
+Fairall kept a bold front to the very last.  The night before the
+execution, he smoked continually with his friends, until ordered by the
+warder to go to his cell; when he exclaimed, “Why in such a hurry?
+Cannot you let me stay a little longer with my friends?  I shall not be
+able to drink with them to-morrow night.”
+
+But perhaps there was more self-pity in those apparently careless words
+and in that indifferent demeanour than those thought who heard them.
+
+Kingsmill was but twenty-eight years of age, and Fairall twenty-five, at
+the time of their execution, which took place at Tyburn on April 26th,
+1749.  Fairall’s body was hanged in chains on Horsenden Green, and that
+of Kingsmill on Goudhurst Gore, appropriately near the frighted village
+whose inhabitants he had promised the vengeance of himself and his
+reckless band.
+
+When G. P. R. James wrote his romance, “The Smuggler,” about the middle
+of the nineteenth century, reminiscences of the smuggling age were yet
+fresh, and many an one who had passed his youth and middle age in the art
+was still in a hale and hearty eld, ready to tell wonderful stories of
+bygone years.  James therefore heard at first hand all the ins and outs
+of this shy business; and although his story deals with the exploits of
+the Ransley Gang (whom he styles “Ramley”) of a much earlier period, the
+circumstances of smuggling, and the conditions prevailing in Kent and
+Sussex, remained much the same in the experiences of the elderly
+ex-smugglers he met.  What he has to say is therefore of more than common
+value.
+
+Scarcely any one of the maritime counties, he tells us, was without its
+gang of smugglers; for if France was not opposite, Holland was not far
+off; and if brandy was not the object, nor silk, nor wine, yet tea and
+cinnamon, and hollands, and various East India goods, were duly estimated
+by the British public, especially when they could be obtained without the
+payment of custom-house dues.
+
+As there are land-sharks and water-sharks, so there were land-smugglers
+and water-smugglers.  The latter brought the objects of their commerce
+either from foreign countries or from foreign vessels, and landed them on
+the coast—and a bold, daring, reckless body of men they were; the former,
+in gangs, consisting frequently of many hundreds, generally well-mounted
+and armed, conveyed the commodities so landed into the interior and
+distributed them to others, who retailed them as occasion required.  Nor
+were these gentry one whit less fearless, enterprising, and lawless than
+their brethren of the sea.
+
+The ramifications of this vast and magnificent league extended themselves
+to almost every class of society.  Each tradesman smuggled, or dealt in
+smuggled goods; each public-house was supported by smugglers, and gave
+them in return every facility possible; each country gentleman on the
+coast dabbled a little in the interesting traffic; almost every
+magistrate shared in the proceeds, or partook of the commodities.
+Scarcely a house but had its place of concealment, which would
+accommodate either kegs or bales, or human beings, as the case might be;
+and many streets in seaport towns had private passages from one house to
+another, so that the gentleman inquired for by the officers at No. 1 was
+often walking quietly out of No. 20, while they were searching for him in
+vain.  The back of one street had always excellent means of communication
+with the front of another, and the gardens gave exit to the country with
+as little delay as possible.
+
+Of all counties, however, the most favoured by nature and art for the
+very pleasant and exciting sport of smuggling was the county of Kent.
+Its geographical position, its local features, its variety of coast, all
+afforded it the greatest advantages, and the daring character of the
+natives on the shores of the Channel was sure to turn those advantages to
+the purposes in question.  Sussex, indeed, was not without its share of
+facilities, nor did the Sussex men fail to improve them; but they were so
+much farther off from the opposite coast that the chief commerce—the
+regular trade—was not in any degree at Hastings, Rye, or Winchelsea to be
+compared with that carried on from the North Foreland to Romney Hoy.  At
+one time the fine level of the Marsh, a dark night, and a fair wind,
+afforded a delightful opportunity for landing a cargo and carrying it
+rapidly into the interior; at another, Sandwich Flats and Pevensey Bay
+presented harbours of refuge and places of repose for kegs innumerable
+and bales of great value; at another, the cliffs round Folkestone and
+near the South Foreland saw spirits travelling up by paths which seemed
+inaccessible to mortal foot; and at another, the wild and broken ground
+at the back of Sandgate was traversed by long trains of horses, escorting
+or carrying every description of contraband articles.
+
+The interior of the county was not less favourable to the traffic than
+the coast: large masses of wood, numerous gentlemen’s parks, hills and
+dales tossed about in wild confusion; roads such as nothing but horses
+could travel, or men on foot, often constructed with felled trees or
+broad stones laid side by side; wide tracts of ground, partly copse and
+partly moor, called in that county “minnises,” and a long extent of the
+Weald of Kent, through which no highway existed, and where such a thing
+as coach or carriage was never seen, offered the land-smugglers
+opportunities of carrying on their transactions with a degree of secrecy
+and safety no other county afforded.  Their numbers, too, were so great,
+their boldness and violence so notorious, their powers of injuring or
+annoying so various, that even those who took no part in their operations
+were glad to connive at their proceedings, and at times to aid in
+concealing their persons or their goods.  Not a park, not a wood, not a
+barn, that did not at some period afford them a refuge when pursued, or
+become a depository for their commodities, and many a man, on visiting
+his stables or his cart-shed early in the morning, found it tenanted by
+anything but horses or wagons.  The churchyards were frequently crowded
+at night by other spirits than those of the dead, and not even the church
+was exempted from such visitations.
+
+None of the people of the county took notice of, or opposed these
+proceedings.  The peasantry laughed at, or aided, and very often got a
+good day’s work, or, at all events, a jug of genuine hollands, from the
+friendly smugglers; the clerk and the sexton willingly aided and abetted,
+and opened the door of vault, or vestry, or church for the reception of
+the passing goods; the clergyman shut his eyes if he saw tubs or jars in
+his way; and it is remarkable what good brandy-punch was generally to be
+found at the house of the village pastor.  The magistrates of the county,
+when called upon to aid in pursuit of the smugglers, looked grave and
+swore in constables very slowly, dispatched servants on horseback to see
+what was going on, and ordered the steward or the butler to “send the
+sheep to the wood”: an intimation not lost upon those for whom it was
+intended.  The magistrates and officers of seaport towns were in general
+so deeply implicated in the trade themselves that smuggling had a fairer
+chance than the law, in any case that came before them; and never was a
+more hopeless enterprise undertaken, in ordinary circumstances, than that
+of convicting a smuggler, unless captured _in flagrante delicto_.
+
+                       [Picture: “For our Parson”]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+           OUTRAGE AT HASTINGS BY THE RUXLEY GANG—BATTLE ON THE
+    WHITSTABLE-CANTERBURY ROAD—CHURCH-TOWERS AS SMUGGLERS’ CELLARS—THE
+    DRUMMER OF HERSTMONCEUX—EPITAPH AT TANDRIDGE—DEPLORABLE AFFAIR AT
+               HASTINGS—THE INCIDENT OF “THE FOUR BROTHERS”
+
+SUSSEX was again the scene of a barbarous incident, in 1768; and on this
+occasion seafaring men were the malefactors.
+
+It is still an article of faith with the writers of guide-books who do
+not make their own inquiries, and thus perpetuate obsolete things, that
+to call a Hastings fisherman a “Chop-back” will rouse him to fury.  But
+when a modern visitor, primed with such romance as this, timidly
+approaches one of these broad-shouldered and amply-paunched fisherfolk
+and suggests “Chop-backs” as a subject of inquiry, I give you my word
+they only look upon you with a puzzled expression, and don’t understand
+in the least your meaning.
+
+But in an earlier generation this was a term of great offence to the
+Hastingers.  It arose, according to tradition, from the supposed descent
+of these fisherfolk from the Norse rovers who used the axe, and cleaved
+their enemies with them from skull to chine.  But the true facts of the
+case are laid to the account of some of the notorious Ruxley Gang, who in
+1768 boarded a Dutch hoy, the _Three Sisters_, in mid-channel, on
+pretence of trading, and chopped the master, Peter Bootes, down the back
+with a hatchet.  This horrid deed might never have come to light had not
+these ruffians betrayed themselves by bragging to one another of their
+cleverness, and dwelling upon the way in which the Dutchman wriggled when
+they had slashed him on the backbone.
+
+                        [Picture: The Chop-Backs]
+
+The Government in November of that year sent a detachment of two hundred
+Inniskilling Dragoons to Hastings, to arrest the men implicated, and a
+man-o’-war and cutter lay off shore to receive them when they had been
+taken prisoners.  The soldiers had strict orders to keep their mission
+secret, but the day after their arrival they were called out to arrest
+rioters who had violently assaulted the Mayor, whom they suspected of
+laying information against the murderers.  The secret of the reason for
+the soldiers’ coming had evidently in some manner leaked out.  Several
+arrests of rioters were made, and the men implicated in the outrage on
+the Dutch boat were duly taken into custody.
+
+The whole affair was so closely interwoven with smuggling that it was by
+many suspected that the men who had been seized were held for that
+offence as well; and persons in the higher walks of the smuggling
+business, namely, those who financed it, and those others who largely
+purchased the goods, grew seriously alarmed for their own liberty.  In
+the panic that thus laid hold of the town a well-to-do shopkeeper
+absconded altogether.
+
+Thirteen men were indicted in the Admiralty Court on October 30th, 1769,
+for piracy and murder on the high seas; namely, Thomas Phillips, elder
+and younger, William and George Phillips, Mark Chatfield, Robert Webb,
+Thomas and Samuel Ailsbury, James and Richard Hyde, William Geary,
+_alias_ Justice, _alias_ George Wood, Thomas Knight, and William Wenham,
+and were capitally convicted.  Of these, four, Thomas Ailsbury, William
+Geary, William Wenham, and Richard Hyde, were hanged at Execution Dock,
+November 27th.
+
+The next most outstanding incident, a bloody affray which occurred on
+February 26th, 1780, belongs to Kent.
+
+As Mr. Joseph Nicholson, supervisor of excise, was removing to Canterbury
+a large seizure of geneva he had made at Whitstable, a numerous body of
+smugglers followed him and his escort of a corporal and eight troopers of
+the 4th Dragoons.  Fifty of the smugglers had firearms, and, coming up
+with the escort, opened fire without warning or demanding their goods.
+Two Dragoons were killed on the spot, and two others dangerously wounded.
+The smugglers then loaded up the goods and disappeared.  A reward of £100
+was at once offered by the Commissioners of Excise, with a pardon, for
+informers; and Lieutenant-Colonel Hugonin, of the 4th Dragoons, offered
+another £50.  John Knight, of Whitstable, was shortly afterwards
+arrested, on information received, and was tried and convicted at
+Maidstone Assizes.  He was hanged on Penenden Heath and his body
+afterwards gibbeted on Borstal Hill, the spot where the attack had been
+made.
+
+The south held unquestioned pre-eminence, as long as smuggling activities
+lasted, and the records of bloodshed and hard-fought encounters are
+fullest along the coasts of Kent and Sussex.  Sometimes, but not often,
+they are varied by a touch of humour.
+
+The convenience afforded by churches for the storing of smuggled goods is
+a commonplace of the history of smuggling; and there is scarce a seaboard
+church of which some like tale is not told, while not a few inland
+church-towers and churchyards enjoy the same reputation.  Asked to
+account for this almost universal choice of a hiding-place by the
+smugglers, a parish clerk of that age supposed, truly enough, that it was
+because no one was ever likely to go near a church, except on Sundays.
+This casts an instructive side-light upon the Church of England and
+religion at any time from two hundred to seventy or eighty years ago.
+
+But a tale of more than common humour was told of the old church at Hove,
+near Brighton, many years ago.  It seems that this ancient building had
+been greatly injured by fire in the middle of the seventeenth century,
+but that the population was so small and so little disposed to increase
+that a mere patching up of the ruins was sufficient for local needs.
+Moreover, the spiritual needs of the place were considered to be so small
+that Hove and Preston parishes were ecclesiastically united, and were
+served by one clergyman, who conducted service at each parish church on
+alternate Sundays.  At a later period, indeed, Hove church was used only
+once in six weeks.
+
+But in the alternate Sunday period the smugglers of this then lonely
+shore found the half-ruined church of Hove peculiarly useful for their
+trade; hence the following story.
+
+One “Hove Sunday” the vicar, duly robed, appeared here to take the duty,
+and found, greatly to his surprise, that no bell was ringing to call the
+faithful to worship.  “Why is the bell not ringing?” demanded the vicar.
+
+“Preston Sunday, sir,” returned the sexton shortly.
+
+“No, no,” replied the vicar.
+
+“Indeed, then, sir, ’tis.”
+
+But the vicar was not to be argued out of his own plain conviction that
+he had taken Preston last Sunday, and desired the sexton to start the
+bell-ringing at once.
+
+“’Taint no good, then, sir,” said the sexton, beaten back into his last
+ditch of defence; “you can’t preach to-day.”
+
+                  [Picture: The Drummer of Herstmonceux]
+
+“_Can’t_, fellow?” angrily responded the vicar; “what do you mean by
+‘can’t’?”
+
+“Well, then, sir,” said the sexton, “if you must know, the church is full
+of tubs, and the pulpit’s full of tea.”
+
+An especially impudent smuggling incident was reported from Hove on
+Sunday, October 16th, 1819, in the following words:
+
+“A suspected smuggling boat being seen off Hove by some of the
+custom-house officers, they, with two of the crew of the _Hound_ revenue
+cutter, gave chase in a galley.  On coming up with the boat their
+suspicions were confirmed, and they at once boarded her; but while intent
+on securing their prize, nine of the smugglers leapt into the _Hound’s_
+galley and escaped.  Landing at Hove, seven of them got away at once, two
+being taken prisoners by some officers who were waiting for them.  Upon
+this a large company of smugglers assembled, at once commenced a
+desperate attack upon the officers, and, having overpowered them,
+assaulted them with stones and large sticks, knocked them down, and cut
+the belts of the chief officer’s arms, which they took away, and thereby
+enabled the two prisoners to escape.”
+
+A reward of £200 was offered, but without result.  The cargo of the
+smugglers consisted of 225 tubs of gin, 52 tubs of brandy, and one bag of
+tobacco.
+
+Many of the ghost-stories of a hundred years and more ago originated in
+the smugglers’ midnight escapades.  It was, of course, entirely to their
+advantage that superstitious people who heard unaccountable sounds and
+saw indescribable sights should go off with the notion that supernatural
+beings were about, and resolve thenceforward to go those haunted ways no
+more.  The mysterious “ghostly drummer” of Herstmonceux, who was often
+heard and seen by terrified rustics whose way led them past the ruined
+castle at night, was a confederate of the Hastings and Eastbourne
+smugglers, to whom those roofless walls and the hoary tombs of the
+adjoining churchyard were valuable storehouses.  Rubbed with a little
+phosphorus, and parading those spots once in a way with his drum, they
+soon became shunned.  The tombstones in Herstmonceux churchyard, mostly
+of the kind known as “altar-tombs,” had slabs which the smugglers easily
+made to turn on swivels; and from them issued at times spirits indeed,
+but not such as would frighten many men.  The haunted character of
+Herstmonceux ceased with the establishment of the coastguard in 1831, and
+the drummer was heard to drum no more.
+
+The churchyards of the Sussex coast and its neighbourhood still bear
+witness to the fatal affrays between excisemen and smugglers that marked
+those times; and even far inland may be found epitaphs on those who fell,
+breathing curses and Divine vengeance on the persons who brought them to
+an untimely end.  Thus at Tandridge, Surrey, near Godstone, may be seen a
+tall tombstone beside the south porch of the church, to one Thomas
+Todman, aged thirty-one years, who was shot dead in a smuggling affray in
+1781.  Here follow the lamentable verses, oddities of grammar, spelling,
+and punctuation duly preserved:
+
+    Thou Shall do no Murder, nor Shalt thou Steal
+    are the Commands Jehovah did Reveal
+    but thou O Wretch, Without fear or dread
+    of Thy Tremendous Maker Shot me dead
+    Amidst my strength my sins forgive
+    As I through Boundless Mercy
+    hope to live.
+
+The prudery of some conscientious objector to the word “wretch” has
+caused it to be almost obliterated.
+
+                       [Picture: Tandridge church]
+
+At Patcham, near Brighton, the weatherworn epitaph on the north side of
+the church to Daniel Scales may still with difficulty be deciphered:
+
+                    Sacred to the memory of DANIEL SCALES
+               who was unfortunately shot on Thursday evening,
+                              November 7th 1796
+
+    Alas! swift flew the fatal lead,
+    Which piercèd through the young man’s head
+    He instant fell, resigned his breath,
+    And closed his languid eyes in death.
+    All you who do this stone draw near,
+    Oh! pray let fall the pitying tear.
+    From this sad instance may we all,
+    Prepare to meet Jehovah’s call.
+
+Daniel Scales was one of a desperate smuggling gang, who had had many
+narrow escapes, but was at last shot through the head.
+
+Again, at Westfield, Sussex, not far from Rye, may be found an old stone,
+rapidly going to decay, bearing some lines to the memory of a smuggler
+named Moon:
+
+    “In Memory of John Moon, who was deprived of life by a base man, on
+    the 20th of June 1809, in the 28th year of his age.
+
+               ’Tis mine to-day to moulder in the earth. . . .”
+
+The rest is not now readable.
+
+Among the many tragical incidents of the smuggling era was the affray
+aboard a fishing-smack off Hastings in March 1821, in which a fisherman
+named Joseph Swain, supposed by the blockading officers of the preventive
+force to be a smuggler, was killed.  Fishing-boats and their crews were,
+as a matter of course, searched by these officials; but the boat boarded
+by them on this occasion belonged to Swain, who denied having any
+contraband goods aboard and refused to permit the search.  So strenuous a
+refusal as Swain offered would seem, in those times, of itself sufficient
+evidence of the presence of smuggled articles, and the boarders
+persisted.  A sailor among them, George England by name, pressed forward
+to the attack, and Swain seized his cutlass and tore it out of his hand;
+whereupon England drew a pistol and fired at Swain, who instantly fell
+dead.
+
+An epitaph in the churchyard of All Saints, Hastings, bears witness to
+this incident:
+
+                    [Picture: Tombstone at Tandridge]
+
+                                  This Stone
+                           Sacred to the memory of
+                           JOSEPH SWAIN, Fisherman
+                        was erected at the expence of
+                         the members of the friendly
+                             Society of Hastings
+
+    in commiseration of his cruel and
+    untimely death and as a record of
+    the public indignation at the need-
+    lefs and sanguinary violence of
+    which he was the unoffending Victim
+    He was shot by Geo. England, one
+    of the Sailors employ’d in the Coast
+    blockade service in open day on the
+    13th March 1821 and almost instantly
+    expir’d, in the twenty ninth Year of
+    his age, leaving a Widow and five
+    small children to lament his lofs.
+
+England was subsequently put on his trial for wilful murder at Horsham,
+and was sentenced to death, but afterwards pardoned.
+
+In short, in one way and another, much good blood and a great quantity of
+the most excellent spirits were spilt and let run to waste, along the
+coasts.
+
+The affair of the _Badger_ revenue cutter and the _Vre Brodiers_, or
+_Four Brothers_, smuggling lugger was the next exciting event.  It
+happened on January 13th, 1823, and attracted a great deal of attention
+at the time, not only on account of the severe encounter at sea, but from
+the subsequent trial of the crew of the smuggler.  The _Four Brothers_
+was a Folkestone boat, and her crew of twenty-six were chiefly Folkestone
+men.  She was a considerable vessel, having once been a French privateer,
+and was, as a privateer had need to be, a smart, easily handled craft,
+capable of giving the go-by to most other vessels.  She carried four
+six-pound carronades.  In constant commission, her crew pouched a pound a
+week wages, with an additional ten guineas for each successful run.
+
+On January 12th, of this momentous voyage, she sailed from Flushing with
+over one hundred tons of leaf-tobacco aboard, snugly packed for
+convenience of carriage in bales of 60 lb., and carried also a small
+consignment of brandy and gin, contained in 50 half-ankers, and 13 chests
+of tea—all destined for the south of Ireland.  Ship and cargo were worth
+some £11,000; so it is sufficiently evident that her owners were in a
+considerable way of business of the contraband kind.
+
+At daybreak on the morning of January 13th, when off Dieppe and sailing
+very slowly, in a light wind, the crew of the _Four Brothers_ found
+themselves almost upon what they at first took to be French
+fishing-boats, and held unsuspiciously on her course.  Suddenly, however,
+one of them ran a flag smartly up her halliards and fired a gun across
+the bows of the _Four Brothers_, as a signal to bring her to.  It was the
+revenue cutter _Badger_.
+
+Unfortunately for the smuggler, she was carrying a newly stepped
+mainmast, and under small sail only, and accordingly, in disobeying the
+summons and attempting to get away, she was speedily outsailed.
+
+The smuggler, unable to get away, hoisted the Dutch colours and opened
+the fight that took place by firing upon the _Badger_, which immediately
+returned it.  For two hours this exchange of shots was maintained.  Early
+in the encounter William Cullum, seaman, was killed aboard the _Badger_,
+and Lieutenant Nazer, in command, received a shot from a musket in the
+left shoulder.  One man of the _Four Brothers_ was killed outright, and
+nine wounded, but the fight would have continued had not the _Badger_
+sailed into the starboard quarter of the smuggler, driving her bowsprit
+clean through her adversary’s mainsail.  Even then the smuggler’s crew
+endeavoured to fire one of her guns, but failed.
+
+The commander of the _Badger_ thereupon called upon the _Four Brothers_
+to surrender; or, according to his own version, the smugglers themselves
+called for quarter; and the mate and some of the cutter’s men went in a
+boat and received their submission, and sent them prisoners aboard the
+_Badger_.  The smugglers claimed that they had surrendered only on
+condition that they should have their boats and personal belongings and
+be allowed to go ashore; but it seems scarce likely the Lieutenant could
+have promised so much.  The _Four Brothers_ was then taken into Dover
+Harbour and her crew sent aboard the _Severn_ man-o’-war and kept in
+irons in the cockpit.  Three of her wounded died there.  The others,
+after a short interval, were again put aboard the _Badger_ and taken up
+the Thames to imprisonment on the Tower tender for a further three or
+four days.  Thence they were removed, all handcuffed and chained, in a
+barge and committed to the King’s Bench Prison.  At Bow Street, on the
+following day, they were all formally committed for trial, and then
+remitted to the King’s Bench Prison for eleven weeks, before the case
+came on.
+
+On Friday, April 25th, 1823, the twenty-two prisoners were arraigned in
+the High Court of Admiralty; Marinel Krans, master of the _Four
+Brothers_, and his crew, nearly all of whom bore Dutch names, being
+charged with wilfully and feloniously firing on the revenue cutter
+_Badger_, on January 13th, 1823, on the high seas, about eight miles off
+Dungeness, within the jurisdiction of the High Court of Admiralty of
+England.
+
+Mr. Brougham, afterwards Lord Brougham, defended, the defence being that
+the _Four Brothers_ was a Dutch vessel, owned at Flushing, and her crew
+Dutchmen.  A great deal of very hard swearing went towards this ingenious
+defence, for the crew, it is hardly necessary to say, were almost all
+English.  At least one witness for the prosecution was afraid to appear
+in consequence of threats made by prisoners’ friends, and an affidavit
+was put in to that effect.  It appeared, in the evidence given by the
+commander of the _Badger_ and other witnesses for the prosecution, that
+the prisoners all spoke excellent English at the time of the capture, and
+afterwards; but they, singularly enough, understood little or none when
+in court, and had to be communicated with through the agency of an
+interpreter.
+
+In summing up, Mr. Justice Parke said the crime for which the prisoners
+were tried was not murder, but was a capital offence.  Two things, if
+found by the jury, would suffice to acquit the prisoners.  The first was
+that no part of the vessel which they navigated belonged to any subject
+of His Majesty; the other that one half of the crew were not His
+Majesty’s subjects.  For if neither of these facts existed, His Majesty’s
+ship had no right to fire at their vessel.  But if the jury believed that
+any part of the vessel was British property, or that one half of her crew
+were British subjects, then His Majesty’s ship _Badger_, under the
+circumstances that had been proved, being on her duty, and having her
+proper colours flying, was justified in boarding their vessel; and their
+making resistance by firing at the _Badger_ was a capital offence.  The
+reason for the evidence respecting the distance of the vessels from the
+French coast being given was that, by the law of nations, ships of war
+were not, in time of peace, permitted to molest any vessel within one
+league of the coast of any other power.
+
+The jury, after deliberating for two hours, returned a verdict of “Not
+Guilty” for all the prisoners, finding that the ship and cargo were
+wholly foreign property, and that more than one half the crew were
+foreigners.  They were, accordingly, at once liberated, and returned to
+Folkestone in midst of great popular rejoicings.  The _Four Brothers_ was
+also released, and the commander of the _Badger_ had the mortification of
+being obliged to escort her out of Dover harbour.
+
+Dover town was, about this time, the scene of stirring events.  One
+Lieutenant Lilburn, in command of a revenue cutter, had captured a
+smuggler, and had placed the crew in Dover gaol.  As they had not offered
+armed resistance to the capture, their offence was not capital, but they
+were liable to service on board a man-o’-war—a fate they were most
+anxious to avoid.  These imprisoned men were largely natives of
+Folkestone and Sandgate, and their relatives determined to march over the
+ten miles between those places and Dover, and, if possible, liberate
+them.  When they arrived in Dover, and their intention became known, a
+crowd of fisherfolk and longshore people swarmed out of the Dover
+alley-ways and reinforced them.  Prominent among them were the women,
+who, as ever in cases of popular tumult, proved themselves the most
+violent and destructive among the mob.  Nothing less than the destruction
+of the gaol was decided upon, and the more active spirits, leaving others
+to batter in the walls, doors, and windows, climbed upon the roof, and
+from that vantage-point showered bricks and tiles upon the Mayor and the
+soldiers who had been called out.  The Mayor, beset with tooth and claw
+by screeching women, who tore the Riot Act out of his hand, fled, and
+Lieutenant Lilburn exhorted the officer in charge of the military to fire
+upon the crowd, but he declined; and meanwhile the tradespeople and
+respectable inhabitants busied themselves in barricading their shops and
+houses.
+
+                  [Picture: “Run the Rascals through!”]
+
+The prisoners were triumphantly liberated, taken to a blacksmith’s, where
+their irons were knocked off, and then driven off in post chaises to
+Folkestone, whence they dispersed to their several hiding-places.
+
+Romney was, about this time, the scene of another desperate affair, when
+an attempted seizure of contraband brought all the smugglers’ friends and
+relations out, in violent contest with the excise and a small party of
+marines in command of which was one Lieutenant Peat.  A magistrate was
+sent for, who, amid a shower of stones, read the Riot Act.  The
+Lieutenant hesitated to resort to extreme force, but one of the smugglers
+was eventually killed by him, in response to the magistrate’s order, in
+respect of one of the most violent of the crowd: Secure your prisoner,
+sir.  Run the rascal through!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+    FATAL AFFRAYS AND DARING ENCOUNTERS AT RYE, DYMCHURCH, EASTBOURNE,
+  BO-PEEP, AND FAIRLIGHT—THE SMUGGLERS’ ROUTE FROM SHOREHAM AND WORTHING
+      INTO SURREY—THE MILLER’S TOMB-LANGSTON HARBOUR—BEDHAMPTON MILL
+
+THE ’twenties of the nineteenth century formed a period especially rich
+in smuggling incidents, or perhaps seem so to do, because, with the
+growth of country newspapers, they were more fully reported, instead of
+being left merely the subject of local legend.
+
+A desperate affray took place in Rye Harbour so late as May 1826, when a
+ten-oared smuggling galley, chased by a revenue guard-boat, ran ashore.
+The smugglers, abandoning their oars, opened fire upon the guard, but the
+blockade-men from the watch-house at Camber then arrived upon the scene
+and seized one of the smugglers; whereupon a gang of not fewer than two
+hundred armed smugglers, who had until that moment been acting as a
+concealed reserve, rushed violently from behind the sandhills, and
+commenced firing on the blockade-men, killing one and wounding another.
+They were, however, ultimately driven off, with the capture of their
+galley, but managed to carry off their wounded.
+
+On another occasion, four or five smugglers were drowned whilst swimming
+the Military Canal, with tubs slung on their backs, at a point on Pett
+Level called “Pett Horse-race.”  They had, in the dark, missed the spot
+where it was fordable.  Romney Marsh, and the wide-spreading levels of
+Pett, Camber, Guilford, and Dunge Marsh had—as we have already seen, in
+the account of the owlers given in earlier pages—ever been the smugglers’
+Alsatia.
+
+The Rev. Richard Harris Barham, author of the “Ingoldsby Legends,” has
+placed upon record some of his meetings with smugglers in “this recondite
+region,” as he was pleased to style it; and his son, in the life he wrote
+of his father, adds to them.  Barham, ordained in 1813, and given the
+curacy of Westwell, near Ashford, had not long to wait before being
+brought into touch with the lawless doings here.  One of the desperate
+smugglers of the Marsh had been shot through the body in an encounter
+with the riding-officers, and fatally wounded.  As he lay dying, Barham
+was brought to convey to him the last consolations of religion, and was
+startled when the smuggler declared there was no crime of which he had
+not been guilty.
+
+“Murder is not to be reckoned among them, I hope,” exclaimed the not
+easily shocked clergyman.
+
+“Too many of them!” was the startling response of the dying man.
+
+In 1817 Barham was collated by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the
+adjoining livings of Warehorne and Snargate, the first-named situated on
+the verge of the marsh; the second situated, moist and forbidding, in the
+marsh itself.  The winding road between these two villages crossed the
+then newly made Royal Military Canal by a bridge.  Often, as the
+clergyman was returning, late at night, to his comfortable parsonage at
+Warehorne, he was met and stopped by some mysterious horsemen; but when
+he mentioned his name he was invariably allowed to proceed, and, as he
+did so, a long and silent company of mounted smugglers defiled past, each
+man with his led horse laden with tubs.  The grey tower of Snargate
+church he frequently found, by the aroma of tobacco it often exhaled,
+instead of its customary and natural mustiness, to have been recently
+used as a store for smuggled bales of that highly taxed article.
+
+The _Cinque Ports Herald_ of 1826 records the landing on a night in May,
+or in the early hours of the morning, of a considerable cargo of
+contraband hereabouts:
+
+    “A large party of smugglers had assembled in the neighbourhood of
+    Dymchurch, and a boat laden (as is supposed) with tubs of spirits,
+    being observed to approach the shore nearly opposite to Dymchurch,
+    the smugglers instantly commenced cheering, and rushed upon the
+    coast, threatening defiance to the sentinels of the blockade; who,
+    perceiving such an overwhelming force, gave the alarm, when a party
+    of marines, coming to their assistance, a general firing took place.
+    The smugglers retreated into the marshes, followed by the
+    blockade-men, and, from their knowledge of the ground, were indebted
+    for their ultimate escape.  We regret to state two of the blockade
+    seamen were wounded; one severely in the arm, which must cause
+    amputation, and the other in the face, by slug shots.  There can be
+    no doubt but that some of the smugglers must have been wounded, if
+    not killed.  One of their muskets was picked up loaded—abandoned, no
+    doubt, by the bearer of it, on account of wounds.  The boat, with her
+    cargo, was obliged to put to sea again, without effecting a landing,
+    and, notwithstanding the vigilance of Lieutenants Westbrook, Mudge,
+    and McLeod, who were afloat in their galleys on the spot, from the
+    darkness of the night, effected its escape.  We have also heard that
+    a run of five hundred tubs took place on the Sussex coast last week,
+    not far from Hastings, the smugglers losing only eleven tubs.  This
+    was also effected by force, and with such a superiority in number
+    that they completely overpowered the blockade force.”
+
+                  [Picture: Barham meets the Smugglers]
+
+The _Brighton Gazette_, of a few days later, contained the following:
+
+    “We have been favoured with some particulars of another recent
+    attempt to work contraband goods a few miles eastward of Eastbourne,
+    when it appears the coast blockade succeeded in taking a large boat
+    and upwards of two hundred tubs.  We are sorry to add much mischief
+    has occurred, as on the following morning blood was observed near the
+    spot.  Two men, it is said, belonging to the boat are taken
+    prisoners, and two of the blockade are reported to be much bruised
+    and beaten, and it is also suspected some of the smugglers are
+    seriously, if not mortally, wounded.  The blockade in this instance
+    behaved in the most humane manner, having received a regular volley
+    from their opponents before their officers gave directions for them
+    to fire.  We have just heard that five smugglers were killed in the
+    affray.”
+
+On a Sunday night towards the end of July 1826, during a run of smuggled
+goods at Dover, the smugglers shot dead a seaman of the preventive force
+named Morgan, for which no one was ever convicted.
+
+A determined and blood-stained struggle took place at Bo-Peep at midnight
+of January 3rd, 1828.  Bo-Peep was the name of a desolate spot situated
+midway between Hastings and Bexhill.  The place is the same as that
+westernmost extension of St. Leonards now known by the eminently
+respectable—not to say imposing—name of “West Marina”; but in those times
+it was a shore, not indeed lonely (better for its reputation had it been
+so) but marked by an evil-looking inn, to which were attached still more
+evil-looking “Pleasure Gardens.”  If throats were not, in fact, commonly
+cut in those times at Bo-Beep, the inn and its deplorable “Pleasure
+Gardens” certainly looked no fit, or safe, resort for any innocent young
+man with a pocketful of money jingling as he walked.
+
+                     [Picture: A Landing at Bo-Peep]
+
+On this occasion a lugger came in view off shore, when a party of
+smugglers armed, as usual, with “bats,” _i.e._ stout ash-poles, some six
+feet in length, rushed to the beach, landed the cargo, and made off with
+it, by various means, inland a distance of some three miles to Sidley
+Green.  Here the coast blockade-men, some forty in number, came up with
+them.
+
+The smugglers drew up in regular line-formation, and a desperate fight
+resulted.  The smugglers fought with such determination and courage that
+the blockade-men were repulsed and one, Quartermaster Collins, killed.
+In the first volley fired by the blockade an old smuggler named Smithurst
+was killed; his body was found next morning, with his “bat” still grasped
+in his hands, the stout staff almost hacked to pieces by the cutlasses
+and bayonets of the blockade-men.
+
+At the Spring Assizes held at Horsham, Spencer Whiteman, of Udimore,
+Thomas Miller, Henry Miller, John Spray, Edward Shoesmith, William
+Bennett, John Ford, and Stephen Stubberfield were indicted for
+assembling, armed, for purposes of smuggling, and were removed for trial
+to the Old Bailey, where, on April 10th, they all pleaded guilty; as did
+Whiteman, Thomas Miller, Spray, Bennett, and Ford, together with Thomas
+Maynard and William Plumb, for a like offence on January 23rd, 1828, at
+Eastbourne.  Sentence of death was passed on all, but was commuted to
+transportation.  With three exceptions, they were young men, under thirty
+years of age.
+
+Again, in broad daylight, in 1828, a lugger landed a heavy cargo of kegs
+on the open beach at Bo-Peep.  No fewer than three hundred rustic
+labourers, who had been hired by the job, in the usual course, by the
+smugglers bold, assembled on the beach, and formed up two lines of guards
+while the landing of the tubs, and their loading into carts, on horses,
+or on men’s shoulders, was proceeding.  If the preventive officers knew
+anything of what was toward that busy day they did not, at any rate,
+interfere; and small blame to them for the very elementary discretion
+they displayed.  They had, as already shown, been too seriously mauled at
+an earlier date for them to push matters again to extremity.
+
+On January 3rd, 1831, in Fairlight Glen, two miles east of Hastings, two
+smugglers, William Cruttenden and Joseph Harrod, were shot dead, and on
+February 22nd, 1832, at Worthing, when between two and three hundred
+smugglers had assembled on the beach, William Cowardson was shot dead,
+and several others were carried away wounded.
+
+Still the tale was continued, for during a landing on January 23rd, 1833,
+at Eastbourne, the smugglers, who had assembled in large numbers, killed
+George Pett, chief boatman of the local preventive station, and ran their
+cargo safely.  Several of both sides were wounded on this occasion, but
+no one among the smugglers was ever arrested.
+
+The last fatal happening in this way along the Sussex coast appears to
+have been in the marshes at Camber Castle, on April 1st, 1838, when a
+poor fiddler of Winchelsea, named Thomas Monk, was shot in the course of
+a dispute over run goods, by the coastguard.
+
+But we may quite easily have a surfeit of these brutal affrays, and it is
+better to dwell on a lighter note, to contemplate the audacity, and to
+admire the ingenuity and the resource often displayed by the smugglers in
+concealing their movements.
+
+To especially single out any particular line of coast for pre-eminence in
+smuggling would be impossible.  When every one smuggled, and every one
+else—owing to that well-understood human foible of buying in the cheapest
+market—supported smuggling by purchasing smuggled goods, every foreshore
+that did not actually present physical difficulties, or that was not
+exceptionally under excise and customs surveillance, was a free port, in
+a very special signification.  The thickly peopled coast-line of Kent,
+Sussex, and Hampshire of our own time was then sparsely populated, and
+those shores that are now but thinly settled were in that age the merest
+aching wildernesses, where not only towns, but even villages and hamlets,
+were few and far apart.  A coast-line such as that at Brighton would seem
+to us to present certain obvious difficulties to the smuggler, but close
+at hand was the low-lying land of Shoreham, with its lagoon-like harbour,
+a very shy, secretive kind of place, to this day; while away to Worthing,
+and beyond it, stretched a waste of shingle-beach, running up to solitary
+pasture-lands that reached to the foot of the noble rampart of the South
+Downs.  On these shores the free-traders landed their illegal imports
+with little interference, and their shore-going allies received the goods
+and took them inland, to London or to their intermediate storehouses in
+the country-side, very much at their leisure.  Avoiding the
+much-travelled high-roads, and traversing the chalk-downs by unfrequented
+bridle-tracks, they went across the level Weald and past the Surrey
+border into that still lonely district running east and west for many
+miles, on the line of Leith Hill, Ewhurst, and Hindhead.  There, along
+those wooded heights, whose solitary ways still astonish, with their
+remote aspect, the Londoner who by any chance comes to them, although but
+from thirty to thirty-five miles from the Bank of England in the City of
+London, you may still track, amid the pine-trees on the shoulders of the
+gorsy hills, or among the oaks that grow so luxuriantly in the Wealden
+clay, the “soft roads,” as the country folk call them, along which the
+smugglers, unmolested, carried their merchandise.  On Ewhurst Hill stands
+a windmill, to which in those times the smugglers’ ways converged; and
+near by, boldly perched on a height, along the sylvan road that leads
+from Shere to Ewhurst village, stood the “Windmill,” once the “New” inn,
+which had a double roof, utilised as a storehouse for clandestine kegs.
+A “Windmill” inn stands on the spot to-day, but it is a new building, the
+old house having unfortunately been burned down some two years since.
+Surveying the country from this spot, you have, on the one hand, almost
+precipitous hill-peaks, gorsy to their summits, and on the other a lovely
+dale, deeply embosomed in woods.  The sub-soil here is a soft yellow
+sandstone, streaked with white sand, breaking out along the often hollow
+paths into miniature cliffs, in which the smugglers and their allies were
+not slow to scoop caverns and store part of their stock.  We have already
+learnt how terrible these men could be to those who informed against them
+or made away with any of their property, and by direct consequence the
+goods thus stored were generally safe, either from the authorities or
+from the rustics, who had a very wholesome and well-founded dread of the
+smuggling bands.  But they had a way of their own of letting these justly
+dreaded folk see that their stores were evident to some, and that silence
+was supposed to have a certain market value.  Their way was just a
+delicate hint, which consisted in marking a tub or two with a chalk
+cross; and, sure enough, when the stock was removed, those chalk-marked
+tubs were left behind, with possibly, if the country-folk had been modest
+and the smugglers were generous, a few others to keep them company.
+
+                [Picture: Smuggler’s tracks near Ewhurst]
+
+An old brick-and-tile-hung farm, down below Ewhurst Hill, older than it
+looks, known as Barhatch, was in those times in possession of the Ticknor
+family; and still, in what was the old living-room, may be seen the
+inglenook, with its iron crane, marked “John Ticknor, 1755.”  The
+Barhatch woods were often used by smugglers, and the Ticknors never had
+any occasion to purchase spirits, because, at not infrequent intervals,
+when the household arose, and the front door was opened in the morning, a
+keg would be found deposited on the steps: a complimentary keg, for the
+use of the Ticknor property and the discretion of the Ticknor tongue.
+
+One of the choicest landing-places along the Sussex coast must
+undoubtedly have been just westward of Worthing, by Goring, where the
+shore is yet secluded, and is even now not readily come at by good roads.
+In a line with it is Highdown Hill, a rounded hump of the Downs, rising
+to a height of two hundred and ninety-nine feet, two miles inland; a spot
+famed in all guidebook lore of this neighbourhood as the site of the
+“Miller’s Tomb.”  This miller, whose real business of grinding corn seems
+to have been supplemented by participation in the stern joys of illegal
+importation, was one John Olliver.  His mill was situated on this
+hill-top: a very remote spot, even now, arrived at only along lanes in
+which mud and water plentifully await the explorer’s cautious foot, and
+where brambles and intrudant twigs, currycomb his whiskers, if he have
+such.
+
+                       [Picture: The Miller’s Tomb]
+
+John Olliver, miller, was an eighteenth-century eccentric, whose morbid
+fancy for having his coffin made early in life, and wheeled under his bed
+every night, was not satisfied until he had also built himself a tomb on
+the hill-top, on a twelve-foot square plot of ground granted him by the
+landowner, one W. W. Richardson, in 1766: a tomb on which he could with
+satisfaction look every day.  Yet he was not the dull, dispirited man one
+might for these things suppose; and Pennant, in his _Tour in Sussex_, is
+found saying, “I am told he is a stout, active, cheerful man.”  And then
+comes this significant passage.  “Besides his proper trade he carries on
+a very considerable one in smuggled goods.”  Let us pause a moment to
+reflect upon the impudent public manner in which John Olliver must have
+carried on his smuggling activities.  To this impudence he added also
+figures on his house-top, representing a miller filling a sack and a
+smuggler chased by an exciseman with a drawn sword; after the exciseman
+coming a woman with a broom, belabouring him about the head.  The tomb
+the miller had built for eventual occupation by his body was in the
+meanwhile generally occupied by spirits—not the spirits of the dead, but
+such _eaux de vie_ as hollands and cognac; and he himself was not laid
+here for many years, for he lived to be eighty-four years of age, and
+died in 1793.  He had long been widely known as an eccentric, and
+thousands came to his funeral on the unconsecrated spot.  Here the tomb,
+of the altar-tomb type, stands to this day, kept in excellent repair, and
+the lengthy inscriptions repainted; at whose costs and charges I know
+not.  A small grove of trees almost entirely encircles it.  At one end is
+a gruesome little sculpture representing Death, as a skeleton, laying a
+hand upon an affrighted person, and asking him, “Whither away so fast?”
+and at the other end are the following lines:
+
+    Why fhould my fancy anyone offend
+    Whofe good or ill does not on it depend
+    (A generous gift) on which my Tomb doth ftand
+    This is the only fpot that I have chofe
+    Wherein to take my lafting long repofe
+    Here in the drift my body lieth down
+    You’ll fay it is not confecrated ground,
+    I grant ye fame; but where shall we e’er find
+    The fpot that e’er can purify the mind?
+    Nor to the body any luftre give.
+    This more depends on what a life we live
+    For when ye trumpet fhall begin to found
+    ’Twill not avail where’er ye Body’s found.
+    Blefsed are they and all who in the Lord the Saviour die
+    Their bodief wait Redemption day,
+    And fleep in peace where’er they lay.
+
+On the upper slab are a number of texts and highly moral reflections.
+
+As for the Selsey Peninsula, and the district of flat lands and oozy
+creeks south of Chichester and on to Portsmouth, Nature would seem almost
+to have constructed the entire surroundings with the especial objects of
+securing the smugglers and confounding the customs.  Here Sussex merges
+into Hampshire.
+
+                       [Picture: Langston Harbour]
+
+Among the many smuggling nooks along the Hampshire coast, Langston
+Harbour was prominent, forming, as it does, an almost landlocked lagoon,
+with creeks ramifying toward Portsea Island on one side and Hayling
+Island on the other.  There still stands on a quay by the waterside at
+Langston the old “Royal Oak” inn, which was a favourite gathering-place
+of the “free-traders” of these parts, neighboured by a ruined windmill of
+romantic aspect, to which no stories particularly attach, but whose
+lowering, secretive appearance aptly accentuates the queer reputation of
+the spot.
+
+The reputation of Langston Harbour was such that an ancient disused brig,
+the _Griper_, was permanently stationed here, with the coastguard housed
+aboard, to keep watch upon the very questionable goings and comings of
+the sailor-folk and fishermen of the locality.  And not only these watery
+folk needed watching, but also the people of Havant and the
+oyster-fishers of Emsworth.  Here, too, just outside Havant, at the
+village of Bedhampton, upon the very margin of the mud, stands an
+eighteenth-century mill.  It would have been profitable for the
+coastguard to keep an eye upon this huge old corn-milling establishment,
+if the legends be at all true that are told of it.  A little stream,
+issuant from the Forest of Bere, at this point runs briskly into the
+creek, after having been penned up and made to form a mill-leat.  It runs
+firstly, moat-like, in front of a charming old house, formerly the
+miller’s residence, and then to the great waterwheel, and the mill
+itself, a tall, four-square building of red brick, not at all beautiful,
+but with a certain air of reserve all the more apparent, of course,
+because it is now deserted, bolted, and barred: steam flour-mills of more
+modern construction having, it may be supposed, successfully competed
+with its antiquated ways.  But at no time, if we are to believe local
+legend, did Bedhampton Mill depend greatly upon its milling for
+prosperity.  It was rather a smugglers’ storehouse, and the grinding of
+corn was, if not altogether an affectation, something of a by-product.
+You may readily understand the working of the contraband business, under
+these specious pretences, beneath the very noses of coastguard and
+excise; how goods brought up the creek and stored in this capacious hold
+could, without suspicion incurred, be taken out of store, loaded in among
+the flour-sacks in the miller’s wagons, and delivered wherever desired.
+Of course, that being the mill’s staple business, it is quite readily
+understood that when the business of smuggling declined such milling as
+went forward here did by no means suffice to keep the great building
+going.
+
+The house, which appears now to be let as a country residence for the
+summer to persons who neither know nor care anything about the story of
+the place, has an odd inscription on its gable:
+
+    The gift of Mr. George
+    Judge at Stubbington
+    Farm at Portsea Hard, in
+    Memory of his very good Friend,
+    Mr. George Champ,
+    Senr. 1742.
+
+That sporadic cases of smuggling long continued in these districts, as
+elsewhere, after the smuggling era was really ended, we may see from one
+of the annual reports issued by the Commissioners of Customs.  The
+following incident occurred in 1873, and is thus officially described:
+
+“On the top of a bank rising directly from highwater-mark in one of the
+muddy creeks of Southampton Water stands a wooden hut commanding a full
+view of it, and surrounded by an ill-cultivated garden.  There are houses
+near, but the hut does not belong to them, and appears to have been built
+for no obvious purpose.  An old smuggler was traced to this hut, and from
+that time, for nearly two months, the place was watched with great
+precaution, until at midnight, on May 28th, two men employed by us being
+on watch, a boat was observed coming from a small vessel about a mile
+from the shore.  The boat, containing four men, stopped opposite the hut,
+landed one man and some bags, while the remainder of the crew took her
+some two hundred yards off, hauled her up, and then proceeded to the hut.
+One of our men was instantly despatched for assistance, while the other
+remained, watching.  On his return with three policemen, the whole party
+went to the hut, where they found two men on watch outside and four
+inside, asleep.  A horse and cart were also found in waiting, the cart
+having a false bottom.  The six men were secured and sent to the
+police-station; a boat was then procured, the vessel whence the men had
+come was boarded, and found to be laden with tobacco and spirits.  The
+result was that the vessel, a smack of about fifteen tons, with
+eighty-five bales of leaf-tobacco, six boxes of Cavendish, with some
+cigars and spirits, was seized, and four of the persons concerned in the
+transaction convicted of the offence.”
+
+                        [Picture: Bedhampton Mill]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+     EAST COAST SMUGGLING—OUTRAGE AT BECCLES—A COLCHESTER RAID—CANVEY
+       ISLAND—BRADWELL QUAY—THE EAST ANGLIAN “CART GAPS”—A BLAKENEY
+          STORY—TRAGICAL EPITAPH AT HUNSTANTON—THE PEDDAR’S WAY
+
+THE doings of the Kentish and Sussex gangs entirely overshadow the annals
+of smuggling in other counties; and altogether, to the general reader,
+those two seaboards and the coasts of Devon and Cornwall stand out as
+typical scenes.  But no part of our shores was immune; although the
+longer sea-passages to be made elsewhere of course stood greatly in the
+way of the “free-traders” of those less favoured regions.  After Kent and
+Sussex, the east coast was probably the most favourable for smuggling.
+The distance across the North Sea might be greater and the passage often
+rough, but the low muddy shores and ramifying creeks of Essex and the
+sandy coastwise warrens of Suffolk, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire, very
+sparsely inhabited, offered their own peculiar facilities for the shy and
+secretive trade.
+
+Nor did the East Anglian smugglers display much less ferocity when their
+interests were threatened, or their goods seized, than was shown by the
+yokels of those other counties.  The stolid, ox-like rustics of the
+country-side there, as along the margin of the English Channel, were
+roused to almost incredible acts of brutality which do not seem to have
+been repeated in the West.
+
+We do not find the hardy seafaring smugglers often behaving with the
+cold-blooded cruelty displayed, as a usual phenomenon, by the generally
+unemotional men of ploughed fields and rustic communities who took up the
+running and carried the goods inland from the water’s edge whither those
+sea-dogs had brought them.  In the being of the men who dared tempestuous
+winds and waves there existed, as a rule, a more sportsmanlike and
+generous spirit.  Something of the traditional heartiness inseparable
+from sea-life impelled them to give and take without the black blood that
+seethed evilly in the veins of the landsmen.  The seamen, it seemed,
+realised that smuggling was a risk; something in the nature of any game
+of skill, into which they entered, with the various officers of the law
+naturally opposed to them; and when either side won, that was incidental
+to the game, and no enmity followed as the matter of course it was with
+their shore-going partners.
+
+Perhaps these considerations, as greatly as the difference in racial
+characters, show us why the land-smugglers of the Home Counties should
+have been so criminal, while from the Devon and Cornish contrabandists we
+hear mostly of humorous passages.
+
+                [Picture: The “Green Man,” Bradwell Quay]
+
+At Beccles, in Suffolk, for example, we find the record, in 1744, of an
+incident that smacks rather of the Hawkhurst type of outrage.  Smugglers
+there pulled a man out of bed, whipped him, tied him naked on a horse,
+and rode away with their prisoner, who was never again heard of, although
+a reward of £50 was offered.
+
+Colchester was the scene, on April 16th, 1847, of as bold an act as the
+breaking open of the custom-house at Poole.  At two o’clock in the
+morning two men arrived at the quay at Hythe, by Colchester, and, with
+the story that they were revenue officers come to lodge a seizure of
+captured goods, asked to be shown the way to the custom-house.  They had
+no sooner been shown it than there followed thirty smugglers, well armed
+with blunderbusses and pistols, who, with a heavy blacksmith’s hammer and
+a crowbar, broke open the warehouse, in which a large quantity of
+dutiable goods was stored.  They were not molested in their raid, and
+went off with sixty oil-bags, containing 1514 lb. of tea that had been
+seized near Woodbridge Haven.  No one dared interfere with them, and by
+six o’clock that morning they had proceeded as far as Hadleigh, from
+which point all trace of them was lost.
+
+Canvey Island, in the estuary of the Thames, off Benfleet, with its
+quaint old Dutch houses, relics of the seventeenth and eighteenth-century
+Hollanders who settled there and carried on a more than questionable
+business, was reputedly a nest of smugglers.  The “Lobster Smack,” a
+quaint old weatherboarded inn built just within the old earthen sea-wall
+for which those Dutchmen were responsible, and standing somewhat below
+the level of high water, has legends of smuggling that naturally do not
+lose by age or repetition.
+
+The Blackwater estuary, running up from the Essex coast to Maldon,
+offered peculiar facilities for smuggling; and that, perhaps, is why a
+coastguard vessel is still stationed at Stansgate, half way along its
+length, opposite Osea Island.  At the mouth of the Blackwater there
+branch other creeks and estuaries leading past Mersea Island to
+Colchester; and here, looking out upon a melancholy sea, and greatly
+resembling a barn, stands the ancient chapel of St. Peter-upon-the-Wall,
+situated in one of the most lonely spots conceivable, on what were, ages
+ago, the ramparts of the Roman station of _Othona_.  It has long been
+used as a barn, and was in smuggling times a frequent rendezvous of the
+night-birds who waged ceaseless war with the Customs.
+
+Two miles onward, along sea and river-bank, Bradwell Quay is reached,
+where the “Green Man” inn in these times turns a hospitable face to the
+wayfarer, but was in the “once upon a time” apt to distrust the casual
+stranger, for it was a house “ower sib” with the free-traders, and Pewit
+Island, just off the quay, a desolate islet almost awash, formed an
+admirable emergency store.  The old stone-floored kitchen of the “Green
+Man,” nowadays a cool and refreshing place in which to take a modest
+quencher on a summer’s day, still remains very much what it was of old;
+and the quaint fireplace round which the sly longshore men of these Essex
+creeks foregathered on those winter nights when work was before them
+keeps its old-time pot-racks and hooks.
+
+                  [Picture: Kitchen of the “Green Man”]
+
+Among the very numerous accounts of smuggling affrays we may exhume from
+the musty files of old newspapers, we read of the desperate encounter in
+which Mr. Toby, Supervisor of Excise, lost an eye in contending with a
+gang of smugglers at Caister, near Yarmouth, in April 1816; which
+shows—if we had occasion to show—that the East Anglian could on occasion
+be as ferocious as the rustics of the south.
+
+The shores of East Anglia we have already noted to be largely composed of
+wide-spreading sandy flats, in whose wastes the tracks of wild birds and
+animals—to say nothing of the deeply indented footmarks of heavily-laden
+men—are easily distinguished; and the chief problem of the free-traders
+of those parts was therefore often how to cover up the tracks they left
+so numerously in their passage across to the hard roads.  In this resort
+the shepherds were their mainstay, and for the usual consideration,
+_i.e._ a keg of the “right stuff,” would presently, after the gang had
+passed, come driving their flocks along in the sandy trail they had left:
+completely obliterating all evidences of a run of contraband goods having
+been successfully brought off.
+
+Blakeney, on the Norfolk coast, is associated with one of the best, and
+most convincing, tales ever told of smuggling.  This coast is rich in
+what are known as “cart gaps”: dips in the low cliffs, where horses and
+carts may readily gain access to the sea.  These places were, of course,
+especially well watched by the preventive men, who often made a rich haul
+out of the innocent-looking farm-carts, laden with seaweed for manure,
+that were often to be observed being driven landwards at untimeous hours
+of night and early morn.  Beneath the seaweed were, of course, numerous
+kegs.  Sometimes the preventive men confiscated horses and carts, as well
+as their loads, and all were put up for sale.  On one of these painful
+occasions the local custom-house officer, who knew a great deal more of
+the sea and its ways than he did of horses, was completely taken in by a
+farmer-confederate of the smugglers whose horses had been seized.  The
+farmer went to make an offer for the animals, and was taken to see them.
+The season of the year was the spring, when, as the poet observes, “a
+young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love”—and when horses shed
+their coats.  Up went the farmer to the nearest horse, and easily, of
+course, pulled out a handful of hair.  “Why,” said he, in the East
+Anglian way, “th’ poor brute hey gotten t’ mange, and all tudderuns ’ull
+ketch it, of yow baint keerful.”  And then he examined “tudderuns,” and
+behold! each _had_ caught it: and so he bought the lot for five pounds.
+That same night every horse was back in its own stable.
+
+Searching in graveyards is not perhaps the most exhilarating of pastimes
+or employments, but it, at any rate, is likely to bring, on occasion,
+curious local history to light.  Not infrequently, in the old churchyards
+of seaboard parishes, epitaphs bearing upon the story of smuggling may be
+found.
+
+Among these often quaint and curious, as well as tragical, relics, that
+in Hunstanton churchyard, on the coast of Norfolk, is pre-eminent, both
+for its grotesquely ungrammatical character and for the history that
+attaches to the affair:
+
+            In Memory of William Webb, late of the 15th Lt. D’ns,
+             who was shot from his Horse by a party of Smugglers
+                           on the 26 of Sepr. 1784.
+
+    I am not dead, but sleepeth here,
+    And when the Trumpet Sound I will appear.
+    Four balls thro’ me Pearced there way:
+    Hard it was.  I’d no time to pray
+
+    This stone that here you Do see
+    My Comerades erected for the sake of me.
+
+Two smugglers, William Kemble and Andrew Gunton, were arraigned for the
+murder of this dragoon and an excise officer.  The jury, much to the
+surprise of every one, for the guilt of the prisoners was undoubted,
+brought in a verdict of “Not guilty”; whereupon Mr. Murphy, counsel for
+the prosecution, moved for a new trial, observing that if a Norfolk jury
+were determined not to convict persons guilty of the most obvious crimes,
+simply because, as smugglers, they commanded the sympathy of the country
+people, there was an end of all justice.
+
+A second jury was forthwith empanelled and the evidence repeated, and
+after three hours’ deliberation the prisoners were again found “Not
+guilty,” and were, in accordance with that finding, acquitted and
+liberated.
+
+It is abundantly possible that the foregoing incident had some connection
+with that locally favourite smugglers’ route from the Norfolk coast
+inland, the Peddar’s Way, which runs a long and lonely course from Holme,
+near Hunstanton, right through Norfolk into Suffolk, and is for the
+greater part of its length a broad, grassy track, romantically lined and
+overhung with fine trees.  Such ancient ways, including the many old
+drove-roads in the north, never turnpiked, made capital soft going, and,
+rarely touching villages or hamlets, were of a highly desirable,
+secretive nature.  The origin of the Peddar’s, or Padder’s, Way is still
+in dispute among antiquaries, some seeing in it a Roman road, others
+conceiving it to be a prehistoric track; but the broad, straight
+character of it seems to point to this long route having been Romanised.
+Its great age is evident on many accounts, not least among them being
+that the little town of Watton, near but not on it, is named from this
+prehistoric road, “Way-town,” while that county division, the hundred, is
+the Hundred of Wayland.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+  THE DORSET AND DEVON COASTS—EPITAPHS AT KINSON AND WYKE—THE “WILTSHIRE
+  MOON-RAKERS”—EPITAPH AT BRANSCOMBE—THE WARREN AND “MOUNT PLEASANT” INN
+
+NOT so much smuggling incident as might be expected is found along the
+coasts of Dorset and Devon, but that is less on account of any lack of
+smuggling encounters in those parts than because less careful record has
+been kept of them.  An early epitaph on a smuggler, to be seen in the
+churchyard of Kinson, just within the Dorset boundary, in an
+out-of-the-way situation at the back of Bournemouth, in a district
+formerly of almost trackless heaths, will sufficiently show that
+smuggling was active here:
+
+              To the memory of Robert Trotman, late of Rowd, in
+              the county of Wilts, who was barbarously murdered
+                on the shore near Poole, the 24th March, 1765.
+
+    A little tea, one leaf I did not steal,
+    For guiltless bloodshed I to God appeal;
+    Put tea in one scale, human blood in t’other
+    And think what ’tis to slay a harmless brother.
+
+This man was shot in an encounter with the revenue officers.  He was one
+of a gang that used the church here as a hiding-place.  The upper stage
+of the tower and an old altar-tomb were the favourite receptacles for
+their “free-trade” merchandise.
+
+Trotman, it will be observed, was of Rowd, or Rowde, in Wiltshire, two
+miles from Devizes, and was thus one of the “Wiltshire Moonrakers,” whose
+descriptive title is due to smuggling history.  Among the nicknames
+conferred upon the natives of our various shires and counties none is
+complimentary.  They figure forth undesirable physical attributes, as
+when the Lincolnshire folk, dwellers among the fens, are styled
+“Yellow-bellies,” _i.e._ frogs; or stupidity, _e.g._ “Silly Suffolk”; or
+humbug—for example, “Devonshire Crawlers.”  “Wiltshire Moonrakers” is
+generally considered to be a term of contempt for Wilts rustic stupidity;
+but, rightly considered, it is nothing of the kind.  It all depends how
+you take the story which gave rise to it.  The usual version tells us how
+a party of travellers, crossing a bridge in Wiltshire by night when the
+harvest moon was shining, observed a group of rustics raking in the
+stream, in which the great yellow disc of the moon was reflected.  The
+travellers had the curiosity to ask them what it was they raked for in
+such a place and at so untimeous an hour; and were told they were trying
+to get “that cheese”—the moon—out of the water.  The travellers went on
+their way amused with the simplicity of these “naturals,” and spread the
+story far and wide.
+
+But these apparently idiotic clod-hoppers were wiser in their generation
+than commonly supposed, and were, in fact, smugglers surprised in the act
+of raking up a number of spirit-kegs that had been sunk in the bed of the
+stream until the arrival of a convenient season when they could with
+safety be removed.  The travellers, properly considered, were really
+revenue officers, scouring the neighbourhood.  This version of the story
+fairly throws the accusation of innocence and dunderheadedness back upon
+them, and clears the Wiltshire rural character from contempt.  It should,
+however, be said that the first version of the story is generally told at
+the expense of the villagers of Bishop’s Cannings, near Devizes, who have
+long writhed under a load of ancient satirical narratives, reflecting
+upon a lack of common sense alleged to be their chief characteristic.
+
+Many of the western smuggling stories are of a humorous cast, rather than
+of the dreadful blood-boltered kind that disgraces the history of the
+home counties.  Here is a case in point.  On the evening of Sunday, July
+10th, 1825, as two preventive men were on the look-out for smugglers,
+near Lulworth in Dorset, the smugglers, to the number of sixty or
+seventy, curiously enough, found them instead, and immediately taking
+away their swords and pistols, carried them to the edge of the cliff and
+placed them with their heads hanging over the precipice; with the
+comfortable assurance that if they made the least noise, or gave alarm,
+they should be immediately thrown over.  In the interval a smuggling
+vessel landed a “crop” of one hundred casks, which the shore-gang placed
+on their horses and triumphantly carried away.  The prisoners were then
+removed from their perilous position, and taken into an adjoining field,
+where they were bound hand and foot, and left overnight.  They were found
+the next morning by their comrades, searching for them.
+
+There are several points in this true tale that suggest it to have been
+the original whence Mr. Thomas Hardy obtained the chief motive of his
+short story, _The Distracted Preacher_.
+
+We do not find consecutive accounts of smuggling on this wild coast of
+Dorset; but when the veil is occasionally lifted and we obtain a passing
+glimpse, it is a picturesque scene that is disclosed.  Thus, a furious
+encounter took place under St. Aldhelm’s Head, in 1827, between an armed
+band of some seventy or eighty smugglers and the local preventive men,
+who numbered only ten, but gave a good account of themselves, two
+smugglers being reported killed on the spot, and many others wounded,
+while some of the preventive force, during the progress of the fight,
+quietly slipped to where the smugglers’ boats had been left and made off
+with the goods stored in them.
+
+“The smugglers are armed,” says a report of this affair, “with swingels,
+like flails, with which they can knock people’s brains out”; and proceeds
+to say that weapons of this kind, often delivering blows from unexpected
+quarters, are extremely difficult to fight against.
+
+The captain of this gang was a man named Lucas, who kept an inn called
+the “Ship,” at Woolbridge; and, information being laid, Captain Jackson,
+the local inspector of customs, went with an assistant and a police
+officer from London to his house at two o’clock in the morning and roused
+him.
+
+“Who’s there?” asked Lucas.
+
+“Only I, Mrs. Smith’s little girl.  I want a drop of brandy for mother,”
+returned the inspector, in a piping voice.
+
+“Very well, my dear,” said the landlord, and opened the door; to find
+himself in the grasp of the police-officer.  Henry Fooks, of Knowle, and
+three others of the gang, were then arrested; and the whole five
+committed to Dorchester gaol.
+
+The wild coast of Dorset, if we except Poole Harbour and the cliffs of
+Purbeck, yields little to the inquirer in this sort, although there can
+be no doubt of smuggling having been in full operation here.  Jack
+Rattenbury, whose story is told on another page, could doubtless have
+rubricated this shore of many cliffs and remote hamlets with striking
+instances; and not a cliff-top but must have frequently exhibited lights
+to “flash the lugger off,” what time the preventive men were on the
+prowl; and no lonely strand but must have witnessed the smugglers, when
+the coast was again clear, rowing out and “creeping for the crop” that
+had been sunk and buoyed, or “put in the collar,” as the saying went.
+
+A relic of these for the most part unrecorded and forgotten incidents is
+found in the epitaph at Wyke, near Weymouth, on one William Lewis:
+
+                             Sacred to the memory
+                                      of
+                                WILLIAM LEWIS,
+
+                           who was killed by a shot
+                          from the _Pigmy_ Schooner
+                       21st April 1822, aged 53 years.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+    Of life bereft (by fell design),
+       I mingle with my fellow clay,
+    On God’s protection I recline
+       To save me on the Judgment-day.
+    There shall each blood-stain’d soul appear,
+       Repent, all, ere it be too late,
+    Or Else a dreadful doom you’ll hear,
+       For God will sure avenge my fate.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                      This Stone is Erected by his Wife
+                      as the last mark of respect to an
+                            Affectionate Husband.
+
+The inscription is surmounted by a representation, carved in low relief,
+of the _Pigmy_ schooner chasing the smuggling vessel.
+
+Old folk, now gone from the scene of their reminiscences, used to tell of
+this tragedy, and of the landing of the body of the unfortunate Lewis on
+the rocks of Sandsfoot Castle, where the ragged, roofless walls of that
+old seaward fortress impend over the waves, and the great bulk of
+Portland isle glooms in mid distance upon the bay.  They tell, too, how
+the inscription was long kept gilded by his relatives; but the last trace
+of it has long since vanished.
+
+Many miles intervene, and another county must be entered, before another
+tragical epitaph bearing upon smuggling is found.  If you go to Seaton,
+in South Devon, and walk inland from the modern developments of that now
+rapidly growing town to the old church, you may see there a tablet
+recording the sad fate of William Henry Paulson, midshipman of H.M.S.
+_Queen Charlotte_, and eight seamen, who all perished in a gale of wind
+off Sidmouth, while cruising in a galley after smugglers, in the year
+1816.
+
+A few miles westward, through Beer to Branscombe, the country is of a
+very wild and lonely kind.  In the weird, eerie churchyard of Branscombe,
+in which astonishing epitaphs of all kinds abound, is a variant upon the
+smugglers’ violent ends, in the inscription to one “Mr. John Harley,
+Custom House Officer of this parish.”  It proceeds to narrate how, “as he
+was endeavouring to extinguish some Fire made between Beer and Seaton as
+a signal to a Smuggling Boat then off at sea, he fell by some means or
+other from the top of the cliff to the bottom, by which he was
+unfortunately killed.  This unhappy accident happened the 9th day of
+August in the year of our Lord 1755, _ætatis suæ_ 45.  He was an active
+and diligent officer and very inoffensive in his life and conversation.”
+
+So here was another martyr to the conditions created by bad government.
+
+The estuary of the Exe, between Exmouth and Starcross, was for many years
+greatly favoured by smugglers, for, as may readily be perceived to this
+day, there lay in the two-miles-broad channel, where sea and river
+mingle, a wide, wild stretch of sand, almost awash at high water, heaped
+up in towans overgrown with tussocks of coarse, sour grasses, or sinking
+into hollows full of brackish water: pleasant in daytime, but a dangerous
+place at night.  Here, in this islanded waste, there were no roads nor
+tracks at all, and few were those who ever came to disturb the curlews or
+the seabirds that nested, unafraid.  In these twentieth-century times of
+ours the Warren—for such is the name of this curiously amphibious
+place—has become a place of picnic parties on summer afternoons, largely
+by favour of the Great Western Railway having provided, midway between
+the stations of Starcross and Dawlish, a little platform called the
+“Warren Halt.”  But in those times before railways, when the Warren was
+not easily come at, the smugglers found it a highly convenient place for
+their business.  Beside it, under the lee of Langston Point, there is a
+sheltered strand, and, at such times when it was considered quite safe,
+the sturdy free-traders quietly ran their boats ashore here, on the
+yellow sands, and conveyed their contents to the “Mount Pleasant” inn,
+which is an unassuming—and was in those times a still more
+unassuming—house, perched picturesquely on the crest of a red sandstone
+bluff which rises inland, sheer from the marshy meadows.  It was a very
+convenient receiving-house and signal-station for all of this trade, for
+it owned caverns hollowed out of the red sandstone in places inaccessible
+to the authorities, and from its isolated height, overlooking the flats,
+could easily communicate encouragement or warning to friends anxiously
+riding at anchor out at sea.  The lights that flashed on dark and
+tempestuous nights from its high-hung rustic balcony were significant.
+The only man who could have told much of the smugglers’ secrets here was
+the unfortunate Lieutenant Palk, who lay wait one such night upon the
+Warren.  But dead men tell no tales; and that ill-starred officer was
+found in the morning, drowned, face downwards, in a shallow pool, whether
+by accident or design there was nothing to show.  As already remarked,
+the Warren was a dangerous place to wander in after dark.
+
+It is quite vain nowadays to seek for the smugglers’ caves at Mount
+Pleasant.  They were long ago filled up.
+
+In these times the holiday-maker, searching for shells, is the only
+feature of the sands that fringe the seaward edge of the Warren.  It is a
+fruitful hunting-ground for such, especially after rough weather.  But
+the day following a storm was, in those times, the opportunity of the
+local revenue men, who, forming a strong party, were used to take boat
+and pull down here and thoroughly search the foreshore; for at such times
+any spirit-tubs that might have been sunk out at sea and carefully buoyed
+by the smugglers, awaiting a favourable time for landing, were apt to
+break loose and drift in-shore.  There was always, at such times, a
+sporting chance of a good haul.  But, on the other hand, some of the many
+tubs that had been sunk months before, and lost, would on these occasions
+come to hand, and they were worth just nothing at all: long immersion in
+salt water having spoiled their contents, with the result that what had
+been right good hollands or cognac had become a peculiarly ill-savoured
+liquid, which smelt to heaven when it was broached.  The revenue people
+called this abominable stuff, which, as Shakespeare might say, had
+“suffered a sea-change into something new and strange,” by the
+appropriate name of “stinkibus.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+  CORNWALL IN SMUGGLING STORY—CRUEL COPPINGER—HAWKER’S SKETCH—THE FOWEY
+    SMUGGLERS—TOM POTTER, OF POLPERRO—THE DEVILS OF TALLAND—SMUGGLERS’
+                    EPITAPHS—CAVE AT WENDRON—ST. IVES
+
+CORNWALL is the region of romance: the last corner of England in which
+legend and imagination had full play, while matter-of-fact already sat
+enthroned over the rest of the land.  At a time when newspapers almost
+everywhere had already long been busily recording facts, legends were
+still in the making throughout this westernmost part of the island.  We
+may, in our innocence, style Cornwall a part of England; but the Cornish
+do not think of it as such, and when they cross the Tamar into Devonshire
+will still often speak of “going into England.”  They are historically
+correct in doing so, for this is the unconquered land of the Cornu-Welsh,
+never assimilated by the Saxon kingdoms.  Historically and
+ethnologically, the Cornish are a people apart.
+
+The Coppinger legend is a case in point, illustrating the growth of wild
+stories out of meagre facts.  “Cruel Coppinger” is a half-satanic,
+semi-viking character in the tales of North Cornwall and North Devon, of
+whom no visitor is likely to remain ignorant, for not only was he a dread
+figure of local folklore from about the first quarter of the nineteenth
+century, but he was written up in 1866 by the Reverend R. S. Hawker,
+Vicar of Morwenstow, who not only collated those floating stories, but
+added very much of his own, for Hawker was a man—and a not very
+scrupulous man—of imagination.  Hawker’s presentment of “Cruel Coppinger”
+was published in a popular magazine, and then the legend became
+full-blown.
+
+The advent of Coppinger upon the coast at Welcombe Mouth, near where
+Devon and Cornwall join, was dramatic.  The story tells how a strange
+vessel went to pieces on the reefs and how only one person escaped with
+his life, in the midst of a howling tempest.  This was the skipper, a
+Dane named Coppinger.  On the beach, on foot and on horseback, was a
+crowd, waiting, in the usual Cornish way, for any wreck of the sea that
+might be thrown up.  Into the midst of them, like some sea-monster,
+dashed this sole survivor, and bounded suddenly upon the crupper of a
+young damsel who had ridden to the shore to see the sight.  He grasped
+her bridle, and, shouting in a foreign tongue, urged the doubly-laden
+animal to full speed, and the horse naturally took his usual way home.
+The damsel was Miss Dinah Hamlyn.  The stranger descended at her father’s
+door and lifted her off her saddle.  He then announced himself as a Dane,
+named Coppinger, and took his place at the family board and there
+remained until he had secured the affections and hand of Dinah.  The
+father died, and Coppinger succeeded to the management and control of the
+house, which thenceforward became the refuge of every lawless character
+along the coast.  All kinds of wild uproar and reckless revelry appalled
+the neighbourhood, night and day.  It was discovered that an organised
+band of smugglers, wreckers, and poachers made this house their
+rendezvous, and that “Cruel Coppinger” was their captain.  In those times
+no revenue officer durst exercise vigilance west of the Tamar, and, to
+put an end at once to all such surveillance, the head of a gauger was
+chopped off by one of Coppinger’s gang, on the gunwale of a boat.
+
+Strange vessels began to appear at regular intervals on the coast, and
+signals were flashed from the headlands, to lead them into the safest
+creek or cove.  Amongst these, one, a full-rigged schooner, soon became
+ominously conspicuous.  She was for long the terror of those shores, and
+her name was the _Black Prince_.  Once, with Coppinger aboard, she led a
+revenue cutter into an intricate channel near the Bull Rock, where, from
+knowledge of the bearings, the _Black Prince_ escaped scathless, while
+the King’s vessel perished with all on board.  In those times, if any
+landsman became obnoxious to Coppinger’s men, he was seized and carried
+aboard the _Black Prince_, and obliged to save his life by enrolling
+himself as one of the crew.
+
+Amid such practices, ill-gotten gold began to accrue to Coppinger.  At
+one time he had enough money to purchase a freehold farm bordering on the
+sea.  When the day of transfer came, he and one of his followers appeared
+before the lawyer and paid the money in dollars, ducats, doubloons, and
+pistoles.  The lawyer objected, but Coppinger, with an oath, bade him
+take that or none.
+
+Long impunity increased Coppinger’s daring.  Over certain bridle-paths
+along the fields he exercised exclusive control, and issued orders that
+no man was to pass over them by night.  They were known as “Coppinger’s
+Tracks,” and all converged at a cliff called “Steeple Brink.”  Here the
+precipice fell sheer to the sea, 300 feet, with overhanging eaves a
+hundred feet from the summit.  Under this part was a cave, only to be
+reached by a rope-ladder from above.  This was “Coppinger’s Cave.”  Here
+sheep were tethered to the rock and fed on stolen hay and corn until
+slaughtered.  Kegs of brandy and hollands were piled around; chests of
+tea, and iron-bound sea-chests contained the chattels and revenues of the
+Coppinger royalty of the sea.
+
+The terror linked with Coppinger’s name throughout the north coasts of
+Cornwall and Devon was so extreme that the people themselves, wild and
+lawless though they were, submitted to his sway as though he had been
+lord of the soil, and they his vassals.  Such a household as his was, of
+course, far from happy or calm.  Although, when his father-in-law died,
+he had insensibly acquired possession of the stock and farm, there
+remained in the hands of the widow a considerable amount of money.  This
+he obtained from the helpless woman by instalments, and by force.  He
+would fasten his wife to the pillar of her oak bedstead, and call her
+mother into the room, and assure her he would flog Dinah with a
+cat-o’-nine-tails till her mother had transferred to him what he wanted.
+This act of brutal cruelty he repeated until he had utterly exhausted the
+widow’s store.
+
+There was but one child of Coppinger’s marriage.  It was a boy, and deaf
+and dumb, but mischievous and ungovernable, delighting in cruelty to
+other children, animals, or birds.  When he was but six years of age, he
+was found one day, hugging himself with delight, and pointing down from
+the brink of a cliff to the beach, where the body of a neighbour’s child
+was found and it was believed that little Coppinger had flung him over.
+It was a saying in the district that, as a judgment on his father’s
+cruelty, the child had been born without a human soul.
+
+But the end arrived.  Money became scarce, and more than one armed King’s
+cutter was seen, day and night, hovering off the land.  And at last
+Coppinger, “who came with the water, went with the wind.”  A wrecker,
+watching the shore, saw, as the sun went down, a full-rigged vessel
+standing off and on.  Coppinger came to the beach, put off in a boat to
+the vessel, and jumped aboard.  She spread canvas, and was seen no more.
+That night was one of storm, and whether the vessel rode it out or not,
+none ever knew.
+
+It is hardly necessary to add that the Coppinger of these and other
+rumbustious stories is a strictly unhistorical Coppinger; and that, in
+short, they are mainly efforts of Hawker’s own imagination, built upon
+very slight folklore traditions.
+
+Who and what, however, was the real Coppinger?  Very little exact
+information is available, but what we have entirely demolishes the
+legendary half-man, half-monster of those remarkable exploits.
+
+Daniel Herbert Copinger, or Coppinger, was wrecked at Welcombe Mouth on
+December 23rd, 1792, and was given shelter beneath the roof of Mr.
+William Arthur, yeoman farmer, at Golden Park, Hartland, where for many
+years afterwards his name might have been seen, scratched on a
+window-pane:
+
+    D. H. Coppinger, shipwrecked December 23 1792, kindly received by Mr.
+    Wm. Arthur.
+
+There is not the slightest authority for the story of his sensational
+leap on to the saddle of Miss Dinah Hamlyn; but it is true enough that
+the next year he married a Miss Hamlyn—her Christian name was Ann—elder
+of the two daughters of Ackland Hamlyn, of Galsham, in Hartland, and in
+the registers of Hartland church may be found this entry: “Daniel Herbert
+Coppinger, of the King’s Royal Navy, and Ann Hamlyn mard. (by licence) 3
+Aug.”  The “damsel” of the story also turns out, by the cold, calm
+evidence of this entry, to have been of the mature age of forty-two.
+
+Mrs. Hamlyn, Coppinger’s mother-in-law, died in 1800, and was buried in
+the chancel of Hartland church.  It is, of course, quite possible that
+his married life was stormy and that he, more or less by force, extracted
+money from Mrs. Hamlyn, and he was certainly more or less involved in
+smuggling.  But that he, or any of his associates, chopped off the head
+of an excise officer is not to be credited.  Tales are told of revenue
+officers searching at Galsham for contraband, and of Mrs. Coppinger
+hurriedly hiding a quantity of valuable silks in the kitchen oven, while
+her husband engaged their attention in permitting them to find a number
+of spirit-kegs, which they presently found, much to their disgust, to be
+empty; and, moreover, empty so long that scarce the ghost of even a smell
+of the departed spirit could be traced.  But the flurried Mrs. Coppinger
+had in her haste done a disastrous thing, for the oven was in baking
+trim, and the valuable silks were baked to a cinder.
+
+Little else is known of Coppinger, and nothing whatever of his alleged
+connection with the Navy.  He became bankrupt in 1802, and was then a
+prisoner in the King’s Bench Prison.  With him was one Richard Copinger,
+said to have been a merchant in Martinique.  Nothing is known of him
+after this date, but rumour told how he was living apart from his wife,
+at Barnstaple, and subsisting on an allowance from her.
+
+Mrs. Coppinger herself, in after years, resided at Barnstaple, and died
+there on August 31st, 1833.  She lies buried in the chancel of Hartland
+church beside her mother.
+
+According to the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, Coppinger was not really a Dane,
+but an Irishman, and had a wife at Trewhiddle near St. Austell.  He, on
+the same authority, is said to have done extremely well as a smuggler,
+and had not only a farm at Trewhiddle, but another at Roscoff, in
+Brittany.  A daughter, says Mr. Baring-Gould, married a Trefusis, son of
+Lord Clinton, and Coppinger gave her £40,000 as a dowry.  A son married
+the daughter of Sir John Murray, Bart., of Stanhope.  The source of this
+interesting information is not stated.  It appears wildly improbable.
+
+Hawker very cleverly embodied the smuggling sentiment of Cornwall in a
+sketch he wrote, styled “The Light of Other Days.”
+
+“It was full six in the evening of an autumn day when a traveller arrived
+where the road ran along by a sandy beach just above high-water mark.
+The stranger, who was a native of some inland town, and utterly
+unacquainted with Cornwall and its ways, had reached the brink of the
+tide just as a ‘landing’ was coming off.  It was a scene not only to
+instruct a townsman, but to dazzle and surprise.  At sea, just beyond the
+billows, lay the vessel, well moored with anchors at stem and stern.
+Between the ship and the shore, boats, laden to the gunwale, passed to
+and fro.  Crowds assembled on the beach to help the cargo ashore.  On one
+hand a boisterous group surrounded a keg with the head knocked in, for
+simplicity of access to the good cognac, into which they dipped
+whatsoever vessel came first to hand; one man had filled his shoe.  On
+the other side they fought and wrestled, cursed and swore.  Horrified at
+what he saw, the stranger lost all self-command, and, oblivious of
+personal danger, he began to shout, ‘What a horrible sight!  Have you no
+shame?  Is there no magistrate at hand?  Cannot any justice of the peace
+be found in this fearful country?’
+
+“‘No; thanks be to God,’ answered a gruff, hoarse voice.  ‘None within
+eight miles.’
+
+“‘Well, then,’ screamed the stranger, ‘is there no clergyman hereabout?
+Does no minister of the parish live among you on this coast?’
+
+“‘Aye, to be sure there is,’ said the same deep voice.
+
+“‘Well, how far off does he live?  Where is he?’
+
+“‘That’s he, yonder, sir, with the lantern.’
+
+“And, sure enough, there he stood on a rock, and poured, with pastoral
+diligence, ‘the light of other days’ on a busy congregation.”
+
+                   [Picture: “The Light of other Days”]
+
+The complete, true story of smuggling along the Cornish coast will never
+be told.  Those who could have contributed illuminating chapters to it,
+and would not, are dead, and those who now would are reduced to seeking
+details and finding only scraps.  But some of these scraps are not
+unpalatable.
+
+Thus we have the story of that Vicar of Maker whose church was used as a
+smugglers’ store.  The Vicar was not a party to these proceedings, as may
+well be judged by his inviting his rural dean to ascend to the roof of
+the church-tower with him, for sake of the view: the view disclosing not
+only a lovely expanse of sea and wooded foreshore, but also a heap of
+twenty-three spirit-kegs, reposing in the gutters between the roofs of
+nave and aisle.
+
+The “Fowey Gallants,” as the townsfolk of that little seaport delighted
+to call themselves,—the title having descended from Elizabethan and even
+earlier times, when the “Gallants” in question were, in plain speech,
+nothing less than turbulent seafaring rowdies and pirates—were not behind
+other Cornish folk in their smuggling enterprises.  That prime authority
+on this part of the Cornish coast, Jonathan Couch, historian of Polperro,
+tells us of an exciting incident at Fowey, in the smuggling way.  On one
+occasion, the custom-house officers heard of an important run that had
+taken place overnight, and accordingly sent out scouts in every direction
+to locate the stuff, if possible.  At Landaviddy one of these parties met
+a farm-labourer whom they suspected of having taken part in the run.
+They taxed him with it, and tried him all ways; without effect, until
+they threatened to impress him for service in the Navy unless he revealed
+the hiding-place of the cognac.  His resolution broke down at that, and
+he told how the kegs had been hidden in a large cave at Yellow Rock,
+which the officers then instructed him to mark with a chalk cross.
+
+The revenue men then went off for reinforcements, and, returning, met an
+armed band of smugglers, who had taken up a strong position at New Quay
+Head.  They were armed with sticks, cutlasses, and muskets, and had
+brought a loaded gun upon the scene, which they trained upon the cave;
+while a man with flaring portfire stood by and dared the officers to
+remove the goods.  Official prudence counselled the revenue men to retire
+for further support; but when they had again returned the smugglers had
+disappeared, and the kegs with them.
+
+Fowey’s trade in “moonshine,” _i.e._ contraband spirits, was, like that
+of the Cornish coast in general, with Roscoff, in Brittany; and a regular
+service was maintained for years.  As late as 1832 the luggers _Eagle_,
+thirty-five tons; _Rose_, eleven tons; and _Dove_, of the same burthen,
+were well known in the trade.  Among the smuggling craft belonging to
+Polperro, the _Unity_ was said to have made upwards of five hundred
+entirely successful trips.
+
+The story of Tom Potter is even yet told by oldsters at Polperro, who,
+not themselves old enough to recollect the circumstances, have it from
+their parents and grandparents.  Jonathan Couch tells the story, but he
+forgot the exact year.
+
+It seems, then, that one morning a lugger was observed by a revenue
+cutter lying becalmed in Whitesand Bay.  Through their glasses the
+revenue men made it out to be the _Lottery_, of Polperro, well known for
+her fast-sailing qualities, as well as for the hardihood of her crew.
+With the springing up of the breeze, there was little doubt but that she
+would put to sea, and thus add yet another opportunity to the many
+already existing for sneering at the stupidity of the local preventive
+force.
+
+Accordingly, the chief officer, with all despatch, manned two or three
+boats and put off, before a breeze could spring up, making sure of an
+easy capture.  The smugglers, however, observed these movements of their
+watchful enemies, and commenced to make preparations for resistance,
+whereupon the revenue boats opened fire; but it was not until they had
+approached closely that the smugglers returned their volleys, and then
+the firing grew very heavy, and when within a few yards of the expected
+prize, Ambrose Bowden, who pulled bow-oar in one of the attacking boats,
+fell mortally wounded.
+
+It was plain that the Polperro men had come to a determination not to
+surrender their fine craft, or the valuable cargo it carried; and the
+commander of the revenue men thought it, under the circumstances, the
+wisest thing to withdraw and to allow the _Lottery_ to proceed to sea,
+which she did, at the earliest opportunity.  But the names of those who
+formed the crew were sufficiently well known to the authorities, and the
+smugglers accordingly found themselves in a very difficult position; not
+indeed on account of smuggling, but for the resistance they had offered
+to authority, resulting in what was technically murder.  They all
+scattered and went into hiding, and, secreted by friends, relatives, and
+sympathisers in out-of-the-way places, long baffled the efforts of the
+revenue officers, aided by searching parties of dragoons, to find them.
+The authorities no sooner had learnt, on reliable information, where they
+lay hidden, than they were found to have been spirited away elsewhere.
+
+But all this skulking about, with its enforced idleness and waste of
+time, grew wearisome to the skulkers, and at length one of the crew of
+the _Lottery_, Roger Toms by name, more weary than his fellows of hiding,
+and perhaps also thinking that his services would be handsomely rewarded,
+offered himself as King’s evidence.
+
+According to his showing, it was a man named Tom Potter who fired the
+shot that killed Bowden.  The search then concentrated upon Potter.  The
+fury of Toms’s fellow-smugglers, and the entire population of Polperro,
+against the informer, Toms, may readily be imagined.  To in any way aid
+these natural enemies of the people was of itself the unforgiveable sin,
+and to further go and offer evidence that would result in the forfeit of
+the life of one of his own comrades disclosed an even deeper depth of
+infamy.
+
+Toms was therefore obliged to go into hiding again, and, this time, from
+his old associates.  It was some considerable time before they captured
+him, and they did it, even then, only by stratagem.  His wife, and
+others, knowing the intense feeling aroused, not unnaturally supposed his
+life to be in danger; but the smugglers assured her that they only wanted
+to secure him and hold him prisoner until after the trial of Bowden, and
+would not otherwise harm him.  They added, mysteriously, that things
+might go worse with Toms if he continued to hide away; for they would be
+certain sooner or later to find him.  The greatly alarmed woman at last
+arranged that they should capture him when accompanying her across the
+moors in the direction of Polruan, and they accordingly seized the
+informer when in her company, on Lantock Downs.  They hid him for awhile
+close by, and then smuggled him, a close prisoner, over to that then
+noted smugglers’ Alsatia, Guernsey, with the idea of eventually shipping
+him to America.  But while at Guernsey he escaped and made his way to
+London.
+
+The evidence he gave was to the effect that, during the firing, he went
+down into the cabin of the _Lottery_, and there saw Potter with a gun.
+Potter said “Damn them!  I have just done for one of them.”
+
+Potter was convicted and hanged.  Toms, of course, never dared to again
+return to Polperro, and was given a small post as under-turnkey at
+Newgate, where he lived the remainder of his life.
+
+Talland, midway between Polperro and Looe, was a favourite spot with
+these daring Polperro fellows.  It offered better opportunities than
+those given by Polperro itself for unobserved landings; for it was—and it
+still is—a weird, lonely place, overhanging the sea, with a solitary
+ancient church well within sound of the waves that beat heavily upon the
+little sands.  It was an easy matter to store kegs in the churchyard
+itself, and to take them inland, or into Polperro by the country roads,
+when opportunity offered, hidden in carts taking seaweed for manure to
+the fields.
+
+At one time Talland owned a shuddery reputation in all this country-side,
+and people in the farmhouses told, with many a fearful glance over their
+shoulders, of the uncanny creatures that nightly haunted the churchyard.
+Devils, wraiths, and fearful apparitions made the spot a kind of satanic
+parliament; and we may be amply sure that these horrid stories lost no
+accent or detail of terror by constant repetition in those inglenooks on
+winter evenings.  This is not to say that other places round about were
+innocent of things supernatural; for those were times when every Cornish
+glen, moor, stream, and hill had their bukkadhus, their piskies, and
+gnomes of sorts, good and evil; but the infernal company that consorted
+together in Talland churchyard was entirely beside these old-established
+creatures.  They were _hors concours_, as the French would say: they
+formed a class by themselves; and, in the expressive slang of to-day,
+they were “the Limit,” the _ne plus ultra_ of militant ghostdom.  People
+rash enough to take the church-path through Talland after night had
+fallen were sure to hear and see strange semi-luminous figures; and they
+bethought them then of the at once evil and beneficent reputation owned
+and really enjoyed by Parson Dodge, the eccentric clergyman of Talland,
+who was reputed an exorcist of the first quality.  He it was who, doughty
+wrestler with the most obstinate spectres, found himself greatly in
+demand in a wide geographical area for the banishing of troublesome
+ghosts for a long term of years to the Red Sea; but it was whispered, on
+the other hand, that he kept a numerous band of diabolic familiars
+believed by the simple folk of that age to resort nightly to the vicarage
+for their orders, and then to do his bidding.  These were the spiteful
+creatures, thought the country people, who, to revenge themselves for
+this servitude, lurked in the churchyard, and got even with mankind by
+pinching and smacking and playing all manner of scurvy tricks upon those
+who dared pass this way under cover of night.  Uncle Zack Chowne even got
+a black eye by favour of these inimical agencies, one exceptionally dark
+night when, coming home-along this way, under the influence of spirits
+not of supernatural origin, he met a posse of fiends, and, in the amiable
+manner of the completely intoxicated, insisted upon their adjourning with
+him to the nearest inn, “jush for shake of ole timesh.”  In fact, he made
+the sad mistake of taking the fiends in question for friends, and
+addressed them by name: with the result that he got a sledge-hammer blow
+in what the prize-fighting brotherhood used to call “the peeper.”
+
+                     [Picture: The Devils of Talland]
+
+If he had adopted the proper method to be observed when meeting spirits,
+_i.e._ if he had stood up and “said his Nummy Dummy,” all would doubtless
+have been well; this form of exorcism being in Cornwall of great repute
+and never known to fail: being nothing less, indeed, than the Latin _In
+Nomine Domine_ in disguise.
+
+But the real truth of the matter, as the readers of these lines who can
+see further through a brick wall than others may readily perceive, was
+that those savage spooks and mischievous, Puck-like shapes, were really
+youthful local smugglers in disguise, engaged at one and the same time in
+a highly profitable nocturnal business, and in taking the welcome
+opportunity thus offered in an otherwise dull circle of establishing a
+glorious “rag.”
+
+Parson Dodge himself was something more than suspected of being “ower
+sib” to these at once commercial and rollicking dogs, and Talland was in
+fact the scene of many a successful run that could scarce have been
+successful had not this easy-going cleric amiably permitted.
+
+It is thus peculiarly appropriate that we find to-day in this lonely
+churchyard an epitaph upon a smuggler of those times.  It is a tragical
+enough epitaph, its tragedy perhaps disguised at the first glance by the
+grotesquely comic little cherubs carved upon the tombstone, and
+representing the local high-water mark of mortuary sculpture a hundred
+years or so ago.  They are pursy cherubs, of oleaginous appearance and of
+this-worldly, rather than of other-worldly paunch and deportment.  In
+general, Talland churchyard is rich in such carvings; death’s-heads of
+appalling ugliness to be seen in company with middle-aged, double-chinned
+angels wearing what look suspiciously like chest-protectors and pyjamas,
+and they decorate, with weirdly humorous aspect, the monuments and ledger
+stones, and grin familiarly from the pavement with the half-obliterated
+grins of many generations back.  One of them points with a claw, intended
+for a hand, to an object somewhat resembling a crumpled dress-tie set up
+on end, probably designed to represent an hour-glass.
+
+Such is the mortuary art of these lonesome parishes in far Cornwall:
+naïve, uninstructed, home-made.  It sufficed the simple folk for whom it
+was wrought; and now that more conventional and pretentious memorials
+have taken its place, to serve the turn of folk less simple, there are
+those who would abolish its uncouth manifestations.  But that way—with
+the urbanities of the world—goes old Cornwall, never to be replaced.
+
+Here is the epitaph to the smuggler, one—
+
+                                 ROBERT MARK;
+
+                     late of Polperro, who Unfortunately
+                   was _shot at Sea_ the 24th day of Jany.
+                         in the year of our Lord GOD
+                      1802, in the 40th Year of His AGE
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+    In prime of Life most suddenly,
+       Sad tidings to relate;
+    Here view My utter destiny,
+       And pity, My sad state:
+    I by a shot, which Rapid flew,
+       Was instantly struck dead;
+    LORD pardon the Offender who
+       My precious blood did shed.
+    Grant Him to rest, and forgive Me,
+       All I have done amiss;
+    And that I may Rewarded be
+       With Everlasting Bliss.
+
+Robert Mark was at the helm of a boat which had been obliged to run
+before a revenue cutter.  It was at the point of escaping when the
+cutter’s crew opened fire upon the fugitive, killing the helmsman on the
+spot.  Let us trust he has duly won to that everlasting bliss that not
+even smugglers are denied.  The mild and forgiving terms of the epitaph
+are to be noted with astonishment; the usual run of sentiment to be
+observed on the very considerable number of these memorials to smugglers
+cut off suddenly in the plenitude of their youth and beauty, being
+particularly revengeful and bloodthirsty, or at the best, bitterly
+reproachful.
+
+Among these many epitaphs on smugglers to be met with in the churchyards
+of seaboard parishes is the following, to be found in the waterside
+parish of Mylor, near Falmouth.  Details of the incident in which this
+“Cus-toms house officer” (spelled here exactly as the old lettering on
+the tombstone has it) shot and mortally wounded Thomas James appear to
+have been altogether lost:
+
+                  We have not a moment we can call our own.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+    In Memory of Thomas James, aged 35 years, who
+    on the evening of the 7th Dec. 1814, on his returning
+    to Flushing from St. Mawes in a boat was shot by a
+    Cus-toms house officer and expired a few days after.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+    Officious zeal in luckless hour laid wait
+    And wilful sent the murderous ball of fate:
+    James to his home, which late in health he left,
+    Wounded returned—of life is soon bereft.
+
+This is quite a mild and academic example, and obviously the work of some
+passionless hireling, paid for his verses.  He would have written not
+less affectingly for poor dog Tray.
+
+Prussia Cove, the most famous smuggling centre in Cornwall, finds mention
+in another chapter.  Little else remains to be said, authentically at any
+rate.  Invention, however, could readily people every cove with desperate
+men and hair-raising encounters, and there could nowadays be none who
+should be able to deny the truth of them.  But we will leave all that to
+the novelists, merely pointing out that facts continually prove
+themselves at least as strange as fiction.  Thus at Wendron, five miles
+inland from Helston, two caves, or underground chambers, were discovered
+in 1905 during some alterations and rebuildings, close to the churchyard.
+Local opinion declared them to be smugglers’ hiding-holes.
+
+There stands in St. Ives town a ruined old mansion in one of the narrow
+alley-ways.  It is known as Hicks’ Court, and must have been a
+considerable place, in its day.  Also the owners of it must have been
+uncommonly fond of good liquors, for it has a “secret” cellar, so called
+no doubt because, like the “secret” drawers of bureaus, its existence was
+perfectly obvious.  Locally it is known as a “smugglers’ store.”
+
+In such a place as St. Ives, on a coast of old so notorious for
+smuggling, we naturally look for much history in this sort, but research
+fails to reward even the most diligent; and we have to be content with
+the meagre suspicions (for they were nothing more) of the honesty of John
+Knill, a famous native and resident of the town in the second half of the
+eighteenth century, who was Collector of Customs in that port, and in
+1767 was chosen Mayor.  His action in equipping some small craft to serve
+as privateers against smugglers was wilfully misconstrued; and, at any
+rate, it does not seem at all fitting that he, as an official of the
+customs service, should have been concerned in such private ventures.
+These “privateers,” it was said locally, were themselves actively
+employed in smuggling.
+
+He was also, according to rumour, responsible, together with one Praed,
+of Trevetho, for a ship which was driven ashore in St. Ives Bay, and,
+when boarded by Roger Wearne, customs officer, was found to be deserted
+by captain and crew, who had been careful to remove all the ship’s
+papers, so that her owners remained unknown.  The vessel was found to be
+full of contraband goods, including a great quantity of china, some of it
+of excellent quality.  Wearne conceived the brilliant idea of taking some
+samples of the best for his own personal use, and filled out the baggy
+breeches he was wearing with them, before he made to rejoin the boat that
+had put him aboard.  This uncovenanted cargo made his movements, as he
+came over the side, so slow that one of his impatient boatmen smartly
+whacked him with the flat of his oar, calling, “Look sharp, Wearne,” and
+was dismayed when, in place of the thud that might have been expected,
+there came a crash like the falling of a trayful of crockery, followed by
+a cry of dismay and anguish.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+   TESTIMONY TO THE QUALITIES OF THE SEAFARING SMUGGLERS—ADAM SMITH ON
+        SMUGGLING—A CLERICAL COUNTERBLAST—BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF
+    SMUGGLERS—ROBERT JOHNSON, HARRY PAULET—WILLIAM GIBSON, A CONVERTED
+                                 SMUGGLER
+
+CARE has already been taken to discriminate between the hardy, hearty,
+and daring fellows who brought their duty-free goods across the sea and
+those others who, daring also, but often cruel and criminal, handled the
+goods ashore.  We now come to close quarters with the seafaring
+smugglers, in a few biographical sketches: premising them with some
+striking testimony to their qualities as seamen.
+
+Captain Brenton, in his “History of the Royal Navy,” pays a very high,
+but not extravagant, compliment to these daring fellows: “These men,” he
+says, “are as remarkable for their skill in seamanship as for their
+audacity in the hour of danger; their local knowledge has been highly
+advantageous to the Navy, into which, however, they never enter, unless
+sent on board ships of war as a punishment for some crime committed
+against the revenue laws.  They are hardy, sober, and faithful to each
+other, beyond the generality of seamen; and, when shipwreck occurs, have
+been known to perform deeds not exceeded in any country in the world;
+probably unequalled in the annals of other maritime powers.”
+
+Such men as these, besides being, in the rustic opinion, very much of
+heroes, engaged in an unequal warfare, against heavy odds, with a
+hateful, ogreish abstraction called “the Government,” which existed only
+for the purpose of taxing and suppressing the poor, for the benefit of
+the rich, were regarded as benefactors; for they supplied the
+downtrodden, overtaxed people with better articles, at lower prices, than
+could be obtained in the legitimate way of traders who had paid excise
+duties.
+
+There was probably a considerable basis of truth to support this view,
+for there is no doubt that duty-paid goods were largely adulterated.  To
+adulterate his spirits, his tea, and his tobacco was the nearest road to
+any considerable profit that the tradesman could then make.
+
+Things being of this complexion, it would have been the sheerest pedantry
+to refuse to purchase the goods the free-traders supplied at such
+alluringly low prices, and of such indubitably excellent quality; and to
+give retail publicans and shopkeepers and private consumers their due, as
+sensible folk, untroubled by supersensitive consciences, they rarely did
+refuse.
+
+Adam Smith, in the course of his writings on political economy, nearly a
+century and a half ago, stated the popular view about smuggling and the
+purchase of smuggled goods:
+
+    “To pretend to have any scruple about buying smuggled goods, though a
+    manifest encouragement to the violation of the revenue laws, and to
+    the perjury which almost always attends it, would in most countries
+    be regarded as one of those pedantic pieces of hypocrisy which,
+    instead of gaining credit with anybody, seems only to expose the
+    person who affects to practise it to the suspicion of being a greater
+    knave than most of his neighbours.”
+
+From even the most charitable point of view, that person who was so
+eccentric as to refuse to take advantage of any favourable opportunity of
+purchasing cheaply such good stuff as might be offered to him, and had
+not paid toll to the Revenue, was a prig.
+
+Smith himself looked upon the smuggler with a great deal of sympathy, and
+regarded him as “a person who, though no doubt blamable for violating the
+laws of his country, is frequently incapable of violating those of
+natural justice, and would have been in every respect an excellent
+citizen had not the laws of his country made that a crime which nature
+never meant to be so.”
+
+Very few, indeed, were those voices raised against the practice of
+smuggling.  Among them, however, was that of John Wesley, perhaps the
+most influential of all, especially in the West of England.  The clergy
+in general might rail against the smugglers, but there were few among
+them who did not enjoy the right sort of spirits which, singularly
+enough, could only commonly be obtained from these shy sources; and there
+was a certain malignant satisfaction to any properly constituted smuggler
+in using the tower, or perhaps even the pulpit, of a parish church as
+temporary spirit-cellar, and in undermining the parson’s honesty by the
+present of a tub.  Few were those reverend persons who repudiated this
+sly suggestion of co-partnery, and those few who felt inclined so to do
+were generally silenced by the worldly wisdom of their parish clerks,
+who, forming as it were a connecting link between things sacred and
+profane, could on occasion inform a clergyman that his most respected
+churchwarden was financially interested in the success of some famous run
+of goods just notoriously brought off.
+
+Among those few clergy who actively disapproved of these things we must
+include the Rev. Robert Hardy, somewhat multitudinously beneficed in
+Sussex and elsewhere in the beginning of the nineteenth century.  He
+published in 1818 a solemn pamphlet entitled: “Serious Cautions and
+Advice to all concerned in Smuggling; setting forth the Mischiefs
+attendant upon that Traffic; together with some exhortations to Patience
+and Contentment under the Difficulties and Trials of Life.  By Robert
+Hardy, A.M., Vicar of the united parishes of Walberton and Yapton, and of
+Stoughton, in Sussex; and Chaplain to H.R.H. the Prince Regent.”
+
+The author did not by any means blink the difficulties or dangers, but
+was, it will be conceded, far too sanguine when he wrote the following
+passage, in the hope of his words suppressing the trade:
+
+“The calamities with which the Smuggler is now perpetually visited, by
+Informations and Fines, and Seizures, and Imprisonments, will, I trust,
+if properly considered, prevail upon the rich to discountenance, and upon
+the poor to forbear from, a traffic which, _in addition to the sin of
+it_, carries in its train so many evils, and mischiefs, and sorrows.”
+
+His voice we may easily learn, in perusing the history of smuggling at
+and after the date of his pamphlet, was as that of one crying in the
+wilderness.  Its sound may have pleased himself, but it was absolutely
+wasted upon those who smuggled, and those who purchased smuggled goods.
+
+“Smugglers,” he said, “are of three descriptions:
+
+“1.  Those who employ their capital in the trade;
+
+“2.  Those who do the work;
+
+“3.  Those who deal in Smuggled Articles, either as Sellers or as Buyers.
+
+“All these are involved _in the guilt_ of this unlawful traffic; but its
+_moral injuries_ fall principally upon the _second_ class.
+
+“Smuggling,” he then proceeds to say, “has not been confined to the lower
+orders of people; but, from what I have heard, I apprehend that it has
+very generally been encouraged by their superiors, for whom no manner of
+excuse, that I know of, can be offered.  I was once asked by an
+inhabitant of a village near the sea whether I thought there was any harm
+in smuggling.  Upon my replying that I not only thought there was a
+_great deal of harm_ in it, but a _great deal of sin_, he exclaimed,
+‘Then the Lord have mercy upon the county of Sussex, for who is there
+that has not had a tub?’”
+
+Among the ascertained careers of notable smugglers, that of Thomas
+Johnson affords some exciting episodes.  This worthy, who appears to have
+been born in 1772 and to have died in 1839, doubled the parts of smuggler
+and pilot.  He was known pretty generally as “the famous Hampshire
+smuggler.”
+
+As a captured and convicted smuggler he was imprisoned in the New Prison
+in the Borough, in 1798, but made his escape, not without suspicion of
+connivance on the part of the warders.  That the possession of him was
+ardently desired by the authorities seems sufficiently evident by the
+fact of their offering a reward of £500 for his apprehension; but he
+countered this by offering his services the following year as pilot to
+the British forces sent to Holland.  This offer was duly accepted, and
+Johnson acquitted himself so greatly to the satisfaction of Sir Ralph
+Abercromby, commanding, that he was fully pardoned.
+
+                     [Picture: The Escape of Johnson]
+
+He then plunged into extravagant living, and finally found himself
+involved in heavy debts, stated (but not altogether credibly) to have
+totalled £11,000.  Resuming his old occupation of smuggling, he was
+sufficiently wary not to be captured again by the revenue officers; but
+what they found it impossible to achieve was with little difficulty
+accomplished by the bailiffs, who arrested him for debt and flung him
+into the debtors’ prison of the Fleet, in 1802.  Once there, the Inland
+Revenue were upon him with smuggling charges, and the situation seemed so
+black that he determined on again making a venture for freedom.  Waiting
+an exceptionally dark night, he, on November 29th, stealthily crossed the
+yard and climbed the tall enclosing wall that separated the prison from
+the outer world.  Sitting on the summit of this wall, he let himself down
+slowly by the full length of his arms, just over the place where a lamp
+was bracketed out over the pathway, far beneath.  He then let himself
+drop so that he would fall on to the bracket, which he calculated would
+admirably break the too deep drop from the summit of the wall to the
+ground.  Unfortunately for him, an unexpected piece of projecting
+ironwork caught him and ripped up the entire length of his thigh.  At
+that moment the slowly approaching footsteps of the watchman were heard,
+and Johnson, with agonised apprehension, saw him coming along, swinging
+his lantern.  There was nothing for it but to lie along the bracket,
+bleeding profusely the while, until the watchman should have passed.
+
+He did so, and, as soon as seemed safe, dropped to the ground and crawled
+to a hackney-coach, hired by his friends, that had been waiting that
+night and several nights earlier, near by.
+
+Safely away from the neighbourhood of the prison, his friends procured
+him a post-chaise and four; and thus he travelled post-haste to the
+Sussex coast at Brighton.  On the beach a small sailing-vessel was
+waiting to convey him across Channel.  He landed at Calais and thence
+made for Flushing, where he was promptly flung into prison by the agents
+of Napoleon, who was at that time seriously menacing our shores with
+invasion from Boulogne, where his flotilla for the transport of troops
+then lay.
+
+Johnson and others were, in the opening years of the nineteenth century,
+very busily employed in smuggling gold out of the country into France.
+Ever since the troubles of the Revolution in that country, and all
+through the wars that had been waged with the rise of Napoleon, gold had
+been dwindling.  People, terrified at the unrest of the times, and
+nervous of fresh troubles to come, secreted coin, and consequently the
+premium on gold rose to an extraordinary height, not only on the
+Continent but in England as well.  A guinea would then fetch as much as
+twenty-seven shillings, and was worth a good deal more on the other side
+of the Channel.  Patriotism was not proof against the prospects of
+profits to be earned by the export of gold, and not a few otherwise
+respectable banking-houses embarked in the trade.  Finance has no
+conscience.
+
+            [Picture: Johnson putting off from Brighton Beach]
+
+It is obvious that only thoroughly dependable and responsible men could
+be employed on this business, for shipments of gold varied from £20,000
+to £50,000.
+
+Eight and ten-oared galleys were as a rule used for the traffic; the
+money slung in long leather purses around the oarsmen’s bodies.
+
+Napoleon is said to have offered Johnson a very large reward if he would
+consent, as pilot, to aid his scheme of invasion, and we are told that
+Johnson hotly refused.
+
+“I am a smuggler,” said he, “but a true lover of my country, and no
+traitor.”
+
+Napoleon was no sportsman.  He kept Johnson closely confined in a noisome
+dungeon for nine months.  How much longer he proposed to hold him does
+not appear, for the smuggler, long watching a suitable opportunity, at
+last broke away, and, ignorant that a pardon was awaiting him in England,
+escaped to America.
+
+Returning from that “land of the brave and the free,” we find him in 1806
+with the fleet commanded by Lord St. Vincent, off Brest.  Precisely what
+services, beside the obvious one of acting as pilot, he was then
+rendering our Navy cannot be said, for the materials toward a life of
+this somewhat heroic and picturesque figure are very scanty.  But that he
+had some plan for the destruction of the French fleet seems obvious from
+the correspondence of Lord St. Vincent, who, writing on August 8th, 1806,
+to Viscount Howick, remarks, “The vigilance of the enemy alone prevented
+Tom Johnstone [sic] from doing what he professed.”  What he professed is,
+unfortunately, hidden from us.
+
+After this mysterious incident we lose sight for a while of our evasive
+hero, and may readily enough assume that he returned again to his
+smuggling enterprises; for it is on record that in 1809, when the unhappy
+Walcheren expedition was about to be despatched, at enormous cost, from
+England to the malarial shores of Holland, he once more offered his
+services as pilot, and they were again accepted, with the promise of
+another pardon for lately-accrued offences.
+
+He duly piloted the expedition, to the entire satisfaction of the
+Government, and received his pardon and a pension of £100 a year.  He
+fully deserved both, for he signally distinguished himself in the course
+of the operations by swimming to the ramparts of a fort, with a rope, by
+which in some unexplained manner a tremendous and disastrous explosion
+was effected.
+
+He was further appointed to the command of the revenue cruiser _Fox_, at
+the conclusion of the war, and thus set to prey upon his ancient allies;
+who, in their turn, made things so uncomfortable for the “scurvy rat,” as
+they were pleased picturesquely to style him, that he rarely dared
+venture out of port.  So it would appear that he did not for any great
+length of time hold that command.
+
+But the reputation for daring and resourcefulness that he enjoyed did not
+seem to be clouded by this incident, for he was approached by the
+powerful friends of Napoleon, exiled at St. Helena, to aid them in a
+desperate attempt to rescue the fallen Emperor.  It was said that they
+offered him the sum of £40,000 down, and a further very large sum, if the
+attempt were successful.  The patriotic hero of some years earlier seems
+to have been successfully tempted.  “Every man,” says the cynic, “has his
+price”; and £40,000 and a generous refresher formed his.  For personal
+gain he was prepared to let loose once more the scourge of Europe.
+
+Plans were actively afoot for the construction of a submarine boat (there
+is nothing new under the sun!) for the purpose of secretly conveying the
+distinguished exile away, when he inconsiderately died; and thus vanished
+Johnson’s dreams of wealth.
+
+Some years later Johnson built a submarine boat to the order of the
+Spanish Government, and ran trials with it in the Thames, between London
+Bridge and Blackwall.  On one occasion it became entangled in a cable of
+one of the vessels lying in the Pool, and for a time it seemed scarce
+possible the boat could easily be freed.
+
+“We have but two and a half minutes to live,” said he, consulting his
+watch calmly, “unless we get clear of that cable.”
+
+“Captain” Johnson, as he was generally styled, lived in quiet for many
+years, finally dying at the age of sixty-seven, in March 1839, in the
+unromantic surroundings of the Vauxhall Bridge Road.
+
+Another smuggler of considerable reputation, of whom, however, we know
+all too little, was Harry Paulet.  This person, who appears in some
+manner to have become a prisoner aboard a French man-o’-war, made his
+escape and took with him a bag of the enemy’s despatches, which he handed
+over to the English naval authorities.
+
+A greater deed was that when, sailing with a cargo of smuggled brandy, he
+came in view of the French fleet (we being then, as usual, at war with
+France), Paulet immediately went on a new tack and carried the news of
+the enemy’s whereabouts to Lord Hawke, who promised to hang him if the
+news were not true.
+
+A somewhat interesting and curious account of the conversion of a
+youthful smuggler may be found in an old volume of _The Bible Christian
+Magazine_.  The incident belongs to the Scilly Isles.
+
+William Gibson, the smuggler in question, was a bold, daring young man,
+and he, with others, had crossed over to France more than once in a small
+open boat, a distance of 150 miles, rowing there and back, running great
+risks to bring home a cargo of brandy.
+
+In 1820, the time when William was at his best in these smuggling
+enterprises, St. Mary’s was visited by a pious, simple-minded young
+woman, Mary Ann Werry by name, the first representative of the Bible
+Christian connexion to land on the island.  The congregation were in the
+throes of a revival, and eager for more and more preaching, but the
+minister upon whom they principally relied was commercially minded, and
+demanded £2 for his services.  The members refused to give it.  “There is
+a woman here,” said they, “we will have her to preach to us”; and, being
+asked, she consented, and preached from 1 Tim. iv. 8, “For bodily
+exercise profiteth little; but godliness is profitable unto all things,
+having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”
+
+We have the well-known ruling of Dr. Johnson upon the preaching of women,
+that it in a manner resembles a dog walking on its hind-legs: it is not
+done well; you only marvel that it is done at all.  [N.B.—Dr. Johnson
+would not have favoured, or been favoured by, modern Women’s Leagues.]
+But, at any rate, Miss Werry seems to have been a notable exception.  She
+was eloquent and persuasive, and played upon the sensibilities of those
+rugged Scillonians what tune she would.
+
+Tears of penitence rolled down the cheeks of many a stalwart man (to say
+nothing of the hoary sinners) that day.  Among the number thus affected
+was William Gibson, of St. Martin’s, who from that hour became a changed
+person.  No longer did he refuse to render unto Cæsar (otherwise King
+George) that which was Cæsar’s (or King George’s).  He gave up the
+contraband trade, and, forswearing his old companions’ ways, turned to
+those of the righteous and the law-abiding, and became a burning and a
+shining light, and, as “Brother Gibson,” a painful preacher in the Bible
+Christian communion.  And thus, and in lawful fishing, with some little
+piloting, he continued steadfast, until his death in 1877, in his
+eighty-third year.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+                    THE CARTER FAMILY, OF PRUSSIA COVE
+
+IN the west of Cornwall, on the south coast of the narrow neck of land
+which forms the beginning of that final westerly region known as
+“Penwithstart,” is situated Prussia Cove, originally named Porth Leah, or
+King’s Cove.  It lies just eastwardly of the low dark promontory known as
+Cuddan Point, and is even at this day a secluded place, lying remote from
+the dull high-road that runs between Helston, Marazion, and Penzance.  In
+the days of the smugglers Porth Leah, or Prussia Cove, was something more
+than secluded, and those who had any business at all with the place came
+to it much more easily by sea than by land.  This disability was,
+however, not so serious as at first sight it would seem to be, for the
+inhabitants of Prussia Cove were few, and were all, without exception,
+fishermen and smugglers, who were much more at home upon the sea than on
+land, and desired nothing so little as good roads and easy communication
+with the world.  An interesting and authoritative sidelight upon the then
+condition of this district of West Cornwall is afforded by _The
+Gentleman’s Magazine_ of 1754, in which the entire absence of roads of
+any kind is commented upon.  Bridle-paths there were, worn doubtless in
+the first instance by the remote original inhabitants of this region,
+trodden by the Phoenician traders of hoary antiquity, and unaltered in
+all the intervening ages.  They then remained, says _The Gentleman’s
+Magazine_, “as the Deluge left them, and dangerous to travel over.”  That
+time of writing was the era when these conditions were coming to an end,
+for the road from Penryn to Marazion was shortly afterwards constructed,
+much to the alarm and disgust of the people of West Cornwall in general,
+and of those of Penzance in particular.  Penzance required no roads, and
+in 1760 its Corporation petitioned, but unsuccessfully, against the
+extension of the turnpike road then proposed, from Marazion.  That was
+the time when there was but one cart in the town, and when wheeled
+traffic was impossible outside it: pack-horses and the sledge-like
+contrivances known as “truckamucks” being the only methods of conveying
+such few goods as were required.
+
+Under these interesting social conditions the ancient semi-independence
+of Western Cornwall remained, little impaired.  Many still spoke the
+older Cornish language; the majority of folk referred to Devonshire and
+the country in general beyond the Tamar as “England”—the inference being,
+of course, that Cornwall itself was _not_ England—and smuggling was as
+usual an industry as tin and copper-mining, fishing, or farming.  Indeed
+the distances in Western Cornwall between sea and sea are so narrow that
+any man was commonly as excellent at farming as he was at fishing, and as
+expert at smuggling as at either of those more legitimate occupations.
+This amphibious race, wholly Celtic, adventurous, and enthusiastic, was
+not readily amenable to the restrictions upon trade imposed by that
+shadowy, distant, and impersonal abstraction called “the Government,”
+supported by visible forces, in the way of occasional soldiers or
+infrequent revenue cruisers, wherewith to make the collectors of customs
+at Penzance, Falmouth, or St. Ives, respected.
+
+“The coasts here swarm with smugglers,” wrote George Borlase, of
+Penzance, agent to Lieut.-General Onslow, in 1750.  Many letters by the
+same hand, printed in the publications of the Royal Institution of
+Cornwall, under the title of the “Lanisley Letters,” reiterate this
+statement, the writer of them urging the establishment of a military
+force at Helston, for “just on that neighbourhood lye the smugglers and
+wreckers, more than about us (at Penzance), tho’ there are too many in
+all parts of the country.”
+
+The Cornish of that time were an unregenerate race, in the fullest sense
+of that term, and indulged in all the evil excesses to which the Celtic
+nature, untouched by religion, and wallowing in ancient superstitions, is
+prone.  They drank to excess, fought brutally, and were shameless
+wreckers, who did not hesitate to lure ships upon the rocks and so bring
+about their destruction and incidentally their own enrichment by the
+cargo and other valuables washed ashore.  Murder was a not unusual
+corollary of the wreckers’ fearful trade, partly because of the olden
+superstition that, if you saved the life of a castaway, that person whom
+you had preserved would afterwards bring about your own destruction.
+Therefore it was merely the instinct of self-preservation, and not sheer
+ferocity, that prompted the knocking on the head of such waifs and
+strays.  If, at the same time, the wrecker went over the pockets of the
+deceased, or cut off his or her fingers, for the sake of any rings, that
+must not, of course, be accounted mere vulgar robbery: it was simply the
+frugal nature of the people, unwilling to waste anything.
+
+Upon these simple children of nature, imbued with many of the fearful
+beliefs current among the savages of the South Sea islands, the Reverend
+John Wesley descended, in 1743.  They were then, he says, a people “who
+neither feared God nor regarded man.”  Yet, so impressionable is the
+Celtic nature, so childlike and easily led for good or for evil, that his
+preaching within a marvellously short space of time entirely changed the
+habits of these folk.  In every village and hamlet there sprang up, as by
+magic, Wesleyan Methodist meeting-houses; and these and other chapels of
+dissent from the Church of England are to this day the most outstanding
+features of the Cornish landscape.  They are, architecturally speaking,
+without exception, hideous eyesores, but morally they are things of
+beauty.  It is one of the bitterest indictments possible to be framed
+against the Church of England in the west that, in all its existence, it
+has never commanded the affections, nor exercised the spiritual
+influence, won by Wesley in a few short years.
+
+           [Picture: Smugglers using Church Tower for Storage]
+
+It was about this period of Wesley’s first visits to Cornwall that the
+Carter family of Prussia Cove were born.  Their father, Francis Carter,
+who was a miner, and had, in addition, a small farm at Pengersick,
+traditionally came of a Shropshire family, and died in 1784.  He had
+eight sons and two daughters, John Carter, the “King of Prussia,” being
+the eldest.  Among the others, Francis, born 1745, Henry, born 1749, and
+Charles, 1757, were also actively engaged in smuggling; but John, both in
+respect of being the eldest, and by force of character, was chief of
+them.  He and his brethren were all, to outward seeming, small farmers
+and fisherfolk, tilling the ungrateful land in the neighbourhood of Porth
+Leah, but in reality busily employed in bringing over cargoes of spirits
+from Roscoff, Cherbourg, and St. Malo.  The origin of the nickname, “King
+of Prussia,” borne by John Carter, is said to lie in the boyish games of
+the “king of the castle” kind, of himself and his brothers, in which he
+was always the “King of Prussia”—_i.e._ Frederick the Great, the popular
+hero of that age.  Overlooking the cove of Porth Leah, at that time still
+bearing that name, he built about 1770 a large and substantial stone
+house, which stood a prominent feature in the scene, until it was
+demolished in 1906.  This he appears to have kept partly as an inn,
+licensed or unlicensed, which became known by his own nickname, the “King
+of Prussia,” and in it he lived until 1807.
+
+“Prussia Cove” is, in fact, two coves, formed by the interposition of a
+rocky ledge, at whose extremity is a rock-islet called the “Eneys”—_i.e._
+“ynys,” ancient Cornish for island.  The western portion of these inlets
+is “Bessie’s Cove,” which takes its name from one Bessie Burrow, who kept
+an inn on the cliff-top, known as the “Kidleywink.”  The easterly inlet
+was the site of the “King of Prussia’s” house.  Both these rocky channels
+had the advantage of being tucked away by nature in recesses of the
+coast, and so overhung by the low cliffs that no stranger could in the
+least perceive what harboured there until he was actually come to the
+cliff’s edge, and peering over them; while no passing vessel out in the
+Channel could detect the presence of any craft, which could not be
+located from the sea until the cove itself was approached.
+
+Thus snugly seated, the Carter family throve.  Of John Carter, although
+chief of the clan, we have few details, always excepting the one great
+incident of his career; and of that the account is but meagre.  It seems
+that he had actually been impudent enough to construct a battery, mounted
+with some small cannon, beside his house, and had the temerity to unmask
+it and open fire upon the _Fairy_ revenue sloop, which one day chased a
+smuggling craft into this lair, and had sent in a boat party.  The boat
+withdrew before this unexpected reception, and, notice having been sent
+round to Penzance, a party of mounted soldiers appeared the following
+morning and let loose their muskets upon the smugglers, who were still
+holding the fort, but soon vacated it upon thus being taken in the rear,
+retreating to the “Kidleywink.”  What would next have happened had the
+soldiers pursued their advantage we can only surmise; but they appear to
+have been content with this demonstration, and to have returned whence
+they came, while of the revenue sloop we hear no more.  Nor does Carter
+ever appear to have been called to account for his defiance.  But if a
+guess may be hazarded where information does not exist, it may be assumed
+that Carter’s line of defence would be that his fort was constructed and
+armed against French raids, and that he mistook the revenue vessel for a
+foreign privateer.
+
+                         [Picture: Prussia Cove]
+
+John Carter, and indeed all his brothers with him, was highly respected,
+as the following story will show.  The excise officers of Penzance,
+hearing on one occasion that he was away from home, descended upon the
+cove with a party, and searched the place.  They found a quantity of
+spirits lately landed, and, securing all the kegs, carried them off to
+Penzance and duly locked them up in the custom-house.  The anger of the
+“King of Prussia” upon his return was great; not so great, it seems, on
+account of the actual loss of the goods as for the breaking of faith with
+his customers it involved.  The spirits had been ordered by some of the
+gentlefolk around, and a good deal of them had been paid for.  Should he
+be disgraced by failing to keep his engagements as an honest tradesman?
+Never!  And so he and his set off to Penzance overnight, and, raiding the
+custom-house, brought away all his tubs, from among a number of others.
+When morning came, and the custom-house was unlocked, the excisemen knew
+whose handiwork this had been, because Carter was such an honourable man,
+and none other than himself would have been so scrupulous as to take back
+only his own.  Yet he was also the hero of the next incident.  The
+revenue officers once paid him a surprise visit, and overhauled his
+outhouses, in search of contraband.  The search, on this occasion, was
+fruitless.  But there yet remained one other shed, and this, suspiciously
+enough, was locked.  He refused to hand over the key, whereupon the door
+was burst open, revealing only domestic articles.  The broken door
+remained open throughout the night, and by morning all the contents of
+the shed had vanished.  Carter successfully sued for the value of the
+property he had “lost,” but he had removed it himself!
+
+We learn something of the Carter family business from the autobiography
+written by Henry Carter, an account of his life from 1749 until 1795.
+Much else is found in a memoir printed in _The Wesleyan Methodist
+Magazine_, 1831.  “Captain Harry” lived until 1829, farming in a small
+way at the neighbouring hamlet of Rinsey.  He had long relinquished
+smuggling, having been converted in 1789, and living as a burning and a
+shining light in the Wesleyan communion thereafter, preaching with
+fervour and unction.  He tells us, in his rough, unvarnished
+autobiography {173} that he first went smuggling and fishing with his
+brothers when seventeen years of age, having already worked in the mines.
+At twenty-five years of age he went regularly smuggling in a ten-ton
+sloop, with two men to help him; and was so successful that he soon had a
+sloop, nearly twice as large, especially built for him.  Successful
+again, “rather beyond common,” he (or “we,” as he says) bought a cutter
+of some thirty tons, and employed a crew of ten men.  “I saild in her one
+year, and I suppose made more safe voyages than have been ever made,
+since or before, with any single person.”  All this while, he tells us,
+he was under conviction of sin, but went on, nevertheless, for years,
+sinning and repenting.  “Well, then,” he continues, “in the cource of
+these few years, as we card a large trade with other vessels allso, we
+gained a large sum of money, and being a speculating family, was not
+satisfied with small things.”  A new cutter was accordingly built, of
+about sixty tons burthen, and Captain Harry took her to sea in December
+1777.  Putting into St. Malo, to repair a sprung bowsprit, his fine new
+cutter, with its sixteen guns, was taken by the French, and himself and
+his crew of thirty-six men flung into prison, difficulties having again
+sprung up between England and France, and an embargo being laid upon all
+English shipping in French ports.  In prison he was presently joined by
+his brother John; both being shortly afterwards sent on parole to
+Josselin.  In November 1779 they were liberated, in exchange for two
+French gentlemen, prisoners of war.  The family, Captain Harry remarks,
+they found alive and well on their return home after this two years’
+absence, but in a low state, the “business” not having been managed well
+in their enforced absence.
+
+It is impossible to resist the strong suspicion, in all this and other
+talk in the autobiography, of buying and building newer and larger
+vessels, that the Carters were financed by some wealthy and influential
+person, or persons, as undoubtedly many smugglers were, the profits of
+the smuggling trade, when conducted on a large scale and attended by a
+run of luck, being very large and amply recouping the partners for the
+incidental losses.  But the loss of the fine new cutter, on her first
+voyage, at St. Malo, must have been a very serious business.
+
+After another interval of success with the smaller cutter they had
+earlier used, with spells ashore, “riding about the country getting
+freights, collecting money for the company, etc., etc.,” another
+fifty-ton cutter was purchased, mounting nineteen guns.  That venture,
+too, was highly successful, and “the company accordingly had a new lugger
+built, mounting twenty guns.”  Horrible to relate, Captain Harry, “being
+exposed to more company and sailors of all descriptions, larned to swear
+at times.”  This is bad hearing.
+
+                      [Picture: In a French prison]
+
+Obviously in those times there was a good deal of give and take going on
+between the Customs and those smugglers who smuggled on a large scale,
+and the Carters’ vessels must in some unofficial way have ranked as
+privateers.  Hence, possibly, the considerable armament they carried.
+The Customs, and the Admiralty too, were prepared to wink at smuggling
+when services against the foreign foe could be invoked.  Thus we find
+Captain Harry, in his autobiography, narrating how the Collector of
+Customs at Penzance sent him a message to the effect that the _Black
+Prince_ privateer, from Dunkirk, was off the coast, near St. Ives, and
+desiring him to pursue her.  “It was not,” frankly says Captain Harry, “a
+very agreeable business”; but, being afraid of offending the Collector,
+he obeyed, and went in pursuit, with two vessels.  Coming up with the
+enemy, after a running fight of three or four hours, the lugger received
+a shot that obliged her to bear up, in a sinking condition; and so her
+consort stood by her, and the chase was of necessity abandoned.
+Presently the lugger sank, fourteen of her crew of thirty-one being
+drowned.
+
+In January 1788 he went with a cargo of contraband in a forty-five-ton
+lugger to Cawsand Bay, near Plymouth, and there met with the most serious
+reverse of his smuggling career, two man-o’-war’s boats boarding the
+vessel and seizing it and its contents.  He was so knocked about over the
+head with cutlasses that he was felled to the deck, and left there for
+dead.
+
+“I suppose I might have been there aboute a quarter of an hour, until
+they had secured my people below, and after found me lying on the deck.
+One of them said, ‘Here is one of the poor fellows dead.’  Another made
+answer, ‘Put the man below.’  He answered again, saying, ‘What use is it
+to put a dead man below?’ and so past on.  Aboute this time the vessel
+struck aground, the wind being about east-south-east, very hard, right on
+the shore.  So their I laid very quiet for near the space of two hours,
+hearing their discourse as they walked by me, the night being very dark
+on the 30 Jany. 1788.  When some of them saw me lying there, said, ‘Here
+lays one of the fellows dead,’ one of them answered as before, ‘Put him
+below.’  Another said, ‘The man is dead.’  The commanding officer gave
+orders for a lantern and candle to be brought, so they took up one of my
+legs, as I was lying upon my belly; he let it go, and it fell as dead
+down on the deck.  He likewayse put his hand up under my clothes, between
+my shirt and my skin, and then examined my head, saying, ‘This man is so
+warm now as he was two hours back, but his head is all to atoms.’  I have
+thought hundreds of times since what a miracle it was I neither sneezed,
+coughed, nor drew breath that they perceived in all this time, I suppose
+not less than ten or fifteen minutes.  The water being ebbing, the vessel
+making a great heel towards the shore, so that in the course of a very
+little time after, as their two boats were made fast alongside, one of
+them broke adrift.  Immediately there was orders given to man the other
+boat, in order to fetch her; so that when I saw them in the state of
+confusion, their gard broken, I thought it was my time to make my escape;
+so I crept on my belly on the deck, and got over a large raft just before
+the mainmast, close by one of the men’s heels, as he was standing there
+handing the trysail.  When I got over the lee-side I thought I should be
+able to swim on shore in a stroke or two.  I took hold of the burtons of
+the mast, and, as I was lifting myself over the side, I was taken with
+the cramp in one of my thighs.  So then I thought I should be drowned,
+but still willing to risk it, so that I let myself over the side very
+easily by a rope into the water, fearing my enemies would hear me, and
+then let go.  As I was very near the shore, I thought to swim on shore in
+the course of a stroke or two, as I used to swim so well, but soon found
+out my mistake.  I was sinking almost like a stone, and hauling astarn in
+deeper water, when I gave up all hopes of life, and began to swallow some
+water.  I found a rope under my breast, so that I had not lost all my
+senses.  I hauled upon it, and soon found one end fast to the side, just
+where I went overboard, which gave me a little hope of life.  So that
+when I got there, could not tell which was best, to call to the
+man-of-war’s men to take me in, or to stay there and die, for my life and
+strength were allmoste exhausted; but whilst I was thinking of this,
+touched bottom with my feet.  Hope then sprung up, and I soon found
+another rope, leading towards the head of the vessel in shoaler water, so
+that I veered upon one and hauled upon the other that brought me under
+the bowsprit, and then at times upon the send of the sea, my feete were
+allmoste dry.  I thought then I would soon be out of their way.  Left go
+the rope, but as soon as I attempted to run, fell down, and as I fell,
+looking round aboute me, saw three men standing close by me.  I knew they
+were the man-of-war’s men seeing for the boat, so I lyed there quiet for
+some little time, and then creeped upon my belly I suppose aboute the
+distance of fifty yards; and as the ground was scuddy, some flat rock
+mixt with channels of sand, I saw before me a channel of white sand, and
+for fear to be seen creeping over it, which would take some time, not
+knowing there was anything the matter with me, made the second attempt to
+run, and fell in the same manner as before.  My brother Charles being
+there, looking out for the vessel, desired some Cawsand men to go down to
+see if they could pick up any of the men, dead or alive, not expecting to
+see me ever any more, allmoste sure I was ither shot or drowned.  One of
+them saw me fall, ran to my assistance, and, taking hold of me under the
+arm, says, ‘Who are you?’  So as I thought him to be an enemy, made no
+answer.  He said, ‘Fear not, I am a friend; come with me.’  And by that
+time, forth was two more come, which took me under both arms, and the
+other pushed me in the back, and so dragged me up to the town.  I suppose
+it might have been about the distance of the fifth part of a mile.  My
+strength was allmoste exhausted; my breath, nay, my life, was allmoste
+gone.  They took me into a room where there were seven or eight of
+Cawsand men and my brother Charles, and when he saw me, knew me by my
+great coat, and cryed with joy, ‘This is my brother!’  So then they
+immediately slipt off my wet clothes, and one of them pulled off his
+shirt from off him and put on me, sent for a doctor, and put me to bed.
+Well, then, I have thought many a time since what a wonder it was.  The
+bone of my nose cut right in two, nothing but a bit of skin holding it,
+and two very large cuts on my head, that two or three pieces of my skull
+worked out afterwards.”
+
+The difficulty before Captain Harry’s friends was how to hide him away,
+for they were convinced that a reward would be offered for his
+apprehension.  He was, in the first instance, taken to the house of his
+brother Charles, and stayed there six or seven days, until an
+advertisement appeared in the newspapers, offering a reward of three
+hundred pounds for him, within three months.  He was then taken to the
+house of a gentleman at Marazion, and there remained close upon three
+weeks, removing thence to the mansion called Acton Castle, near Cuddan
+Point, then quite newly built by one Mr. John Stackhouse.  He was moved
+to and fro, between Acton Castle and Marazion, and so great did his
+brothers think the need of precaution that the doctor who attended to his
+hurts was blindfolded on the way.  And so matters progressed until
+October, when he was shipped from Mount’s Bay to Leghorn, and thence, in
+1789, sailed for New York.  It was in New York that the Lord strove
+mightily with him, and he was converted and became a member of the
+Wesleyan Methodist communion.  After some considerable trials, he sailed
+for England, and finally reached home again in October 1790, to his
+brother Charles’s house at Kenneggey.  His reception was enthusiastic,
+and he became in great request as a preacher in all that countryside.
+But in April 1791 he tells us he was sent for “by a great man of this
+neighbourhood” (probably one of those whom we have already suspected of
+being sleeping-partners in the Carters’ business), and warned that three
+gentlemen had been in his company one day at Helston, when one said,
+looking out of window, “There goes a Methodist preacher”; whereupon
+another answered, “I wonder how Harry Carter goes about so publicly,
+preaching, and the law against him.  I wonder he is not apprehended.”
+The great man warned him that it might be a wise course to return to
+America.  “And,” continues Captain Harry, “as the gent was well
+acquainted with our family, I dined with him, and he brought me about a
+mile in my way home; so I parted with him, fully determining in my own
+mind to soon see my dear friends in New York again.  So I told my
+brothers what the news was, and that I was meaning to take the gent’s
+advice.  They answered, ‘If you go to America, we never shall see you no
+more.  We are meaning to car on a little trade in Roscoff, in the brandy
+and gin way, and if you go there you’ll be as safe there as in America;
+likewayse we shal pay you for your comision, and you car on a little
+business for yourself, if you please.’  So,” continues this simple soul,
+“with prayer and supplication I made my request known unto God.”  And as
+there appeared no divine interdict upon smuggling, he accepted the agency
+and went to reside at Roscoff, sending over many a consignment of ardent
+liquors that were never intended to—and never did—pay tribute to the
+Revenue.  All went well until, in the troubles that attended the French
+Revolution, he was, in company with other English, arrested and flung
+into prison in 1793.  And in prison he remained during that Reign of
+Terror in which English prisoners were declared by the Convention to rank
+with the “aristocrats” and the “suspects,” and were therefore in hourly
+danger of the guillotine.  This immediate terror passed when Robespierre
+was executed, July 28th, 1794, but it was not until August 1795 that
+Harry Carter was released.  He reached home on August 22nd, and appears
+ever after to have settled down to tilling a modest farm and leaving
+smuggling to brothers John and Charles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+                             JACK RATTENBURY
+
+WE do not expect of smugglers that they should be either literary or
+devout.  The doings of the Hawkhurst Gang, and of other desperate and
+bloody-minded associations of free-traders, seem more in key with the
+business than either the sitting at a desk, nibbling a pen and rolling a
+frenzied eye, in search of a telling phrase, or the singing of Methodist
+psalms.  Yet we have, in the “Memoirs of a Smuggler,” published at
+Sidmouth in 1837, the career of Jack Rattenbury, smuggler, of Beer, in
+Devonshire, told by himself; and in the diary of Henry Carter, of Prussia
+Cove, and later of Rinsey, we have learned how he found peace and walked
+with the saints, after a not uneventful career in robbing the King’s
+Revenue of a goodly portion of its dues as by law enacted.  With the
+eminent Mr. Henry Carter and his interesting brothers we have already
+dealt, reserving this chapter for the still more eminent Rattenbury,
+“commonly called,” as he says on his own title-page (in the manner of one
+who knows his own worth), “The Rob Roy of the West.”
+
+We need not be so simple as to suppose that Rattenbury himself actually
+wrote, with his own hand, this interesting account of his adventures.
+The son of a village cobbler in South Devon, born in 1778, and taking to
+a seafaring life when nine years of age, would scarce be capable, in
+years of eld, of writing the conventionally “elegant” English of which
+his “Autobiography” is composed.  But nothing “transpires” (as the actual
+writer of the book might say) as to whom Rattenbury recounted his moving
+tale, or by whose hand it was really set down.  Bating, however, the
+conventional language, the book has the unmistakable forthright
+first-hand character of a personal narrative.
+
+Before the future smuggler was born, as he tells us, his shoemaker, or
+cobbler, father disappeared from Beer in a manner in those days not
+unusual.  He went on board a man-o’-war, and was never again heard of.
+Whether he actually “went,” or was taken by a press-gang, we are left to
+conjecture.  But they were sturdy, self-reliant people in those days, and
+Mrs. Rattenbury earned a livelihood in this bereavement by selling fish,
+“without receiving the least assistance from the parish, or any of her
+friends.”
+
+When Jack Rattenbury was nine years of age he was introduced to the sea
+by means of his uncle’s fishing-boat, but dropped the family connection
+upon being lustily rope’s-ended by the uncle, as a reward for losing the
+boat’s rudder.  He then went apprentice to a Brixham fisherman, but,
+being the younger among several apprentices, was accordingly bullied, and
+left; returning to Beer, where he found his uncle busily engaging a
+privateer’s crew, war having again broken out between England and France,
+and merchantmen being a likely prey.
+
+                        [Picture: Jack Rattenbury]
+
+So behold our bold privateer setting forth, keen for loot and
+distinction; the hearts of men and boys alike beating high in hope of
+such glory as might attach to capturing some defenceless trader, and in
+anticipation of the prize-money to be obtained by robbing him.  But see
+the irony of the gods in their high heavens!  After seven weeks’
+fruitless and expensive cruising at sea, they espied a likely vessel, and
+bore down upon her, with the horrible result that she proved to be an
+armed Frenchman of twenty-six guns, who promptly captured the privateer,
+without even the pretence of a fight: the privateering crew being sent,
+ironed, down below hatches aboard the Frenchman, which then set sail for
+Bordeaux.  There those more or less gallant souls were flung into prison,
+whence Rattenbury managed to escape to an American ship lying in the
+harbour.  It continued to lie there, in consequence of an embargo upon
+all shipping, for twelve months: an anxious time for the boy.  At last,
+the interdict being removed, they sailed, and Rattenbury landed at New
+York.  From that port he returned to France in another American ship,
+landing at Havre; and at last, after a variety of transhipments, came
+home again to Beer, by way of Guernsey.
+
+He was by this time about sixteen years of age.  For six months he
+remained at home engaged in fishing; but this he found a very dull
+occupation after his late roving life, and, as smuggling was then very
+active in the neighbourhood, and promised both profit and excitement, he
+accordingly engaged in a small vessel that plied between Lyme Regis and
+the Channel Islands, chiefly in the cognac-smuggling business.  This
+interlude likewise soon came to an end, and he then joined a small vessel
+called _The Friends_, lying at Bridport.  On his first voyage, in the
+entirely honest business of sailing to Tenby for a cargo of culm, this
+ship was unlucky enough to be captured by a French privateer; but
+Rattenbury escaped by a clever ruse, off Swanage, and, swimming ashore,
+secured the intervention of the _Nancy_, revenue cutter, which recaptured
+_The Friends_, and brought her into Cowes that same night: a very smart
+piece of work, as will be readily conceded.  Those were times of quick
+and surprising changes, and Rattenbury had not been again aboard _The
+Friends_ more than two days when he was forcibly enlisted in the Navy, by
+the press-gang.  Escaping from the more or less glorious service of his
+country at the end of a fortnight, he then prudently went on a long
+cod-fishing cruise off Newfoundland; but on the return voyage the ship
+was captured by a Spanish privateer and taken to Vigo.  Escaping thence,
+he again reached home, to be captured by the bright eyes of one of the
+buxom maids of Beer, where he was married, April 17th, 1801, proceeding
+then to live at Lyme Regis.  Privateering to the west coast of Africa
+then occupied his activities for a time, but that business was never a
+profitable one, as far as Rattenbury was concerned, and they caught
+nothing; but, on the other hand, were nearly impressed, ship and ship’s
+company too, by the _Alert_, King’s cutter.  Piloting, rather than
+privateering, then engaged his attention, and it was while occupied in
+that trade that he was again impressed and again escaped.
+
+He then returned to Beer, and embarked upon a series of smuggling
+ventures, varied by attempts on the part of the press-gang to lay hold of
+him, and by some other (and always barren) privateering voyages.
+Ostensibly engaged in fishing, he landed many boat-loads of contraband at
+Beer, bringing them from quiet spots on the coasts of Dorset and
+Hampshire, where the goods had been hidden.  Christchurch was one of
+these smugglers’ warehouses, and from the creeks of that flat shore he
+and his fellows brought many a load, in open boats.  On one of these
+occasions he fell in with the _Roebuck_ revenue tender, which chased and
+fired upon him: the man who fired doing the damage to himself, for the
+gun burst and blew off his arm.  But Rattenbury and his companions were
+captured, and their boat-load of gin was impounded.  Rattenbury surely
+was a very Puck among smugglers: a tricksy sprite, at once impudent and
+astonishingly fortunate.  He hid himself in the bottom of the enemy’s own
+boat, and by some magical dexterity escaped when it touched shore: while
+his companions were held prisoners.  Nay, more.  When night was come, he
+was impudent enough, and successful enough, to go and release his
+friends, and at the same time to bring away three of the captured
+gin-kegs.  In that same winter of 1805 he made seven trips in a new-built
+smuggling vessel.  Five of these were successful ventures, and two were
+failures.  In the spring of 1806 his crew and cargo of spirit-tubs were
+captured, on returning from Alderney, by the _Duke of York_ cutter.  He
+was taken to Dartmouth, and, with his companions, fined and given the
+alternative of imprisonment or serving aboard a man-o’-war.  After a very
+short experience of gaol, they chose to serve their country, chiefly
+because it was much easier to desert that service than to break prison;
+and they were then shipped in Dartmouth roads, whence Rattenbury escaped
+from the navy tender while the officers were all drunk; coming ashore in
+a fisherman’s boat, and thence making his way home by walking and riding
+horseback to Brixham, and from that port by fishing-smack.
+
+Soon after this adventure he purchased a share in a galley, and, with
+some companions, made several successful trips in the cognac-smuggling
+between Beer and Alderney.  At last the galley was lost in a storm, and
+in rowing an open boat across Channel Rattenbury and another were
+captured by the _Humber_ sloop, and taken for trial to Falmouth and
+committed to Bodmin gaol, to which they were consigned in two
+post-chaises, in company with two constables.  Travellers were thirsty
+folk in those days, and at every inn between Falmouth and Bodmin the
+chaises were halted, so that the constables could refresh themselves.
+Evening was come before they had reached Bodmin, and while the now
+half-seas-over constables were taking another dram at the lonely wayside
+inn called the “Indian Queens,” Rattenbury and his companions conspired
+to escape.  Behold them, then, when ordered by the constables to resume
+their places, refusing, and entering into a desperate struggle with those
+officers of the law.  A pistol was fired, the shot passing close to
+Rattenbury’s head.  He and his companion then downed the constables and
+escaped across the moors; where, meeting with another party of smugglers,
+they were sheltered at Newquay.  Next morning they travelled horseback,
+in company with the host who had sheltered them, to Mevagissey, whence
+they hired a boat to Budleigh Salterton, and thence walked home again to
+Beer.
+
+Next year Rattenbury was appointed captain of a smuggling vessel called
+the _Trafalgar_, and after five fortunate voyages had the misfortune to
+lose her in heavy weather off Alderney.  He and some associates then
+bought a vessel called the _Lively_, but she was chased by a French
+privateer and the helmsman shot.  The privateer’s captain was so overcome
+by this incidental killing that he relinquished his prize.  After a few
+more trips, the _Lively_ proved unseaworthy, and the confederates then
+purchased the _Neptune_, which was wrecked after three successful voyages
+had been made.  But Rattenbury tells us, with some pride, that he saved
+the cargo.  In the meanwhile, however, the _Lively_ having been repaired,
+had put to sea in the smuggling interest again, and had been captured and
+confiscated by the revenue officers.  Rattenbury lost £160 by that
+business.  Soon afterwards he took a share in a twelve-oared galley, and
+was one of those who went in it to Alderney for a cargo.  On the return
+they were unfortunate enough to fall in with two revenue cutters: the
+_Stork_ and the _Swallow_, that had been especially detailed to capture
+them; and accordingly did execute that commission, in as thorough and
+workmanlike fashion as possible, seizing the tubs and securing the
+persons of Rattenbury and two others; although the nine other oarsmen
+escaped.  Captain Emys, of the _Stork_, took Rattenbury aboard his
+vessel, and treated him well, inviting him to his cabin and to eat and
+drink with him.  Next day the smugglers were landed at Cowes.
+
+“Rattenbury,” said the genial captain, “I am going to send you aboard a
+man-o’-war, and you must get clear how you can.”  To this the saucy
+Rattenbury replied, “Sir, you have been giving me roast meat ever since I
+have been aboard, and now you have run the spit into me.”  He was then
+put aboard the _Royal William_, on which he found a great many other
+smuggler prisoners.  Thence, in the course of a fortnight, he and the
+others were drafted to the _Resistance_ frigate, and sent to Cork.
+Arrived there, our slippery Rattenbury duly escaped in course of the
+following day, and was home again in six days more.
+
+The activities of the smugglers were at times exceedingly unpatriotic, in
+other ways than merely cheating the Revenue, and Rattenbury was no whit
+better than his fellows.  He had not long returned home when he made
+arrangements, for the substantial consideration of one hundred pounds, to
+embark across the Channel four French officers, prisoners of war, who had
+escaped from captivity at Tiverton.  Receiving them on arrival at Beer,
+and concealing them in a house near the beach, their presence was soon
+detected and warrants were issued for the arrest of Rattenbury and five
+others concerned.  Rattenbury adopted the safest course and surrendered
+voluntarily, and was acquitted, with a magisterial caution not to do it
+again.
+
+Every now and again Rattenbury found himself arrested, or in danger of
+being arrested, as a deserter from the Navy.  Returning on one of many
+occasions from a successful smuggling trip to Alderney, and drinking at
+an inn, he found himself in company with a sergeant and several privates
+of the South Devon Militia.  Presently the sergeant, advancing towards
+him, said, “You are my prisoner.  You are a deserter, and must go along
+with me.”
+
+Must! what meaning was there in that imperative word for the bold
+smuggler of old?  None.  But Rattenbury’s first method was suavity,
+especially as the militia had armed themselves with swords and muskets,
+and as such weapons are exceptionally dangerous things in the hands of
+militiamen.  “Sergeant,” said he (or says his author for him, in that
+English which surely Rattenbury himself never employed) “you are surely
+labouring under an error.  I have done nothing that can authorise you in
+taking me up, or detaining me; you must certainly have mistaken me for
+some other person.”
+
+He then describes how he drew the sergeant into a parley, and how, in
+course of it, he jumped into the cellar, and, throwing off jacket and
+shirt, to prevent any one holding him, armed himself with a reaphook and
+bade defiance to all who should attempt to take him.
+
+The situation was relieved at last by the artful women of Beer rushing in
+with an entirely fictitious story of a shipwreck and attracting the
+soldiers’ attention.  In midst of this diversion, Rattenbury jumped out,
+and, dashing down to the beach, got aboard his vessel.  After this
+incident he kept out of Beer as much as possible; and shortly afterwards
+was successful in piloting the _Linskill_ transport through a storm that
+was likely to have wrecked her, and so safely into the Solent.  He earned
+twenty guineas by this; and received the advice of the captain to get a
+handbill printed, detailing the circumstances of this service, by way of
+set-off against the various desertions for which he was liable to be at
+any time called to account.
+
+Soon after this, Lord and Lady Rolle visited Beer, and Rattenbury’s wife
+took occasion to present his lordship with one of the bills that had been
+struck off.  “I am sorry,” observed Lord Rolle, reading it, “that I
+cannot do anything for your husband, as I am told he was the man who
+threatened to cut my sergeant’s guts out.”  Such, you see, was the
+execution Rattenbury, at bay in the cellar, had proposed with his
+reaphook upon the military.
+
+Hearing this, and learning that Lady Rolle was also in the village, he
+ran after her, and overtaking her carriage, fell upon his knees and
+presented one of his handbills, entreating her ladyship to use her
+influence on his behalf, so that the authorities might not be allowed to
+take him.  It is a ridiculous picture, but Rattenbury makes no shame in
+presenting it.  “She then said,” he tells us, “you ought to go back on
+board a man-o’-war, and be equal to Lord Nelson; you have such spirits
+for fighting.  If you do so, you may depend I will take care you shall
+not be hurt.”  To which he replied; “My lady, I have ever had an aversion
+to [sic] the Navy.  I wish to remain with my wife and family, and to
+support them in a creditable manner, {194} and therefore can never think
+of returning.”
+
+Her ladyship then said, “I will consider about it,” and turned off.
+About a week afterwards, the soldiers were ordered away from Beer,
+through the influence of her ladyship, as I conjecture, and the humanity
+of Lord Rolle.
+
+And so Rattenbury was left in peace.  He tells us that he would have now
+entered upon a new course of life, but found himself “engaged in
+difficulties from which I was unable to escape, and bound by a chain of
+circumstances whose links I was unable to break. . . .  I seriously
+resolved to abandon the trade of smuggling; to take a public-house, and
+to employ my leisure hours in fishing, etc.  At first the house appeared
+to answer pretty well, but after being in it for two years, I found that
+I was considerably gone back in the world; for that my circumstances,
+instead of improving, were daily getting worse, for all the money I could
+get by fishing and piloting went to the brewer.”  Thus, he says, he was
+obliged to return to smuggling; but we cannot help suspecting that
+Rattenbury is here not quite honest with us, and that smuggling offered
+just that alluring admixture of gain and adventure he found himself
+incapable of resisting.
+
+Adventures, it has been truly said, are to the adventurous; and
+Rattenbury’s career offered no exception to the rule.  There was,
+perhaps, never so unlucky a smuggler as he.  Returning to the trade in
+November 1812, and returning with a cargo of spirits from Alderney, his
+vessel fell in with the brig _Catherine_, and was pursued, heavily fired
+upon, and finally captured.  The captain of the _Catherine_, raging at
+them, declared they should all be sent aboard a man-o’-war; but a search
+of the smuggling craft revealed nothing except one solitary pint of gin
+in a bottle: the cargo having presumably been put over the side.  The
+crew were, however, taken prisoners aboard the _Catherine_, and their
+vessel was taken to Brixham.  Rattenbury and his men were kept aboard the
+_Catherine_ for a week, cruising in the Channel, and then the brig put in
+again to Brixham, where the wives of the prisoners were anxiously
+waiting.  Next morning, in the absence of the captain and chief officer
+ashore, the women came off in a boat, and were helped aboard the brig;
+when Rattenbury and three of his men jumped into the boat and pushed off.
+The second mate, who was in charge of the vessel, caught hold of the oar
+Rattenbury was using, and broke the blade of it, and the smuggler then
+threw the remaining part at him.  The mate then fired; whereupon
+Rattenbury’s wife knocked the firearm out of his hand.  Picking it up, he
+fired again, but the boat’s sail was up, and the fugitives were well on
+the way to shore, and made good their escape, amid a shower of bullets.
+They then dispersed, two of them being afterwards re-taken and sent
+aboard a man-o’-war bound for the West Indies; but Rattenbury made his
+way safely home again and was presently joined there by his wife.
+
+The public-house was closed in November 1813, smuggling was for a time in
+a bad way, owing to the Channel being closely patrolled; and Rattenbury,
+now with a wife and four children, made but a scanty subsistence on
+fishing and a little piloting.  In September 1814 he ventured again in
+the smuggling way, making a successful run to and from Cherbourg, but in
+November another run was quite spoilt, in the first instance by a gale,
+which obliged the smugglers to sink their kegs, and in the second by the
+revenue officers seizing the boats.  Finally, on the next day a
+custom-house boat ran over their buoy marking the spot where the kegs had
+been sunk, and seized them all—over a hundred.  “This,” says Rattenbury,
+with the conciseness of a resigned victim, “was a severe loss.”
+
+The succeeding years were more fortunate for him.  In 1816 he bought the
+sloop _Elizabeth and Kitty_, cheap, having been awarded a substantial sum
+as salvage, for having rescued her when deserted by her crew; and all
+that year did very well in smuggling spirits from Cherbourg.  Successes
+and failures, arrests, escapes, or releases, then followed in plentiful
+succession until the close of 1825, when the most serious happening of
+his adventurous career occurred.  He was captured off Dawlish, on
+December 18th, returning from a smuggling expedition, and detained at
+Budleigh Salterton watch-house until January 2nd, when he was taken
+before the magistrates at Exeter, and committed to gaol.  There he
+remained until April 5th, 1827.  In 1829 he says he “made an application”
+to Lord Rolle, who gave him a letter to the Admiral at Portsmouth, and
+went aboard the _Tartar_ cutter.  In January 1830 he took his discharge,
+received his pay at the custom-house, and went home.
+
+Very slyly does he withhold from us the subject of that application, and
+the nature of the _Tartar’s_ commission; and it is left for us to
+discover that the bold smuggler had taken service at last with the
+revenue and customs authorities, and for a time placed his knowledge of
+the ins and outs of smuggling at the command of those whose duty it was
+to defeat the free-traders.  It was perhaps the discovery that the work
+of spying and betraying was irksome, or perhaps the ready threats of his
+old associates, that caused him to relinquish the work.
+
+However that may be, he was soon at smuggling again, carried on in
+between genuine trading enterprises; and in November 1831 was unlucky
+enough to be chased and captured by the Beer preventive boat.  As usual,
+the cargo was carefully sunk before the capture was actually made, and
+although the preventive men strenuously grappled for it, they found
+nothing but a piece of rope, about one fathom long.  On the very slight
+presumptive evidence of that length of rope, Rattenbury and his eldest
+son and two men were found guilty on their trial at Lyme Regis, and were
+committed to Dorchester gaol.  There they remained until February 1833.
+
+Rattenbury’s last smuggling experience was a shoregoing one, in the month
+of January 1836, at Torquay, where he was engaged with another man in
+carting a load of twenty tubs of brandy.  They had got about a mile out
+of Newton Abbot, at ten o’clock at night, when a party of riding-officers
+came up and seized the consignment “in the King’s name.”  Rattenbury
+escaped, being as eel-like and evasive as ever, but his companion was
+arrested.
+
+Thus, before he was quite fifty-eight years of age, he quitted an
+exceptionally chequered career; but his wonted fires lived in his son,
+who continued the tradition, even though the great days of smuggling were
+by now done.
+
+That son was charged, at Exeter Assizes, in March 1836, with having on
+the night of December 1st, 1835, taken part with others in assaulting two
+custom-house officers at Budleigh Salterton.  Numerous witnesses swore to
+his having been at Beer that night, sixteen miles away, but he was found
+guilty and sentenced to seven years’ transportation; the Court being
+quite used to this abundant evidence, and quite convinced, Bible oaths to
+the contrary notwithstanding, that he was at Budleigh Salterton, and did
+in fact take part in maltreating His Majesty’s officers.
+
+Jack Rattenbury was on this occasion cross-examined by the celebrated Mr.
+Serjeant Bompas, in which he declared he had brought up that son in a
+proper way, and “larnt him the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten
+Commandments.”  (Perhaps also that important Eleventh Commandment, “Thou
+shalt not be found out!”)
+
+“You don’t find there, ‘Thou shalt not smuggle?’” asked Mr. Serjeant
+Bompas.
+
+“No,” replied Rattenbury the ready, “but I find there, ‘Thou shalt not
+bear false witness against thy neighbour.’”
+
+The injured innocent, like to be transported for his country’s good, was
+granted a Royal Pardon, as the result of several petitions sent to Lord
+John Russell.
+
+The village of Beer, deep down in one of the most romantic rocky coves of
+South Devon, is nowadays a very different kind of place from what it was
+in Rattenbury’s time.  Then the home of fishermen daring alike in fishing
+and in smuggling, a village to which strangers came but rarely, it is now
+very much of a favourite seaside resort, and full of boarding-houses that
+have almost entirely abolished the ancient thatched cottages.  A few of
+these yet linger on, together with one or two of the curious old stone
+water-conduits and some stretches of the primitive cobbled pavements, but
+they will not long survive.  The sole characteristic industry of Beer
+that is left, besides the fishing and the stone-quarrying that has been
+in progress from the very earliest times, is the lace-making, nowadays
+experiencing a revival.
+
+But the knowing ones will show you still the smugglers’ caves: deep
+crannies in the chalk cliffs of Beer, that at this place so curiously
+alternate with the more characteristic red sandstone of South Devon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+                           THE WHISKY SMUGGLERS
+
+A MODERN form of smuggling little suspected by the average Englishman is
+found in the illicit whisky-distilling yet carried on in the Highlands of
+Scotland and the wilds of Ireland, as the records of Inland Revenue
+prosecutions still annually prove.  The sportsman, or the more
+adventurous among those tourists who roam far from the beaten track, are
+still likely to discover in rugged and remote situations the ruins of
+rough stone and turf huts of no antiquity, situated in lonely rifts in
+the mountain-sides, always with a stream running by.  If the stranger is
+at all inquisitive on the subject of these solitary ruins, he will easily
+discover that not only are they not old, but that they have, in many
+cases, only recently been vacated.  They are, in fact, the temporary
+bothies built from the abundant materials of those wild spots by the
+ingenious crofters and other peasantry, for the purpose of distilling
+whisky that shall not, between its manufacture and its almost immediate
+consumption, pay duty to the revenue authorities.
+
+This illegal production of what is now thought to be the “national drink”
+of Scotland and Ireland, is not of any considerable antiquity, for whisky
+itself did not grow popular until comparatively recent times.  Robert
+Burns, who may not unfairly be considered the poet-laureate of whisky,
+and styles it “whisky, drink divine,” would have had neither the
+possibility of that inspiration, nor have filled the official post of
+exciseman, had he flourished but a few generations earlier; but he was
+born in that era when whisky-smuggling and dram-drinking were at their
+height, and he took an active part in both the drinking of whisky and the
+hunting down of smugglers of it.
+
+One of the most stirring incidents of his career was that which occurred
+in 1792, when, foremost of a little band of revenue officers, aided by
+dragoons, he waded into the waters of Solway, reckless of the quicksands
+of that treacherous estuary, and, sword in hand, was the first to board a
+smuggling brig, placing the crew under arrest and conveying the vessel to
+Dumfries, where it was sold.  It was this incident that inspired him with
+the poem, if indeed, we may at all fitly claim inspiration for such an
+inferior Burns product:
+
+                      THE DE’IL’S AWA’ WI’ THE EXCISEMAN
+
+    The De’il cam’ fiddling thro’ the town,
+       And danc’d awa’ wi’ the exciseman;
+    And ilka wife cry’d, “Auld Mahoun,
+       I wish you luck o’ your prize, man.”
+
+    We’ll mak’ our maut and brew our drink,
+       We’ll dance, and sing, and rejoice, man;
+    And monie thanks to the muckle black De’il,
+       That danced awa’ wi’ the exciseman.
+
+    There’s threesome reels, and foursome reels,
+       There’s hornpipes and strathspeys, man;
+    But the ae best dance e’er cam’ to our lan’,
+       Was—the De’il’s awa’ wi’ the exciseman.
+
+Whisky, _i.e. usquebaugh_, signifying in Gaelic “water of life,”
+originated, we are told, in the monasteries, where so many other
+comforting cordials were discovered, somewhere about the eleventh or
+twelfth century.  It was for a very long period regarded only as a
+medicine, and its composition remained unknown to the generality of
+people; and thus we find among the earliest accounts of whisky, outside
+monastic walls, an item in the household expenses of James the Fourth of
+Scotland, at the close of the fifteenth century.  There it is styled
+“aqua vitæ.”
+
+A sample of this then new drink was apparently introduced to the notice
+of the King or his Court, and seems to have been so greatly appreciated
+that eight bolls of malt figure among the household items as delivered to
+“Friar James Cor,” for the purpose of manufacturing more, as per sample.
+
+But for generations to come the nobles and gentry of Scotland continued
+to drink wine, and the peasantry to drink ale, and it was only with the
+closing years of another century that whisky became at all commonly
+manufactured.  We read that in 1579 distillers were for the first time
+taxed in Scotland, and private stills forbidden; and the rural population
+did not altogether forsake their beer for the spirit until about the
+beginning of the eighteenth century.  Parliament, however, soon
+discovered a tempting source of revenue in it, and imposed constantly
+increasing taxation.  In 1736 the distillers’ tax was raised to 20_s._ a
+gallon, and there were, in addition, imposts upon the retailers.
+
+It might have been foreseen that the very natural result of these
+extortionate taxes would be to elevate illegal distilling, formerly
+practised here and there, into an enormously increased industry,
+flourishing in every glen.  Only a very small proportion of the output
+paid the duties imposed.  Every clachan had its still, or stills.
+
+This state of things was met by another Act which prohibited the making
+of whisky from stills of a smaller capacity than five hundred gallons;
+but this enactment merely brought about the removal of the more or less
+openly defiant stills from the villages to the solitary places in the
+hills and mountains, and necessitated a large increase in the number of
+excisemen.
+
+Seven years of these extravagant super-taxes sufficed to convince the
+Government of the folly of so overweighting an article with taxation that
+successful smuggling of it would easily bring fortunes to bold and
+energetic men.  To do so was thus abundantly proved to be a direct
+provocation to men of enterprise; and the net result the Government found
+to be a vastly increased and highly expensive excise establishment, whose
+cost was by no means met by the revenue derived from the heavy duties.
+Failure thus becoming evident, the taxes were heavily reduced, until they
+totalled but ten shillings and sixpence a gallon.
+
+But the spice of adventure introduced by illegal distilling under the old
+heavy taxation had aroused a reckless frame of mind among the
+Highlanders, who, once become used to defy the authorities, were not
+readily persuaded to give up their illegal practices.  The glens
+continued to be filled with private stills.  Glenlivet was, in especial,
+famed for its whisky-smugglers; and the peat-reek arose in every
+surrounding fold in the hills from hundreds of “sma’ stills.”  Many of
+these private undertakings did business in a large way, and openly sold
+their products to customers in the south, sending their tubs of spirits
+under strong escort, for great distances.  They had customers in England
+also, and exciting incidents arose at the Border, for not only the
+question of excise then arose, but that of customs duty as well; for the
+customs rates on spirits were then higher in England than in Scotland.
+The border counties of Northumberland and Cumberland, Berwick, Roxburgh,
+and Dumfriesshire were infested with smugglers of this double-dyed type,
+to whom must be added the foreign contrabandists, such as the Dutchman,
+Yawkins, who haunted the coasts of Dumfriesshire and Galloway with his
+smuggling lugger, the _Black Prince_, and is supposed to be the original
+of Dirk Hatteraick, in Scott’s romance, “Guy Mannering.”
+
+The very name of this bold fellow was a terror to those whose duty it was
+to uphold law and order in those parts; and it was, naturally, to his
+interest to maintain that feeling of dread, by every means in his power.
+Scott tells us how, on one particular night, happening to be ashore with
+a considerable quantity of goods in his sole custody, a strong party of
+excisemen came down upon him.  Far from shunning the attack, Yawkins
+sprang forward, shouting, “Come on, my lads, Yawkins is before you.”
+
+The revenue officers were intimidated, and relinquished their prize,
+though defended only by the courage and address of one man.  On his
+proper element, Yawkins was equally successful.  On one occasion he was
+landing his cargo at the Manxman’s Lake, near Kirkcudbright, when two
+revenue cutters, the _Pigmy_ and the _Dwarf_, hove in sight at once, on
+different tacks, the one coming round by the Isles of Fleet, the other
+between the point of Rueberry and the Muckle Ron.  The dauntless
+free-trader instantly weighed anchor and bore down right between the
+luggers, so close that he tossed his hat on the deck of the one and his
+wig on that of the other, hoisted a cask to his maintop, to show his
+occupation, and bore away under an extraordinary pressure of canvas,
+without receiving injury.
+
+So, at any rate, the fantastic legends tell us, although it is but fair
+to remark, in this place, that no practical yachtsman, or indeed any
+other navigator, would for a moment believe in the possibility of such a
+feat.
+
+To account for these and other hairbreadth escapes, popular superstition
+freely alleged that Yawkins insured his celebrated lugger by compounding
+with the Devil for one-tenth of his crew every voyage.  How they arranged
+the separation of the stock and tithes is left to our conjecture.  The
+lugger was perhaps called the _Black Prince_ in honour of the formidable
+insurer.  Her owner’s favourite landing-places were at the entrance of
+the Dee and the Cree, near the old castle of Rueberry, about six miles
+below Kirkcudbright.  There is a cave of large dimensions in the vicinity
+of Rueberry, which, from its being frequently used by Yawkins and his
+supposed connection with the smugglers on the shore, is now called “Dirk
+Hatteraick’s Cave.”  Strangers who visit this place, the scenery of which
+is highly romantic, are also shown, under the name of the “Gauger’s
+Leap,” a tremendous precipice.
+
+“In those halcyon days of the free trade,” says Scott, “the fixed price
+for carrying a box of tea or bale of tobacco from the coast of Galloway
+to Edinburgh was fifteen shillings, and a man with two horses carried
+four such packages.”
+
+This condition of affairs prevailed until peace had come, after the final
+defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.  The Government then, as always, sadly in
+need of new sources of revenue, was impressed with the idea that a fine
+sum might annually be obtained by placing these shy Highland distillers
+under contribution.  But there were great difficulties in the way.  The
+existing laws were a mere dead letter in those regions, and it was scarce
+likely that any new measures, unless backed up by a display of military
+force, would secure obedience.  The Duke of Gordon, at that period a
+personage of exceptionally commanding influence with the clansmen, was
+appealed to by the Government to use his authority for the purpose of
+discouraging these practices; but he declared, from his place in the
+House of Lords, that the Highlanders were hereditary distillers of
+whisky: it had from time immemorial been their drink, and they would, in
+spite of every discouragement, continue to make it and to consume it.
+They would sell it, too, he said, when given the opportunity of doing so
+by the extravagantly high duty on spirits.  The only way out of the
+difficulty with which the Government was confronted was, he pointed out,
+the passing of an Act permitting the distilling of whisky on reasonable
+terms.
+
+The result of this straightforward speech was the passing of an Act in
+1823 which placed the moderate excise duty of 2_s._ 3_d._ a gallon on the
+production of spirits, with a £10 annual license for every still of a
+capacity of forty gallons: smaller stills being altogether illegal.
+
+These provisions were reasonable enough, but failed to satisfy the
+peasantry, and the people were altogether so opposed to the regulation of
+distilling that they destroyed the licensed distilleries.  It was scarce
+worth the while of retailers, under those circumstances, to take out
+licenses, and so it presently came to pass that for every one duly
+licensed dealer there would be, according to the district, from fifty to
+one hundred unlicensed.
+
+And so things remained until by degrees the gradually perfected system of
+excise patrols wore down this resistance.
+
+In the meanwhile, the licensed distillers had a sorry time of it.
+
+Archibald Forbes, many years ago, in the course of some observations upon
+whisky-smugglers, gave reminiscences of George Smith, who, from having in
+his early days been himself a smuggler, became manager of the Glenlivet
+Distillery.  This famous manufactory of whisky, in these days producing
+about two thousand gallons a week, had an output in 1824 of but one
+hundred gallons in the same time; and its very existence was for years
+threatened by the revengeful peasantry and proprietors of the “sma’
+stills.”  Smith was a man of fine physical proportions and great courage
+and tenacity of purpose, or he could never have withstood the
+persecutions and dangers he had long to face.  “The outlook,” he said,
+“was an ugly one.  I was warned, before I began, by my neighbours that
+they meant to burn the new distillery to the ground, and me in the heart
+of it.  The Laird of Aberlour presented me with a pair of hair-trigger
+pistols, and they were never out of my belt for years.  I got together
+three or four stout fellows for servants, armed them with pistols, and
+let it be known everywhere that I would fight for my place till the last
+shot.  I had a pretty good character as a man of my word, and through
+watching, by turns, every night for years, we contrived to save the
+distillery from the fate so freely predicted for it.  But I often, both
+at kirk and market, had rough times of it among the glen people, and if
+it had not been for the Laird of Aberlour’s pistols I don’t think I
+should have been telling you this story now.”
+
+In ’25 and ’26 three more small distilleries were started in the glen;
+but the smugglers succeeded very soon in frightening away their
+occupants, none of whom ventured to hang on a second year in the face of
+the threats uttered against them.  Threats were not the only weapons
+used.  In 1825 a distillery which had just been started at the head of
+Aberdeenshire, near the banks o’ Dee, was burnt to the ground with all
+its outbuildings and appliances, and the distiller had a very narrow
+escape of being roasted in his own kiln.  The country was in a
+desperately lawless state at this time.  The riding-officers of the
+Revenue were the mere sport of the smugglers, and nothing was more common
+than for them to be shown a still at work, and then coolly defied to make
+a seizure.
+
+Prominent among these active and resourceful men was one Shaw, proprietor
+of a shebeen on the Shea Water, in the wilds of Mar.  Smugglers were free
+of his shy tavern, which, as a general rule, the gaugers little cared to
+visit singly.  Shaw was alike a man of gigantic size, great strength, and
+of unscrupulous character, and stuck at little in the furtherance of his
+illegal projects.  But if Shaw was a terror to the average exciseman,
+George Smith, for his part, was above the average, and feared no man; and
+so, when overtaken by a storm on one occasion, had little hesitation in
+seeking the shelter of this ill-omened house.  Shaw happened to be away
+from home at the time, and Smith was received by the hostess, who, some
+years earlier, before she had married her husband, had been a sweetheart
+of the man who now sought shelter.  The accommodation afforded by the
+house was scanty, but a bedroom was found for the unexpected guest, and
+he in due course retired to it.  Mrs. Shaw had promised that his natural
+enemies, the smugglers, should not disturb him, if they returned in the
+night; but when they did return, later on, Shaw determined that he would
+at least give the distillery man a fright.  Most of them were drunk, and
+ready for any mischief, and would probably have been prepared even to
+murder him.  Shaw was, however, with all his faults, no little of a
+humorist, and only wanted his joke at the enemy’s expense.
+
+The band marched upstairs solemnly, in spite of some little hiccoughing,
+and swung into the bedroom, a torch carried by the foremost man throwing
+a fitful glare around.  The door was locked when they had entered, and
+all gathered in silence round the bed.  Shaw then, drawing a great
+butcher’s knife from the recesses of his clothes, brandished it over the
+affrighted occupant of the bed.  “This gully, mon, iss for your powels,”
+said he.
+
+But Smith had not entered this House of Dread without being properly
+armed, and he had, moreover, taken his pistols to bed with him, and was
+at that moment holding one in either hand, under the clothes.  As Shaw
+flourished his knife and uttered his alarming threats, he whipped out the
+one and presented it at Shaw’s head, promising him he would shoot him if
+the whole party did not immediately quit the room; while with the other
+(the bed lying beside the fireplace) he fired slyly up the chimney,
+creating a thunderous report and a choking downfall of soot, in midst of
+which all the smugglers fled except Shaw, who remained, laughing.
+
+Shaw had many smart encounters with the excise, in which he generally
+managed to get the best of it.  The most dramatic of these was probably
+the exploit that befell when he was captaining a party of smugglers
+conveying two hundred kegs of whisky from the mountains down to Perth.
+The time was winter, and snow lay thick on field and fell; but the
+journey was made in daytime, for they were a numerous band and well
+armed, and feared no one.  But the local Supervisor of Excise had by some
+means obtained early news of this expedition, and had secured the aid of
+a detachment of six troopers of the Scots Greys at Coupar-Angus, part of
+a squadron stationed at Perth.  At the head of this little force rode the
+supervisor.  They came in touch with the smugglers at Cairnwell, in the
+Spittal of Glenshee.
+
+“Gang aff awa’ wi’ ye, quietly back up the Spittal,” exclaimed the
+supervisor, “and leave the seizure to us.”
+
+“Na, faith,” replied Shaw; “ye’ll get jist what we care to gie!”
+
+“Say ye so?” returned the excise officer hotly.  “I’ll hae the whole or
+nane!”
+
+The blood rose in Shaw’s head, and swelled out the veins of his temples.
+“By God,” he swore, “I’ll shoot every gauger here before ye’ll get a
+drap!”
+
+The supervisor was a small man with a bold spirit.  He turned to his
+cavalry escort with the order “Fire!” and at the same time reached for
+Shaw’s collar, with the exclamation, “Ye’ve given me the slip often
+enough, Shaw!  Yield now, I’ve a pistol in each pocket of my breeches.”
+
+“Have ye so?” coolly returned the immense and statuesque Shaw, “it’s no’
+lang they’ll be there, then!” and with that he laid violent hands upon
+each pocket and so picked the exciseman bodily out of his saddle, tore
+out both pistols and pockets, and then pitched him, as easily as an
+ordinary man could have done a baby, head over heels into a snow-drift.
+
+Meanwhile, the soldiers had not fired; rightly considering that, as they
+were so greatly outnumbered, to do so would be only the signal for an
+affray in which they would surely be worsted.  A wordy wrangle then
+followed, in which the exciseman and the soldiers pointed out that they
+could not possibly go back empty-handed; and in the end, Shaw and his
+brother smugglers went their way, leaving four kegs behind, “just out o’
+ceeveelity,” and as some sort of salve for the wounded honour of the law
+and its armed coadjutors.
+
+Not many gaugers were so lion-hearted as this; but one, at least, was
+even more so.  This rash hero one day met two smugglers in a solitary
+situation.  They had a cart loaded up with whisky-kegs, and when the
+official, unaided, and with no human help near, proposed single-handed to
+seize their consignment and to arrest them, they must have been as
+genuinely astonished as ever men have been.  The daring man stood there,
+purposeful of doing his duty, and really in grave danger of his life; but
+these two smugglers, relishing the humour of the thing, merely descended
+from their cart, and, seizing him and binding him hand and foot, sat him
+down in the middle of the road with wrists tied over his knees and a
+stick through the crook of his legs, in the “trussed fowl” fashion.
+There, in the middle of the highway, they proposed to leave him; but when
+he pitifully entreated not to be left there, as he might be run over and
+killed in the dark, they considerately carried him to the roadside; with
+saturnine humour remarking that he would probably be starved there
+instead, before he would be noticed.
+
+               [Picture: Smugglers hiding goods in a tomb]
+
+The flood-tide of Government prosecutions of the “sma’ stills” was
+reached in 1823–5, when an average of one thousand four hundred cases
+annually was reached.  These were variously for actual distilling, or for
+the illegal possession of malt, for which offence very heavy penalties
+were exacted.
+
+Preventive men were stationed thickly over the face of the Highlands, the
+system then employed being the establishment of “Preventive Stations” in
+important districts, and “Preventive Rides” in less important
+neighbourhoods.  The stations consisted of an officer and one or two men,
+who were expected by the regulations not to sleep at the station more
+than six nights in the fortnight.  During the other eight days and nights
+they were to be on outside duty.  A ride was a solitary affair, of one
+exciseman.  Placed in authority over the stations were “supervisors,” who
+had each five stations under his charge, which he was bound to visit once
+a week.
+
+George Smith, of Glenlivet, already quoted, early found his position
+desperate.  He was a legalised distiller, and paid his covenanted duty to
+Government, and he rightly considered himself entitled, in return for the
+tribute he rendered, to some measure of protection.  He therefore
+petitioned the Lords of the Treasury to that effect; and my lords duly
+replied, after the manner of such, that the Government would prosecute
+any who dared molest him.  This, however, was not altogether satisfactory
+from Smith’s point of view.  He desired rather to be protected from
+molestation than to be left open to attack and the aggressors to be
+punished.  A dead man derives no satisfaction from the execution of his
+assassin.  Moreover, even the prosecution was uncertain.  In Smith’s own
+words, “I cannot say the assurance gave me much ease, for I could see no
+one in Glenlivet who dared institute such proceedings.”
+
+It was necessary for a revenue officer to be almost killed in the
+execution of his duty before the Government resorted to the force
+requisite for the support of the civil power.  A revenue cutter was
+stationed in the Moray Firth, with a crew of fifty men, designed to be
+under the orders of the excise officers in cases of emergency.
+
+But the smugglers were not greatly impressed with this display, and when
+the excisemen, accompanied with perhaps five-and-twenty sailors, made
+raids up-country, frequently met them in great gangs of perhaps a hundred
+and fifty, and recaptured any seizures they had made and adopted so
+threatening an attitude that the sailors were not infrequently compelled
+to beat a hasty and undignified retreat.  One of these expeditions was
+into Glenlivet itself, where the smugglers were all Roman Catholics.  The
+excisemen, with this in mind, considered that the best time for a raid
+would be Monday morning, after the debauch of the Sunday afternoon and
+night in which the Roman Catholics were wont to indulge; and accordingly,
+marching out of Elgin town on the Sunday, arrived at Glenlivet at
+daybreak.  At the time of their arrival the glen was, to all appearance,
+deserted, and their coming unnoticed, and the sight of the peat-reek
+rising in the still air from some forty or fifty “sma’ stills” rejoiced
+their hearts.
+
+But they presently discovered that their arrival had not only been
+observed but foreseen, for the whole country-side was up, and several
+hundred men, women, and children were assembled on the hill-sides to bid
+active defiance to them.  The excisemen keenly desired to bring the
+affair to a decisive issue, but the thirty seamen who accompanied them
+had a due amount of discretion, and refused to match their pistols and
+cutlasses against the muskets that the smugglers ostentatiously
+displayed.  The party accordingly marched ingloriously back, except
+indeed those sailors who, having responded too freely to the smugglers’
+invitation to partake of a “wee drappie,” returned gloriously drunk.  The
+excisemen, so unexpectedly baulked of what they had thought their certain
+prey, ungraciously refused a taste.
+
+This formed the limit of the sorely tried Government’s patience, and in
+1829 a detachment of regulars was ordered up to Braemar, with the result
+that smuggling was gradually reduced to less formidable proportions.
+
+The Celtic nature perceives no reason why Governments should confer upon
+themselves the rights of taxing and inspecting the manufacture of
+spirits, any more than any other commodity.  The matter appears to
+resolve itself merely into expediency: and the doctrine of expediency we
+all know to be immoral.  The situation was—and is, whether you apply it
+to spirits or to other articles in general demand—the Government wants
+revenue, and, seeking it, naturally taxes the most popular articles of
+public consumption.  The producers and the consumers of the articles
+selected for these imposts just as naturally seek to evade the taxes.
+This, to the Celtic mind, impatient of control, is the simplest of
+equations.
+
+About 1886 was the dullest time in the illicit whisky-distilling industry
+of Scotland, and prosecutions fell to an average of about twenty a year.
+Since then there has been, as official reports tell us, in the language
+of officialdom, a “marked recrudescence” of the practice.  As Mr.
+Micawber might explain, in plainer English, “there is—ah—in fact, more
+whisky made now.”  Several contributory causes are responsible for this
+state of things.  Firstly, an economical Government reduced the excise
+establishment; then the price of barley, the raw material, fell; and the
+veiled rebellion of the crofters in the north induced a more daring and
+lawless spirit than had been known for generations past.  Also,
+restrictions upon the making of malt—another of the essential
+constituents from which the spirit is distilled—were at this time
+removed, and any one who cared might make it freely and without license.
+
+Your true Highlander will not relinquish his “mountain-dew” without a
+struggle.  His forefathers made as much of it as they liked, out of
+inexpensive materials, and drank it fresh and raw.  No one bought whisky;
+and a whole clachan would be roaring drunk for a week without a coin
+having changed hands.  Naturally, the descendants of these men—“it wass
+the fine time they had, whateffer”—dislike the notion of buying their
+whisky from the grocer and drinking stuff made in up-to-date
+distilleries.  They prefer the heady stuff of the old brae-side
+pot-still, with a rasp on it like sulphuric acid and a consequent feeling
+as though one had swallowed lighted petroleum: stuff with a headache for
+the Southerner in every drop, not like the tamed and subdued creature
+that whisky-merchants assure their customers has not got a headache in a
+hogshead.
+
+The time-honoured brae-side manner of brewing whisky is not very
+abstruse.  First find your lonely situation, the lonelier and the more
+difficult of access, obviously the better.  If it is at once lonely and
+difficult of approach, and at the same time commands good views of such
+approaches as there are, by so much it is the better.  But one very
+cardinal fact must not be forgotten: the site of the proposed still and
+its sheltering shieling, or bothy, must have a water-supply, either from
+a mountain-stream naturally passing, or by an artfully constructed rude
+system of pipes.
+
+A copper still, just large enough to be carried on a man’s back, and a
+small assortment of mash-tubs, and some pitchers and pannikins, fully
+furnish such a rustic undertaking.
+
+The first step is to convert your barley into malt; but this is to-day a
+needless delay and trouble, now that malt can be made entirely without
+let or hindrance.  This was done by steeping the sacks of barley in
+running water for some forty-eight hours, and then storing the grain
+underground for a period, until it germinated.  The malt thus made was
+then dried over a rude kiln fired with peats, whose smoke gave the
+characteristic smoky taste possessed by all this bothy-made stuff.
+
+It was not necessary for the malt to be made on the site of the still,
+and it was, and is, generally carried to the spot, ready-made for the
+mash-tubs.  The removal of the duty upon malt by Mr. Gladstone, in 1880,
+was one of that grossly overrated and really amateur statesman’s many
+errors.  His career was full of false steps and incompetent bunglings,
+and the removal of the Malt Tax was but a small example among many
+Imperial tragedies on a grand scale of disaster.  It put new and vigorous
+life into whisky-smuggling, as any expert could have foretold; for it was
+precisely the long operation of converting the barley into malt that
+formed the illegal distiller’s chief difficulty.  The time taken, and the
+process of crushing or bruising the grains, offered some obstacles not
+easily overcome.  The crushing, in particular, was a dangerous process
+when the possession of unlicensed malt was an offence; for that operation
+resulted in a very strong and unmistakable odour being given forth, so
+that no one who happened to be in the neighbourhood when the process was
+going on could be ignorant of it, while he retained his sense of smell.
+
+Brought ready-made from the clachan to the bothy, the malt was emptied
+into the mash-tubs to ferment; the tubs placed in charge of a boy or
+girl, who stirs up the mess with a willow-wand or birch-twig; while the
+men themselves are out and about at work on their usual avocations.
+
+Having sufficiently fermented, the next process was to place the malt in
+the still, over a brisk heat.  From the still a crooked spout descends
+into a tub.  This spout has to be constantly cooled by running water, to
+produce condensation of the vaporised alcohol.  Thus we have a second,
+and even more important, necessity for a neighbouring stream, which
+often, in conjunction with the indispensable fire, serves the excisemen
+to locate these stills.  If a bothy is so artfully concealed by rocks and
+turves that it escapes notice, even by the most vigilant eye, amid the
+rugged hill-sides, the smoke arising from the peat-fire will almost
+certainly betray it.
+
+The crude spirit thus distilled into the tub is then emptied again into
+the still, which has been in the meanwhile cleared of the exhausted malt
+and cleansed, and subjected to a second distilling, over a milder fire,
+and with a small piece of soap dropped into the liquor to clarify it.
+
+The question of maturing the whisky never enters into the minds of these
+rustic distillers, who drink it, generally, as soon as made.  Very little
+is now made for sale; but when sold the profit is very large, a capital
+of twenty-three shillings bringing a return of nine or ten pounds.
+
+But the typical secret whisky-distiller has no commercial instincts.  It
+cannot fairly be said that he has a soul above them, for he is just a
+shiftless fellow, whose soul is not very apparent in manner or
+conversation, and whose only ambition is to procure a sufficiency of
+“whusky” for self and friends; and a “sufficiency” in his case means a
+great deal.  He has not enough money to buy taxed whisky; and if he had,
+he would prefer to make his own, for he loves the peat-reek in it, and he
+thinks “jist naething at a’” of the “puir stuff” that comes from the
+great distilleries.
+
+He is generally ostensibly by trade a hanger-on to the agricultural or
+sheep-farming industries, but between his spells of five days at the
+bothy (for it takes five days to the making of whisky) he is usually to
+be seen loafing about, aimlessly.  Experienced folk can generally tell
+where such an one has been, and what he has been doing, after his
+periodical absences, for his eyelids are red with the peat-smoke and his
+clothes reek with it.
+
+                 [Picture: Dragoons dispersing smugglers]
+
+Perhaps the busiest centre of Highland illicit whisky-distilling is now
+to be located in the Gairloch, but anything in the shape of exact
+information on so shy a subject is necessarily not obtainable.  Between
+this district and the Outer Hebrides, islands where no stills are to be
+found, a large secret trade is still believed to exist.  Seizures are
+occasionally made but the policy of the Inland Revenue authorities is now
+a broad one, in which the existence of small stills in inconsiderable
+numbers, although actually known, is officially ignored: the argument
+being that undue official activity, with the resultant publicity, would
+defeat itself by advertising the fact of it being so easy to manufacture
+whisky, leading eventually to the establishment of more stills.
+
+The illegal production of spirits does, in fact, proceed all over Great
+Britain and Ireland to a far greater extent than generally suspected; and
+such remote places as the Highlands are nowadays by no means the most
+favourable situations for the manufacture.  Indeed, crowded towns form in
+these times the most ideal situations.  No one in the great cities is in
+the least interested in what his neighbour is doing, unless what he does
+constitutes a nuisance: and it is the secret distiller’s last thought to
+obtrude his personality or his doings upon the notice of the neighbours.
+Secrecy, personal comfort, and conveniences of every kind are better
+obtained in towns than on inclement brae-sides; and the manufacture and
+repair of the utensils necessary to the business are effected more
+quickly, less expensively, and without the prying curiosity of a Highland
+clachan.
+
+It follows from this long-continued course of illegal distilling that the
+Highlands are full of tales of how the gaugers were outwitted, and of
+hairbreadth escapes and curious incidents.  Among these is the story of
+the revengeful postmaster of Kingussie, who, on his return from a journey
+to Aberlour on a dark and stormy night, called at Dalnashaugh inn, where
+he proposed to stay an hour or two.  The pretty maid of the inn attended
+diligently to him for awhile, until a posse of some half-dozen gaugers
+entered, to rest there on their way to Badenoch, where they were due, to
+make a raid on a number of illicit stills.  The sun of the postmaster
+suddenly set with the arrival of these strangers.  They were given the
+parlour, and treated with the best hospitality the house could afford,
+while he was banished to the kitchen.  He was wrathful, for was he not a
+Government official, equally with these upstarts?  But he dissembled his
+anger, and, as the evening wore on and the maid grew tired, he suggested
+she had better go to bed, and he would be off by time the moon rose.  No
+sooner had she retired than he took the excisemen’s boots, lying in the
+inglenook to dry, and pitched them into a great pot of water, boiling
+over the blaze.
+
+When the moon had risen, he duly mounted his pony and set out for
+Badenoch, where he gave out the news that the gaugers were coming.
+
+The excisemen could not stir from the inn for a considerable time, for
+their boiled boots refused to be drawn on; and by the time they had been
+enabled to stretch them and to set out once more on their way, the
+Badenoch smugglers had made off with all their gear, leaving nothing but
+empty bothies for inspection.  The local historian is silent as to what
+happened afterwards to the postmaster, the only possible author of this
+outrage.
+
+A smuggler of Strathdearn was unfortunate in having the excise pouncing
+suddenly upon him in his bothy, and taking away his only cask of whisky.
+The hated myrmidons of a Sassenach Government went off with the cask, and
+were so jealous of their prize that they took it with them to the inn
+where they were to pass the night.  All that evening they sang songs and
+were merry with a numerous company in an upper room; but even at their
+merriest they did not forget their capture, and one of their number sat
+upon it all the time.
+
+It chanced, however, that among these merry fellows were some of the
+smuggler’s friends, who were careful to note exactly the position of the
+cask.  They procured an auger and bored a hole from the room below,
+through the flooring and into the cask, draining all the whisky away.
+When the excisemen had come to the end of their jollification, they had
+only the empty cask for their trouble.
+
+One of the brae-side distillers of Fortingal brought a cart laden with
+kegs of whisky into Perth, by arrangement with an innkeeper of that town;
+but the innkeeper refused to pay a fair price.
+
+“Wha will her sell it till, then?” asked the would-be vendor.
+
+The innkeeper, a person of a saturnine humour, mentioned a name and a
+house, and the man went thither with his cart.
+
+“What is it, my man?” asked the occupier, coming to the door.
+
+“Well, yer honour, ’tis some o’ the finest whusky that iver was made up
+yon, and niver paid the bawbee’s worth o’ duty.”
+
+“D’ye know who I am?” returned the householder.  “I’m an officer of
+excise, and I demand to know who sent you to me.”
+
+The smuggler told him.
+
+“Now,” said the exciseman, “go back to him and sell him your whisky at
+his own price, and then begone.”
+
+The man did as he was bidden; sold his consignment, and left the town.
+It was but a few hours afterwards that the innkeeper’s premises were
+raided by the excise, who seized the whisky and procured a conviction at
+the next Assizes, where he was heavily fined.
+
+One of the last incidents along the Border, in connection with
+whisky-smuggling between Scotland and England, occurred after the duty
+had been considerably lowered.  This was a desperate affray which took
+place on the night of Sunday, January 16th, 1825, at Rockcliffe Cross,
+five miles from Carlisle on the Wigton road.  One Edward Forster, officer
+of excise, was on duty when he observed a man, whose name, it afterwards
+appeared, was Charles Gillespie, a labourer, carrying a suspicious
+object, and challenged him.  This resulted in an encounter in which the
+excise officer’s head was badly cut open.  Calling aid of another
+labourer, who afterwards gave evidence, he remarked that he thought the
+smuggler had almost done for him, but pursued the man and fired upon him
+in the dark, with so good an aim that he was mortally wounded, and
+presently died.  It was a dangerous thing in those times for an excise
+officer to do his duty, and at the inquest held the coroner’s jury
+returned a verdict of “Murder”; the men who formed the jury being
+doubtless drawn from a class entirely in sympathy with smuggling, and
+possibly engaged in it themselves.  Forster, evidently expectant of that
+verdict, did not present himself, and was probably transferred by his
+superiors to some post far distant.  There the affair ends.
+
+About the same time, on the Carlisle and Wigton road, two preventive men
+at three o’clock in the morning met a man carrying a load, which, when
+examined, proved to be a keg of spirits.  Two other men then came up and
+bludgeoned the officers, one of whom dropped his cutlass; whereupon a
+smuggler picked it up, and, attacking him vigorously, cut him over the
+head.  The smugglers then all escaped, leaving behind them two bladders
+containing eight gallons of whisky.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+  SOME SMUGGLERS’ TRICKS AND EVASIONS—MODERN TOBACCO-SMUGGLING—SILKS AND
+            LACE—A DOG DETECTIVE—LEGHORN HATS—FOREIGN WATCHES
+
+THE tricks practised by smugglers other than those daring and resourceful
+fellows who risked life, limb, and liberty in conflict with the elements
+and the preventive service, may form, in the narration, an amusing
+chapter.  Smugglers of this kind may be divided, roughly, into three
+classes.  Firstly, we have the ingeniously evasive trade importer in
+bulk, who resorts to false declarations and deceptive packing and
+labelling, for the purpose of entering his merchandise duty-free.
+Secondly, we have the sailors, the firemen of ocean-going steamers, and
+other persons of like classes, who smuggle tobacco and spirits, not
+necessarily to a commercial end, in considerable quantities; and thirdly,
+there are those enterprising holiday-makers and travellers for pleasure
+who cannot resist the sport.
+
+We read in _The Times_ of 1816 that, among the many expedients at that
+time practised for smuggling goods into France, the following scheme of
+introducing merchandise into Dieppe had some dexterity.  Large stone
+bottles were procured, and, the bottoms being knocked off, they were then
+filled with cotton stockings and thread lace.  A false bottom was fixed,
+and, to avoid suspicion, the mouth of each bottle was left open.  Any
+inquiries were met with the statement that the bottles were going to the
+spirit merchant, to be refilled.
+
+                      [Picture: Smugglers Attacked]
+
+This evasion was successfully carried on until a young man from Brighton
+ventured on too heavy a speculation.  He filled his bottle with ten dozen
+stockings, which so weighted it that the bottom came off, disclosing the
+contents.
+
+Ingenuity worthy of a better cause is the characteristic of modern types
+of smugglers.  A constant battle of wits between them and the
+custom-house officers is in progress at all ports of entry; and the
+fortunes of either side may be followed with much interest.
+
+One of the most ingenious of such tricks was that of the trader who was
+importing French kid-gloves.  He caused them to be despatched in two
+cases; one, containing only right-hand gloves, to Folkestone, the other,
+left-hand only, to London.  Being at the time dutiable articles, and the
+consignee refusing to pay the duty, the two cases were confiscated and
+their contents in due course sold at auction.  No one has a use for odd
+gloves, and these oddments accordingly in each case realised the merest
+trifle; but the purchaser—who was of course the consignee himself—netted
+a very considerable profit over the transaction.  The abolition of duty
+on such articles has, however, rendered a modern repetition of the trick
+unnecessary.  Nor is it any longer likely that foreign watches find their
+way to these shores in the old time-honoured style—_i.e._ hung in leather
+bags round the persons of unassuming travellers.
+
+Such an one, smuggling an unusual number across from Holland, calculated
+upon the average passage of twenty-four hours, and reckoned he could, for
+once in a way, endure that spell of waiting and walking about deck
+without lying down.  He could not, as a matter of fact, on account of the
+watches, afford to lie down.  To his dismay, the vessel, midway of the
+passage, encountered a dense fog, and had occasionally to stop or slow
+down; and, in the end, it was a forty-eight hours’ passage.  The
+unfortunate smuggler could not endure so much, and was obliged to
+disclose his treasure.  So the Revenue scored heavily on that occasion.
+
+Tobacco is still largely smuggled, and is, in fact, the foremost article
+so treated to-day; the very heavy duty, not less than five times its
+value, forming a great, and readily understood, temptation.  Perhaps the
+most notable attempt in modern times to smuggle tobacco in bulk was that
+discovered in 1881.
+
+The custom-house staff in London had for some time before that date
+become familiar with warning letters sent anonymously, hinting that great
+quantities of tobacco were continually being conveyed into England from
+Rotterdam without paying duty, but for a while little notice was taken of
+these communications; until at length they grew so definite that the
+officials had no choice but to inquire.  Detective officers were
+accordingly despatched to Rotterdam, to watch the proceedings there, and
+duly observed the packing of two large marine boilers with tobacco, by
+hydraulic pressure.  They were then shipped aboard a steamer and taken to
+London, whence they were placed upon the railway at King’s Cross, for
+delivery in the north.  A great deal of secret manoeuvring by the
+custom-house officials and the police resulted in both boilers being
+seized in London and those responsible for them being secured.  It was
+then discovered that they were only dummy boilers, made expressly for
+smuggling traffic; and it was further thought that this was by no means
+the first journey they had made.  The parties to this transaction were
+fined close upon five thousand pounds, and the consignment was
+confiscated.
+
+To conceal tobacco in hollow loaves of bread, especially made and baked
+for this purpose, was a common practice, and one not altogether unknown
+nowadays; while the coal-bunkers, the engine-rooms, and the hundred and
+one odd corners among the iron plates and girders of modern steamships
+afford hiding-places not seldom resorted to.  The customs officers, who
+board every vessel entering port, of course discover many of these
+_caches_, but it is not to be supposed that more than a percentage of
+them are found.
+
+Smuggled cigars are to-day a mere commonplace of the ordinary
+custom-house officer’s experience with private travellers, and no doubt a
+great quantity find a secret passage through, in the trading way.  For
+some years there was a considerable import of broomsticks into England
+from the Continent, and little or no comment was made upon the curious
+fact of it being worth while to import so inexpensive an article, which
+could equally well be made here.  But the mystery was suddenly dispelled
+one day when two clerks in a customs warehouse, wearied of a dull
+afternoon, set to the amusement of playing single-stick with two of these
+imported broomsticks.  No sooner did one broomstick smite upon another in
+this friendly encounter than they both broke in half, liberating a
+plentiful shower of very excellent cigars, which had been secreted in the
+hollowed staves.
+
+Silks formed an important item in the smugglers’ trade, and even the
+gentlemen of that day unconsciously contributed to it, by the use of
+bandana handkerchiefs, greatly affected by that snuff-taking generation.
+Huskisson, a thoroughgoing advocate of Free Trade, was addressing the
+House of Commons on one occasion and declaring that the only possible way
+to stop smuggling was to abolish, or at any rate to greatly reduce, the
+duties; when he dramatically instanced the evasions and floutings of the
+laws.  “Honourable members of this House are well aware that bandana
+handkerchiefs are prohibited by law, and yet,” he continued, drawing one
+from his pocket, while the House laughed loud with delight, “I have no
+doubt there is hardly a gentleman here who has not got a bandana
+handkerchief.”
+
+Lace-smuggling, of course, exercised great fascination for the ladies,
+who—women being generally lacking in the moral sense, or possessing it
+only in the partial and perverted manner in which it is owned by
+infants—very rarely could resist the temptation to secrete some on their
+way home from foreign parts.  The story is told how a lady who had a
+smuggled lace veil of great value in her possession grew very nervous of
+being able to carry it through, and imparted her anxiety to a gentleman
+at the hotel dinner.  He offered to take charge of it, as, being a
+bachelor, no one was in the least likely to suspect him of secreting such
+an article.  But, in the very act of accepting his offer, she chanced to
+observe a saturnine smile spreading over the countenance of the waiter at
+her elbow.  She instantly suspected a spy, and secretly altered her
+plans, causing the veil to be sewn up in the back of her husband’s
+waistcoat.
+
+The precaution proved to be a necessary one, for the luggage of the
+unfortunate bachelor was mercilessly overhauled at every customs station
+on the remainder of the journey.
+
+Among the many ruses practised upon the preventive men, who, as the butts
+of innumerable evasive false-pretences, must have been experts in the
+ways of practical jokes, was that of the pretended drunken smuggler.  To
+divert attention from any pursuit of the main body of the tub-carrying
+gang, one of their number would be detailed to stagger along, as though
+under the influence of drink, in a different direction, with a couple of
+tubs slung over his shoulders.  It was a very excellently effective
+trick, but had the obvious disadvantage of working only once at any one
+given station.  It was the fashion to describe the preventive men as
+fools, but they were not such crass fools as all that, to be taken in
+twice by the same simple dodge.
+
+The solitary and apparently intoxicated tub-carrier would lead the
+pursuers a little way and would then allow himself easily to be caught,
+but would then make a desperate and prolonged resistance in defence of
+his tubs.  At last, overpowered and the tubs taken from him, and himself
+escorted to the nearest blockade-station, the tubs themselves would be
+examined—and would generally be found to contain only sea-water!
+
+The customs men, however, were not without their own bright ideas.  The
+service would scarcely have been barren of imagination unless it were
+recruited from a specially selected levy of dunderheads.  But it was an
+exceptionally brilliant officer who hit upon the notion of training a
+puppy for discovering those places where the smugglers had, as a
+temporary expedient, hidden their spirit-tubs.  It would often happen
+that a successful run ended at the beach, and that opportunities for
+conveying the cargo inland had to be waited upon.  It would, therefore,
+be buried in the shingle, or in holes dug in the sands at low water,
+until a safe opportunity occurred.  The customs staff knew this perfectly
+well, but they necessarily lacked the knowledge of the exact spots where
+these stores had been made.
+
+                      [Picture: Smugglers Defeated]
+
+The exceptionally imaginative customs officer in question trained a
+terrier pup to the business of scenting them by the cunning method of
+bringing the creature up with an acquired taste for alcohol.  This he did
+by mixing the pup’s food with spirits, and allowing it to take no food
+that was not so flavoured.  Two things resulted from this novel
+treatment: the dog’s growth was stunted, and it grew up with such a
+liking for spirits that it would take nothing not freely laced with
+whisky, rum, gin, or brandy.
+
+The plan of operations with a dog educated into these vicious tastes was
+simple.  When his master found a favourable opportunity for strolling
+along the shore, in search of buried kegs, the dog, having been deprived
+of his food the day before, was taken.  When poor hungry Tray came to one
+of these spots, the animal’s keen and trained scent instantly detected
+it, and he would at once begin scratching and barking like mad.
+
+The smugglers were not long in solving the mystery of their secret hoards
+being all at once so successfully located; and, all too soon for the
+Revenue, a well-aimed shot from the cliffs presently cut the dog’s career
+short.
+
+“Perhaps the oddest form of the smuggling carried on in later times,”
+says a writer in an old magazine, “was a curious practice in vogue
+between Calais and Dover about 1819–20.  This, however, was rather an
+open and well-known technical evasion of the customs dues than actual
+smuggling.  The fashion at that time came in of ladies wearing Leghorn
+hats and bonnets of enormous dimensions.  They were huge, strong plaits,
+nearly circular, and commonly about a yard in diameter; and they sold in
+England at from two to three guineas, and sometimes even more, apiece.  A
+heavy duty was laid upon them, amounting to nearly half their value.
+
+It is a well-known concession, made by the custom-houses of various
+countries, that wearing-apparel in use is not liable to duty, and herein
+lay the opportunity of those who were financially interested in the
+import of Leghorn plaits.  A dealer in them hired, at a low figure, a
+numerous company of women and girls of the poorest class to voyage daily
+from Dover to Calais and back, and entered into a favourable contract
+with the owners of one of the steamers for season-tickets for the whole
+band of them at low rates.  The sight of these women leaving the town in
+the morning with the most deplorable headgear and returning in the
+evening gloriously arrayed, so far as their heads were concerned, was for
+some few years a familiar and amusing one to the people of Dover.
+
+Another ingenious evasion was that long practised by the Swiss importers
+of watches at the time when watches also were subject to duty.  An _ad
+valorem_ duty was placed upon them, which was arrived at by the importers
+making a declaration of their value.  In order to prevent the value being
+fixed too low, and the Revenue being consequently defrauded, the
+Government had the right of buying any goods they chose, at the prices
+declared.  This was by no means a disregarded right, for the authorities
+did frequently, in suspicious cases, exercise it, and bought considerable
+consignments of goods, which were afterwards disposed of by auction, at
+well-known custom-house sales.
+
+The Swiss makers and importers of watches managed to do a pretty good
+deal of business with the customs as an unwilling partner, and they did
+it in a perfectly legitimate way; although a way not altogether without
+suspicion of sharp practice.  They would follow consignments of goods
+declared at ordinary prices with others of exactly similar quality,
+entered at the very lowest possible price, consistent with the making of
+a trading profit; and the customs officials, noting the glaring
+discrepancy, would exercise their rights and buy the cheaper lots,
+thinking to cause the importers a severe loss and thus give them a
+greatly needed lesson.  The watch-manufacturers really desired nothing
+better, and were cheerfully prepared to learn many such lessons; for they
+thus secured an immediate purchaser, for cash, and so greatly increased
+their turnover.  Other folks incidentally benefited, for goods sold at
+customs auctions rarely ever fetched their real value: there were too
+many keenly interested middlemen about for that to be permitted.  Thus,
+an excellent watch only, as a rule, to be bought for from £14 to £15,
+could on these occasions often be purchased for £10.  Naturally enough,
+the proprietors of watch and jewellery businesses were the chief bidders
+at these auctions; and, equally naturally, they usually found means to
+keep down the prices to themselves, while carefully ensuring that private
+bidders should be artfully run up.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+  COAST BLOCKADE—THE PREVENTIVE WATER-GUARD AND THE COASTGUARD—OFFICIAL
+    RETURN OF SEIZURES—ESTIMATED LOSS TO THE REVENUE IN 1831—THE SHAM
+              SMUGGLER OF THE SEASIDE—THE MODERN COASTGUARD
+
+THE early coastguardmen had a great deal of popular feeling to contend
+with.  When the coast-blockade was broken up in 1831, and the “Preventive
+Water-Guard,” as this new body was styled, was formed, officers and men
+alike found the greatest difficulty in obtaining lodgings.  No one would
+let houses or rooms to the men whose business it was to prevent
+smuggling, and thus incidentally to take away the excellent livelihood
+the fisherfolk and longshoremen were earning.  Thus, the earliest
+stations of the coastguard were formed chiefly out of old hulks and other
+vessels condemned for sea-going purposes, but quite sound, and indeed,
+often peculiarly comfortable as residences, moored permanently in
+sheltered creeks, or hauled up, high and dry, on beaches that afforded
+the best of outlooks upon the sea.
+
+Very few of these primitive coastguard stations are now left.  Their
+place has been pretty generally taken by the neat, if severely
+unornamental, stations, generally whitewashed, and enclosed within a
+compound-wall, with which summer visitors to our coasts are familiar.
+And the old-time prejudice against the men has had plenty of time to die
+away during the eighty years or so in which the coastguard service has
+existed.  There are still, however, some eleven or twelve old hulks in
+use as coastguard stations; principally in the estuaries of the Thames
+and Medway.
+
+The Preventive Water-Guard, from which the existing coastguard service
+was developed, was not only the old coast-blockade reorganised, but was
+an extension of it from the shores of Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, and Essex,
+to the entire coast-line of the United Kingdom.  It was manned by sailors
+from the Royal Navy, and the stations were commanded by naval
+lieutenants.  Many of the martello towers that had been built at regular
+intervals along the shores of Kent and Sussex, and some few in Suffolk,
+in or about 1805, when the terror of foreign invasion was acute, were
+used for these early coastguard purposes.
+
+That the preventive service did not prevent, and did not at first even
+seriously interfere with, smuggling, was the contention of many
+well-informed people, with whom the Press generally sided.  The
+coast-blockade, too, was—perhaps unjustly—said to be altogether
+inefficient; and was further said, truly enough, to be ruinously costly.
+Controversy was bitter on these matters.  In January 1825 _The Times_
+recorded the entry of the revenue cutter, _Hawke_, into Portsmouth, after
+a cruise in which she had chased and failed to capture, owing to heavy
+weather, a smuggling lugger which successfully ran seven hundred kegs of
+spirits.  To this item of news Lieutenant J. F. Tompson, of H.M.S.
+_Ramillies_, commanding the coast-blockade at Lancing, took exception,
+and wrote to _The Times_ a violent letter, complaining of the statements,
+and saying that they were absolutely untrue.  To this _The Times_
+replied, with considerable acerbity, on February 3rd, that the statement
+was true and the lieutenant’s assertions unwarranted.  The newspaper then
+proceeded to “rub it in” vigorously: “There is nothing more ridiculous,
+in the eyes of those who live upon our sea-coasts, than to witness the
+tender sensibilities of officers employed upon the coast-blockade
+whenever a statement is made that a smuggler has succeeded in landing his
+cargo; as though they formed a part of the most perfect system that can
+be established for the suppression of smuggling.  Now be it known to all
+England that this is a gross attempt at humbug.  Notwithstanding all the
+unceasing vigilance of the officers and men employed, smuggling is
+carried on all along the coast, from Deal to Cornwall, to as great a
+degree as the public require.  Any attempt to smuggle _this_ FACT may
+answer the purpose of a party, or a particular system, but it will never
+obtain belief.
+
+“It was only a few days since that a party of coast-blockade men (we
+believe belonging to the Tower, No. 61) made common cause with the
+smugglers, and they walked off altogether!”
+
+Exactly!  The sheer madness of the Government in maintaining the
+extraordinary high duties, and of adding always another force to existing
+services, designed to suppress the smugglers’ trade, was sufficiently
+evident to all who would not refuse to see.  When commodities in great
+demand with all classes were weighted with duties so heavy that few
+persons could afford to purchase those that had passed through His
+Majesty’s Custom-houses, two things might have been foreseen: that the
+regularised imports would, under the most favourable circumstances,
+inevitably decrease; and that the smuggling which had already been
+notoriously increasing by leaps and bounds for a century past would be
+still further encouraged to supply those articles at a cheap rate, which
+the Government’s policy had rendered unattainable by the majority of
+people.
+
+An account printed by order of the House of Commons in the beginning of
+1825 gave details of all customable commodities seized during the last
+three years by the various establishments formed for the prevention of
+smuggling: the Coastguard, or Preventive Water-guard; the
+Riding-officers; and the revenue cruisers and ships of war.
+
+In that period the following articles were seized and dealt with:
+
+Tobacco                    902,684¼  lb.
+Snuff                         3,000  ,,
+Brandy                      135,000  gallons.
+Rum                             253  ,,
+Gin                         227,000  ,,
+Whisky                       10,500  ,,
+Tea                          19,000  lb.
+Silk                         42,000  yards.
+India handkerchiefs           2,100  pieces.
+Leghorn hats                     23
+Cards                         3,600  packs.
+Timber                       10,000  pieces.
+Stills                           75
+
+The cost of making these seizures, and dealing with them, was put as
+follows:
+
+                                                £        _s._    _d._
+Law expenses                                     29,816     19      4¾
+Storage, rent of warehouses, etc.                18,875     14     10½
+Salaries, cooperage, casks, repairs,          1,533,708      4      10
+etc.
+Rewards to officers, etc.                       488,127      2     11½
+                                             £2,070,528      2      0¾
+
+The produce of all these articles sold was £282,541 8_s._ 5¾_d._; showing
+a loss to the nation, in attempting during that period to suppress
+smuggling, of considerably over one million and three quarters sterling.
+
+This return of seizures provides an imposing array of figures, but,
+amazing as those figures are by themselves, they would be still more so
+if it were possible to place beside them an exact return of the goods
+successfully run, in spite of blockades and preventive services.  Then we
+should see these figures fade into insignificance beside the enormous
+bulk of goods that came into the country and paid no dues.
+
+Some very startling figures are available by which the enormous amount of
+smuggling effected for generations may be guessed.  It would be possible
+to prepare a tabulated form from the various reports of the Board of
+Customs, setting forth the relation between duty-paid goods and the
+estimated value of smuggled commodities during a term of years, but as
+this work is scarce designed to fill the place of a statistical abstract,
+I will forbear.  A few illuminating items, it may be, will suffice.
+
+Thus in 1743 it was calculated that the annual average import of tea
+through the legitimate channels was 650,000 lb.; but that the total
+consumption was three times this amount.  One Dutch house alone was known
+to illegally import an annual weight of 500,000 lb.
+
+An even greater amount of spirit-smuggling may legitimately be deduced
+from the perusal of the foregoing pages, and, although in course of time
+considerably abated, as the coastguard and other organisations settled
+down to their work of prevention and detection, it remained to a late
+date of very large proportions.  Thus the official customs report for
+1831 placed the loss to the Revenue on smuggled goods at £800,000
+annually.  To this amount the item of French brandy contributed £500,000.
+The annual cost of protecting the Revenue (excise, customs, and
+preventive service) was at the same time between £700,000 and £800,000.
+
+An interesting detailed statement of the contraband trade in spirits from
+Roscoff, one of the Brittany ports, shows that, two years later than the
+above, from March 15th to 17th, 1833, there were shipped to England, per
+smuggling craft, 850 tubs of brandy; and between April 13th and 20th in
+the same year 750 tubs; that is to say, 6,400 gallons in little more than
+one month.  And although Roscoff was a prominent port in this trade, it
+was but one of several.
+
+So late as 1840, forty-eight per cent. of the French silks brought into
+this country were said to have paid no duty; and for years afterwards
+silk-smugglers, swathed apoplectically in contraband of this description,
+formed the early steamship companies’ most regular patrons.
+
+The seaside holiday-maker of that age was an easy prey of pretended
+smugglers, cunning rascals who traded upon that most wide-spread of human
+failings, the love of a bargain, no matter how illegitimately it may be
+procured.  The lounger on the seaside parades of that time was certain,
+sooner or later, to be approached by a mysterious figure with an
+indefinable air of mystery and a semi-nautical rig, who, with many
+careful glances to right and left, and in a hoarse whisper behind a
+secretive hand, told a tale of smuggled brandy or cigars, watches or
+silks.  “Not ’arf the price you’d pay for ’em in the shops, guv’nor,” the
+shameless impostor would say, producing a bundle of cigars, “but the real
+thing; better than them wot most of the shops keep.  I see you’re a gent.
+as knows a good smoke.  You shall ’ave ’em”—at some preposterously low
+price.  And generally the greenhorn did have them; finding, when he came
+to smoke the genuine Flor de Cabbage he had bought, that they would have
+been dear at any price.  To that complexion of mean fraud did the old
+smuggling traditions of courage, adventure, and derring-do come at last!
+
+The modern coastguard, known technically as the First Naval Reserve, is
+still under Admiralty control, but proposals are, it is understood, now
+afoot for entirely altering its status, and for reorganising it as a
+purely civil force, under the orders of the customs and excise
+authorities.  At present the coastguard establishment numbers some 4,200
+officers and men, and is understood to cost £260,000 a year.  It is not,
+perhaps, generally understood that the coastguardman is really a
+man-o’-war’s man, attached to a particular ship, and liable at any moment
+of national emergency to be called to rejoin his ship, and to proceed on
+active service.
+
+It is not really to be supposed that the coastguard succeed in entirely
+suppressing smuggling, even in our own times.  Few are the articles that
+are now subject to duty, and the temptation is consequently not now very
+great.  Also, the landing of such goods as tea, tobacco, and spirits in
+bulk would readily be detected; but smuggling of spirits and of tobacco
+in small quantities is commercially remunerative while the duties are as
+high as from 11_s._ to 17_s._ a gallon, and from 3_s._ 6_d._ to 5_s._ a
+pound in respect of tobacco and cigars; while large quantities of that
+entirely modern article, saccharine, on which there is a duty of one
+shilling and threepence an ounce (with a minimum legal weight on import
+of eleven pounds, designed to render clandestine traffic in it
+difficult), must, in the very nature of things, be illegally introduced.
+
+That there will be a phenomenal increase of smuggling when the inevitable
+happens and protection of the country’s trade against the foreigner is
+instituted, seems certain.  It will seem like old times come again.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                                 THE END
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+(_Individual smugglers indexed only when mentioned at length_.)
+
+ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, 7, 14, 17, 23, 27, 34–6
+
+Arundel, Conflict at, 29
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+BARHATCH, 104
+
+Beccles, Outrage at, 113
+
+Bedhampton Mill, near Havant, 107–109
+
+Beer, 125, 183, 187, 191–4, 199
+
+Blackwater, The, 114
+
+Blakeney, 116
+
+Bo-Peep, Fatal conflict at, 98–100
+
+— Conflict at, 100
+
+Borstal Hill (near Canterbury), Fatal conflict at, 80
+
+Bradwell Quay, 114
+
+Braemar, 217
+
+Branscombe, Epitaph at, 125
+
+Budleigh Salterton, Conflict at, 198
+
+Bulverhythe, Fatal conflict at, 102
+
+Burns, Robert, 202
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+CAISTER, CONFLICT AT, 30, 115
+
+Camber Castle, Fatal conflict at, 101
+
+Canvey Island, 113
+
+Carter family, smugglers, of Prussia Cove, 165–82
+
+— Henry, 169, 172–83
+
+— John, 169–72, 174
+
+Carter, Wm., customs officer, 15
+
+Castle, Mr., excise officer, murdered, 68
+
+Chater, Daniel, Murder of, 49-60
+
+“Chop-backs,” 78–80
+
+Coastguard, The, 239, 246
+
+Colchester, Outrage at, 113
+
+“Cruel Coppinger,” 129–36
+
+Cuckmere, Conflict at, 29
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+DALNASHAUGH, 224
+
+Diamond, John, smuggler, 49, 53, 54
+
+“Dog and Partridge,” Slindon Common, 63–7
+
+Dover, Fatal conflict at, 98
+
+Dymchurch, Conflict at, 96
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+EASTBOURNE, FATAL CONFLICT NEAR, 97
+
+— at, 101
+
+Ewhurst, Smugglers’ hiding-places at, 102–104
+
+Export smuggling, 2, 12–23
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+FAIRALL, SMUGGLER, 70–72
+
+Fairlight Glen, Fatal conflict at, 100
+
+Ferring, Conflict at, 22
+
+Four Brothers, smuggling lugger, Fatal conflict with, 87–92
+
+Fowey, Conflict at, 139
+
+“Free-traders,” a term for smugglers, 39
+
+Fuller’s-earth, 23
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+GALLEY, WILLIAM, MURDER OF, 49–61
+
+Gibson, William, smuggler, 162–4
+
+Glenlivet, 209, 215
+
+Gloves, evasions of glove-smugglers, 229
+
+Goudhurst, Attack by smugglers on, 42–4
+
+Gray, Arthur, 40
+
+Greenhay, Conflict at, 29
+
+“Green Man,” Bradwell Quay, 114
+
+Grinstead Green, Outrage at, 41
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+HARLEY, JOHN, Epitaph on, 125
+
+Harting Combe, 55
+
+Hartland, 134
+
+Hastings, Epitaph at, 87
+
+— Murder at, 86
+
+— Outrage off, 79
+
+Hawkhurst Gang, 40–73
+
+— Outrage at, 41
+
+Hawkins, Richard, Murder of, 63–7
+
+Herstmonceux Castle, Ghostly drummer of, 84
+
+Highdown Hill, near Worthing, 104
+
+Hove church-tower as smugglers’ store, 81–3
+
+— Conflict at, 83
+
+Hunstanton, Epitaph at, 117
+
+Hurstmonceux Castle, Ghostly drummer of, 84
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+“INDIAN QUEENS,” THE, NEAR BODMIN, 189
+
+Informers, 30–34, 65
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+JACKSON, WM., SMUGGLER, 51–4, 62
+
+James, G. P. R., on smuggling, 44, 73–7
+
+James, Thos., Epitaph on, 148
+
+Johnson, Dr., on Commissioner of Excise, 36
+
+— on smugglers (see Title-page)
+
+Johnson, Thomas, smuggler, 156–62
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+“KING OF PRUSSIA,” PORTH LEAH, OR PRUSSIA COVE, 165–72
+
+Kingsmill, George, smuggler, shot, 43
+
+— Thomas, smuggler, 43
+
+— executed, 70, 72
+
+Kingston-by-the-sea, Conflict at, 29
+
+Kinson, Epitaph at, 119
+
+Kipling, Rudyard, “smugglers’ song,” 45
+
+Knill, John, 149
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+LACE, SMUGGLING OF, 19, 233
+
+Lady Holt Park, 54, 57–9
+
+Langston Harbour, 107
+
+Leghorn hats, Smuggling of, 236, 243
+
+Lewis, Wm., Epitaph on, 124
+
+_Lively_, smuggling lugger, Conflict with, 190
+
+“Lobster Smack,” Canvey Island, 114
+
+Lulworth, Conflict near, 121
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+MAIDSTONE, MURDER BY SMUGGLER AT, 45
+
+Maker, near Plymouth, 138
+
+Mark, Robert, Epitaph on, 147
+
+“Miller’s Tomb,” near Worthing, 104–106
+
+Mills, John, smuggler, 63–7
+
+Mills, Richard, the elder, 55, 58, 62, 66
+
+— the younger, smuggler, 56, 62, 66
+
+Moon, John, Epitaph on, 86
+
+“Moonshine,” a term for smuggled spirits, 139
+
+“Mount Pleasant” inn, near Dawlish, 126
+
+Mylor, Epitaph at, 148
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+OLLIVER, JOHN, miller, 104–106
+
+Owlers, The, of Romney Marsh, 3, 12, 14–23
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+PARHAM PARK, 65
+
+Patcham, Epitaph at, 85
+
+Paulson, Henry, midshipman, Epitaph on, 125
+
+Paulet, Harry, smuggler, 162
+
+Peddar’s (or Padder’s) Way, 118
+
+Pett, Smugglers drowned at, 95
+
+Pewit Island, 114
+
+Polperro, 140
+
+Poole, Outrage at, 48, 70
+
+Potter, Tom, smuggler, 141
+
+Preventive Water Guard, The, 239–44
+
+Pring, Wm., smuggler and informer, 65
+
+Privateers for prevention of smuggling, 37
+
+Profits of smuggling, 9
+
+Prussia Cove, 148, 165, 169–72
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+RAKE, 54–62
+
+Ransley Gang, The, 73
+
+Rattenbury, Jack, smuggler, 123, 183–99
+
+“Red Lion,” Rake, 54–62
+
+“Red Lion,” Rye, 44
+
+Rockcliffe Cross, Fatal conflict at, 226
+
+Romney Marsh, 95
+
+— wool-smuggling, 15–19
+
+— Conflict on, 15–17  23
+
+“Royal Oak,” Langston Harbour, 107
+
+Ruxley Gang, 79
+
+Rye, Conflict at, 94
+
+— Outrage at, 44
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+SACCHARINE, SMUGGLING OF, 247
+
+St. Aldhelm’s Head, Fatal conflict at, 122
+
+St. Ives, Cornwall, 149
+
+St. Peter-upon-the-Wall, 114
+
+Scales, Daniel, Epitaph on, 85
+
+“Sea Cocks,” The, 40
+
+Seacox Heath, 40
+
+Seaford, Murders by smugglers at, 45
+
+Seaton, Epitaph at, 125
+
+Shaw, whisky smuggler, 211–14
+
+Sheerness, Wool robbery near, 41
+
+“Ship,” Woolbridge, 12
+
+Shoreham, Outrage at, 41
+
+Silks, Smuggling of, 19, 232, 243, 245
+
+Smith, Adam, on smuggling, 153
+
+Smith, George, of Glenlivet, 209–212  215
+
+Smith, Sydney, on taxation, 5
+
+Smugglers, Distinction between landsmen and seamen, 112
+
+Smugglers’ labourers, Pay of, 10, 14
+
+Smuggling, Growth of in eighteenth century, 24
+
+— Pamphlet denouncing, 154-157
+
+— Profits of, 9
+
+Snargate church as smugglers’ store, 96
+
+Southampton Water, 109
+
+Spirits, Smuggling of, 9, 28, 80, 83, 88, 95, 96–105  115, 121, 127, 132,
+138, 139, 143, 162, 171, 181, 187, 195, 198, 201–227  243, 244–7
+
+Spittal of Glenshee, 213
+
+“Stinkibus,” a term for spoiled spirits, 128
+
+Swain, Joseph, Epitaph on, 87
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+TALLAND, EPITAPH AT, 147
+
+— Smuggling pranks at, 143–46
+
+Tandridge, Epitaph at, 85
+
+Tea, Smuggling of, 24, 28, 31, 33, 47-9, 63, 88, 113, 119, 152, 243, 244
+
+Tobacco, Smuggling of, 23, 83, 88, 110, 230-232  243, 247
+
+Todman, Thomas, Epitaph on, 85
+
+Trotman, Robert, Epitaph on, 119
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+WAREHORNE, 96
+
+Warren, The, near Dawlish, 126–128
+
+Watches, Smuggling of, 230, 237
+
+Webb, Wm., Epitaph on, 117
+
+Welcombe Mouth, 130, 134
+
+Wendron, 148
+
+Westfield, Epitaph at, 86
+
+Whisky smuggling, 201–227  243
+
+“White Hart,” Rowlands Castle, 50–54
+
+Whitesand Bay, near Plymouth, Fatal conflict at, 140
+
+“Wiltshire Moonrakers,” 120
+
+“Windmill,” Ewhurst, 103
+
+Wool, Exportation of forbidden, 3, 12–14
+
+— Duties on, 12–14
+
+— Smuggling of, 3, 12–23
+
+Wreckers, 133, 167
+
+Wyke (near Weymouth), Epitaph at, 124
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+YAWKINS, 205–207
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+   _Printed and bound by Hazell_, _Watson & Viney_, _Ltd._, _London and
+                               Aylesbury_.
+
+
+
+
+NOTES.
+
+
+{66}  “Gregory’s Gang” was a noted band of thieves and housebreakers,
+active about 1730–35.  Dick Turpin was at times associated with them.
+See “Half Hours with the Highwaymen,” vol. ii., p. 177.
+
+{173}  “Autobiography of a Cornish Smuggler.”  (Gibbings & Co., Ltd.,
+1900.)
+
+{194}  By smuggling, presumably.
+
+
+
+
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" />
+<title>The Smugglers, by Charles G. Harper</title>
+    <style type="text/css">
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Smugglers, by Charles G. Harper,
+Illustrated by Paul Hardy
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Smugglers
+       Picturesque Chapters in the Story of an Ancient Craft
+
+
+Author: Charles G. Harper
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 1, 2014  [eBook #45856]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SMUGGLERS***
+</pre>
+<p>This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/fp.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"&ldquo;The Gentlemen go by&rdquo;"
+title=
+"&ldquo;The Gentlemen go by&rdquo;"
+src="images/fp.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h1>THE SMUGGLERS</h1>
+<p style="text-align: center"><b>PICTURESQUE CHAPTERS IN
+THE</b><br />
+<b>STORY OF AN ANCIENT CRAFT</b></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span
+class="GutSmall">BY</span></p>
+<p style="text-align: center">CHARLES G. HARPER</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">&ldquo;<span
+class="smcap"><i>Smuggler</i></span>.&mdash;<i>A wretch who</i>,
+<i>in defiance of</i><br />
+<i>the laws</i>, <i>imports or exports goods without</i><br />
+<i>payment of the customs</i>.&rdquo;&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Dr. Johnson</span></p>
+<p style="text-align: center">ILLUSTRATED BY PAUL HARDY, BY THE
+AUTHOR<br />
+AND FROM OLD PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/tp.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Title page"
+title=
+"Title page"
+src="images/tp.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">London</span>:
+CHAPMAN &amp; HALL, <span class="smcap">Ltd</span>.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">1909</p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p style="text-align: center"><a name="pageiv"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. iv</span><span class="GutSmall">PRINTED AND
+BOUND BY</span><br />
+<span class="GutSmall">HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.,</span><br
+/>
+<span class="GutSmall">LONDON AND AYLESBURY.</span></p>
+<h2><a name="pagev"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+v</span>PREFACE</h2>
+<p><span class="smcap"><i>Opinions</i></span><i> have ever been
+divided on the question of the morality</i>, <i>or the
+immorality</i>, <i>of smuggling</i>.&nbsp; <i>This is not</i>,
+<i>in itself</i>, <i>remarkable</i>, <i>since that subject on
+which all men think alike has not yet been discovered</i>; <i>but
+whatever the views held upon the question of the rights and
+wrongs of the</i> &ldquo;<i>free-traders</i>&rsquo;&rdquo;
+<i>craft</i>, <i>they have long since died down into abstract
+academic discussion</i>.&nbsp; <i>Smuggling is</i>,
+<i>indeed</i>, <i>not dead</i>, <i>but it is not the potent
+factor it once was</i>, <i>and to what extent Governments are
+justified in taxing or restricting in any way the export or the
+import of goods will not again become a living question in this
+country until the impending Tariff Reform becomes law</i>.&nbsp;
+<i>There have been those who</i>, <i>reading the proofs of this
+book</i>, <i>have variously found in it arguments for</i>, <i>and
+others arguments against</i>, <i>Protection</i>; <i>but</i>,
+<i>as a sheer matter of fact</i>, <i>there are in these pages no
+studied arguments either way</i>, <i>and facts are here presented
+just as they are retrieved from half-forgotten records</i>,
+<i>with no other ulterior object than that of
+entertainment</i>.&nbsp; <i>But if these pages also serve to show
+with what little wisdom </i><a name="pagevi"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. vi</span><i>we are</i>, <i>and generally have
+been</i>, <i>governed</i>, <i>they may not be without their
+uses</i>.&nbsp; <i>England</i>, <i>it may surely be gathered</i>,
+<i>here and elsewhere</i>, <i>is what she is by sheer force of
+dogged middle-class character</i>, <i>and in spite of her
+statesmen and lawgivers</i>.</p>
+<p style="text-align: right"><i>CHARLES G. HARPER</i></p>
+<p><span class="smcap"><i>Petersham</i></span>, <span
+class="smcap"><i>Surrey</i></span>,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>July</i> 1909.</p>
+<h2><a name="pagevii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+vii</span>CONTENTS</h2>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span
+class="GutSmall">PAGE</span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">Introductory</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page1">1</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER I</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">The &ldquo;Owlers&rdquo; of Romney
+Marsh</span>, <span class="smcap">and the Ancient Export
+Smuggling of Wool</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page12">12</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER II</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">Growth of Tea and Tobacco Smuggling in
+the Eighteenth Century</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Repressive Laws a Failure</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page24">24</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER III</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">Terrorising Bands of
+Smugglers</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Hawkhurst
+Gang</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Organised Attack on
+Goudhurst</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">&ldquo;The
+Smugglers&rsquo; Song&rdquo;</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page39">39</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER IV</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">The &ldquo;Murders by Smugglers&rdquo;
+in Hampshire</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page47">47</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><a
+name="pageviii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. viii</span>CHAPTER
+V</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">The &ldquo;Murders by
+Smugglers&rdquo;</span> <i>continued</i>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Trial and Execution of the
+Murderers</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Further Crimes by the
+Hawkhurst Gang</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page60">60</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VI</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">Outrage at Hastings by the Ruxley
+Gang</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Battle on the
+Whitstable-Canterbury Road</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Church-Towers as Smugglers&rsquo;
+Cellars</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Drummer of
+Herstmonceux</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Epitaph at
+Tandridge</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Deplorable Affair at
+Hastings</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Incident of
+&ldquo;The Four Brothers&rdquo;</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page78">78</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VII</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">Fatal Affrays and Daring Encounters at
+Rye</span>, <span class="smcap">Dymchurch</span>, <span
+class="smcap">Eastbourne</span>, <span
+class="smcap">Bo-Peep</span>, <span class="smcap">and
+Fairlight</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Smugglers&rsquo;
+Route from Shoreham and Worthing into Surrey</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">The Miller&rsquo;s Tomb</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Langston Harbour</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Bedhampton Mill</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page94">94</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER VIII</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">East Coast
+Smuggling</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Outrage at
+Beccles</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">a Colchester
+Raid</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Canvey
+Island</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Bradwell
+Quay</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The East Anglian
+&ldquo;Cart Gaps&rdquo;</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">A
+Blakeney Story</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Tragical Epitaph
+at Hustanton</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Peddar&rsquo;s
+Way</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page111">111</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><a
+name="pageix"></a><span class="pagenum">p. ix</span>CHAPTER
+IX</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">The Dorset and Devon
+Coasts</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Epitaphs at Kinson and
+Wyke</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The &ldquo;Wiltshire
+Moon-Rakers&rdquo;</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Epitaph at
+Branscombe</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Warren and
+&ldquo;Mount Pleasant&rdquo; Inn</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page119">119</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER X</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">Cornwall in Smuggling
+Story</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Cruel
+Coppinger</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Hawker&rsquo;s
+Sketch</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Fowey
+Smugglers</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Tom Potter</span>,
+<span class="smcap">of Polperro</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">The Devils of Talland</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Smugglers&rsquo; Epitaphs</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Cave at Wendron</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">St. Ives</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page129">129</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XI</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">Testimony to the Qualities of the
+Seafaring Smugglers</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Adam Smith
+on Smuggling</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Clerical
+Counterblast</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Biographical
+Sketches of Smugglers</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Robert
+Johnson</span>, <span class="smcap">Harry
+Paulet</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">William Gibson</span>,
+<span class="smcap">A Converted Smuggler</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page151">151</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XII</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">The Carter Family</span>, <span
+class="smcap">of Prussia Cove</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page165">165</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XIII</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">Jack Rattenbury</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page183">183</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center"><a
+name="pagex"></a><span class="pagenum">p. x</span>CHAPTER XIV</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">The Whisky Smugglers</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page201">201</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XV</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">Some Smugglers&rsquo; Tricks and
+Evasions</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Modern
+Tobacco-Smuggling</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Silks and
+Lace</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Dog
+Detective</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Leghorn
+Hats</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Foreign Watches</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page228">228</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">CHAPTER XVI</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">Coast Blockade</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">The Preventive Water-Guard and the
+Coastguard</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Official Return of
+Seizures</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Estimated Loss to the
+Revenue in</span> 1831&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Sham
+Smuggler of the Seaside</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The
+Modern Coastguard</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page239">239</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><span class="smcap">Index</span></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page249">249</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<h2><a name="pagexi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xi</span>LIST
+OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&ldquo;The Gentlemen go by&rdquo;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><i>Frontispiece</i>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span
+class="GutSmall">PAGE</span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Owlers</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page12">12</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Owlers chase the Customs Officers into Rye</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page16">16</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Goudhurst Church</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page40">40</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&ldquo;The Cautious turned their Faces away while the
+Freetraders passed&rdquo;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page46">46</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Breaking open the Custom-house at Poole.&nbsp; <i>From an
+old Print</i></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page48">48</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The &ldquo;Red Lion,&rdquo; Rake</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page54">54</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Sufferings of Daniel Chater.&nbsp; <i>From an old
+Print</i></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page56">56</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Murder of Hawkins at the &ldquo;Dog and
+Partridge.&rdquo;&nbsp; <i>From an old Print</i></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page64">64</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The &ldquo;Dog and Partridge,&rdquo; Slindon Common</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page66">66</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&ldquo;For our Parson&rdquo;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page76">76</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Chop-backs</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page78">78</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Drummer of Herstmonceux</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page82">82</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Tandridge Church</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page84">84</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Tombstone at Tandridge</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page86">86</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&ldquo;Run the Rascal through!&rdquo;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page92">92</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Barham meets the Smugglers</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page96">96</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>A Landing at Bo-Peep</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page98">98</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Smugglers&rsquo; Tracks near Ewhurst</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page102">102</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Miller&rsquo;s Tomb</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page104">104</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Langston Harbour</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page106">106</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p><a name="pagexii"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+xii</span>Bedhampton Mill</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page110">110</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The &ldquo;Green Man,&rdquo; Bradwell Quay</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page112">112</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Kitchen of the &ldquo;Green Man&rdquo;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page114">114</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&ldquo;The Light of other Days&rdquo;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page136">136</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>The Devils of Talland</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page144">144</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Escape of Johnson</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page156">156</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Johnson putting off from Brighton Beach</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page158">158</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&ldquo;Oft from yon bat-haunted tow&rsquo;r&rdquo;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page168">168</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Prussia Cove</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page170">170</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>In a French Prison</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page174">174</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Jack Rattenbury.&nbsp; <i>From an old Print</i></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page184">184</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Smugglers hiding Goods in a Tomb</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page214">214</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Dragoons dispersing Smugglers</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page222">222</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Smugglers attacked.&nbsp; <i>From a mezzo-tint after Sir
+Francis Bourgeois</i></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page228">228</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Smugglers defeated.&nbsp; <i>From a mezzotint after Sir
+Francis Bourgeois</i></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page234">234</a></span></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<h2><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+1</span>INTRODUCTORY</h2>
+<p>Customs dues and embargoes on imports and exports are things
+of immemorial antiquity, the inevitable accompaniments of
+civilisation and luxury; and the smugglers, who paid no dues and
+disregarded all prohibitions, are therefore of necessity equally
+ancient.&nbsp; Carthage, the chief commercial community of the
+ancient world, was probably as greatly troubled by the questions
+of customs tariffs and smuggling as was the England of George the
+Third.&nbsp; Without civilisation, and the consequent demand for
+the products of other lands, the smuggler&rsquo;s trade cannot
+exist.&nbsp; In that highly organised condition of so-styled
+civilisation which produces wars and race-hatreds and hostile
+tariffs and swollen taxation, the smuggler becomes an important
+person, a hateful figure to governments, but not infrequently a
+beneficent being to the ill-provided&mdash;in all nations the
+most numerous class&mdash;to whom he brought, at a reasonable
+price, and with much daring and personal risk, those comforts
+which, when they had paid <a name="page2"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 2</span>toll to the Chancellor of the
+Exchequer, were all but unattainable.</p>
+<p>The chief defence, on the score of morals, set up by those few
+smugglers who ever were at pains to prove that smuggling could be
+no crime, was that customs duties were originally imposed in the
+time of Charles the Second to provide funds for the protection of
+our coasts from the Algerine and Barbary pirates who then
+occasionally adventured thus far from their piratical lurks in
+the Mediterranean and ravaged the more remote villages of our
+seaboard.&nbsp; When these dangers ceased, contended these
+smugglers on their defence, the customs dues should automatically
+have been taken off; but they were, on the contrary, greatly
+increased.</p>
+<p>This view, or excuse, or defence&mdash;call it how we
+will&mdash;was, however, entirely without historical
+foundation.&nbsp; It is true, indeed, that some ports had been
+taxed, and that customs dues had been imposed for this purpose,
+but customs charges were immemorially older than the seventeenth
+century.&nbsp; There were probably such imposts in that lengthy
+era when Britain was a Roman colony, and we certainly hear of
+customs charges being levied in the reign of Ethelred, when a
+toll of one halfpenny was charged upon every small boat arriving
+at Billingsgate, and one penny upon larger boats, with sails.</p>
+<p>These pages will show that not only import, but also export
+smuggling was long continued in England, and not only so, but
+that the export <a name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+3</span>smuggling, notably that of wool, was for centuries the
+most important, if not the only, kind.&nbsp; The prohibition of
+sending wool out of the kingdom was, of course, introduced with
+the object of fostering the cloth manufacture; but there are
+always two sides to any question, and in this case the embargo
+upon wool soon taught the cloth-workers that, in the matter of
+prices, they had the wool-growers at their mercy.&nbsp; By law
+they could not sell to foreign customers, or (later) only upon
+paying heavy dues; and the cloth-workers could therefore
+practically dictate their own terms.&nbsp; In this pitiful
+resort&mdash;an example of the disastrous effect of government
+interference with trade&mdash;there was nothing left but to set
+the law at defiance, which the wool-growers and their allies, the
+&ldquo;owlers,&rdquo; accordingly did, risking life and limb in
+the wholesale exportation of wool.&nbsp; It is the duty of every
+citizen to oppose bad laws, but this opposition to ill-conceived
+enactments creates a furtive class of men, very Ishmaelites, who,
+with their liberty, and even their lives, forfeit, are rendered
+capable, in extremity, of any and every enormity.&nbsp; Hence
+arose those reckless bands of smugglers who in the middle of the
+eighteenth century became highly organised and all-powerful in
+Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire, and, realising their power,
+developed into criminals of the most ferocious type.&nbsp; They
+were, properly regarded, the products of bad government, the
+creatures brought into existence by a vicious system that took
+its origin in the coming of William the Third, <a
+name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 4</span>the
+&ldquo;Deliverer,&rdquo; as history, tongue in cheek, styles
+him.</p>
+<p>The growth of customs dues in the last years of the
+seventeenth century, and so onward, in a vicious progression
+until the opening years of the nineteenth, was not in any way
+owing to consideration for home traders, or to a desire for the
+protection of British industries.&nbsp; They grew exactly in
+proportion as the needs of the Government for revenue increased;
+and were the direct results of that long-continued policy of
+foreign alliances and aggressive interference in continental
+politics&mdash;that &ldquo;spirited foreign policy&rdquo;
+advocated even in our own times&mdash;which was introduced with
+the coming of William the Third.&nbsp; We did well to depose
+James the Second, but we might have done better than bring over
+his son-in-law and make him king; and we might, still more, have
+done better than raise the Elector of Hanover to the status of
+British sovereign, as George the First.&nbsp; Then we should
+probably have avoided foreign entanglements, at any rate, until
+that later era when increased intercourse between the nations
+rendered international politics inevitable.</p>
+<p>Foreign wars, and the heavy duties levied to pay for them,
+brought about the enormous growth of smuggling, and directly
+caused all the miseries and the blood-stained incidents that make
+the story of the smugglers so &ldquo;romantic.&rdquo;&nbsp; Glory
+is very fine, and stirs the pulses in reading the pages of
+history, but it is a commodity for which victorious nations, no
+less than the <a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+5</span>defeated, are called upon to pay in blood, tears, and
+privation.</p>
+<p>With the great peace that, in 1815, succeeded the long and
+harassing period of continual war, the people naturally looked
+forward towards a time when the excessively heavy duties would be
+reduced, and many articles altogether relieved from
+taxation.&nbsp; As a matter of fact, some of these duties scarce
+paid the cost of their collection, and simply helped to keep in
+office a large and increasing horde of officials.&nbsp; But the
+price of glory continues to be paid, long after the laurels have
+faded; and not for many years to come were those imposts
+reduced.</p>
+<p>Sydney Smith, writing in 1820 on the subject of American
+desire for a large navy, even then very manifest, warned the
+people of the United States of the nemesis awaiting such
+indulgence.&nbsp; &ldquo;We can inform Jonathan,&rdquo; he said,
+&ldquo;what are the inevitable consequences of being too fond of
+glory: Taxes upon every article which enters into the mouth, or
+covers the back, or is placed under the foot; taxes upon
+everything which it is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or
+taste; taxes upon warmth, light, and locomotion; taxes on
+everything on earth, and the waters under the earth; on
+everything that comes from abroad, or is grown at home; taxes on
+the raw material, taxes on every fresh value that is added to it
+by the industry of man; taxes on the sauce which pampers
+man&rsquo;s appetite and the drug that restores him to health; on
+the ermine which decorates the <a name="page6"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 6</span>judge and the rope which hangs the
+criminal; on the poor man&rsquo;s salt and the rich man&rsquo;s
+spice; on the brass nails of the coffin and the ribands of the
+bride; at bed or board, couchant or levant, we must pay.&nbsp;
+The schoolboy whips his taxed top; the beardless youth manages
+his taxed horse with a taxed bridle on a taxed road; and the
+dying Englishman, pouring his medicine, which has paid seven per
+cent., into a spoon that has paid fifteen per cent., flings
+himself back upon his chintz bed which has paid twenty-two per
+cent., makes his will on an eight-pound stamp, and expires in the
+arms of an apothecary who has paid a licence of a hundred pounds
+for the privilege of putting him to death.&nbsp; His whole
+property is then immediately taxed from two to ten per
+cent.&nbsp; Besides the probate, large fees are demanded for
+burying him in the chancel; his virtues are handed down to
+posterity on taxed marble; and he is then gathered to his
+fathers&mdash;to be taxed no more.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The real cost of military glory was aptly shown by a
+caricaturist of this period, who illustrated the general rise of
+prices consequent upon war in the following incident of an old
+country-woman buying a halfpenny candle at a chandler&rsquo;s
+shop:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Price has gone up,&rdquo; said the shopkeeper curtly,
+when she tendered the money.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that for, then?&rdquo; asked the old
+woman.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;On account of the war, ma&rsquo;am.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Od rot &rsquo;em! do they fight by candlelight?&rdquo;
+she not unnaturally asked.</p>
+<p><a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+7</span>Housekeepers of the present day may well
+enter&mdash;although somewhat ruefully&mdash;into the humour of
+this simple story, for in the great and continued rise of every
+commodity since the great Boer War, it is most poignantly
+illustrated for us.&nbsp; In short, the people who pay for the
+glory see nothing of it, and derive nothing from it.</p>
+<p>How entirely true were those witty phrases of Sydney Smith we
+may easily guess from the mere rough statement that there were,
+in 1787, no fewer than 1,425 articles liable to duty (very many
+of them taxed at several times their market value), bringing in
+&pound;6,000,000 a year.</p>
+<p>In 1797 the customs laws filled six large folio volumes.&nbsp;
+The total number of Customs Acts prior to the accession of George
+the Third was 800, but no fewer than 1,300 were added between the
+years 1760 and 1813, and newer Acts, partly repealing and partly
+adding to older enactments, were continually being added to this
+vast mass of chaotic legislation down to the middle of the
+Victorian era, until even experts were frequently baffled as to
+the definite legal position of many given articles.&nbsp;
+Finally&mdash;it is typical of our English amateur way of doing
+things&mdash;in 1876, when so-called &ldquo;Free Trade&rdquo; had
+come in, and few articles remained customable, the customs laws
+were consolidated.</p>
+<p>Many years before, at one swoop, Sir Robert Peel had removed
+the duties from four hundred different dutiable articles,
+leaving, however, many hundreds of others more or less heavily
+assessed.</p>
+<p><a name="page8"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 8</span>In
+consequence of this relief from taxation, smuggling rapidly
+decreased, and the Commissioners of Customs were enabled to
+report: &ldquo;With the reduction of duties, and the removal of
+all needless and vexatious restrictions, smuggling has greatly
+diminished, and the public sentiment with regard to it has
+undergone a very considerable change.&nbsp; The smuggler is no
+longer an object of general sympathy, as a hero of romance; and
+people are beginning to awaken to a perception of the fact that
+his offence is not only a fraud on the revenue, but a robbery of
+the fair trader.&nbsp; Smuggling is now almost entirely confined
+to tobacco, spirits, and watches.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>No fewer than four hundred and fifty other dutiable articles
+were struck off the list in 1845, and the Cobdenite era of Free
+Trade, to which, it was expected, all other nations would
+speedily be converted, had opened.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Free Trade,&rdquo; we are told, &ldquo;killed
+smuggling.&rdquo;&nbsp; It naturally killed smuggling so far as
+duty-free articles were concerned; but this all-embracing term of
+&ldquo;Free Trade&rdquo; is altogether a mockery and a
+delusion.&nbsp; There has never been&mdash;there is not
+now&mdash;complete Free Trade in this so-called free-trade
+country.&nbsp; Wines and spirits, tobacco, tea and coffee, cocoa
+and sugar, are not they in the forefront of the articles that
+render regularly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer?&nbsp; There
+have been, indeed, throughout all the years of the Free Trade
+era, some forty articles scheduled for paying customs duty on
+import into the United Kingdom.&nbsp; <a name="page9"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 9</span>They help the revenue to the extent of
+about &pound;27,000,000 per annum.</p>
+<p>The romance of smuggling has very largely engaged the
+attention of every description of writers, but we do not hear so
+much of its commercial aspects, although it must be evident that
+for men to dare so greatly as the smugglers did with winds and
+waves and with the customs&rsquo; forces, the possible gains must
+have been great.&nbsp; Time and again a cargo of tea or of
+spirits would be seized, and yet the smugglers be prepared with
+other ventures, knowing, as they did, that one entirely
+successful run would pay for perhaps two failures.&nbsp; When tea
+could be purchased in Holland at sevenpence a pound, and sold in
+England at prices ranging from 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> to
+5<i>s.</i>, and when tobacco, purchased at the same price, sold
+at 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, it is evident that great possibilities
+existed for the enterprising free-trader.</p>
+<p>As regards spirits, if we take brandy as an example, we find
+almost equal profits; for excellent cognac was shipped from
+Roscoff, in Brittany, from Cherbourg, Dieppe, and other French
+ports in tubs of four gallons each, which cost in France &pound;1
+a tub, and sold in England at &pound;4.&nbsp; One of the ordinary
+smuggling luggers, generally built especially for this traffic,
+on racing lines, would hold eighty tubs.</p>
+<p>On such a cargo being brought, according to preconcerted plan,
+within easy distance off-shore, generally at night, a lantern or
+other signal shown from cliff or beach by confederates on land
+would <a name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+10</span>indicate the precise spot where the goods were most
+safely to be beached; and there would be assembled a sufficient
+company of labourers engaged for the job.&nbsp; A cargo of eighty
+tubs required forty men, who carried two each, slung by ropes
+over chest and back.&nbsp; According to circumstances, they
+marched in company on foot, inland; or, if the distance were
+great, they went on horseback, each man with a led horse,
+carrying three or four tubs in addition.&nbsp; These labourers,
+although not finally interested in the safe running of the goods,
+and not paid on any other basis than being hired for the heavy
+job of carrying considerable weights throughout the night, were
+quite ready and willing to fight any opponents that might be met,
+as innumerable accounts of savage encounters tell us.&nbsp;
+Besides these carriers, there were often, in case of opposition
+to the landing being anticipated, numerous &ldquo;batsmen,&rdquo;
+armed with heavy clubs, to protect the goods.</p>
+<p>The pay of a labourer or carrier varied widely, of course, in
+different places, at different times, and according to
+circumstances.&nbsp; It ranged from five shillings to half a
+sovereign a night, and generally included also a present of a
+package of tea or a tub of brandy for so many successful
+runs.&nbsp; It is recorded that the labourers engaged for riding
+horseback, each with a led horse, from Sandwich, Deal, Dover,
+Folkestone, or Romney, to Canterbury, a distance of some fifteen
+miles, were paid seven shillings a night.&nbsp; The horses cost
+the smugglers nothing, for they were commandeered, <a
+name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>as a general
+rule, from the neighbouring farmers, who did not usually offer
+any objection, for it was not often that the gangs forgot to
+leave a tub in payment.&nbsp; The method employed in thus
+requisitioning horses was quite simple.&nbsp; An unsigned note
+would be handed to a farmer stating that his horses were wanted,
+for some purpose unnamed, on a certain night; and that he was
+desired to leave his stables unlocked for those who would come
+and fetch them.&nbsp; If he did not comply with this demand he
+very soon had cause to regret it in the mysterious disasters that
+would shortly afterwards overtake him: his outbuildings being
+destroyed by fire, his farming implements smashed, or his cattle
+mutilated.</p>
+<p>The farmers, indeed, were somewhat seriously embarrassed by
+the prevalence of smuggling.&nbsp; On the one hand, they had to
+lend their horses for the smugglers&rsquo; purposes, and on the
+other they discovered that the demand for carriers of tubs and
+other goods shortened the supply of labour available for
+agricultural purposes, and sent up the rate of wages.&nbsp; A
+labourer in the pay of smugglers would often be out three nights
+in the week, and, with the money he received and with additional
+payment in kind, was in a very comfortable position.</p>
+<h2><a name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+12</span>CHAPTER I</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">The &ldquo;Owlers&rdquo; of Romney Marsh</span>,
+<span class="smcap">and the Ancient Export Smuggling of
+Wool</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> earliest conflicts of interests
+between smugglers and the Government were concerned with the
+export of goods, and not with imports.&nbsp; We are accustomed to
+think only of the import smuggler, who brought from across
+Channel, or from more distant shores, the spirits, wines, tea,
+coffee, silks, laces, and tobacco that had never yielded to the
+revenue of the country; but before him in point of time, if not
+also in importance, was the &ldquo;owler&rdquo; who, defying all
+prohibitions and penalties, even to those of bodily mutilation
+and death, sold wool out of England and secretly shipped it at
+night from the shores of Kent and Sussex.</p>
+<p>English wool had from a very early date been greatly in demand
+on the Continent.&nbsp; The England of those distant times was a
+purely agricultural country, innocent of arts, industries, and
+manufactures, except of the most primitive description.&nbsp; The
+manufacturers then exercised their skilled trades largely in
+France and the Low Countries; and, in especial, the cloth-weaving
+industries were practised in Flanders.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p12.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Owlers"
+title=
+"The Owlers"
+src="images/p12.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p><a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>So
+early as the reign of Edward the First the illegal exportation of
+wool engaged the attention of the authorities, and an export duty
+of &pound;3 a bag (in modern money) was imposed, soon after
+1276.&nbsp; This was in 1298 increased to &pound;6 a bag, then
+lowered, and then again raised.&nbsp; English wool was then worth
+1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> a pound.</p>
+<p>In the reign of Edward the Third a strenuous attempt was made
+to introduce the weaving industries into England, and every
+inducement was offered the Flemish weavers to settle here and to
+bring their art with them.&nbsp; In support of this policy, the
+export of wool was, in various years, subjected to further
+restrictions, and at one time entirely forbidden.&nbsp; The royal
+solicitude for the newly cradled English weaving industries also
+in 1337 forbade the wearing of clothing made with cloth woven out
+of the country; but it is hardly necessary to add that edicts of
+this stringency were constantly broken; and in 1341 Winchelsea,
+Chichester, and thirteen other ports were named, whence wool
+might be exported, on payment of a duty of 50<i>s.</i> a sack of
+twenty-six stone&mdash;<i>i.e.</i> 364 lb.</p>
+<p>The interferences with the sale and export of wool continued,
+and the duty was constantly being raised or lowered, according to
+the supposed needs of the time; but nearly always with unforeseen
+and disastrous effects.&nbsp; The wool staple was removed to the
+then English possession of Calais in 1363, and the export of it
+absolutely forbidden elsewhere.&nbsp; The natural result, in
+spite <a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>of
+the great amount of smuggling carried on, was that in a long
+series of years the value of wool steadily fell; the cloth-makers
+taking advantage of the accumulation of stocks on the
+growers&rsquo; hands to depress the price.&nbsp; In 1390 the
+growers had from three to five seasons&rsquo; crops on hand, and
+the state of the industry had become such that in the following
+year permission to export generally, on payment of duty, was
+conceded.&nbsp; This duty tended to become gradually heavier,
+and, as it increased, so proportionably did the
+&ldquo;owling&rdquo; trade.</p>
+<p>The price of wool therefore declined again, and in 1454 it was
+recorded as being not more than two-thirds of what it had been a
+hundred and ten years earlier.&nbsp; The wool-growers, on the
+brink of ruin, petitioned that wool, according to its various
+grades, might not be sold under certain fixed prices; which were
+accordingly fixed.</p>
+<p>But to follow, <i>seriatim</i>, the movements in prices and
+the complete reversals of Government policy regarding the export,
+would be wearisome.&nbsp; We will, therefore, pass on to the
+Restoration of the monarchy, in 1660, when the export of wool was
+again entirely forbidden.&nbsp; Smuggling of it was in 1662
+again, by the reactionary laws of the period, made a felony,
+punishable with death; yet the active smugglers, the rank and
+file of the owling trade, who performed the hard manual labour
+for wages, at the instigation of those financially interested,
+continued to risk their necks for twelvepence a day.&nbsp; The
+low price their <a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+15</span>services commanded is alone sufficient to show us that
+labour, in spite of the risks, was plentiful.&nbsp; Not only Kent
+and Sussex, but Essex, and Ireland as well, largely entered into
+this secret &ldquo;stealing of wool out of the country,&rdquo; as
+the phrase ran; and &ldquo;these caterpillars&rdquo; had so many
+evasions, and commanded so many combinations and interests among
+those officials whose business it was to detect and punish, that
+few dared interfere: hence the readiness of the labourers to
+&ldquo;risk their necks,&rdquo; the risk being, under the
+circumstances, small.</p>
+<p>Indeed, readers of the adventures of these owling desperadoes
+and of the customs officers who hunted them will, perhaps, come
+to the conclusion that the risks on either side were pretty
+evenly apportioned, and they will see that the hunters not seldom
+became the hunted.</p>
+<p>The experiences of one W. Carter, who appears to have been in
+authority over the customs staff in the Romney Marsh district,
+towards the close of the seventeenth century, were at times
+singularly vivid.&nbsp; His particular &ldquo;hour of crowded
+life&rdquo; came in 1688, while he was engaged in an attempt to
+arrest a body of owlers who were shipping wool into some French
+shallops between Folkestone and New Romney.</p>
+<p>Having procured the necessary warrants, he repaired to Romney,
+where he seized eight or ten men who were carrying the wool on
+their horses&rsquo; backs to be shipped, and desired the Mayor of
+Romney to commit them, but, greatly to the <a
+name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>surprise of
+this zealous officer, who doubtless imagined he had at last laid
+some of these desperate fellows securely by the heels, the Mayor
+of Romney consented to the prisoners being admitted to
+bail.&nbsp; Mr. Carter, to have been so ingenuously surprised,
+must have been a singularly simple official, or quite new to the
+business; for what Mayor of Romney in those days, when every one
+on the Marsh smuggled, or was interested financially in the
+success of smuggling, would dare not deal leniently with these
+fellows!&nbsp; Nay, it was even abundantly probable that the
+Mayor himself was financially committed in these ventures, and
+perhaps even among the employers of Mr. Carter&rsquo;s
+captives.</p>
+<p>Romney was no safe abiding-place for Carter and his underlings
+when these men were enlarged; and they accordingly retired upon
+Lydd.&nbsp; But if they had fondly expected peace and shelter
+there they were woefully mistaken, for a Marshland cry of
+vengeance was raised, and a howling mob of owlers, ululating more
+savagely than those melancholy birds from whom they took their
+name, violently attacked them in that little town, under cover of
+night.&nbsp; The son of the Mayor of Lydd, well disposed to these
+sadly persecuted revenue men, advised them to further retire upon
+Rye, which they did the next morning, December 13th, pursued
+hotly across the dyke-intersected marshes, as far as Camber
+Point, by fifty furious men.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p16.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Owlers chase the Customs Officers into Rye"
+title=
+"The Owlers chase the Customs Officers into Rye"
+src="images/p16.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>At Guilford Ferry the pursuers were so close upon their heels
+that they had to hurriedly dismount <a name="page17"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 17</span>and tumble into some boats belonging
+to ships lying near, leaving their horses behind; and so they
+came safe, but breathless, into Rye town.</p>
+<p>At this period Calais&mdash;then lost to England&mdash;alone
+imported within two years 40,000 packs of wool from Kent and
+Sussex; and the Romney Marsh men not only sold their own wool in
+their illicit manner, but bought other from up-country, ten or
+twenty miles inland, and impudently shipped it off.</p>
+<p>In 1698, the severe laws of some thirty years earlier having
+been thus brought into contempt, milder penal enactments were
+introduced, but more stringent conditions than ever were imposed
+upon the collection and export of this greatly vexed commodity,
+and the civil deterrents of process and fine, aimed at the big
+men in the trade, were strengthened.&nbsp; A law was enacted (9
+&amp; 10 William the Third, c. 40, ss. 2 and 3) by which no
+person living within fifteen miles of the sea in the counties of
+Kent and Sussex should buy any wool before he became responsible
+in a legal bond, with sureties, that none of the wool he should
+buy should be sold by him to any persons within fifteen miles of
+the sea; and growers of wool in those counties, within ten miles
+of the coast, were obliged, within three days of shearing, to
+account for the number of fleeces shorn, and to state where they
+were stored.</p>
+<p>The success of this new law was not at first very marked, for
+the means of enforcing it had not been provided.&nbsp; To enact
+repressive edicts, <a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+18</span>and not to provide the means of their being respected,
+was as unsatisfactory as fighting the wind.&nbsp; The Government,
+viewing England as a whole, appointed under the new Act seventeen
+surveyors for nineteen counties, with 299 riding-officers: a
+force barely sufficient for Kent and Sussex alone.&nbsp; It cost
+&pound;20,000 a year, and never earned its keep.</p>
+<p>Henry Baker, supervisor for Kent and Sussex, writing on April
+25th, 1699, to his official chiefs, stated that there would be
+shorn in Romney Marsh, quite apart from the adjacent levels of
+Pett, Camber, Guilford, and Dunge Marsh, about 160,000 sheep,
+whose fleeces would amount to some three thousand packs of wool,
+&ldquo;the greatest part whereof will immediately be sent off hot
+into France&mdash;it being so designed, preparations in great
+measure being already made for that purpose.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In fact, the new law at first did nothing more than to give
+the owlers some extra trouble and expense in cartage of their
+packs; for, in order to legally evade the extra disabilities it
+imposed, it was only necessary to cart them fifteen miles inland
+and make fictitious sale and re-sale of them there; thence
+shipping them as they pleased.</p>
+<p>By this time the exportation of wool had become not only a
+kingly concern&mdash;it had aroused the keen interest of the
+nation at large, fast becoming an industrial and cloth-weaving
+nation.&nbsp; For two centuries and more past the cloth-workers
+had been growing numerous, wealthy, and powerful, <a
+name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 19</span>and they
+meant, as far as it was possible for them to do, to starve the
+continental looms out of the trade, for sheer lack of
+material.&nbsp; No one cared in the least about the actual grower
+of the wool, whether he made a loss or a profit on his
+business.&nbsp; It is obvious that if export of it could have
+been wholly stopped, the cloth-workers, in the forced absence of
+foreign buyers, would have held the unfortunate growers in the
+hollow of their hands, and would have been able to dictate the
+price of wool.</p>
+<p>It is the inalienable right of every human being to fight
+against unjust laws; only we must be sure they are unjust.&nbsp;
+Perhaps the dividing-line, when self-interest is involved, is not
+easily to be fixed.&nbsp; But there can be no doubt that the
+wool-growers were labouring under injustice, and that they were
+entirely justified in setting those laws at naught which menaced
+their existence.</p>
+<p>However, by December 1703, Mr. Baker was able to give his
+superiors a more favourable report.&nbsp; He believed the neck of
+the owling trade to have been broken and the spirit of the owlers
+themselves to have been crushed, particularly in Romney
+Marsh.&nbsp; There were not, at that time, he observed,
+&ldquo;many visible signs&rdquo; of any quantities of wool being
+exported: which seems to us rather to point to the perfected
+organisation of the owling trade than to its being crushed out of
+existence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But for fine goods,&rdquo; continued the supervisor,
+&ldquo;as they call them (<i>viz.</i> silks, lace, etc.), I am
+well assured that the trade goes on through <a
+name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>both
+counties, though not in such vast quantities as have been
+formerly brought in&mdash;I mean in those days when (as a
+gentleman of estate in one of the counties has within this twelve
+months told me) he has been att once, besides at other times, at
+the loading of a wagon with silks, laces, etc., till six oxen
+could hardly move it out of the place.&nbsp; I doe not think that
+the trade is now so carried on as &rsquo;twas then.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Things being so promising in the purview of this simple
+person, it seemed well to him to suggest to the Commissioners of
+the Board of Customs that a reduction of the annual charge of
+&pound;4,500 for the preventive service along the coasts of Kent
+and Sussex might be effected.&nbsp; At that time there were fifty
+preventive officers patrolling over two hundred miles of
+seaboard, each in receipt of &pound;60 per annum, and each
+provided with a servant and a horse, to help in night duty, at an
+estimated annual cost of &pound;30 for each officer.</p>
+<p>We may here legitimately pause in surprise at the small pay
+for which these men were ready to endure the dangers and
+discomforts of such a service; very real perils and most
+unmistakable disagreeables, in midst of an almost openly hostile
+country-side.</p>
+<p>Mr. Baker, sanguine man that he was, proposed to abolish the
+annual allowance to each of these hard-worked men for servant and
+horse, thus saving &pound;1,500 a year, and to substitute for
+them patrols of the Dragoon regiments at that time stationed in
+Kent.&nbsp; These regiments had been <a name="page21"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 21</span>originally placed there in 1698 to
+overawe the owlers and other smugglers, the soldiers being paid
+twopence extra a day (which certainly did not err upon the side
+of extravagance) and the officers in proportion: the annual cost
+on that head amounting to &pound;200 per annum.&nbsp; This
+military stiffening of the civil force employed to prevent
+clandestine export and import appears to have been discontinued
+in 1701, after about two years&rsquo; experiment.</p>
+<p>These revived patrols, at a cost of &pound;200, the supervisor
+calculated, would more efficiently and economically undertake the
+work hitherto performed by the preventive officers&rsquo; horses
+and men, still leaving a saving of &pound;1,300 a year.&nbsp;
+With this force, and a guard of cruisers offshore, he was quite
+convinced that the smuggling of these parts would still be kept
+under.</p>
+<p>But alas for these calculations!&nbsp; The economy thus
+effected on this scheme, approved of and put into being, was
+altogether illusory.&nbsp; The owling trade, of which the
+supervisor had supposed the neck to be broken, flourished more
+impudently than before.&nbsp; The Dragoons formed a most
+inefficient patrol, and worked ill with the revenue officers,
+and, in short, the Revenue lost annually many more thousands of
+pounds sterling than it saved hundreds.&nbsp; When sheriffs and
+under-sheriffs could be, and were, continually bribed, it is not
+to be supposed that Dragoons, thoroughly disliking such an
+inglorious service as that of chasing smugglers along muddy lanes
+and across country <a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+22</span>intricately criss-crossed with broad dykes rarely to be
+jumped, would be superior to secret advances that gave them much
+more than their miserable twopence a day.</p>
+<p>Transportation for wool-smugglers who did not pay the fines
+awarded against them was enacted in 1717; ineffectually, for in
+1720 it was found necessary to issue a proclamation, enforcing
+the law; and in five successive years from 1731 the cloth-workers
+are found petitioning for greater vigilance against the continued
+clandestine exportation, alleging a great decay in the woollen
+manufactures owing to this illegal export; 150,000 packs being
+shipped yearly.&nbsp; &ldquo;It is feared,&rdquo; said these
+petitioners, fighting for their own hand, regardless, of course,
+of other interests, &ldquo;that some gentlemen of no mean rank,
+whose estates border on the sea-coast, are too much influenced by
+a near, but false, prospect of gain&rdquo;: to which the
+gentlemen in question, being generally brought up on the dead
+classic languages, might most fairly have replied, had they cared
+to do so, with the easy Latinity of <i>Tu quoque</i>!</p>
+<p>This renewed daring and enterprise of the Sussex smugglers led
+to many encounters with the customs officers.&nbsp; Among these
+was the desperate engagement between sixty armed smugglers and
+customs men at Ferring, on June 21st, 1720, when William
+Goldsmith, of the Customs, had his horse shot under him.</p>
+<p>A humorous touch, so far at least as the modern reader of
+these things is concerned, is <a name="page23"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 23</span>found in the Treasury warrant issued
+about this time, for the sum of &pound;200, for supplying a
+regiment with new boots and stockings; their usual allowance of
+these indispensable articles having been &ldquo;worn out in the
+pursuit of smugglers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In spite of all attempts to suppress these illegal activities,
+it had to be acknowledged, in the preamble of an Act passed in
+1739, that the export of wool was &ldquo;notoriously
+continued.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The old-established owling trade of Romney Marsh at length,
+after many centuries, gave place to the clandestine import of
+silks, tea, spirits, and tobacco; but it was only by slow and
+insensible degrees that the owlers&rsquo; occupation dwindled
+away, in the lessening foreign demand for English wool.&nbsp; The
+last was not heard of this more than five-centuries-old question
+of the export of wool, that had so severely exercised the minds
+of some twenty generations, and had baffled the lawgivers in all
+that space of time, until the concluding year of the final wars
+with France at the beginning of the nineteenth century.</p>
+<p>Many other articles were at the same time forbidden to be
+exported; among them Fuller&rsquo;s-earth, used in the
+manufacture of cloth, and so, of course, subject to the same
+interdict as wool.&nbsp; A comparatively late Exchequer trial for
+the offence of exporting Fuller&rsquo;s-earth was that of one
+Edmund Warren, in 1693.&nbsp; Fortunately for the defendant, he
+was able to show that what he had exported was not
+Fuller&rsquo;s-earth at all, but potter&rsquo;s clay.</p>
+<h2><a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+24</span>CHAPTER II</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">Growth of Tea and Tobacco Smuggling in the
+Eighteenth Century</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Repressive
+Laws a Failure</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Side</span> by side with the export
+smuggling of wool, the import smuggling of tobacco and tea grew
+and throve amazingly in later ages.&nbsp; Every one, knowingly or
+unsuspectingly, smoked tobacco and drank tea that had paid no
+duty.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Great Anna&rdquo; herself, who was among the earliest
+to yield to the refining influence of tea&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Great
+Anna, whom three realms obey,<br />
+Doth sometimes counsel take, and sometimes tay&mdash;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>in all probability often drank tea which had contributed
+nothing to the revenue.&nbsp; Between them tea and tobacco, in
+the illegal landing of the goods, found employment for hundreds
+of hardy seafaring men and stalwart landsmen, and led to much
+violence and bloodshed, beside which the long-drawn annals of the
+owlers seem almost barren of incident.</p>
+<p>Early in the eighteenth century, when continental wars of vast
+magnitude were in progress, the list of dutiable articles began
+to grow quickly, <a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+25</span>and concurrently with the growth of this list the
+already existing tariff was continually increased.&nbsp; The
+smugglers&rsquo; trade grew with these growths, and for the first
+time became a highly organised and widely distributed trade,
+involving every class.&nbsp; The time had come at last when every
+necessary of daily use was taxed heavily, often far above its
+ordinary trading value; and an absurd, and indeed desperate,
+condition of affairs had been reached, in which people of all
+ranks were more or less faced with the degrading dilemma of being
+unable to afford many articles generally consumed by persons of
+their station in life, or of procuring them of the
+smugglers&mdash;the &ldquo;free traders,&rdquo; as they rightly
+styled themselves&mdash;often at a mere one-third of the cost to
+which they would have been put had their illicit purchasers paid
+duty.</p>
+<p>The Government was, as we now perceive, in the mental
+perspective afforded by lapse of time, in the clearly
+indefensible position of heavily taxing the needs of the country,
+and of making certain practices illegal that tended to supply
+those needs at much lower rates than those thus artificially
+created, and yet of being unable to provide adequate means by
+which these generally detested laws could be enforced.&nbsp; It
+was, and is, no defence to hold that the revenues thus hoped for
+were a sufficient excuse.&nbsp; To create an artificial restraint
+of trade, to elevate trading in spite of restraint into a crime,
+and yet not to provide an overmastering force that shall secure
+<a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 26</span>obedience,
+if not in one sense respect, for those unnatural laws, was in
+itself a course of action that any impartial historian might well
+hold to be in itself criminal; for it led to continual
+disturbances throughout the country, with appalling violence, and
+great loss of life, in conflict, or in the darker way of secret
+murder.</p>
+<p>But no historian would, on weighing the evidence available,
+feel altogether sure of so sweeping an indictment of the
+eighteenth-century governance of England.&nbsp; It was corrupt,
+it was self-seeking, it had no breadth of view; but the times
+were well calculated to test the most Heaven-sent
+statesmanship.&nbsp; The country, as were all other countries,
+was governed for the classes; and governed, as one would conduct
+a business, for revenue; whether the revenue was to be applied in
+conducting foreign wars, or to find its way plentifully into the
+pockets of placemen, does not greatly matter.&nbsp; This
+misgovernment was a characteristic failing of the age; and it
+must, moreover, be recognised that the historian, with his
+comprehensive outlook upon the past, spread out, so to speak,
+map-like to his gaze, has the advantage of seeing these things as
+a whole, and of criticising them as such; while the givers and
+administrators of laws were under the obvious disadvantages of
+each planning and working for what they considered to be the
+needs of their own particular period, with those of the future
+unknown, and perhaps uncared for.&nbsp; That there were some few
+among those in authority who <a name="page27"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 27</span>wrought according to their lights,
+however feeble might be their illumination, must be conceded even
+to that age.</p>
+<p>At the opening of this era, when Marlborough&rsquo;s great
+victories were yet fresh, and when the cost of them and of other
+military glories was wearing the country threadbare, the most
+remarkable series of repressive Acts, directed against smuggling,
+began.&nbsp; Vessels of very small tonnage and light draught,
+being found peculiarly useful to smugglers, the use of such, even
+in legalised importing, was strictly forbidden, and no craft of a
+lesser burthen than fifteen tons was permitted.&nbsp; This
+provision, it was fondly conceived, would strike a blow at
+smuggling, by rendering it impossible to slip up narrow and
+shallow waterways; but this pious expectation was doomed to
+disappointment, and the limit was accordingly raised to thirty
+tons; and again, in 1721, to forty tons.&nbsp; At the same time,
+the severest restrictions were imposed upon boats, in order to
+cope with the ten, or even twelve and fourteen-oared galleys,
+rowed by determined &ldquo;free-traders.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>To quote the text of one among these drastic ordinances:</p>
+<blockquote><p>&ldquo;Any boat built to row with more than four
+oars, found upon land or water within the counties of Middlesex,
+Surrey, Kent, or Sussex, or in the river Thames, or within the
+limits of the ports of London, Sandwich, or Ipswich, or any boat
+rowing with more than six oars found either upon land or water,
+in any other port, or within <a name="page28"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 28</span>two leagues of the coast of Great
+Britain, shall be forfeited, and every person using or rowing in
+such boat shall forfeit &pound;40.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>These prohibitions were, in 1779, in respect of boats to row
+with more than six oars, extended to all other English counties;
+the port of Bristol only excepted.</p>
+<p>As for smuggling craft captured with smuggled goods the way of
+the revenue authorities with such was drastic.&nbsp; They were
+sawn in three pieces, and then thoroughly broken up.</p>
+<p>The futility of these extraordinary steps is emphasised by the
+report of the Commissioners of Customs to the Treasury in 1733,
+that immense smuggling operations were being conducted in Kent,
+Sussex, Essex, and Suffolk.&nbsp; In twelve months, this report
+declared, 54,000 lb. of tea and 123,000 gallons of brandy had
+been seized, and still, in spite of these tremendous losses, the
+spirit of the smugglers was unbroken, and smuggling was
+increasing.&nbsp; An additional force of 106 Dragoons was asked
+for, to stiffen that of 185 already patrolling those coasts.</p>
+<p>It was clearly required, with the utmost urgency, for such a
+mere handful of troops spread over this extended seaboard could
+scarce be considered a sufficient backing for the civil force, in
+view of the determined encounters continually taking place, in
+which the recklessness and daring of the smugglers knew no
+bounds.&nbsp; Thus, in June 1733, the officers of customs at
+Newhaven, attempting to seize ten horses laden with tea, <a
+name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 29</span>at Cuckmere,
+were opposed by about thirty men, armed with pistols and
+blunderbusses, who fired on the officers, took them prisoners,
+and kept them under guard until the goods were safely carried
+off.</p>
+<p>In August of the same year the riding-officers, observing
+upwards of twenty smugglers at Greenhay, most of them on
+horseback, pluckily essayed to do their duty and seize the goods,
+but the smugglers fell furiously upon them, and with clubs
+knocked one off his horse, severely wounded him, and confined him
+for an hour, while the run was completed.&nbsp; Of his companions
+no more is heard.&nbsp; They probably&mdash;to phrase it
+delicately&mdash;went for assistance.</p>
+<p>In July 1735, customs officers of the port of Arundel,
+watching the coast, expecting goods to be run from a hovering
+smuggler craft, were discovered by a gang of more than twenty
+armed smugglers, anxiously waiting for the landing, and not
+disposed for an all-night trial of endurance in that waiting
+game.&nbsp; They accordingly seized the officers and confined
+them until some boatloads of contraband had been landed and
+conveyed away on horseback.&nbsp; In the same month, at
+Kingston-by-the-Sea, between Brighton and Shoreham, some
+officers, primed with information of a forthcoming run of brandy,
+and seeking it, found as well ten smugglers with pistols.&nbsp;
+Although the smugglers were bold and menacing, the customs men on
+this occasion had the better of it, for they seized and duly
+impounded the brandy.</p>
+<p><a name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 30</span>A more
+complicated affair took place on December 6th of the same year,
+when some customs officers of Newhaven met a large, well-armed
+gang of smugglers, who surrounded them and held them prisoners
+for an hour and a half.&nbsp; The same gang then fell in with
+another party, consisting of three riding-officers and six
+Dragoons, and were bold enough to attack them.&nbsp; Foolish
+enough, we must also add; for they got the worst of the
+encounter, and, fleeing in disorder, were pursued;
+five&mdash;armed with pistols, swords, and cutlasses, and
+provided with twelve horses&mdash;being captured.</p>
+<p>A fatal encounter took place at Bulverhythe, between Hastings
+and Bexhill, in March 1737.&nbsp; It is best read of in the
+anonymous letter written to the Commissioners of Customs by a
+person who, for fear of the smuggling gangs, was afraid to
+disclose his real name, and subscribed himself
+&ldquo;Goring.&rdquo;&nbsp; The letter&mdash;whose cold-blooded
+informing, the work evidently of an educated, but cruel-minded
+person, is calculated to make any reader of generous instincts
+shiver&mdash;is to be found among the customs correspondence, in
+the Treasury Papers.</p>
+<blockquote><p>&ldquo;May it please [your] Honours,&mdash;It is
+not unknown to your Lordships of the late battle between the
+Smuglers and Officers at Bulverhide; and in relation to that
+Business, if your Honours but please to advise in the News
+Papers, that this is expected off, I will send a List of the
+names of <a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+31</span>the Persons that were at that Business, and the
+places&rsquo; names where they are usually and mostly
+resident.&nbsp; Cat (Morten&rsquo;s man) fired first, Morten was
+the second that fired; the soldiers fired and killed Collison,
+wounded Pigon, who is since dead; William Weston was wounded, but
+like to recover.&nbsp; Young Mr. Bowra was not there, but his men
+and horses were; from your Honours&rsquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">&ldquo;Dutifull and Most faithfull
+servant,</p>
+<p style="text-align: right">&ldquo;<span
+class="smcap">Goring</span>.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There was no foreign persons at this Business, but all
+were Sussex men, and may easily be spoke with.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This [is] the seventh time Morten&rsquo;s people have
+workt this winter, and have not lost anything but one
+half-hundred [of tea] they gave to a Dragoon and one officer they
+met with the first of this winter; and the Hoo company have lost
+no goods, although they constantly work, and at home too, since
+they lost the seventy hundred-weight.&nbsp; When once the
+Smuglers are drove from home they will soon all be taken.&nbsp;
+Note, that some say it was Gurr that fired first.&nbsp; You must
+well secure Cat, or else your Honours will soon lose the man; the
+best way will be to send for him up to London, for he knows the
+whole Company, and hath been Morten&rsquo;s servant two
+years.&nbsp; There were several young Chaps with the Smuglers,
+whom, when taken, will soon discover the whole Company.&nbsp; The
+number was twenty-six men.&nbsp; Mack&rsquo;s horses,
+Morten&rsquo;s, and Hoak&rsquo;s, were killed, <a
+name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 32</span>and they lost
+not half their goods.&nbsp; They have sent for more goods, and
+twenty-nine horses set out from Groombridge this day, about four
+in the afternoon, and all the men well armed with long guns.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And if I hear this is received, I will send your
+Honours the Places names where your Honours will intercep the
+Smuglers as they go to Market with their Goods, but it must be
+done by Soldiers, for they go stronger now than ever.&nbsp; And
+as for Mr. Gabriel Tompkin, Supervisor of Dartford, there can be
+good reason given that Jacob Walter brought him Goods for three
+years last past, and it is likewise no dispute of that matter
+amongst allmost all the Smuglers.&nbsp; The Bruces and Jacob
+fought about that matter and parted Company&rsquo;s, and Mr.
+Tompkin was allway, as most people know, a villain when a Smugler
+and likewise Officer.&nbsp; He never was concern&rsquo;d with any
+Body but Jacob, and now Jacob has certainly done with
+Smugling.&nbsp; I shall not trouble your Honours with any more
+Letters if I do not hear from this, and I do assure your Honours
+what I now write is truth.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There are some Smuglers with a good sum of money, and
+they may pay for taking; as Thomas Darby, Edward King, John
+Mackdanie, and others that are rich.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The Hoo Company might have been all ruined when they
+lost their goods; the Officers and Soldiers knew them all, but
+they were not prosecuted, as [they] was not at Groombridge, when
+some time since a Custom House Officer <a name="page33"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 33</span>took some Tea and Arms too in
+Bowra&rsquo;s house at Groombridge.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The first of this Winter, the Groombridge Smuglers were
+forced to carry their goods allmost all up to Rushmore Hill and
+Cester Mark, which some they do now, but Tea sells quick in
+London now, and Chaps from London come down to Groombridge
+allmost every day, as they used to do last Winter.&nbsp; When
+once they come to be drove from home, they will be put to great
+inconveniences, when they are from their friends and will lose
+more Goods than they do now, and be at more Charges.&nbsp; Do but
+take up some of the Servants, they will soon rout the Masters,
+for the Servants are all poor.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Young Bowra&rsquo;s House cost &pound;500 building, and
+he will pay for looking up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Morten and Bowra sold, last Winter, some-ways, about
+3,000 [lb.] weight a week.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>We hear nothing further of &ldquo;Goring,&rdquo; and there is
+nothing to show who was the person whose cold malignance appears
+horribly in every line of his communication.&nbsp; Any action
+that may have been officially taken upon it is also hidden from
+us.&nbsp; But we may at least gather from it that the master-men,
+the employers of the actual smugglers of the goods, were in a
+considerable way of business, and already making very large
+profits.&nbsp; We see, too, that the smuggling industry was even
+then well on towards being a powerful organisation.</p>
+<p><a name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 34</span>Still
+sterner legislative methods were, accordingly, in the opinion of
+the authorities, called for, and the Act of Indemnity of 1736 was
+the first result.&nbsp; This was a peculiarly mean and despicable
+measure, even for a Revenue Act.&nbsp; There is this
+excuse&mdash;although a small one&mdash;for it; that the
+Government was increasingly pressed for money, and that the
+enormous leakage of customs dues might possibly in some degree be
+lessened by stern and not very high-minded laws.&nbsp; By this
+Act it was provided that smugglers who desired (whether on trial
+or not) to obtain a free pardon for past offences, might do so by
+fully disclosing them; at the same time giving the names of their
+fellows.&nbsp; The especial iniquity of this lamentable example
+of frantic legislation, striking as it did at the very
+foundations of character in the creation of the informer and the
+sneak, is a sad instance of the moral obliquity to which a
+Government under stress of circumstances can descend.</p>
+<p>The Act further proceeded to deal with backsliders who, having
+purged themselves as above, again resumed their evil courses, and
+it made the ways of transgressors very hard indeed; for, when
+captured, they were charged with not only their present offence,
+but also with that for which they had compounded with the
+Dev&mdash; that is to say, with the law.&nbsp; And, being so
+charged, and duly convicted, their case was desperate; for if the
+previous offence had carried with it, on conviction, a sentence
+of transportation (as many smuggling offences did: among them the
+carrying <a name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+35</span>of firearms by three, or more men, while engaged in
+smuggling goods), the second brought a sentence of death.</p>
+<p>With regard to the position of the pardoned smuggler who had
+earned his pardon by thus peaching on his fellows, it is not too
+much to say&mdash;certainly so far as the more ferocious
+smuggling gangs of Kent and Sussex were concerned&mdash;that by
+so doing he had already earned his capital sentence; for the
+temper of these men was such, and the risks they were made to run
+by these ferocious Acts were so great, that they would
+not&mdash;and, in a way of looking at these things, could
+not&mdash;suffer an informer to live.</p>
+<p>Thus, even the additional inducements offered to informers by
+statute&mdash;including a reward of &pound;50 each for the
+discovery and conviction of two or more accomplices&mdash;very
+generally failed to obtain results.</p>
+<p>Many other items of unexampled severity were included in this
+Act, and in the yet more drastic measures of 1745 and the
+following year.&nbsp; By these it was provided that persons found
+loitering within five miles of the sea-coast, or any navigable
+river, might be considered suspicious persons; and they ran the
+risk of being taken before a magistrate, who was empowered, on
+any such person being unable to give a satisfactory account of
+himself, to commit him to the House of Correction, there to be
+whipped and kept at hard labour for any period not exceeding one
+month.</p>
+<p><a name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>In
+1746, assembling to run contraband goods was made a crime
+punishable with death as a felon, and counties were made liable
+for revenue losses.&nbsp; Smuggled goods seized and afterwards
+rescued entailed a fine of &pound;200 upon the county; a revenue
+officer beaten by smugglers cost the county &pound;40; or if
+killed, &pound;100; with the provision that the county should be
+exempt if the offenders were convicted within six months.</p>
+<p>As regards the offenders themselves, if they failed to
+surrender within forty days and were afterwards captured, the
+person who captured them was entitled to a reward of
+&pound;500.</p>
+<p>Dr. Johnson&rsquo;s definition of a smuggler appears on the
+title-page of the present volume.&nbsp; It is not a flattering
+testimonial to character; but, on the other hand, his opinion of
+a Commissioner of Excise&mdash;and such were the sworn enemies of
+smugglers&mdash;was much more unfavourable.&nbsp; Such an one was
+bracketed by the doctor with a political pamphleteer, or what he
+termed &ldquo;a scribbler for a party,&rdquo; as one of
+&ldquo;the two lowest of human beings.&rdquo;&nbsp; Without the
+context in which these judgments are now placed, it would be more
+than a little difficult to trace their reasoning, which sounds as
+little sensible as it would be to declare at one and the same
+time a burglar to be a dangerous pest and a policeman a useless
+ornament.&nbsp; But if smugglers can be proved from these pages
+wicked and reckless men, so undoubtedly shall we find the
+Commissioners of Excise and Customs, in their several spheres,
+appealing to the <a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+37</span>basest of human instincts, and thus abundantly worthy of
+Johnson&rsquo;s censure.</p>
+<p>The shifts and expedients of the Commissioners of Customs for
+the suppression of smuggling were many and ingenious, and none
+was more calculated to perform the maximum of service to the
+Revenue with the minimum of cost than the commissioning of
+privateers, authorised to search for, to chase, and to capture if
+possible any smuggling craft.&nbsp; &ldquo;Minimum of cost&rdquo;
+is indeed not the right expression for use here, for the cost and
+risks to the customs establishment were <i>nil</i>.&nbsp; It
+should be said here that, although the Acts of Parliament
+directed against smuggling were of the utmost stringency, they
+were not always applied with all the severity possible to be
+used; and, on the other hand, customs officers and the commanders
+of revenue cutters were well advised to guard against any excess
+of zeal in carrying out their instructions.&nbsp; To chase and
+capture a vessel that every one knew perfectly well to be a
+smuggler, and then to find no contraband aboard, because, as a
+matter of fact, it had been carefully sunk at some point where it
+could easily be recovered at leisure, was not only not the way to
+promotion as a zealous officer; but was, on the contrary, in the
+absence of proof that contraband had been carried, a certain way
+to official disfavour.&nbsp; And it was also, as many officers
+found to their cost, the way into actions at law, with resultant
+heavy damages not infrequently awarded against them.&nbsp; It
+was, indeed, a scandal that <a name="page38"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 38</span>these public servants, who assuredly
+rarely ever brought to, or overhauled, a vessel without
+reasonable and probable cause, should have been subject to such
+contingencies, without remedy of any kind.</p>
+<p>The happy idea of licensing private adventurers to build and
+equip vessels to make private war upon smuggling craft, and to
+capture them and their cargoes, was an extension of the original
+plan of issuing letters of marque to owners of vessels for the
+purpose of inflicting loss upon an enemy&rsquo;s commerce; but
+persons intending to engage upon this private warfare against
+smuggling had, in the first instance, to give security to the
+Commissioners of a diligence in the cause thus undertaken, and to
+enter into business details respecting the cargoes
+captured.&nbsp; It was, however, not infrequently found, in
+practice, that these privateers very often took to smuggling on
+their own account, and that, under the protective cloak of their
+ostensible affairs, they did a very excellent business; while, to
+complete this picture of failure, those privateers that really
+did keep to their licensed trade generally contrived to lose
+money and to land their owners into bankruptcy.</p>
+<h2><a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+39</span>CHAPTER III</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">Terrorising Bands of Smugglers</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">The Hawkhurst Gang</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Organised Attack on Goudhurst</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">The &ldquo;Smugglers&rsquo; Song</span>&rdquo;</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">But</span> the smugglers of Kent and
+Sussex were by far the most formidable of all the
+&ldquo;free-traders&rdquo; in England, and were not easily to be
+suppressed.&nbsp; Smuggling, export and import, off those coasts
+was naturally heavier than elsewhere, for there the Channel was
+narrower, and runs more easily effected.&nbsp; The interests
+involved were consequently much greater, and the organisation of
+the smugglers, from the master-men to the labourers, more nearly
+perfect.&nbsp; To interfere with any of the several confederacies
+into which these men were banded for the furtherance of their
+illicit trade was therefore a matter of considerable danger, and,
+well knowing the terror into which they had thrown the
+country-side, they presumed upon it, to extend their activities
+into other, and even less reputable, doings.&nbsp; The intervals
+between carrying tubs, and otherwise working for the
+master-smugglers became filled, towards the middle of the
+eighteenth century, with acts of highway <a
+name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>robbery and
+house-breaking, and, in the home counties, at any rate, smuggling
+proved often to be only the first step in a career of crime.</p>
+<p>Among these powerful and terrorising confederacies, the
+Hawkhurst gang was pre-eminent.&nbsp; The constitution of it was,
+necessarily, a matter of inexact information, for the officers
+and the rank and file of such societies are mentioned by no
+minute-books or reports.&nbsp; But one of its principals was,
+without question, Arthur Gray, or Grey, who was one of those
+&ldquo;Sea Cocks&rdquo; after whom Seacox Heath, near Hawkhurst,
+in Kent, is supposed to be named.&nbsp; He was a man who did
+things on, for those times, a grand scale, and was said to be
+worth &pound;10,000.&nbsp; He had built on that then lonely ridge
+of ground, overlooking at a great height the Weald of Kent, large
+store houses&mdash;a kind of illicit &ldquo;bonded
+warehouses&rdquo;&mdash;for smuggled goods, and made the spot a
+distributing centre.&nbsp; That all these facts should have been
+contemporaneously known, and Gray&rsquo;s store not have been
+raided by the Revenue, points to an almost inconceivable state of
+lawlessness.&nbsp; The buildings were in after years known as
+&ldquo;Gray&rsquo;s Folly&rdquo;; but it was left for modern
+times to treat the spot in a truly sportive way: when Lord
+Goschen, who built the modern mansion of Seacox Heath on the site
+of the smuggler&rsquo;s place of business, became Chancellor of
+the Exchequer.&nbsp; If the unquiet ghosts of the old smugglers
+ever revisit their old haunts, how weird must have been the
+ironic laughter of Gray at finding this <a
+name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>the home of
+the chief financial functionary of the Government!</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p40.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Goudhurst Church"
+title=
+"Goudhurst Church"
+src="images/p40.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>In December 1744 the gang were responsible for the impudent
+abduction of a customs officer and three men who had attempted to
+seize a run of goods at Shoreham.&nbsp; They wounded the officer
+and carried the four off to Hawkhurst, where they tied two of
+them, who had formerly been smugglers and had ratted to the
+customs service, to trees, whipped them almost to death, and then
+took them down to the coast again and shipped them to
+France.&nbsp; A reward of &pound;50 was offered, but never
+claimed.</p>
+<p>To exhume yet another incident from the forgotten doings of
+the time: In March 1745 a band of twelve or fourteen smugglers
+assaulted three custom-house officers whom they found in an
+alehouse at Grinstead Green, wounded them in a barbarous manner,
+and robbed them of their watches and money.</p>
+<p>In the same year a gang entered a farmhouse near Sheerness, in
+Sheppey, and stole a great quantity of wool, valued at
+&pound;1,500.&nbsp; A week later &pound;300 worth of wool, which
+may or may not have been a portion of that stolen, was seized
+upon a vessel engaged in smuggling it from Sheerness, and eight
+men were secured.</p>
+<p>The long immunity of the Hawkhurst Gang from serious
+interference inevitably led to its operations being extended in
+every direction, and the law-abiding populace of Kent and Sussex
+eventually found themselves dominated by a great <a
+name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 42</span>number of
+fearless marauders, whose will for a time was a greater law than
+the law of the land.&nbsp; None could take legal action against
+them without going hourly in personal danger, or in fear of
+house, crops, wheat-stacks, hay-ricks, or stock being burnt or
+otherwise injured.</p>
+<p>The village of Goudhurst, a picturesque spot situated upon a
+hill on the borders of Kent and Sussex, was the first place to
+resent this ignoble subserviency.&nbsp; The villagers and the
+farmers round about were wearied of having their horses
+commandeered by mysterious strangers for the carrying of
+contraband goods that did not concern them, and were determined
+no longer to have their houses raided with violence for money or
+anything else that took the fancy of these fellows.</p>
+<p>They had at last found themselves faced with the alternatives,
+almost incredible in a civilised country, of either deserting
+their houses and leaving their property at the mercy of these
+marauders, or of uniting to oppose by force their lawless
+inroads.&nbsp; The second alternative was chosen; a paper
+expressive of their abhorrence of the conduct of the smugglers,
+and of the determination to oppose them was drawn up and
+subscribed to by a considerable number of persons, who assumed
+the style of the &ldquo;Goudhurst Band of Militia.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+At their head was a young man named Sturt, who had recently been
+a soldier.&nbsp; He it was who had persuaded the villagers to be
+men, and make some spirited resistance.</p>
+<p>News of this unexpected stand on the part of <a
+name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 43</span>these
+hitherto meek-spirited people soon reached the ears of the
+dreaded Hawkhurst Gang, who contrived to waylay one of the
+&ldquo;Militia,&rdquo; and, by means of torture and imprisonment,
+extorted from him a full disclosure of the plans and intentions
+of his colleagues.&nbsp; They swore the man not to take up arms
+against them, and then let him go; telling him to inform the
+Goudhurst people that they would, on a certain day named, attack
+the place, murder every one in it, and then burn it to the
+ground.</p>
+<p>Sturt, on receiving this impudent message, assembled his
+&ldquo;Militia,&rdquo; and, pointing out to them the danger of
+the situation, employed them in earnest preparations.&nbsp; While
+some were sent to collect firearms, others were set to casting
+bullets and making cartridges, and to providing defences.</p>
+<p>Punctually at the time appointed (a piece of very bad policy
+on their part, by which they would appear to have been fools as
+well as rogues) the gang appeared, headed by Thomas Kingsmill,
+and fired a volley into the village, over the entrenchments
+made.&nbsp; The embattled villagers replied, some from the houses
+and roof-tops, and others from the leads of the church-tower;
+when George Kingsmill, brother of the leading spirit in the
+attack, was shot dead.&nbsp; He is alluded to in contemporary
+accounts as the person who had killed a man at Hurst Green, a few
+miles distant.</p>
+<p>In the firing that for some time continued two others of the
+smugglers, one Barnet Wollit <a name="page44"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 44</span>and a man whose name is not
+mentioned, were killed and several wounded.&nbsp; The rest then
+fled, pursued by the valorous &ldquo;Militia,&rdquo; who took a
+few prisoners, afterwards handed over by them to the law, and
+executed.</p>
+<p>Surprisingly little is heard of this&mdash;as we, in these
+more equable times, are prone to think it&mdash;extraordinary
+incident.&nbsp; A stray paragraph or so in the chronicles of the
+time is met with, and that is all.&nbsp; It was only one of the
+usual lawless doings of the age.</p>
+<p>But to-day the stranger in the village may chance, if he
+inquires a little into the history of the place, to hear wild and
+whirling accounts of this famous event; and, if he be at all
+enterprising, will find in the parish registers of burials this
+one piece of documentary evidence toward the execution done that
+day:</p>
+<blockquote><p>&ldquo;1747, Ap. 20, George Kingsmill, Dux sclerum
+glande plumbeo emisso, cecidit.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>All these things, moreover, are duly enshrined, amid much
+fiction, in the pages of G. P. R. James&rsquo;s novel, &ldquo;The
+Smuggler.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And still the story of outrage continued.&nbsp; On August
+14th, 1747, a band of twenty swaggering smugglers rode,
+well-armed and reckless, into Rye and halted at the &ldquo;Red
+Lion&rdquo; inn, where they remained drinking until they grew
+rowdy and violent.</p>
+<p>Coming into the street again, they discharged their pistols at
+random, and, as the old account of these things concludes,
+&ldquo;observing James <a name="page45"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 45</span>Marshall, a young man, too curious of
+their behaviour, carried him off, and he has not since been heard
+of.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>History tells us nothing of the fate of that unfortunate young
+man; but, from other accounts of the bloodthirsty characters of
+these Kentish and Sussex malefactors, we imagine the very
+worst.</p>
+<p>Others, contemporary with them&mdash;if, indeed, they were not
+the same men, as seems abundantly possible&mdash;captured two
+revenue officers near Seaford, and, securely pinning them down to
+the beach at low-water mark, so that they could not move, left
+them there, so that, when the tide rose, they were drowned.</p>
+<p>Again, on September 14th of this same year, 1747, a smuggler
+named Austin, violently resisting arrest, shot a sergeant dead
+with a blunderbuss at Maidstone.</p>
+<p>In &ldquo;The Smugglers&rsquo; Song&rdquo; Mr. Rudyard Kipling
+has vividly reconstructed those old times of dread, when, night
+and day, the numerous and well-armed bodies of smugglers openly
+traversed the country, terrorising every one.&nbsp; To look too
+curiously at these high-handed ruffians was, as we have already
+seen, an offence, and the most cautious among the rustics made
+quite sure of not incurring their high displeasure&mdash;and
+incidentally of not being called upon by the revenue authorities
+as witnesses to the identity of any among their number&mdash;by
+turning their faces the other way when the free-traders
+passed.&nbsp; Mothers, <a name="page46"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 46</span>too, were careful to bid their little
+ones on the Marshland roads, or in the very streets of New
+Romney, to turn their faces to the hedge-side, or to the wall,
+&ldquo;when the gentlemen went by.&rdquo;&nbsp; And&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p>If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse&rsquo;s
+feet,<br />
+Don&rsquo;t go drawing back the blind, or looking in the
+street;<br />
+Them that ask no questions isn&rsquo;t told a lie,<br />
+Watch the wall, my darling, while the gentlemen go by.</p>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Five and twenty ponies<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trotting through the
+dark&mdash;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Brandy for the parson;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &rsquo;Baccy for the clerk;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Laces for a lady; letters for a
+spy,</p>
+<p>And watch the wall, my darling, while the gentlemen go by.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p46.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The cautious turned their faces away"
+title=
+"The cautious turned their faces away"
+src="images/p46.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2><a name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+47</span>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">The &ldquo;Murders by Smugglers&rdquo; in
+Hampshire</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> most outstanding chapter in the
+whole history of smuggling is that of the cold-blooded
+&ldquo;Murders by Smugglers&rdquo; which stained the annals of
+the southern counties in the mid-eighteenth century with
+peculiarly revolting deeds that have in them nothing of romance;
+nothing but a long-drawn story of villainy and fiendish
+cruelty.&nbsp; It is a story that long made dwellers in solitary
+situations shiver with apprehension, especially if they owned
+relatives connected in any way with the hated customs
+officers.</p>
+<p>This grim chapter of horrors, upon which the historian can
+dwell only with loathing, and with pity for himself in being
+brought to the telling of it, was the direct outcome of the
+lawless and almost unchecked doings of the Hawkhurst Gang, whose
+daring grew continually with their long-continued success in
+terrorising the countryside.</p>
+<p>The beginnings of this affair are found in an expedition
+entered upon by a number of the gang in September 1747, in
+Guernsey, where they purchased a considerable quantity of tea, <a
+name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 48</span>for smuggling
+into this country.&nbsp; Unfortunately for their enterprise, they
+fell in with a revenue cutter, commanded by one Captain Johnson,
+who pursued and captured their vessel, took it into the port of
+Poole, and lodged the tea in the custom-house there.</p>
+<p>The smugglers were equally incensed and dismayed at this
+disaster, the loss being a very heavy one; and they resolved,
+rather than submit to it, to go in an armed force and recover the
+goods.&nbsp; Accordingly a mounted body of them, to the number of
+sixty, well provided with firearms and other weapons, assembled
+in what is described as &ldquo;Charlton Forest,&rdquo; probably
+Chalton Downs, between Petersfield and Poole, and thence
+proceeded on their desperate errand.&nbsp; Thirty of them, it was
+agreed, should go to the attack, while the other thirty should
+take up positions as scouts along the various roads, to watch for
+riding-officers, or for any military force, and so alarm, or
+actively assist, if needs were, the attacking party.</p>
+<p>It was in the midnight between October 6th and 7th that this
+advance party reached Poole, broke open the custom-house on the
+quay, and removed all the captured tea&mdash;thirty-seven
+hundredweight, valued at &pound;500&mdash;except one bag of about
+five pounds weight.&nbsp; They returned in the morning, in
+leisurely fashion, through Fordingbridge; the affair apparently
+so public that hundreds of people were assembled in the streets
+of that little town to see these daring fellows pass.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p48.jpg">
+<img alt=
+". . breaking open the Customs House at Poole"
+title=
+". . breaking open the Customs House at Poole"
+src="images/p48.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p><a name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 49</span>Among
+these spectators was one Daniel Chater, a shoemaker, who
+recognised among this cavalcade of smugglers a certain John
+Diamond, with whom he had formerly worked in the harvest
+field.&nbsp; Diamond shook hands with him as he passed, and threw
+him a bag of tea.</p>
+<p>It was not long before a proclamation was issued offering
+rewards for the identification or apprehension of any persons
+concerned in this impudent raid, and Diamond was in the meanwhile
+arrested on suspicion at Chichester.&nbsp; Chater, who seems to
+have been a foolish, gossiping fellow, saying he knew Diamond and
+saw him go by with the gang, became an object of considerable
+interest to his neighbours at Fordingbridge, who, having seen
+that present of a bag of tea&mdash;a very considerable present as
+the price of tea then ran&mdash;no doubt thought he knew more of
+the affair than he cared to tell.&nbsp; At any rate, these things
+came to the knowledge of the Collector of Customs at Southampton,
+and the upshot of several interviews and some correspondence with
+him was that Chater agreed to go in company with one William
+Galley, an officer of excise, to Major Battin, a Justice of the
+Peace and a Commissioner of Customs at Chichester, to be examined
+as to his readiness and ability to identify Diamond, whose
+punishment, on conviction, would be, under the savage laws of
+that time, death.</p>
+<p>Chater, in short, had offered himself as that detestable
+thing, a hired informer: a creature <a name="page50"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 50</span>all right-minded men abhor, and whom
+the smugglers of that age visited, whenever found, with
+persecution and often with the same extremity to which the law
+doomed themselves.</p>
+<p>The ill-fated pair set out on Sunday, February 14th, on
+horseback, and, calling on their way at Havant, were directed by
+a friend of Chater&rsquo;s at that place to go by way of
+Stanstead, near Rowlands Castle.&nbsp; They soon, however, missed
+their way, and calling at Leigh, at the &ldquo;New Inn,&rdquo; to
+refresh and to inquire the road, met there three men, George and
+Thomas Austin, and their brother-in-law, one Mr. Jenkes, who
+accompanied them to Rowlands Castle, where they all drew rein at
+the &ldquo;White Hart&rdquo; public-house, kept by a Mrs.
+Elizabeth Payne, a widow, who had two sons in the village,
+blacksmiths, and both reputed smugglers.</p>
+<p>Some rum was called for, and was being drank, when Mrs. Payne,
+taking George Austin aside, told him she was afraid these two
+strangers were after no good; they had come, she suspected, with
+intent to do some injury to the smugglers.&nbsp; Such was the
+state of the rural districts in those times that the appearance
+of two strangers was of itself a cause for distrust; but when, in
+addition, there was the damning fact that one of them wore the
+uniform of a riding-officer of excise, suspicion became almost a
+certainty.</p>
+<p>But to her remarks George Austin replied she need not be
+alarmed, the strangers were <a name="page51"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 51</span>only carrying a letter to Major
+Battin, on some ordinary official business.</p>
+<p>This explanation, however, served only to increase her
+suspicions, for what more likely than that this business with a
+man who was, among other things, a highly placed customs
+official, was connected in some way with these recent notorious
+happenings?</p>
+<p>To make sure, Mrs. Payne sent privately one of her sons, who
+was then in the house, for William Jackson and William Carter,
+two men deeply involved with smuggling, who lived near at
+hand.&nbsp; In the meanwhile Chater and Galley wanted to be gone
+upon their journey, and asked for their horses.&nbsp; Mrs. Payne,
+to keep them until Jackson and Carter should arrive, told them
+the man who had the key of the stables was gone for a while, but
+would return presently.</p>
+<p>As the unsuspecting men waited, gossiping and drinking, the
+two smugglers entered.&nbsp; Mrs. Payne drew them aside and
+whispered her suspicions; at the same time advising Mr. George
+Austin to go away, as she respected him, and was unwilling that
+any harm should come to him.</p>
+<p>It is thus sufficiently clear that, even at this early stage,
+some very serious mischief was contemplated.</p>
+<p>Mr. George Austin, being a prudent, if certainly not also an
+honest, man, did as he was advised.&nbsp; Thomas Austin, his
+brother, who does not appear to have in the same degree commanded
+the landlady&rsquo;s respect, was not warned, and <a
+name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 52</span>remained,
+together with his brother-in-law.&nbsp; To have won the
+reader&rsquo;s respect also, she should, at the very least of it,
+have warned them as well.&nbsp; But as this was obviously not a
+school of morals, we will not labour the point, and will bid Mr.
+George Austin, with much relief, &ldquo;goodbye.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Payne&rsquo;s other son then entered, bringing with him
+four more smugglers: William Steel, Samuel Downer, <i>alias</i>
+Samuel Howard, <i>alias</i> &ldquo;Little Sam,&rdquo; Edmund
+Richards, and Henry Sheerman, <i>alias</i> &ldquo;Little
+Harry.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>After a while Jackson took Chater aside into the yard, and
+asked him after Diamond; whereupon the simple-minded man let fall
+the object of his and his companion&rsquo;s journey.</p>
+<p>While they were talking, Galley, suspecting Chater would be in
+some way indiscreet, came out and asked him to rejoin them;
+whereupon Jackson, with a horrible oath, struck him a violent
+blow in the face, knocking him down.</p>
+<p>Galley then rushed into the house, Jackson following
+him.&nbsp; &ldquo;I am a King&rsquo;s officer,&rdquo; exclaimed
+the unfortunate Galley, &ldquo;and cannot put up with such
+treatment.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You a King&rsquo;s officer!&rdquo; replied Jackson,
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll make a King&rsquo;s officer of you; and for a
+quartern of gin I&rsquo;ll serve you so again!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The others interposed, one of the Paynes exclaiming,
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be such a fool; do you know what you are
+doing?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Galley and Chater grew very uneasy, and <a
+name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>again wanted
+to be going; but the company present, including Jackson, pressed
+them to stay, Jackson declaring he was sorry for what had
+passed.&nbsp; The entire party then sat down to more drink, until
+Galley and Chater were overcome by drunkenness and were sent to
+sleep in an adjoining room.&nbsp; Thomas Austin and Mr. Jenkes
+were by this time also hopelessly drunk; but as they had no
+concern with the smugglers, nor the smugglers with them, they
+drop out of this narrative.</p>
+<p>When Galley and Chater lay in their drunken sleep the
+compromising letters in their pockets were found and read, and
+the men present formed themselves into a kind of committee to
+decide what should be done with their enemies, as they thought
+them.&nbsp; John Race and Richard Kelly then came in, and Jackson
+and Carter told them they had got the old rogue, the shoemaker of
+Fordingbridge, who was going to give an information against John
+Diamond the shepherd, then in custody at Chichester.</p>
+<p>They then consulted what was best to be done to their two
+prisoners, when William Steel proposed to take them both to a
+well, a little way from the house, and to murder them and throw
+them in.&nbsp; Less ferocious proposals were made&mdash;to send
+them over to France; but when it became obvious that they would
+return and give the evidence after all, the thoughts of the seven
+men present reverted to murder.&nbsp; At this juncture the wives
+of Jackson and Carter, <a name="page54"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 54</span>who had entered the house, cried,
+&ldquo;Hang the dogs, for they came here to hang us!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Another proposition that was made&mdash;to imprison the two in
+some safe place until they knew what would be Diamond&rsquo;s
+fate, and for each of the smugglers to subscribe threepence a
+week for their keep&mdash;was immediately scouted; and instantly
+the brutal fury of these ruffians was aroused by Jackson, who,
+going into the room where the unfortunate men were lying, spurred
+them on their foreheads with the heavy spurs of his riding-boots,
+and, having thus effectually wakened them, whipped them into the
+kitchen of the inn until they were streaming with blood.&nbsp;
+Then, taking them outside, the gang lifted them on to a horse,
+one behind the other, and, tying their hands and legs together,
+lashed them with heavy whips along the road, crying, &ldquo;Whip
+them, cut them, slash them, damn them!&rdquo; one of their
+number, Edmund Richards, with cocked pistol in hand, swearing he
+would shoot any person through the head who should mention
+anything of what he saw or heard.</p>
+<p>From Rowlands Castle, past Wood Ashes, Goodthorpe Deane, and
+to Lady Holt Park, this scourging was continued through the
+night, until the wretched men were three parts dead.&nbsp; At two
+o&rsquo;clock in the morning this gruesome procession reached the
+Portsmouth Road at Rake, where the foremost members of the party
+halted at what was then the &ldquo;Red Lion&rdquo; inn, long
+since that time retired into private life, and now a <a
+name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 55</span>humble
+cottage.&nbsp; It was kept in those days by one Scardefield, who
+was no stranger to their kind, nor unused to the purchase and
+storing of smuggled spirits.&nbsp; Here they knocked and rattled
+at the door until Scardefield was obliged to get out of bed and
+open to them.&nbsp; Galley, still alive, was thrust into an
+outhouse, while the band, having roused the landlord and procured
+drink, caroused in the parlour of the inn.&nbsp; Chater they
+carried in with them; and when Scardefield stood horrified at
+seeing so ghastly a figure of a man, all bruised and broken, and
+spattered with blood, they told him a specious tale of an
+engagement they had had with the King&rsquo;s officers: that here
+was a comrade, wounded, and another, dead or dying, in his
+brew-house.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p54.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The &ldquo;Red Lion,&rdquo; Rake"
+title=
+"The &ldquo;Red Lion,&rdquo; Rake"
+src="images/p54.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Chater they presently carried to an outhouse of the cottage of
+a man named Mills, not far off, and then returned for more drink
+and discussion of what was to be done with Galley, whom they
+decided to bury in Harting Combe.&nbsp; So, while it was yet
+dark, they carried him down from the ridge on which Rake stands,
+into the valley, and, digging a grave in a fox-earth by the light
+of a lantern, shovelled the dirt over him, without inquiring too
+closely whether their victim were alive or dead.&nbsp; That he
+was not dead at that time became evident when his body was
+discovered eight months later, hands raised to his face, as
+though to prevent the earth from suffocating him.</p>
+<p><a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 56</span>The
+whole of the next day this evil company sat drinking in the
+&ldquo;Red Lion.&rdquo;&nbsp; Richard Mills, son of the man in
+whose turf-shed Chater lay chained by the leg, passing by, they
+hailed him and told him of what they had done; whereupon he said
+he would, if he had had the doing of it, have flung the man down
+Harting Combe headlong and broken his neck.</p>
+<p>On this Monday night they all returned home, lest their
+continued absence might be remarked by the neighbours; agreeing
+to meet again at Rake on the Wednesday evening, to consider how
+they might best put an end to Chater.</p>
+<p>When Wednesday night had come this council of murderers,
+reinforced by others, and numbering in all fourteen, assembled
+accordingly.&nbsp; Dropping into the &ldquo;Red Lion&rdquo; one
+by one, it was late at night before they had all gathered.</p>
+<p>They decided, after some argument, to dispatch him forthwith,
+and, going down to the turf-shed where he had lain all this
+while, suffering agonies from the cruel usage to which he had
+been subjected, they unchained him.&nbsp; Richard Mills at first
+had proposed to finish him there.&nbsp; &ldquo;Let us,&rdquo;
+said he, &ldquo;load a gun with two or three bullets, lay it upon
+a stand with the muzzle of the piece levelled at his head, and,
+after having tied a long string to the trigger, we will all go
+off to the butt-end, and, each of us taking hold of the string,
+pull it all together; thus we shall be all equally guilty of his
+death, and it will be impossible for any one of us to charge the
+rest with his murder, without <a name="page57"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 57</span>accusing himself of the same crime;
+and none can pretend to lessen or to mitigate his guilt by saying
+he was only an accessory, since all will be
+principals.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p56.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Chater being kicked and cut"
+title=
+"Chater being kicked and cut"
+src="images/p56.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Thus Richard Mills, according to the story of these things
+told in horrid detail (together with a full report of the
+subsequent trial) by the author of the contemporary
+&ldquo;Genuine History.&rdquo;&nbsp; The phraseology of the
+man&rsquo;s coldly logical proposals is, of course, that of the
+author himself; since it is not possible that a Sussex rustic of
+over a hundred and sixty years ago would have spoken in literary
+English.</p>
+<p>Mills&rsquo;s proposition was not accepted.&nbsp; It seemed to
+the others too merciful and expeditious a method of putting an
+end to Chater&rsquo;s misery.&nbsp; They had grown as epicurean
+in torture as the medi&aelig;val hell-hounds who racked and
+pinched and burnt for Church and State.&nbsp; They were resolved
+he should suffer as much and as long as they could eke out his
+life, as a warning to all other informers.</p>
+<p>The proposal that found most favour was that they should take
+him to Harris&rsquo;s Well, in Lady Holt Park, and throw him
+in.</p>
+<p>Tapner, one of the recruits to the gang, thereupon inaugurated
+the new series of torments by pulling out a large clasp-knife,
+and, with a fearful oath, exclaiming, &ldquo;Down on your knees
+and go to prayers, for with this knife I will be your
+butcher.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Chater, expecting every moment to be his last, knelt down as
+he was ordered, and, while he <a name="page58"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 58</span>was thus praying, Cobby kicked him
+from behind, while Tapner in front slashed his face.</p>
+<p>The elder Mills, owner of the turf-shed, at this grew alarmed
+for his own safety.&nbsp; &ldquo;Take him away,&rdquo; he said,
+&ldquo;and do not murder him here.&nbsp; Do it somewhere
+else.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They then mounted him on a horse and set out for Lady Holt
+Park; Tapner, more cruel, if possible, than the rest, slashing
+him with his knife, and whipping him with his whip, all the
+way.</p>
+<p>It was dead of night by the time they had come to the Park,
+where there was a deep dry well.&nbsp; A wooden fence stretched
+across the track leading to it, and over this, although it was in
+places broken and could easily have been crawled through, they
+made their victim climb.&nbsp; Tapner then pulled a rope out of
+his pocket and tied it round Chater&rsquo;s neck, and so pushed
+him over the opening of the well, where he hung, slowly
+strangling.</p>
+<p>But by this time they were anxious to get home, and could
+afford no more time for these luxuries of cruelty, so they
+dropped him to the bottom of the well, imagining he would be
+quite killed by the fall.&nbsp; Unfortunately for Chater, he was
+remarkably tenacious of life, and was heard groaning there, where
+he had fallen.</p>
+<p>They dared not leave him thus, lest any one passing should
+hear his cries, and went and roused a gardener, one William
+Combleach, who lived a little way off, and borrowed a ladder,
+telling him one of their companions had fallen into <a
+name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+59</span>Harris&rsquo;s Well.&nbsp; With this ladder they
+intended to descend the well and finally dispatch Chater; but,
+seeing they could not manage to lower the ladder, they were
+reduced to finding some huge stones and two great gateposts,
+which they then flung down, and so ended the unhappy man&rsquo;s
+martyrdom.</p>
+<p>The problem that next faced the murderers was, how to dispose
+of the two horses their victims had been riding.&nbsp; It was
+first proposed to put them aboard the next smuggling vessel
+returning to France, but that idea was abandoned, on account of
+the risk of discovery.&nbsp; It was finally decided to slaughter
+them and remove their skins, and this was accordingly done to the
+grey that Galley had ridden, and his hide cut up into small
+pieces and buried; but, when they came to look for the bay that
+Chater had used, they could not find him.</p>
+<h2><a name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+60</span>CHAPTER V</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">The &ldquo;Murders by Smugglers</span>&rdquo;
+<i>continued</i>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Trial and Execution of
+the Murderers</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Further Crimes by
+the Hawkhurst Gang</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Even</span> in those times two men, and
+especially men who had set out upon official business, could not
+disappear so utterly as Chater and Galley had done without
+comment being aroused, and presently the whole country was
+ringing with the news of this mysterious disappearance.&nbsp; The
+condition of the country can at once be guessed when it is stated
+that no one doubted the hands of the smugglers in this
+business.&nbsp; The only question was, in what manner had they
+spirited these two men away?&nbsp; Some thought they had been
+carried over to France, while others thought, shrewdly enough,
+they had been murdered.</p>
+<p>But no tidings nor any trace of either Galley or Chater came
+to satisfy public curiosity, or to allay official apprehensions,
+until some seven months later, when an anonymous letter sent to
+&ldquo;a person of distinction,&rdquo; and probably inspired by
+the hope of ultimately earning the large reward offered by the
+Government for information, hinted that &ldquo;the body of one of
+the unfortunate men mentioned in his Majesty&rsquo;s proclamation
+was <a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 61</span>buried
+in the sands in a certain place near Rake.&rdquo;&nbsp; And, sure
+enough, when search was made, the body of Galley was found
+&ldquo;standing almost upright, with his hands covering his
+eyes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Another letter followed upon this discovery, implicating
+William Steel in these doings, and he was immediately
+arrested.&nbsp; To save himself, the prisoner turned King&rsquo;s
+evidence, and revealed the whole dreadful story.&nbsp; John Race,
+among the others concerned, voluntarily surrendered, and was also
+admitted as evidence.</p>
+<p>One after another, seven of the murderers were arrested in
+different parts of the counties of Hants and Surrey, and were
+committed to the gaols of Horsham and Newgate, afterwards being
+sent to Chichester, where a special Assize was held for the
+purpose of overawing the smugglers of the district, and of
+impressing them with the majesty and the power of the law, which,
+it was desired to show them, would eventually overtake all
+evil-doers.</p>
+<p>We need not enter into the details of that trial, held on
+January 18th, 1749, and reported with painful elaboration by the
+author of the &ldquo;Genuine History,&rdquo; together with the
+sermon preached in Chichester Cathedral by Dean Ashburnham, who
+held forth in the obvious and conventional way of comfortably
+beneficed clergy, then and now.</p>
+<p>Let it be sufficient to say that all were found guilty, and
+all sentenced to be hanged on the following day.</p>
+<p><a name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 62</span>Six of
+them were duly executed, William Jackson, the seventh, dying in
+gaol.&nbsp; He had been for a considerable time in ill
+health.&nbsp; He was a Roman Catholic and the greatest villain of
+the gang, and, like all such, steeped in superstition.&nbsp;
+Carefully sewed up in a linen purse in his waistcoat pocket was
+found an amulet in French, which, translated, ran as follows:</p>
+<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">Ye three Holy Kings,<br
+/>
+Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar,<br />
+Pray for us now, and in the hour of death.</p>
+<p>These papers have touched the three heads of the Holy Kings at
+Cologne.</p>
+<p>They are to preserve travellers from accidents on the road,
+headaches, falling sickness, fevers, witchcraft, all kinds of
+mischief, and sudden death.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>His body was thrown into a pit on the Broyle, at Chichester,
+together with those of Richard Mills, the elder, and
+younger.&nbsp; The body of William Carter was hanged in chains
+upon the Portsmouth road, near Rake; that of Benjamin Tapner on
+Rook&rsquo;s Hill, near Chichester, and those of John Cobby and
+John Hammond upon the sea-coast near Selsea Bill, so that they
+might be seen for great distances by any contrabandists engaged
+in running goods.</p>
+<p>Another accomplice, Henry Shurman, or Sheerman, <i>alias</i>
+&ldquo;Little Harry,&rdquo; was indicted and tried at East
+Grinstead, and, being sentenced to death, was conveyed to Horsham
+Gaol by a strong guard of soldiers and hanged at Rake, and
+afterwards gibbeted.</p>
+<p>In January 1749, a brutal murder was <a
+name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 63</span>committed at
+the &ldquo;Dog and Partridge&rdquo; inn, on Slindon Common, near
+Arundel, where Richard Hawkins was whipped and kicked to death on
+suspicion of being concerned in stealing two bags of tea,
+belonging to one Jerry Curtis.&nbsp; Hawkins was enticed away
+from his work at Walberton, on some specious pretext, by Curtis
+and John Mills, known as &ldquo;Smoker,&rdquo; and went on
+horseback behind Mills to the &ldquo;Dog and Partridge,&rdquo;
+where they joined a man named Robb: all these men being
+well-known smugglers in that district.&nbsp; Having safely got
+Hawkins thus far, they informed him that he was their prisoner,
+and proceeded to put him under examination in the parlour of the
+inn.&nbsp; There were also present Thomas Winter (afterwards a
+witness for the prosecution), and James Reynolds, the
+innkeeper.</p>
+<p>Hawkins denied having stolen the tea, and said he knew nothing
+of the matter, whereupon Curtis replied, &ldquo;Damn you; you do
+know, and if you do not confess I will whip you till you do; for,
+damn you, I have whipped many a rogue and washed my hands in his
+blood.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Reynolds said, &ldquo;Dick, you had better confess; it will be
+better for you.&rdquo;&nbsp; But his answer still was, &ldquo;I
+know nothing of it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Reynolds then went out, and Mills and Robb thereupon beat and
+kicked Hawkins so ferociously that he cried out that the
+Cockrels, his father-in-law, and brother-in-law, who kept an inn
+at Yapton, were concerned in it.&nbsp; Curtis and Mills then took
+their horses and said they would go <a name="page64"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 64</span>and fetch them.&nbsp; Going to the
+younger Cockrel, Mills entered the house first and called for
+some ale.&nbsp; Then Curtis came in and demanded his two bags of
+tea, which he said Hawkins had accused him of having.&nbsp;
+Cockrel denied having them, and then Curtis beat him with an oak
+stick until he was tired.&nbsp; Curtis and Mills then forcibly
+took him to where his father was, at Walberton, and thence, with
+his father, behind them on their horses, towards Slindon.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile, at the &ldquo;Dog and Partridge,&rdquo; Robb and
+Winter placed the terribly injured man, Hawkins, in a chair by
+the fire, where he died.</p>
+<p>Robb and Winter then took their own horses and rode out
+towards Yapton, meeting Curtis and Mills on the way, each with a
+man behind him.&nbsp; The men, who were the Cockrels, were told
+to get off, which they did, and the four others held a whispered
+conversation, when Winter told them that Hawkins was dead, and
+desired them to do no more mischief.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;By God!&rdquo; exclaimed Curtis, &ldquo;we will go
+through it now.&rdquo;&nbsp; Winter again urged them to be
+content with what had already been done; and Curtis then bade the
+two Cockrels return home.</p>
+<p>Then they all four rode back to the &ldquo;Dog and
+Partridge,&rdquo; where Reynolds was in despair, saying to
+Curtis, &ldquo;You have ruined me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p64.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The whipping of Richard Rowland"
+title=
+"The whipping of Richard Rowland"
+src="images/p64.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Curtis replied that he would make him amends; and they all
+then consulted how to dispose of the body.&nbsp; The first
+proposition was to bury it <a name="page65"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 65</span>in a park close at hand, and to give
+out that the smugglers had deported Hawkins to France.&nbsp; But
+Reynolds objected.&nbsp; The spot, he said, was too near, and
+would soon be found.&nbsp; In the end, they laid the body on a
+horse and carried it to Parham Park, twelve miles away, where
+they tied large stones to it, and sunk it in a pond.</p>
+<p>This crime was in due course discovered, and a proclamation
+issued, offering a pardon to any one, not himself concerned in
+the murder, nor in the breaking open of the custom-house at
+Poole, who should give information that would lead to the capture
+and conviction of the offenders.</p>
+<p>William Pring, an outlawed smuggler, who had heard some gossip
+of this affair among his smuggling acquaintance, and was
+apparently wishful of beginning a new life, determined to make a
+bid for his pardon for past offences, and, we are told,
+&ldquo;applied to a great man in power,&rdquo; informing him that
+he knew Mills, and that if he could be assured of his pardon he
+would endeavour to take him, for he was pretty certain to find
+him either at Bristol or Bath, whither he knew he was gone, to
+sell some run goods.</p>
+<p>Being assured of his pardon, he set out accordingly, and found
+not only Mills, but two brothers, Lawrence and Thomas Kemp,
+themselves smugglers and highway robbers, and wanted for various
+offences; Thomas Kemp being additionally in request for having
+broken out of Newgate.</p>
+<p>The informer, Pring, artfully talking matters <a
+name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 66</span>over with
+these three, and observing that the cases of all of them were
+desperate, offered the advice that they should all accompany him
+towards London, to his house at Beckenham, where they would
+decide upon some plan for taking to highway robbery and
+house-breaking, in the same manner as Gregory&rsquo;s Gang <a
+name="citation66"></a><a href="#footnote66"
+class="citation">[66]</a> used to do.</p>
+<p>This they all heartily agreed to, and confidentially, on the
+journey up to Beckenham, spoke and bragged of their various
+crimes.</p>
+<p>Arrived at Beckenham, Pring made a plausible excuse to leave
+them awhile at his house, while he fetched his mare, in exchange
+for the very indifferent horse he had ridden.&nbsp; It would
+never do, he said, when on their highway business, for one of the
+company to be badly horsed.</p>
+<p>He left the house and rode hurriedly to Horsham, whence he
+returned with eight or nine mounted officers of excise.&nbsp;
+They arrived at midnight, and found his three guests sitting down
+to supper.</p>
+<p>The two Kemps were easily secured, and tied by the arms; but
+Mills would not so readily submit, and was slashed with a sword
+before he would give in.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p66.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The &ldquo;Dog and Partridge,&rdquo; Slindon Common"
+title=
+"The &ldquo;Dog and Partridge,&rdquo; Slindon Common"
+src="images/p66.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>John Mills was a son of Richard Mills, and a brother of
+Richard Mills the younger, executed at Chichester for the murder
+of Chater and Galley, <a name="page67"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 67</span>as already detailed, and he also had
+taken part in that business.&nbsp; Brought to trial at East
+Grinstead, he said he had indeed been a very wicked liver, but he
+bitterly complained of such of the witnesses against him as had
+been smugglers and had turned King&rsquo;s evidence.&nbsp; They
+had, he declared, acted contrary from the solemn oaths and
+engagements they had made and sworn to among themselves, and he
+therefore wished they might all come to the same end, and be
+hanged like him and damned afterwards.</p>
+<p>He was found guilty and duly sentenced to death, and was
+hanged and afterwards hung in chains on a gibbet erected for the
+purpose on Slindon Common, near the &ldquo;Dog and
+Partridge.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Curtis, an active partner in the same murder, fled the
+country, and was said to have enlisted in the Irish Brigade of
+the French Army.&nbsp; Robb was not taken, and Reynolds was
+acquitted of the murder.&nbsp; He and his wife were tried at the
+next Assizes, as accessories after the fact.</p>
+<p>The &ldquo;Dog and Partridge&rdquo; has long ceased to be an
+inn, but the house survives, a good deal altered, as a
+cottage.&nbsp; In the garden may be seen a very capacious cellar,
+excavated out of the soil and sandstone, and very much larger
+than a small country inn could have ever required for ordinary
+business purposes.&nbsp; It is known as the
+&ldquo;Smugglers&rsquo; Cellar.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At the same sessions at which these bloodstained scoundrels
+were convicted a further body of five men, Lawrence and Thomas
+Kemp, John <a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+68</span>Brown, Robert Fuller, and Richard Savage, were all tried
+on charges of highway robbery, of housebreaking, and of stealing
+goods from a wagon.&nbsp; They were all members of the notorious
+Hawkhurst Gang, and had been smugglers for many years.&nbsp; All
+were found guilty and sentenced to death, except Savage, who was
+awarded transportation for life.&nbsp; The rest were executed at
+Horsham on April 1st, 1749.&nbsp; One of them had at least once
+already come near to being capitally convicted, but had been
+rescued from Newgate by a party of fellow-smugglers before
+justice could complete her processes.</p>
+<p>These rescuers were in their turn arrested on other charges,
+and brought to trial at Rochester Assizes, with other
+malefactors, in March 1750.&nbsp; They were four notorious
+smugglers, Stephen Diprose, James Bartlett, Thomas Potter, and
+William Priggs, who were all executed on Penenden Heath, on March
+30th.</p>
+<p>Bartlett, pressed to declare, after sentence, if he had been
+concerned in any murders, particularly in that of Mr. Castle, an
+excise officer who had been shot on Selhurst Common by a gang of
+smugglers, would not give a positive answer, and it was therefore
+supposed he was concerned in it.</p>
+<p>Potter described some of the doings of the gang, and told how,
+fully armed, they would roam the country districts at night,
+disguised, with blackened faces, and appear at lonely houses,
+where they would seize and bind the <a name="page69"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 69</span>people they found, and then proceed
+to plunder at their leisure.</p>
+<p>In the short interval that in those days was allowed between
+sentence and execution Potter was very communicative, and
+disclosed a long career of crime; but he declared that murder had
+never been committed by him.&nbsp; He had, it was true, proposed
+to murder the turnkey at Newgate at the time when he and his
+companions rescued their friends languishing in that doleful
+hold: but it had not, after all, been found necessary.</p>
+<p>This, it will be conceded, was sufficiently frank and
+open.&nbsp; The official account of that rescue was that Thomas
+Potter and three other smugglers came into the press-yard at
+Newgate to visit two prisoners, Thomas Kemp and William Grey,
+also of the Hawkhurst Gang, when they agreed at all hazards to
+assist in getting them out.&nbsp; Accordingly the time was fixed
+(Kemp having no irons, and Grey having his so managed as to be
+able to let them fall off when he pleased), and Potter and the
+other three went again to the press-yard and rang the bell for
+the turnkey to come and let them in.&nbsp; When he came and
+unlocked the door Potter immediately knocked him down with a
+horse-pistol, and cut him terribly; and Kemp and Grey made their
+escape, while Potter and his companions got clear away without
+being discovered.&nbsp; Three other prisoners at the same time
+broke loose, but were immediately recaptured, having irons
+on.</p>
+<p><a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 70</span>All
+these men were, in fact, originally smugglers, and had, from
+being marked down as criminals for that offence, and from being
+&ldquo;wanted&rdquo; by the law, found themselves obliged to keep
+in hiding from their homes.&nbsp; In default of being able to
+take part in other runs of smuggled goods, and finding themselves
+unable to get employment, they were driven to other, and more
+serious, crimes.</p>
+<p>On April 4th of the same year four other members of the
+terrible Hawkhurst Gang&mdash;Kingsmill, Fairall, Perrin, and
+Glover by name&mdash;were together brought to trial at the Old
+Bailey, charged with being concerned in the Poole affair, the
+breaking open of the custom-house, and the stealing of goods
+therefrom.&nbsp; They had been betrayed to the Government by the
+same two ex-smugglers who had turned King&rsquo;s evidence at the
+Chichester trial, and their evidence again secured a
+conviction.&nbsp; Glover, recommended by the jury to the royal
+mercy, was eventually pardoned; but the remaining three were
+hanged.&nbsp; Fairall behaved most insolently at the trial, and
+even threatened one of the witnesses.&nbsp; Glover displayed
+penitence; and Kingsmill and Perrin insisted that they had not
+been guilty of any robbery, because the goods they had taken were
+their own.</p>
+<p>Kingsmill had been leader in the ferocious attack on Goudhurst
+in April 1747, and was an extremely dangerous ruffian, ready for
+any extremity.</p>
+<p><a name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>Fairall
+was proved to be a particularly desperate fellow.&nbsp; Two years
+earlier he had been apprehended, as a smuggler, in Sussex, and,
+being brought before Mr. Butler, a magistrate, at Lewes, was
+remitted by him for trial in London.</p>
+<p>Brought under escort overnight to the New Prison in the
+Borough, Fairall found means to make a dash from the custody of
+his guards, and, leaping upon a horse that was standing in
+Blackman Street, rode away and escaped, within sight of numerous
+people.</p>
+<p>Returning to the gang, who were reasonably surprised at his
+safe return from the jaws of death, he was filled with an
+unreasoning hatred of Mr. Butler, the justice who, in the
+ordinary course of his duty, had committed him.&nbsp; He proposed
+a complete and terrible revenge: firstly, by destroying all the
+deer in his park, and all his trees, which was readily agreed to
+by the gang; and then, since those measures were not extreme
+enough for them, the idea was discussed of setting fire to his
+house and burning him alive in it.&nbsp; Some of the
+conspirators, however, thought this too extreme a step, and they
+parted without coming to any decision.&nbsp; Fairall, Kingsmill,
+and others, however, determined not to be baulked, then each
+procured a brace of pistols, and waited for the magistrate, near
+his own park wall, to shoot him when he returned home that night
+from a journey to Horsham.</p>
+<p>Fortunately for him, some accident kept him from returning,
+and the party of would-be <a name="page72"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 72</span>assassins, tired of waiting, at last
+said to one another, &ldquo;Damn him, he will not come home
+to-night!&nbsp; Let us be gone about our business.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+They then dispersed, swearing they would watch for a month
+together, but they would have him; and that they would make an
+example of all who should dare to obstruct them.</p>
+<p>Perrin&rsquo;s body was directed to be given to his friends,
+instead of being hanged in chains, and he was pitying the
+misfortunes of his two companions, who were not only, like
+himself, to be hanged, but whose bodies were afterwards to be
+gibbeted, when Fairall said, &ldquo;<i>We</i> shall be hanging up
+in the sweet air when <i>you</i> are rotting in your
+grave.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Fairall kept a bold front to the very last.&nbsp; The night
+before the execution, he smoked continually with his friends,
+until ordered by the warder to go to his cell; when he exclaimed,
+&ldquo;Why in such a hurry?&nbsp; Cannot you let me stay a little
+longer with my friends?&nbsp; I shall not be able to drink with
+them to-morrow night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But perhaps there was more self-pity in those apparently
+careless words and in that indifferent demeanour than those
+thought who heard them.</p>
+<p>Kingsmill was but twenty-eight years of age, and Fairall
+twenty-five, at the time of their execution, which took place at
+Tyburn on April 26th, 1749.&nbsp; Fairall&rsquo;s body was hanged
+in chains on Horsenden Green, and that of Kingsmill on Goudhurst
+Gore, appropriately near the frighted village whose inhabitants
+he had <a name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+73</span>promised the vengeance of himself and his reckless
+band.</p>
+<p>When G. P. R. James wrote his romance, &ldquo;The
+Smuggler,&rdquo; about the middle of the nineteenth century,
+reminiscences of the smuggling age were yet fresh, and many an
+one who had passed his youth and middle age in the art was still
+in a hale and hearty eld, ready to tell wonderful stories of
+bygone years.&nbsp; James therefore heard at first hand all the
+ins and outs of this shy business; and although his story deals
+with the exploits of the Ransley Gang (whom he styles
+&ldquo;Ramley&rdquo;) of a much earlier period, the circumstances
+of smuggling, and the conditions prevailing in Kent and Sussex,
+remained much the same in the experiences of the elderly
+ex-smugglers he met.&nbsp; What he has to say is therefore of
+more than common value.</p>
+<p>Scarcely any one of the maritime counties, he tells us, was
+without its gang of smugglers; for if France was not opposite,
+Holland was not far off; and if brandy was not the object, nor
+silk, nor wine, yet tea and cinnamon, and hollands, and various
+East India goods, were duly estimated by the British public,
+especially when they could be obtained without the payment of
+custom-house dues.</p>
+<p>As there are land-sharks and water-sharks, so there were
+land-smugglers and water-smugglers.&nbsp; The latter brought the
+objects of their commerce either from foreign countries or from
+foreign vessels, and landed them on the coast&mdash;and a <a
+name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 74</span>bold, daring,
+reckless body of men they were; the former, in gangs, consisting
+frequently of many hundreds, generally well-mounted and armed,
+conveyed the commodities so landed into the interior and
+distributed them to others, who retailed them as occasion
+required.&nbsp; Nor were these gentry one whit less fearless,
+enterprising, and lawless than their brethren of the sea.</p>
+<p>The ramifications of this vast and magnificent league extended
+themselves to almost every class of society.&nbsp; Each tradesman
+smuggled, or dealt in smuggled goods; each public-house was
+supported by smugglers, and gave them in return every facility
+possible; each country gentleman on the coast dabbled a little in
+the interesting traffic; almost every magistrate shared in the
+proceeds, or partook of the commodities.&nbsp; Scarcely a house
+but had its place of concealment, which would accommodate either
+kegs or bales, or human beings, as the case might be; and many
+streets in seaport towns had private passages from one house to
+another, so that the gentleman inquired for by the officers at
+No. 1 was often walking quietly out of No. 20, while they were
+searching for him in vain.&nbsp; The back of one street had
+always excellent means of communication with the front of
+another, and the gardens gave exit to the country with as little
+delay as possible.</p>
+<p>Of all counties, however, the most favoured by nature and art
+for the very pleasant and exciting sport of smuggling was the
+county of <a name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+75</span>Kent.&nbsp; Its geographical position, its local
+features, its variety of coast, all afforded it the greatest
+advantages, and the daring character of the natives on the shores
+of the Channel was sure to turn those advantages to the purposes
+in question.&nbsp; Sussex, indeed, was not without its share of
+facilities, nor did the Sussex men fail to improve them; but they
+were so much farther off from the opposite coast that the chief
+commerce&mdash;the regular trade&mdash;was not in any degree at
+Hastings, Rye, or Winchelsea to be compared with that carried on
+from the North Foreland to Romney Hoy.&nbsp; At one time the fine
+level of the Marsh, a dark night, and a fair wind, afforded a
+delightful opportunity for landing a cargo and carrying it
+rapidly into the interior; at another, Sandwich Flats and
+Pevensey Bay presented harbours of refuge and places of repose
+for kegs innumerable and bales of great value; at another, the
+cliffs round Folkestone and near the South Foreland saw spirits
+travelling up by paths which seemed inaccessible to mortal foot;
+and at another, the wild and broken ground at the back of
+Sandgate was traversed by long trains of horses, escorting or
+carrying every description of contraband articles.</p>
+<p>The interior of the county was not less favourable to the
+traffic than the coast: large masses of wood, numerous
+gentlemen&rsquo;s parks, hills and dales tossed about in wild
+confusion; roads such as nothing but horses could travel, or men
+on foot, often constructed with felled <a name="page76"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 76</span>trees or broad stones laid side by
+side; wide tracts of ground, partly copse and partly moor, called
+in that county &ldquo;minnises,&rdquo; and a long extent of the
+Weald of Kent, through which no highway existed, and where such a
+thing as coach or carriage was never seen, offered the
+land-smugglers opportunities of carrying on their transactions
+with a degree of secrecy and safety no other county
+afforded.&nbsp; Their numbers, too, were so great, their boldness
+and violence so notorious, their powers of injuring or annoying
+so various, that even those who took no part in their operations
+were glad to connive at their proceedings, and at times to aid in
+concealing their persons or their goods.&nbsp; Not a park, not a
+wood, not a barn, that did not at some period afford them a
+refuge when pursued, or become a depository for their
+commodities, and many a man, on visiting his stables or his
+cart-shed early in the morning, found it tenanted by anything but
+horses or wagons.&nbsp; The churchyards were frequently crowded
+at night by other spirits than those of the dead, and not even
+the church was exempted from such visitations.</p>
+<p>None of the people of the county took notice of, or opposed
+these proceedings.&nbsp; The peasantry laughed at, or aided, and
+very often got a good day&rsquo;s work, or, at all events, a jug
+of genuine hollands, from the friendly smugglers; the clerk and
+the sexton willingly aided and abetted, and opened the door of
+vault, or vestry, or church for the reception of the passing
+goods; the clergyman <a name="page77"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 77</span>shut his eyes if he saw tubs or jars
+in his way; and it is remarkable what good brandy-punch was
+generally to be found at the house of the village pastor.&nbsp;
+The magistrates of the county, when called upon to aid in pursuit
+of the smugglers, looked grave and swore in constables very
+slowly, dispatched servants on horseback to see what was going
+on, and ordered the steward or the butler to &ldquo;send the
+sheep to the wood&rdquo;: an intimation not lost upon those for
+whom it was intended.&nbsp; The magistrates and officers of
+seaport towns were in general so deeply implicated in the trade
+themselves that smuggling had a fairer chance than the law, in
+any case that came before them; and never was a more hopeless
+enterprise undertaken, in ordinary circumstances, than that of
+convicting a smuggler, unless captured <i>in flagrante
+delicto</i>.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p76.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"&ldquo;For our Parson&rdquo;"
+title=
+"&ldquo;For our Parson&rdquo;"
+src="images/p76.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2><a name="page78"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+78</span>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">Outrage at Hastings by the Ruxley
+Gang</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Battle on the
+Whitstable-Canterbury Road</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Church-Towers as Smugglers&rsquo;
+Cellars</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Drummer of
+Herstmonceux</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Epitaph at
+Tandridge</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Deplorable Affair at
+Hastings</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Incident of
+&ldquo;The Four Brothers</span>&rdquo;</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Sussex</span> was again the scene of a
+barbarous incident, in 1768; and on this occasion seafaring men
+were the malefactors.</p>
+<p>It is still an article of faith with the writers of
+guide-books who do not make their own inquiries, and thus
+perpetuate obsolete things, that to call a Hastings fisherman a
+&ldquo;Chop-back&rdquo; will rouse him to fury.&nbsp; But when a
+modern visitor, primed with such romance as this, timidly
+approaches one of these broad-shouldered and amply-paunched
+fisherfolk and suggests &ldquo;Chop-backs&rdquo; as a subject of
+inquiry, I give you my word they only look upon you with a
+puzzled expression, and don&rsquo;t understand in the least your
+meaning.</p>
+<p>But in an earlier generation this was a term of great offence
+to the Hastingers.&nbsp; It arose, according to tradition, from
+the supposed descent <a name="page79"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 79</span>of these fisherfolk from the Norse
+rovers who used the axe, and cleaved their enemies with them from
+skull to chine.&nbsp; But the true facts of the case are laid to
+the account of some of the notorious Ruxley Gang, who in 1768
+boarded a Dutch hoy, the <i>Three Sisters</i>, in mid-channel, on
+pretence of trading, and chopped the master, Peter Bootes, down
+the back with a hatchet.&nbsp; This horrid deed might never have
+come to light had not these ruffians betrayed themselves by
+bragging to one another of their cleverness, and dwelling upon
+the way in which the Dutchman wriggled when they had slashed him
+on the backbone.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p78.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Chop-Backs"
+title=
+"The Chop-Backs"
+src="images/p78.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The Government in November of that year sent a detachment of
+two hundred Inniskilling Dragoons to Hastings, to arrest the men
+implicated, and a man-o&rsquo;-war and cutter lay off shore to
+receive them when they had been taken prisoners.&nbsp; The
+soldiers had strict orders to keep their mission secret, but the
+day after their arrival they were called out to arrest rioters
+who had violently assaulted the Mayor, whom they suspected of
+laying information against the murderers.&nbsp; The secret of the
+reason for the soldiers&rsquo; coming had evidently in some
+manner leaked out.&nbsp; Several arrests of rioters were made,
+and the men implicated in the outrage on the Dutch boat were duly
+taken into custody.</p>
+<p>The whole affair was so closely interwoven with smuggling that
+it was by many suspected that the men who had been seized were
+held for that offence as well; and persons in the higher <a
+name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 80</span>walks of the
+smuggling business, namely, those who financed it, and those
+others who largely purchased the goods, grew seriously alarmed
+for their own liberty.&nbsp; In the panic that thus laid hold of
+the town a well-to-do shopkeeper absconded altogether.</p>
+<p>Thirteen men were indicted in the Admiralty Court on October
+30th, 1769, for piracy and murder on the high seas; namely,
+Thomas Phillips, elder and younger, William and George Phillips,
+Mark Chatfield, Robert Webb, Thomas and Samuel Ailsbury, James
+and Richard Hyde, William Geary, <i>alias</i> Justice,
+<i>alias</i> George Wood, Thomas Knight, and William Wenham, and
+were capitally convicted.&nbsp; Of these, four, Thomas Ailsbury,
+William Geary, William Wenham, and Richard Hyde, were hanged at
+Execution Dock, November 27th.</p>
+<p>The next most outstanding incident, a bloody affray which
+occurred on February 26th, 1780, belongs to Kent.</p>
+<p>As Mr. Joseph Nicholson, supervisor of excise, was removing to
+Canterbury a large seizure of geneva he had made at Whitstable, a
+numerous body of smugglers followed him and his escort of a
+corporal and eight troopers of the 4th Dragoons.&nbsp; Fifty of
+the smugglers had firearms, and, coming up with the escort,
+opened fire without warning or demanding their goods.&nbsp; Two
+Dragoons were killed on the spot, and two others dangerously
+wounded.&nbsp; The smugglers then loaded up the goods and
+disappeared.&nbsp; A reward of &pound;100 was at <a
+name="page81"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 81</span>once offered
+by the Commissioners of Excise, with a pardon, for informers; and
+Lieutenant-Colonel Hugonin, of the 4th Dragoons, offered another
+&pound;50.&nbsp; John Knight, of Whitstable, was shortly
+afterwards arrested, on information received, and was tried and
+convicted at Maidstone Assizes.&nbsp; He was hanged on Penenden
+Heath and his body afterwards gibbeted on Borstal Hill, the spot
+where the attack had been made.</p>
+<p>The south held unquestioned pre-eminence, as long as smuggling
+activities lasted, and the records of bloodshed and hard-fought
+encounters are fullest along the coasts of Kent and Sussex.&nbsp;
+Sometimes, but not often, they are varied by a touch of
+humour.</p>
+<p>The convenience afforded by churches for the storing of
+smuggled goods is a commonplace of the history of smuggling; and
+there is scarce a seaboard church of which some like tale is not
+told, while not a few inland church-towers and churchyards enjoy
+the same reputation.&nbsp; Asked to account for this almost
+universal choice of a hiding-place by the smugglers, a parish
+clerk of that age supposed, truly enough, that it was because no
+one was ever likely to go near a church, except on Sundays.&nbsp;
+This casts an instructive side-light upon the Church of England
+and religion at any time from two hundred to seventy or eighty
+years ago.</p>
+<p>But a tale of more than common humour was told of the old
+church at Hove, near Brighton, many years ago.&nbsp; It seems
+that this ancient <a name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+82</span>building had been greatly injured by fire in the middle
+of the seventeenth century, but that the population was so small
+and so little disposed to increase that a mere patching up of the
+ruins was sufficient for local needs.&nbsp; Moreover, the
+spiritual needs of the place were considered to be so small that
+Hove and Preston parishes were ecclesiastically united, and were
+served by one clergyman, who conducted service at each parish
+church on alternate Sundays.&nbsp; At a later period, indeed,
+Hove church was used only once in six weeks.</p>
+<p>But in the alternate Sunday period the smugglers of this then
+lonely shore found the half-ruined church of Hove peculiarly
+useful for their trade; hence the following story.</p>
+<p>One &ldquo;Hove Sunday&rdquo; the vicar, duly robed, appeared
+here to take the duty, and found, greatly to his surprise, that
+no bell was ringing to call the faithful to worship.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Why is the bell not ringing?&rdquo; demanded the
+vicar.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Preston Sunday, sir,&rdquo; returned the sexton
+shortly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; replied the vicar.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Indeed, then, sir, &rsquo;tis.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But the vicar was not to be argued out of his own plain
+conviction that he had taken Preston last Sunday, and desired the
+sexton to start the bell-ringing at once.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Taint no good, then, sir,&rdquo; said the
+sexton, beaten back into his last ditch of defence; &ldquo;you
+can&rsquo;t preach to-day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p82.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Drummer of Herstmonceux"
+title=
+"The Drummer of Herstmonceux"
+src="images/p82.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p><a name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+83</span>&ldquo;<i>Can&rsquo;t</i>, fellow?&rdquo; angrily
+responded the vicar; &ldquo;what do you mean by
+&lsquo;can&rsquo;t&rsquo;?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, then, sir,&rdquo; said the sexton, &ldquo;if you
+must know, the church is full of tubs, and the pulpit&rsquo;s
+full of tea.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>An especially impudent smuggling incident was reported from
+Hove on Sunday, October 16th, 1819, in the following words:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A suspected smuggling boat being seen off Hove by some
+of the custom-house officers, they, with two of the crew of the
+<i>Hound</i> revenue cutter, gave chase in a galley.&nbsp; On
+coming up with the boat their suspicions were confirmed, and they
+at once boarded her; but while intent on securing their prize,
+nine of the smugglers leapt into the <i>Hound&rsquo;s</i> galley
+and escaped.&nbsp; Landing at Hove, seven of them got away at
+once, two being taken prisoners by some officers who were waiting
+for them.&nbsp; Upon this a large company of smugglers assembled,
+at once commenced a desperate attack upon the officers, and,
+having overpowered them, assaulted them with stones and large
+sticks, knocked them down, and cut the belts of the chief
+officer&rsquo;s arms, which they took away, and thereby enabled
+the two prisoners to escape.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A reward of &pound;200 was offered, but without result.&nbsp;
+The cargo of the smugglers consisted of 225 tubs of gin, 52 tubs
+of brandy, and one bag of tobacco.</p>
+<p>Many of the ghost-stories of a hundred years and more ago
+originated in the smugglers&rsquo; <a name="page84"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 84</span>midnight escapades.&nbsp; It was, of
+course, entirely to their advantage that superstitious people who
+heard unaccountable sounds and saw indescribable sights should go
+off with the notion that supernatural beings were about, and
+resolve thenceforward to go those haunted ways no more.&nbsp; The
+mysterious &ldquo;ghostly drummer&rdquo; of Herstmonceux, who was
+often heard and seen by terrified rustics whose way led them past
+the ruined castle at night, was a confederate of the Hastings and
+Eastbourne smugglers, to whom those roofless walls and the hoary
+tombs of the adjoining churchyard were valuable
+storehouses.&nbsp; Rubbed with a little phosphorus, and parading
+those spots once in a way with his drum, they soon became
+shunned.&nbsp; The tombstones in Herstmonceux churchyard, mostly
+of the kind known as &ldquo;altar-tombs,&rdquo; had slabs which
+the smugglers easily made to turn on swivels; and from them
+issued at times spirits indeed, but not such as would frighten
+many men.&nbsp; The haunted character of Herstmonceux ceased with
+the establishment of the coastguard in 1831, and the drummer was
+heard to drum no more.</p>
+<p>The churchyards of the Sussex coast and its neighbourhood
+still bear witness to the fatal affrays between excisemen and
+smugglers that marked those times; and even far inland may be
+found epitaphs on those who fell, breathing curses and Divine
+vengeance on the persons who brought them to an untimely
+end.&nbsp; Thus at Tandridge, Surrey, near Godstone, may be seen
+a tall <a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+85</span>tombstone beside the south porch of the church, to one
+Thomas Todman, aged thirty-one years, who was shot dead in a
+smuggling affray in 1781.&nbsp; Here follow the lamentable
+verses, oddities of grammar, spelling, and punctuation duly
+preserved:</p>
+<blockquote><p>Thou Shall do no Murder, nor Shalt thou Steal<br
+/>
+are the Commands Jehovah did Reveal<br />
+but thou O Wretch, Without fear or dread<br />
+of Thy Tremendous Maker Shot me dead<br />
+Amidst my strength my sins forgive<br />
+As I through Boundless Mercy<br />
+hope to live.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The prudery of some conscientious objector to the word
+&ldquo;wretch&rdquo; has caused it to be almost obliterated.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p84.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Tandridge church"
+title=
+"Tandridge church"
+src="images/p84.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>At Patcham, near Brighton, the weatherworn epitaph on the
+north side of the church to Daniel Scales may still with
+difficulty be deciphered:</p>
+<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">Sacred to the memory of
+<span class="smcap">Daniel Scales</span><br />
+who was unfortunately shot on Thursday evening,<br />
+November 7th 1796</p>
+<p>Alas! swift flew the fatal lead,<br />
+Which pierc&egrave;d through the young man&rsquo;s head<br />
+He instant fell, resigned his breath,<br />
+And closed his languid eyes in death.<br />
+All you who do this stone draw near,<br />
+Oh! pray let fall the pitying tear.<br />
+From this sad instance may we all,<br />
+Prepare to meet Jehovah&rsquo;s call.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Daniel Scales was one of a desperate smuggling gang, who had
+had many narrow escapes, but was at last shot through the
+head.</p>
+<p><a name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 86</span>Again,
+at Westfield, Sussex, not far from Rye, may be found an old
+stone, rapidly going to decay, bearing some lines to the memory
+of a smuggler named Moon:</p>
+<blockquote><p>&ldquo;In Memory of John Moon, who was deprived of
+life by a base man, on the 20th of June 1809, in the 28th year of
+his age.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">&rsquo;Tis mine to-day to moulder
+in the earth. . . .&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The rest is not now readable.</p>
+<p>Among the many tragical incidents of the smuggling era was the
+affray aboard a fishing-smack off Hastings in March 1821, in
+which a fisherman named Joseph Swain, supposed by the blockading
+officers of the preventive force to be a smuggler, was
+killed.&nbsp; Fishing-boats and their crews were, as a matter of
+course, searched by these officials; but the boat boarded by them
+on this occasion belonged to Swain, who denied having any
+contraband goods aboard and refused to permit the search.&nbsp;
+So strenuous a refusal as Swain offered would seem, in those
+times, of itself sufficient evidence of the presence of smuggled
+articles, and the boarders persisted.&nbsp; A sailor among them,
+George England by name, pressed forward to the attack, and Swain
+seized his cutlass and tore it out of his hand; whereupon England
+drew a pistol and fired at Swain, who instantly fell dead.</p>
+<p>An epitaph in the churchyard of All Saints, Hastings, bears
+witness to this incident:</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p86.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Tombstone at Tandridge"
+title=
+"Tombstone at Tandridge"
+src="images/p86.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><a
+name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 87</span>This Stone<br
+/>
+Sacred to the memory of<br />
+<span class="smcap">Joseph Swain</span>, Fisherman<br />
+was erected at the expence of<br />
+the members of the friendly<br />
+Society of Hastings</p>
+<p>in commiseration of his cruel and<br />
+untimely death and as a record of<br />
+the public indignation at the need-<br />
+lefs and sanguinary violence of<br />
+which he was the unoffending Victim<br />
+He was shot by Geo. England, one<br />
+of the Sailors employ&rsquo;d in the Coast<br />
+blockade service in open day on the<br />
+13th March 1821 and almost instantly<br />
+expir&rsquo;d, in the twenty ninth Year of<br />
+his age, leaving a Widow and five<br />
+small children to lament his lofs.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>England was subsequently put on his trial for wilful murder at
+Horsham, and was sentenced to death, but afterwards pardoned.</p>
+<p>In short, in one way and another, much good blood and a great
+quantity of the most excellent spirits were spilt and let run to
+waste, along the coasts.</p>
+<p>The affair of the <i>Badger</i> revenue cutter and the <i>Vre
+Brodiers</i>, or <i>Four Brothers</i>, smuggling lugger was the
+next exciting event.&nbsp; It happened on January 13th, 1823, and
+attracted a great deal of attention at the time, not only on
+account of the severe encounter at sea, but from the subsequent
+trial of the crew of the smuggler.&nbsp; The <i>Four Brothers</i>
+was a Folkestone boat, and her crew of twenty-six were chiefly
+Folkestone men.&nbsp; She was a considerable vessel, having once
+been a <a name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+88</span>French privateer, and was, as a privateer had need to
+be, a smart, easily handled craft, capable of giving the go-by to
+most other vessels.&nbsp; She carried four six-pound
+carronades.&nbsp; In constant commission, her crew pouched a
+pound a week wages, with an additional ten guineas for each
+successful run.</p>
+<p>On January 12th, of this momentous voyage, she sailed from
+Flushing with over one hundred tons of leaf-tobacco aboard,
+snugly packed for convenience of carriage in bales of 60 lb., and
+carried also a small consignment of brandy and gin, contained in
+50 half-ankers, and 13 chests of tea&mdash;all destined for the
+south of Ireland.&nbsp; Ship and cargo were worth some
+&pound;11,000; so it is sufficiently evident that her owners were
+in a considerable way of business of the contraband kind.</p>
+<p>At daybreak on the morning of January 13th, when off Dieppe
+and sailing very slowly, in a light wind, the crew of the <i>Four
+Brothers</i> found themselves almost upon what they at first took
+to be French fishing-boats, and held unsuspiciously on her
+course.&nbsp; Suddenly, however, one of them ran a flag smartly
+up her halliards and fired a gun across the bows of the <i>Four
+Brothers</i>, as a signal to bring her to.&nbsp; It was the
+revenue cutter <i>Badger</i>.</p>
+<p>Unfortunately for the smuggler, she was carrying a newly
+stepped mainmast, and under small sail only, and accordingly, in
+disobeying the summons and attempting to get away, she was
+speedily outsailed.</p>
+<p><a name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 89</span>The
+smuggler, unable to get away, hoisted the Dutch colours and
+opened the fight that took place by firing upon the
+<i>Badger</i>, which immediately returned it.&nbsp; For two hours
+this exchange of shots was maintained.&nbsp; Early in the
+encounter William Cullum, seaman, was killed aboard the
+<i>Badger</i>, and Lieutenant Nazer, in command, received a shot
+from a musket in the left shoulder.&nbsp; One man of the <i>Four
+Brothers</i> was killed outright, and nine wounded, but the fight
+would have continued had not the <i>Badger</i> sailed into the
+starboard quarter of the smuggler, driving her bowsprit clean
+through her adversary&rsquo;s mainsail.&nbsp; Even then the
+smuggler&rsquo;s crew endeavoured to fire one of her guns, but
+failed.</p>
+<p>The commander of the <i>Badger</i> thereupon called upon the
+<i>Four Brothers</i> to surrender; or, according to his own
+version, the smugglers themselves called for quarter; and the
+mate and some of the cutter&rsquo;s men went in a boat and
+received their submission, and sent them prisoners aboard the
+<i>Badger</i>.&nbsp; The smugglers claimed that they had
+surrendered only on condition that they should have their boats
+and personal belongings and be allowed to go ashore; but it seems
+scarce likely the Lieutenant could have promised so much.&nbsp;
+The <i>Four Brothers</i> was then taken into Dover Harbour and
+her crew sent aboard the <i>Severn</i> man-o&rsquo;-war and kept
+in irons in the cockpit.&nbsp; Three of her wounded died
+there.&nbsp; The others, after a short interval, were again put
+aboard the <i>Badger</i> and taken up the Thames to <a
+name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 90</span>imprisonment
+on the Tower tender for a further three or four days.&nbsp;
+Thence they were removed, all handcuffed and chained, in a barge
+and committed to the King&rsquo;s Bench Prison.&nbsp; At Bow
+Street, on the following day, they were all formally committed
+for trial, and then remitted to the King&rsquo;s Bench Prison for
+eleven weeks, before the case came on.</p>
+<p>On Friday, April 25th, 1823, the twenty-two prisoners were
+arraigned in the High Court of Admiralty; Marinel Krans, master
+of the <i>Four Brothers</i>, and his crew, nearly all of whom
+bore Dutch names, being charged with wilfully and feloniously
+firing on the revenue cutter <i>Badger</i>, on January 13th,
+1823, on the high seas, about eight miles off Dungeness, within
+the jurisdiction of the High Court of Admiralty of England.</p>
+<p>Mr. Brougham, afterwards Lord Brougham, defended, the defence
+being that the <i>Four Brothers</i> was a Dutch vessel, owned at
+Flushing, and her crew Dutchmen.&nbsp; A great deal of very hard
+swearing went towards this ingenious defence, for the crew, it is
+hardly necessary to say, were almost all English.&nbsp; At least
+one witness for the prosecution was afraid to appear in
+consequence of threats made by prisoners&rsquo; friends, and an
+affidavit was put in to that effect.&nbsp; It appeared, in the
+evidence given by the commander of the <i>Badger</i> and other
+witnesses for the prosecution, that the prisoners all spoke
+excellent English at the time of the capture, and afterwards; but
+they, singularly enough, understood little or none <a
+name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 91</span>when in
+court, and had to be communicated with through the agency of an
+interpreter.</p>
+<p>In summing up, Mr. Justice Parke said the crime for which the
+prisoners were tried was not murder, but was a capital
+offence.&nbsp; Two things, if found by the jury, would suffice to
+acquit the prisoners.&nbsp; The first was that no part of the
+vessel which they navigated belonged to any subject of His
+Majesty; the other that one half of the crew were not His
+Majesty&rsquo;s subjects.&nbsp; For if neither of these facts
+existed, His Majesty&rsquo;s ship had no right to fire at their
+vessel.&nbsp; But if the jury believed that any part of the
+vessel was British property, or that one half of her crew were
+British subjects, then His Majesty&rsquo;s ship <i>Badger</i>,
+under the circumstances that had been proved, being on her duty,
+and having her proper colours flying, was justified in boarding
+their vessel; and their making resistance by firing at the
+<i>Badger</i> was a capital offence.&nbsp; The reason for the
+evidence respecting the distance of the vessels from the French
+coast being given was that, by the law of nations, ships of war
+were not, in time of peace, permitted to molest any vessel within
+one league of the coast of any other power.</p>
+<p>The jury, after deliberating for two hours, returned a verdict
+of &ldquo;Not Guilty&rdquo; for all the prisoners, finding that
+the ship and cargo were wholly foreign property, and that more
+than one half the crew were foreigners.&nbsp; They were,
+accordingly, at once liberated, and returned to <a
+name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 92</span>Folkestone in
+midst of great popular rejoicings.&nbsp; The <i>Four Brothers</i>
+was also released, and the commander of the <i>Badger</i> had the
+mortification of being obliged to escort her out of Dover
+harbour.</p>
+<p>Dover town was, about this time, the scene of stirring
+events.&nbsp; One Lieutenant Lilburn, in command of a revenue
+cutter, had captured a smuggler, and had placed the crew in Dover
+gaol.&nbsp; As they had not offered armed resistance to the
+capture, their offence was not capital, but they were liable to
+service on board a man-o&rsquo;-war&mdash;a fate they were most
+anxious to avoid.&nbsp; These imprisoned men were largely natives
+of Folkestone and Sandgate, and their relatives determined to
+march over the ten miles between those places and Dover, and, if
+possible, liberate them.&nbsp; When they arrived in Dover, and
+their intention became known, a crowd of fisherfolk and longshore
+people swarmed out of the Dover alley-ways and reinforced
+them.&nbsp; Prominent among them were the women, who, as ever in
+cases of popular tumult, proved themselves the most violent and
+destructive among the mob.&nbsp; Nothing less than the
+destruction of the gaol was decided upon, and the more active
+spirits, leaving others to batter in the walls, doors, and
+windows, climbed upon the roof, and from that vantage-point
+showered bricks and tiles upon the Mayor and the soldiers who had
+been called out.&nbsp; The Mayor, beset with tooth and claw by
+screeching women, who tore the Riot Act out of his hand, fled,
+and Lieutenant Lilburn exhorted the officer <a
+name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 93</span>in charge of
+the military to fire upon the crowd, but he declined; and
+meanwhile the tradespeople and respectable inhabitants busied
+themselves in barricading their shops and houses.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p92.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"&ldquo;Run the Rascals through!&rdquo;"
+title=
+"&ldquo;Run the Rascals through!&rdquo;"
+src="images/p92.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The prisoners were triumphantly liberated, taken to a
+blacksmith&rsquo;s, where their irons were knocked off, and then
+driven off in post chaises to Folkestone, whence they dispersed
+to their several hiding-places.</p>
+<p>Romney was, about this time, the scene of another desperate
+affair, when an attempted seizure of contraband brought all the
+smugglers&rsquo; friends and relations out, in violent contest
+with the excise and a small party of marines in command of which
+was one Lieutenant Peat.&nbsp; A magistrate was sent for, who,
+amid a shower of stones, read the Riot Act.&nbsp; The Lieutenant
+hesitated to resort to extreme force, but one of the smugglers
+was eventually killed by him, in response to the
+magistrate&rsquo;s order, in respect of one of the most violent
+of the crowd: Secure your prisoner, sir.&nbsp; Run the rascal
+through!</p>
+<h2><a name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+94</span>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">Fatal Affrays and Daring Encounters at Rye</span>,
+<span class="smcap">Dymchurch</span>, <span
+class="smcap">Eastbourne</span>, <span
+class="smcap">Bo-Peep</span>, <span class="smcap">and
+Fairlight</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Smugglers&rsquo;
+Route from Shoreham and Worthing into Surrey</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">The Miller&rsquo;s Tomb-Langston
+Harbour</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Bedhampton
+Mill</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> &rsquo;twenties of the
+nineteenth century formed a period especially rich in smuggling
+incidents, or perhaps seem so to do, because, with the growth of
+country newspapers, they were more fully reported, instead of
+being left merely the subject of local legend.</p>
+<p>A desperate affray took place in Rye Harbour so late as May
+1826, when a ten-oared smuggling galley, chased by a revenue
+guard-boat, ran ashore.&nbsp; The smugglers, abandoning their
+oars, opened fire upon the guard, but the blockade-men from the
+watch-house at Camber then arrived upon the scene and seized one
+of the smugglers; whereupon a gang of not fewer than two hundred
+armed smugglers, who had until that moment been acting as a
+concealed reserve, rushed violently from behind the sandhills,
+and commenced firing on the blockade-men, killing <a
+name="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 95</span>one and
+wounding another.&nbsp; They were, however, ultimately driven
+off, with the capture of their galley, but managed to carry off
+their wounded.</p>
+<p>On another occasion, four or five smugglers were drowned
+whilst swimming the Military Canal, with tubs slung on their
+backs, at a point on Pett Level called &ldquo;Pett
+Horse-race.&rdquo;&nbsp; They had, in the dark, missed the spot
+where it was fordable.&nbsp; Romney Marsh, and the wide-spreading
+levels of Pett, Camber, Guilford, and Dunge Marsh had&mdash;as we
+have already seen, in the account of the owlers given in earlier
+pages&mdash;ever been the smugglers&rsquo; Alsatia.</p>
+<p>The Rev. Richard Harris Barham, author of the &ldquo;Ingoldsby
+Legends,&rdquo; has placed upon record some of his meetings with
+smugglers in &ldquo;this recondite region,&rdquo; as he was
+pleased to style it; and his son, in the life he wrote of his
+father, adds to them.&nbsp; Barham, ordained in 1813, and given
+the curacy of Westwell, near Ashford, had not long to wait before
+being brought into touch with the lawless doings here.&nbsp; One
+of the desperate smugglers of the Marsh had been shot through the
+body in an encounter with the riding-officers, and fatally
+wounded.&nbsp; As he lay dying, Barham was brought to convey to
+him the last consolations of religion, and was startled when the
+smuggler declared there was no crime of which he had not been
+guilty.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Murder is not to be reckoned among them, I hope,&rdquo;
+exclaimed the not easily shocked clergyman.</p>
+<p><a name="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+96</span>&ldquo;Too many of them!&rdquo; was the startling
+response of the dying man.</p>
+<p>In 1817 Barham was collated by the Archbishop of Canterbury to
+the adjoining livings of Warehorne and Snargate, the first-named
+situated on the verge of the marsh; the second situated, moist
+and forbidding, in the marsh itself.&nbsp; The winding road
+between these two villages crossed the then newly made Royal
+Military Canal by a bridge.&nbsp; Often, as the clergyman was
+returning, late at night, to his comfortable parsonage at
+Warehorne, he was met and stopped by some mysterious horsemen;
+but when he mentioned his name he was invariably allowed to
+proceed, and, as he did so, a long and silent company of mounted
+smugglers defiled past, each man with his led horse laden with
+tubs.&nbsp; The grey tower of Snargate church he frequently
+found, by the aroma of tobacco it often exhaled, instead of its
+customary and natural mustiness, to have been recently used as a
+store for smuggled bales of that highly taxed article.</p>
+<p>The <i>Cinque Ports Herald</i> of 1826 records the landing on
+a night in May, or in the early hours of the morning, of a
+considerable cargo of contraband hereabouts:</p>
+<blockquote><p>&ldquo;A large party of smugglers had assembled in
+the neighbourhood of Dymchurch, and a boat laden (as is supposed)
+with tubs of spirits, being observed to approach the shore nearly
+opposite to Dymchurch, the smugglers instantly commenced
+cheering, and rushed upon the coast, <a name="page97"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 97</span>threatening defiance to the sentinels
+of the blockade; who, perceiving such an overwhelming force, gave
+the alarm, when a party of marines, coming to their assistance, a
+general firing took place.&nbsp; The smugglers retreated into the
+marshes, followed by the blockade-men, and, from their knowledge
+of the ground, were indebted for their ultimate escape.&nbsp; We
+regret to state two of the blockade seamen were wounded; one
+severely in the arm, which must cause amputation, and the other
+in the face, by slug shots.&nbsp; There can be no doubt but that
+some of the smugglers must have been wounded, if not
+killed.&nbsp; One of their muskets was picked up
+loaded&mdash;abandoned, no doubt, by the bearer of it, on account
+of wounds.&nbsp; The boat, with her cargo, was obliged to put to
+sea again, without effecting a landing, and, notwithstanding the
+vigilance of Lieutenants Westbrook, Mudge, and McLeod, who were
+afloat in their galleys on the spot, from the darkness of the
+night, effected its escape.&nbsp; We have also heard that a run
+of five hundred tubs took place on the Sussex coast last week,
+not far from Hastings, the smugglers losing only eleven
+tubs.&nbsp; This was also effected by force, and with such a
+superiority in number that they completely overpowered the
+blockade force.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p96.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Barham meets the Smugglers"
+title=
+"Barham meets the Smugglers"
+src="images/p96.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The <i>Brighton Gazette</i>, of a few days later, contained
+the following:</p>
+<blockquote><p>&ldquo;We have been favoured with some particulars
+of another recent attempt to work contraband goods a few miles
+eastward of Eastbourne, <a name="page98"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 98</span>when it appears the coast blockade
+succeeded in taking a large boat and upwards of two hundred
+tubs.&nbsp; We are sorry to add much mischief has occurred, as on
+the following morning blood was observed near the spot.&nbsp; Two
+men, it is said, belonging to the boat are taken prisoners, and
+two of the blockade are reported to be much bruised and beaten,
+and it is also suspected some of the smugglers are seriously, if
+not mortally, wounded.&nbsp; The blockade in this instance
+behaved in the most humane manner, having received a regular
+volley from their opponents before their officers gave directions
+for them to fire.&nbsp; We have just heard that five smugglers
+were killed in the affray.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>On a Sunday night towards the end of July 1826, during a run
+of smuggled goods at Dover, the smugglers shot dead a seaman of
+the preventive force named Morgan, for which no one was ever
+convicted.</p>
+<p>A determined and blood-stained struggle took place at Bo-Peep
+at midnight of January 3rd, 1828.&nbsp; Bo-Peep was the name of a
+desolate spot situated midway between Hastings and Bexhill.&nbsp;
+The place is the same as that westernmost extension of St.
+Leonards now known by the eminently respectable&mdash;not to say
+imposing&mdash;name of &ldquo;West Marina&rdquo;; but in those
+times it was a shore, not indeed lonely (better for its
+reputation had it been so) but marked by an evil-looking inn, to
+which were attached still more evil-looking &ldquo;Pleasure
+Gardens.&rdquo;&nbsp; If throats were not, in fact, <a
+name="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 99</span>commonly cut
+in those times at Bo-Beep, the inn and its deplorable
+&ldquo;Pleasure Gardens&rdquo; certainly looked no fit, or safe,
+resort for any innocent young man with a pocketful of money
+jingling as he walked.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p98.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"A Landing at Bo-Peep"
+title=
+"A Landing at Bo-Peep"
+src="images/p98.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>On this occasion a lugger came in view off shore, when a party
+of smugglers armed, as usual, with &ldquo;bats,&rdquo;
+<i>i.e.</i> stout ash-poles, some six feet in length, rushed to
+the beach, landed the cargo, and made off with it, by various
+means, inland a distance of some three miles to Sidley
+Green.&nbsp; Here the coast blockade-men, some forty in number,
+came up with them.</p>
+<p>The smugglers drew up in regular line-formation, and a
+desperate fight resulted.&nbsp; The smugglers fought with such
+determination and courage that the blockade-men were repulsed and
+one, Quartermaster Collins, killed.&nbsp; In the first volley
+fired by the blockade an old smuggler named Smithurst was killed;
+his body was found next morning, with his &ldquo;bat&rdquo; still
+grasped in his hands, the stout staff almost hacked to pieces by
+the cutlasses and bayonets of the blockade-men.</p>
+<p>At the Spring Assizes held at Horsham, Spencer Whiteman, of
+Udimore, Thomas Miller, Henry Miller, John Spray, Edward
+Shoesmith, William Bennett, John Ford, and Stephen Stubberfield
+were indicted for assembling, armed, for purposes of smuggling,
+and were removed for trial to the Old Bailey, where, on April
+10th, they all pleaded guilty; as did Whiteman, Thomas Miller,
+Spray, Bennett, and Ford, together with <a
+name="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 100</span>Thomas
+Maynard and William Plumb, for a like offence on January 23rd,
+1828, at Eastbourne.&nbsp; Sentence of death was passed on all,
+but was commuted to transportation.&nbsp; With three exceptions,
+they were young men, under thirty years of age.</p>
+<p>Again, in broad daylight, in 1828, a lugger landed a heavy
+cargo of kegs on the open beach at Bo-Peep.&nbsp; No fewer than
+three hundred rustic labourers, who had been hired by the job, in
+the usual course, by the smugglers bold, assembled on the beach,
+and formed up two lines of guards while the landing of the tubs,
+and their loading into carts, on horses, or on men&rsquo;s
+shoulders, was proceeding.&nbsp; If the preventive officers knew
+anything of what was toward that busy day they did not, at any
+rate, interfere; and small blame to them for the very elementary
+discretion they displayed.&nbsp; They had, as already shown, been
+too seriously mauled at an earlier date for them to push matters
+again to extremity.</p>
+<p>On January 3rd, 1831, in Fairlight Glen, two miles east of
+Hastings, two smugglers, William Cruttenden and Joseph Harrod,
+were shot dead, and on February 22nd, 1832, at Worthing, when
+between two and three hundred smugglers had assembled on the
+beach, William Cowardson was shot dead, and several others were
+carried away wounded.</p>
+<p>Still the tale was continued, for during a landing on January
+23rd, 1833, at Eastbourne, the smugglers, who had assembled in
+large numbers, <a name="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+101</span>killed George Pett, chief boatman of the local
+preventive station, and ran their cargo safely.&nbsp; Several of
+both sides were wounded on this occasion, but no one among the
+smugglers was ever arrested.</p>
+<p>The last fatal happening in this way along the Sussex coast
+appears to have been in the marshes at Camber Castle, on April
+1st, 1838, when a poor fiddler of Winchelsea, named Thomas Monk,
+was shot in the course of a dispute over run goods, by the
+coastguard.</p>
+<p>But we may quite easily have a surfeit of these brutal
+affrays, and it is better to dwell on a lighter note, to
+contemplate the audacity, and to admire the ingenuity and the
+resource often displayed by the smugglers in concealing their
+movements.</p>
+<p>To especially single out any particular line of coast for
+pre-eminence in smuggling would be impossible.&nbsp; When every
+one smuggled, and every one else&mdash;owing to that
+well-understood human foible of buying in the cheapest
+market&mdash;supported smuggling by purchasing smuggled goods,
+every foreshore that did not actually present physical
+difficulties, or that was not exceptionally under excise and
+customs surveillance, was a free port, in a very special
+signification.&nbsp; The thickly peopled coast-line of Kent,
+Sussex, and Hampshire of our own time was then sparsely
+populated, and those shores that are now but thinly settled were
+in that age the merest aching wildernesses, where not only towns,
+but even villages and hamlets, were few and far apart.&nbsp; A
+coast-line such as <a name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+102</span>that at Brighton would seem to us to present certain
+obvious difficulties to the smuggler, but close at hand was the
+low-lying land of Shoreham, with its lagoon-like harbour, a very
+shy, secretive kind of place, to this day; while away to
+Worthing, and beyond it, stretched a waste of shingle-beach,
+running up to solitary pasture-lands that reached to the foot of
+the noble rampart of the South Downs.&nbsp; On these shores the
+free-traders landed their illegal imports with little
+interference, and their shore-going allies received the goods and
+took them inland, to London or to their intermediate storehouses
+in the country-side, very much at their leisure.&nbsp; Avoiding
+the much-travelled high-roads, and traversing the chalk-downs by
+unfrequented bridle-tracks, they went across the level Weald and
+past the Surrey border into that still lonely district running
+east and west for many miles, on the line of Leith Hill, Ewhurst,
+and Hindhead.&nbsp; There, along those wooded heights, whose
+solitary ways still astonish, with their remote aspect, the
+Londoner who by any chance comes to them, although but from
+thirty to thirty-five miles from the Bank of England in the City
+of London, you may still track, amid the pine-trees on the
+shoulders of the gorsy hills, or among the oaks that grow so
+luxuriantly in the Wealden clay, the &ldquo;soft roads,&rdquo; as
+the country folk call them, along which the smugglers,
+unmolested, carried their merchandise.&nbsp; On Ewhurst Hill
+stands a windmill, to which in those times the smugglers&rsquo;
+ways converged; and <a name="page103"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 103</span>near by, boldly perched on a height,
+along the sylvan road that leads from Shere to Ewhurst village,
+stood the &ldquo;Windmill,&rdquo; once the &ldquo;New&rdquo; inn,
+which had a double roof, utilised as a storehouse for clandestine
+kegs.&nbsp; A &ldquo;Windmill&rdquo; inn stands on the spot
+to-day, but it is a new building, the old house having
+unfortunately been burned down some two years since.&nbsp;
+Surveying the country from this spot, you have, on the one hand,
+almost precipitous hill-peaks, gorsy to their summits, and on the
+other a lovely dale, deeply embosomed in woods.&nbsp; The
+sub-soil here is a soft yellow sandstone, streaked with white
+sand, breaking out along the often hollow paths into miniature
+cliffs, in which the smugglers and their allies were not slow to
+scoop caverns and store part of their stock.&nbsp; We have
+already learnt how terrible these men could be to those who
+informed against them or made away with any of their property,
+and by direct consequence the goods thus stored were generally
+safe, either from the authorities or from the rustics, who had a
+very wholesome and well-founded dread of the smuggling
+bands.&nbsp; But they had a way of their own of letting these
+justly dreaded folk see that their stores were evident to some,
+and that silence was supposed to have a certain market
+value.&nbsp; Their way was just a delicate hint, which consisted
+in marking a tub or two with a chalk cross; and, sure enough,
+when the stock was removed, those chalk-marked tubs were left
+behind, with possibly, if the country-folk had been modest and
+the <a name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+104</span>smugglers were generous, a few others to keep them
+company.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p102.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Smuggler&rsquo;s tracks near Ewhurst"
+title=
+"Smuggler&rsquo;s tracks near Ewhurst"
+src="images/p102.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>An old brick-and-tile-hung farm, down below Ewhurst Hill,
+older than it looks, known as Barhatch, was in those times in
+possession of the Ticknor family; and still, in what was the old
+living-room, may be seen the inglenook, with its iron crane,
+marked &ldquo;John Ticknor, 1755.&rdquo;&nbsp; The Barhatch woods
+were often used by smugglers, and the Ticknors never had any
+occasion to purchase spirits, because, at not infrequent
+intervals, when the household arose, and the front door was
+opened in the morning, a keg would be found deposited on the
+steps: a complimentary keg, for the use of the Ticknor property
+and the discretion of the Ticknor tongue.</p>
+<p>One of the choicest landing-places along the Sussex coast must
+undoubtedly have been just westward of Worthing, by Goring, where
+the shore is yet secluded, and is even now not readily come at by
+good roads.&nbsp; In a line with it is Highdown Hill, a rounded
+hump of the Downs, rising to a height of two hundred and
+ninety-nine feet, two miles inland; a spot famed in all guidebook
+lore of this neighbourhood as the site of the
+&ldquo;Miller&rsquo;s Tomb.&rdquo;&nbsp; This miller, whose real
+business of grinding corn seems to have been supplemented by
+participation in the stern joys of illegal importation, was one
+John Olliver.&nbsp; His mill was situated on this hill-top: a
+very remote spot, even now, arrived at only along lanes in which
+mud and water plentifully await the explorer&rsquo;s <a
+name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 105</span>cautious
+foot, and where brambles and intrudant twigs, currycomb his
+whiskers, if he have such.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p104.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Miller&rsquo;s Tomb"
+title=
+"The Miller&rsquo;s Tomb"
+src="images/p104.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>John Olliver, miller, was an eighteenth-century eccentric,
+whose morbid fancy for having his coffin made early in life, and
+wheeled under his bed every night, was not satisfied until he had
+also built himself a tomb on the hill-top, on a twelve-foot
+square plot of ground granted him by the landowner, one W. W.
+Richardson, in 1766: a tomb on which he could with satisfaction
+look every day.&nbsp; Yet he was not the dull, dispirited man one
+might for these things suppose; and Pennant, in his <i>Tour in
+Sussex</i>, is found saying, &ldquo;I am told he is a stout,
+active, cheerful man.&rdquo;&nbsp; And then comes this
+significant passage.&nbsp; &ldquo;Besides his proper trade he
+carries on a very considerable one in smuggled
+goods.&rdquo;&nbsp; Let us pause a moment to reflect upon the
+impudent public manner in which John Olliver must have carried on
+his smuggling activities.&nbsp; To this impudence he added also
+figures on his house-top, representing a miller filling a sack
+and a smuggler chased by an exciseman with a drawn sword; after
+the exciseman coming a woman with a broom, belabouring him about
+the head.&nbsp; The tomb the miller had built for eventual
+occupation by his body was in the meanwhile generally occupied by
+spirits&mdash;not the spirits of the dead, but such <i>eaux de
+vie</i> as hollands and cognac; and he himself was not laid here
+for many years, for he lived to be eighty-four years of age, and
+died in 1793.&nbsp; He had long been widely known as an
+eccentric, <a name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+106</span>and thousands came to his funeral on the unconsecrated
+spot.&nbsp; Here the tomb, of the altar-tomb type, stands to this
+day, kept in excellent repair, and the lengthy inscriptions
+repainted; at whose costs and charges I know not.&nbsp; A small
+grove of trees almost entirely encircles it.&nbsp; At one end is
+a gruesome little sculpture representing Death, as a skeleton,
+laying a hand upon an affrighted person, and asking him,
+&ldquo;Whither away so fast?&rdquo; and at the other end are the
+following lines:</p>
+<blockquote><p>Why fhould my fancy anyone offend<br />
+Whofe good or ill does not on it depend<br />
+(A generous gift) on which my Tomb doth ftand<br />
+This is the only fpot that I have chofe<br />
+Wherein to take my lafting long repofe<br />
+Here in the drift my body lieth down<br />
+You&rsquo;ll fay it is not confecrated ground,<br />
+I grant y<sup>e</sup> fame; but where shall we e&rsquo;er find<br
+/>
+The fpot that e&rsquo;er can purify the mind?<br />
+Nor to the body any luftre give.<br />
+This more depends on what a life we live<br />
+For when y<sup>e</sup> trumpet fhall begin to found<br />
+&rsquo;Twill not avail where&rsquo;er y<sup>e</sup> Body&rsquo;s
+found.<br />
+Blefsed are they and all who in the Lord the Saviour die<br />
+Their bodief wait Redemption day,<br />
+And fleep in peace where&rsquo;er they lay.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>On the upper slab are a number of texts and highly moral
+reflections.</p>
+<p>As for the Selsey Peninsula, and the district of flat lands
+and oozy creeks south of Chichester and on to Portsmouth, Nature
+would seem almost to have constructed the entire surroundings
+with the especial objects of securing the smugglers and <a
+name="page107"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 107</span>confounding
+the customs.&nbsp; Here Sussex merges into Hampshire.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p106.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Langston Harbour"
+title=
+"Langston Harbour"
+src="images/p106.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Among the many smuggling nooks along the Hampshire coast,
+Langston Harbour was prominent, forming, as it does, an almost
+landlocked lagoon, with creeks ramifying toward Portsea Island on
+one side and Hayling Island on the other.&nbsp; There still
+stands on a quay by the waterside at Langston the old
+&ldquo;Royal Oak&rdquo; inn, which was a favourite
+gathering-place of the &ldquo;free-traders&rdquo; of these parts,
+neighboured by a ruined windmill of romantic aspect, to which no
+stories particularly attach, but whose lowering, secretive
+appearance aptly accentuates the queer reputation of the
+spot.</p>
+<p>The reputation of Langston Harbour was such that an ancient
+disused brig, the <i>Griper</i>, was permanently stationed here,
+with the coastguard housed aboard, to keep watch upon the very
+questionable goings and comings of the sailor-folk and fishermen
+of the locality.&nbsp; And not only these watery folk needed
+watching, but also the people of Havant and the oyster-fishers of
+Emsworth.&nbsp; Here, too, just outside Havant, at the village of
+Bedhampton, upon the very margin of the mud, stands an
+eighteenth-century mill.&nbsp; It would have been profitable for
+the coastguard to keep an eye upon this huge old corn-milling
+establishment, if the legends be at all true that are told of
+it.&nbsp; A little stream, issuant from the Forest of Bere, at
+this point runs briskly into the creek, after having been penned
+up and made <a name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+108</span>to form a mill-leat.&nbsp; It runs firstly, moat-like,
+in front of a charming old house, formerly the miller&rsquo;s
+residence, and then to the great waterwheel, and the mill itself,
+a tall, four-square building of red brick, not at all beautiful,
+but with a certain air of reserve all the more apparent, of
+course, because it is now deserted, bolted, and barred: steam
+flour-mills of more modern construction having, it may be
+supposed, successfully competed with its antiquated ways.&nbsp;
+But at no time, if we are to believe local legend, did Bedhampton
+Mill depend greatly upon its milling for prosperity.&nbsp; It was
+rather a smugglers&rsquo; storehouse, and the grinding of corn
+was, if not altogether an affectation, something of a
+by-product.&nbsp; You may readily understand the working of the
+contraband business, under these specious pretences, beneath the
+very noses of coastguard and excise; how goods brought up the
+creek and stored in this capacious hold could, without suspicion
+incurred, be taken out of store, loaded in among the flour-sacks
+in the miller&rsquo;s wagons, and delivered wherever
+desired.&nbsp; Of course, that being the mill&rsquo;s staple
+business, it is quite readily understood that when the business
+of smuggling declined such milling as went forward here did by no
+means suffice to keep the great building going.</p>
+<p>The house, which appears now to be let as a country residence
+for the summer to persons who neither know nor care anything
+about the story of the place, has an odd inscription on its
+gable:</p>
+<blockquote><p><a name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+109</span>The gift of Mr. George<br />
+Judge at Stubbington<br />
+Farm at Portsea Hard, in<br />
+Memory of his very good Friend,<br />
+Mr. George Champ,<br />
+Senr. 1742.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>That sporadic cases of smuggling long continued in these
+districts, as elsewhere, after the smuggling era was really
+ended, we may see from one of the annual reports issued by the
+Commissioners of Customs.&nbsp; The following incident occurred
+in 1873, and is thus officially described:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;On the top of a bank rising directly from
+highwater-mark in one of the muddy creeks of Southampton Water
+stands a wooden hut commanding a full view of it, and surrounded
+by an ill-cultivated garden.&nbsp; There are houses near, but the
+hut does not belong to them, and appears to have been built for
+no obvious purpose.&nbsp; An old smuggler was traced to this hut,
+and from that time, for nearly two months, the place was watched
+with great precaution, until at midnight, on May 28th, two men
+employed by us being on watch, a boat was observed coming from a
+small vessel about a mile from the shore.&nbsp; The boat,
+containing four men, stopped opposite the hut, landed one man and
+some bags, while the remainder of the crew took her some two
+hundred yards off, hauled her up, and then proceeded to the
+hut.&nbsp; One of our men was instantly despatched for
+assistance, while the other remained, watching.&nbsp; On his
+return with three policemen, the whole party went to the hut,
+where they found <a name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+110</span>two men on watch outside and four inside, asleep.&nbsp;
+A horse and cart were also found in waiting, the cart having a
+false bottom.&nbsp; The six men were secured and sent to the
+police-station; a boat was then procured, the vessel whence the
+men had come was boarded, and found to be laden with tobacco and
+spirits.&nbsp; The result was that the vessel, a smack of about
+fifteen tons, with eighty-five bales of leaf-tobacco, six boxes
+of Cavendish, with some cigars and spirits, was seized, and four
+of the persons concerned in the transaction convicted of the
+offence.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p110.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Bedhampton Mill"
+title=
+"Bedhampton Mill"
+src="images/p110.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<h2><a name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+111</span>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">East Coast Smuggling</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Outrage at Beccles</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">A Colchester Raid</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Canvey Island</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Bradwell Quay</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The
+East Anglian &ldquo;Cart Gaps&rdquo;</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">A Blakeney Story</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Tragical Epitaph at Hunstanton</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">The Peddar&rsquo;s Way</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> doings of the Kentish and
+Sussex gangs entirely overshadow the annals of smuggling in other
+counties; and altogether, to the general reader, those two
+seaboards and the coasts of Devon and Cornwall stand out as
+typical scenes.&nbsp; But no part of our shores was immune;
+although the longer sea-passages to be made elsewhere of course
+stood greatly in the way of the &ldquo;free-traders&rdquo; of
+those less favoured regions.&nbsp; After Kent and Sussex, the
+east coast was probably the most favourable for smuggling.&nbsp;
+The distance across the North Sea might be greater and the
+passage often rough, but the low muddy shores and ramifying
+creeks of Essex and the sandy coastwise warrens of Suffolk,
+Norfolk, and Lincolnshire, very sparsely inhabited, offered their
+own peculiar facilities for the shy and secretive trade.</p>
+<p>Nor did the East Anglian smugglers display <a
+name="page112"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 112</span>much less
+ferocity when their interests were threatened, or their goods
+seized, than was shown by the yokels of those other
+counties.&nbsp; The stolid, ox-like rustics of the country-side
+there, as along the margin of the English Channel, were roused to
+almost incredible acts of brutality which do not seem to have
+been repeated in the West.</p>
+<p>We do not find the hardy seafaring smugglers often behaving
+with the cold-blooded cruelty displayed, as a usual phenomenon,
+by the generally unemotional men of ploughed fields and rustic
+communities who took up the running and carried the goods inland
+from the water&rsquo;s edge whither those sea-dogs had brought
+them.&nbsp; In the being of the men who dared tempestuous winds
+and waves there existed, as a rule, a more sportsmanlike and
+generous spirit.&nbsp; Something of the traditional heartiness
+inseparable from sea-life impelled them to give and take without
+the black blood that seethed evilly in the veins of the
+landsmen.&nbsp; The seamen, it seemed, realised that smuggling
+was a risk; something in the nature of any game of skill, into
+which they entered, with the various officers of the law
+naturally opposed to them; and when either side won, that was
+incidental to the game, and no enmity followed as the matter of
+course it was with their shore-going partners.</p>
+<p>Perhaps these considerations, as greatly as the difference in
+racial characters, show us why the land-smugglers of the Home
+Counties should have been so criminal, while from the Devon <a
+name="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 113</span>and Cornish
+contrabandists we hear mostly of humorous passages.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p112.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The &ldquo;Green Man,&rdquo; Bradwell Quay"
+title=
+"The &ldquo;Green Man,&rdquo; Bradwell Quay"
+src="images/p112.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>At Beccles, in Suffolk, for example, we find the record, in
+1744, of an incident that smacks rather of the Hawkhurst type of
+outrage.&nbsp; Smugglers there pulled a man out of bed, whipped
+him, tied him naked on a horse, and rode away with their
+prisoner, who was never again heard of, although a reward of
+&pound;50 was offered.</p>
+<p>Colchester was the scene, on April 16th, 1847, of as bold an
+act as the breaking open of the custom-house at Poole.&nbsp; At
+two o&rsquo;clock in the morning two men arrived at the quay at
+Hythe, by Colchester, and, with the story that they were revenue
+officers come to lodge a seizure of captured goods, asked to be
+shown the way to the custom-house.&nbsp; They had no sooner been
+shown it than there followed thirty smugglers, well armed with
+blunderbusses and pistols, who, with a heavy blacksmith&rsquo;s
+hammer and a crowbar, broke open the warehouse, in which a large
+quantity of dutiable goods was stored.&nbsp; They were not
+molested in their raid, and went off with sixty oil-bags,
+containing 1514 lb. of tea that had been seized near Woodbridge
+Haven.&nbsp; No one dared interfere with them, and by six
+o&rsquo;clock that morning they had proceeded as far as Hadleigh,
+from which point all trace of them was lost.</p>
+<p>Canvey Island, in the estuary of the Thames, off Benfleet,
+with its quaint old Dutch houses, relics of the seventeenth and
+eighteenth-century <a name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+114</span>Hollanders who settled there and carried on a more than
+questionable business, was reputedly a nest of smugglers.&nbsp;
+The &ldquo;Lobster Smack,&rdquo; a quaint old weatherboarded inn
+built just within the old earthen sea-wall for which those
+Dutchmen were responsible, and standing somewhat below the level
+of high water, has legends of smuggling that naturally do not
+lose by age or repetition.</p>
+<p>The Blackwater estuary, running up from the Essex coast to
+Maldon, offered peculiar facilities for smuggling; and that,
+perhaps, is why a coastguard vessel is still stationed at
+Stansgate, half way along its length, opposite Osea Island.&nbsp;
+At the mouth of the Blackwater there branch other creeks and
+estuaries leading past Mersea Island to Colchester; and here,
+looking out upon a melancholy sea, and greatly resembling a barn,
+stands the ancient chapel of St. Peter-upon-the-Wall, situated in
+one of the most lonely spots conceivable, on what were, ages ago,
+the ramparts of the Roman station of <i>Othona</i>.&nbsp; It has
+long been used as a barn, and was in smuggling times a frequent
+rendezvous of the night-birds who waged ceaseless war with the
+Customs.</p>
+<p>Two miles onward, along sea and river-bank, Bradwell Quay is
+reached, where the &ldquo;Green Man&rdquo; inn in these times
+turns a hospitable face to the wayfarer, but was in the
+&ldquo;once upon a time&rdquo; apt to distrust the casual
+stranger, for it was a house &ldquo;ower sib&rdquo; with the
+free-traders, and Pewit Island, just off the quay, a desolate
+islet almost awash, formed an admirable emergency <a
+name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+115</span>store.&nbsp; The old stone-floored kitchen of the
+&ldquo;Green Man,&rdquo; nowadays a cool and refreshing place in
+which to take a modest quencher on a summer&rsquo;s day, still
+remains very much what it was of old; and the quaint fireplace
+round which the sly longshore men of these Essex creeks
+foregathered on those winter nights when work was before them
+keeps its old-time pot-racks and hooks.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p114.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Kitchen of the &ldquo;Green Man&rdquo;"
+title=
+"Kitchen of the &ldquo;Green Man&rdquo;"
+src="images/p114.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Among the very numerous accounts of smuggling affrays we may
+exhume from the musty files of old newspapers, we read of the
+desperate encounter in which Mr. Toby, Supervisor of Excise, lost
+an eye in contending with a gang of smugglers at Caister, near
+Yarmouth, in April 1816; which shows&mdash;if we had occasion to
+show&mdash;that the East Anglian could on occasion be as
+ferocious as the rustics of the south.</p>
+<p>The shores of East Anglia we have already noted to be largely
+composed of wide-spreading sandy flats, in whose wastes the
+tracks of wild birds and animals&mdash;to say nothing of the
+deeply indented footmarks of heavily-laden men&mdash;are easily
+distinguished; and the chief problem of the free-traders of those
+parts was therefore often how to cover up the tracks they left so
+numerously in their passage across to the hard roads.&nbsp; In
+this resort the shepherds were their mainstay, and for the usual
+consideration, <i>i.e.</i> a keg of the &ldquo;right
+stuff,&rdquo; would presently, after the gang had passed, come
+driving their flocks along in the sandy trail they had left:
+completely <a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+116</span>obliterating all evidences of a run of contraband goods
+having been successfully brought off.</p>
+<p>Blakeney, on the Norfolk coast, is associated with one of the
+best, and most convincing, tales ever told of smuggling.&nbsp;
+This coast is rich in what are known as &ldquo;cart gaps&rdquo;:
+dips in the low cliffs, where horses and carts may readily gain
+access to the sea.&nbsp; These places were, of course, especially
+well watched by the preventive men, who often made a rich haul
+out of the innocent-looking farm-carts, laden with seaweed for
+manure, that were often to be observed being driven landwards at
+untimeous hours of night and early morn.&nbsp; Beneath the
+seaweed were, of course, numerous kegs.&nbsp; Sometimes the
+preventive men confiscated horses and carts, as well as their
+loads, and all were put up for sale.&nbsp; On one of these
+painful occasions the local custom-house officer, who knew a
+great deal more of the sea and its ways than he did of horses,
+was completely taken in by a farmer-confederate of the smugglers
+whose horses had been seized.&nbsp; The farmer went to make an
+offer for the animals, and was taken to see them.&nbsp; The
+season of the year was the spring, when, as the poet observes,
+&ldquo;a young man&rsquo;s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of
+love&rdquo;&mdash;and when horses shed their coats.&nbsp; Up went
+the farmer to the nearest horse, and easily, of course, pulled
+out a handful of hair.&nbsp; &ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said he, in the
+East Anglian way, &ldquo;th&rsquo; poor brute hey gotten t&rsquo;
+mange, and all tudderuns &rsquo;ull ketch it, of yow baint
+keerful.&rdquo;&nbsp; And then he <a name="page117"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 117</span>examined &ldquo;tudderuns,&rdquo;
+and behold! each <i>had</i> caught it: and so he bought the lot
+for five pounds.&nbsp; That same night every horse was back in
+its own stable.</p>
+<p>Searching in graveyards is not perhaps the most exhilarating
+of pastimes or employments, but it, at any rate, is likely to
+bring, on occasion, curious local history to light.&nbsp; Not
+infrequently, in the old churchyards of seaboard parishes,
+epitaphs bearing upon the story of smuggling may be found.</p>
+<p>Among these often quaint and curious, as well as tragical,
+relics, that in Hunstanton churchyard, on the coast of Norfolk,
+is pre-eminent, both for its grotesquely ungrammatical character
+and for the history that attaches to the affair:</p>
+<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">In Memory of William
+Webb, late of the 15th Lt. D&rsquo;ns,<br />
+who was shot from his Horse by a party of Smugglers<br />
+on the 26 of Sepr. 1784.</p>
+<p>I am not dead, but sleepeth here,<br />
+And when the Trumpet Sound I will appear.<br />
+Four balls thro&rsquo; me Pearced there way:<br />
+Hard it was.&nbsp; I&rsquo;d no time to pray</p>
+<p>This stone that here you Do see<br />
+My Comerades erected for the sake of me.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Two smugglers, William Kemble and Andrew Gunton, were
+arraigned for the murder of this dragoon and an excise
+officer.&nbsp; The jury, much to the surprise of every one, for
+the guilt of the prisoners was undoubted, brought in a verdict of
+&ldquo;Not guilty&rdquo;; whereupon Mr. Murphy, counsel for the
+prosecution, moved for a new trial, observing that if a Norfolk
+jury were <a name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+118</span>determined not to convict persons guilty of the most
+obvious crimes, simply because, as smugglers, they commanded the
+sympathy of the country people, there was an end of all
+justice.</p>
+<p>A second jury was forthwith empanelled and the evidence
+repeated, and after three hours&rsquo; deliberation the prisoners
+were again found &ldquo;Not guilty,&rdquo; and were, in
+accordance with that finding, acquitted and liberated.</p>
+<p>It is abundantly possible that the foregoing incident had some
+connection with that locally favourite smugglers&rsquo; route
+from the Norfolk coast inland, the Peddar&rsquo;s Way, which runs
+a long and lonely course from Holme, near Hunstanton, right
+through Norfolk into Suffolk, and is for the greater part of its
+length a broad, grassy track, romantically lined and overhung
+with fine trees.&nbsp; Such ancient ways, including the many old
+drove-roads in the north, never turnpiked, made capital soft
+going, and, rarely touching villages or hamlets, were of a highly
+desirable, secretive nature.&nbsp; The origin of the
+Peddar&rsquo;s, or Padder&rsquo;s, Way is still in dispute among
+antiquaries, some seeing in it a Roman road, others conceiving it
+to be a prehistoric track; but the broad, straight character of
+it seems to point to this long route having been Romanised.&nbsp;
+Its great age is evident on many accounts, not least among them
+being that the little town of Watton, near but not on it, is
+named from this prehistoric road, &ldquo;Way-town,&rdquo; while
+that county division, the hundred, is the Hundred of Wayland.</p>
+<h2><a name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+119</span>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">The Dorset and Devon Coasts</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Epitaphs at Kinson and Wyke</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">The &ldquo;Wiltshire
+Moon-Rakers&rdquo;</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Epitaph at
+Branscombe</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Warren and
+&ldquo;Mount Pleasant&rdquo; Inn</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Not</span> so much smuggling incident as
+might be expected is found along the coasts of Dorset and Devon,
+but that is less on account of any lack of smuggling encounters
+in those parts than because less careful record has been kept of
+them.&nbsp; An early epitaph on a smuggler, to be seen in the
+churchyard of Kinson, just within the Dorset boundary, in an
+out-of-the-way situation at the back of Bournemouth, in a
+district formerly of almost trackless heaths, will sufficiently
+show that smuggling was active here:</p>
+<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">To the memory of Robert
+Trotman, late of Rowd, in<br />
+the county of Wilts, who was barbarously murdered<br />
+on the shore near Poole, the 24th March, 1765.</p>
+<p>A little tea, one leaf I did not steal,<br />
+For guiltless bloodshed I to God appeal;<br />
+Put tea in one scale, human blood in t&rsquo;other<br />
+And think what &rsquo;tis to slay a harmless brother.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>This man was shot in an encounter with the revenue
+officers.&nbsp; He was one of a gang that used <a
+name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 120</span>the church
+here as a hiding-place.&nbsp; The upper stage of the tower and an
+old altar-tomb were the favourite receptacles for their
+&ldquo;free-trade&rdquo; merchandise.</p>
+<p>Trotman, it will be observed, was of Rowd, or Rowde, in
+Wiltshire, two miles from Devizes, and was thus one of the
+&ldquo;Wiltshire Moonrakers,&rdquo; whose descriptive title is
+due to smuggling history.&nbsp; Among the nicknames conferred
+upon the natives of our various shires and counties none is
+complimentary.&nbsp; They figure forth undesirable physical
+attributes, as when the Lincolnshire folk, dwellers among the
+fens, are styled &ldquo;Yellow-bellies,&rdquo; <i>i.e.</i> frogs;
+or stupidity, <i>e.g.</i> &ldquo;Silly Suffolk&rdquo;; or
+humbug&mdash;for example, &ldquo;Devonshire
+Crawlers.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;Wiltshire Moonrakers&rdquo; is
+generally considered to be a term of contempt for Wilts rustic
+stupidity; but, rightly considered, it is nothing of the
+kind.&nbsp; It all depends how you take the story which gave rise
+to it.&nbsp; The usual version tells us how a party of
+travellers, crossing a bridge in Wiltshire by night when the
+harvest moon was shining, observed a group of rustics raking in
+the stream, in which the great yellow disc of the moon was
+reflected.&nbsp; The travellers had the curiosity to ask them
+what it was they raked for in such a place and at so untimeous an
+hour; and were told they were trying to get &ldquo;that
+cheese&rdquo;&mdash;the moon&mdash;out of the water.&nbsp; The
+travellers went on their way amused with the simplicity of these
+&ldquo;naturals,&rdquo; and spread the story far and wide.</p>
+<p><a name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 121</span>But
+these apparently idiotic clod-hoppers were wiser in their
+generation than commonly supposed, and were, in fact, smugglers
+surprised in the act of raking up a number of spirit-kegs that
+had been sunk in the bed of the stream until the arrival of a
+convenient season when they could with safety be removed.&nbsp;
+The travellers, properly considered, were really revenue
+officers, scouring the neighbourhood.&nbsp; This version of the
+story fairly throws the accusation of innocence and
+dunderheadedness back upon them, and clears the Wiltshire rural
+character from contempt.&nbsp; It should, however, be said that
+the first version of the story is generally told at the expense
+of the villagers of Bishop&rsquo;s Cannings, near Devizes, who
+have long writhed under a load of ancient satirical narratives,
+reflecting upon a lack of common sense alleged to be their chief
+characteristic.</p>
+<p>Many of the western smuggling stories are of a humorous cast,
+rather than of the dreadful blood-boltered kind that disgraces
+the history of the home counties.&nbsp; Here is a case in
+point.&nbsp; On the evening of Sunday, July 10th, 1825, as two
+preventive men were on the look-out for smugglers, near Lulworth
+in Dorset, the smugglers, to the number of sixty or seventy,
+curiously enough, found them instead, and immediately taking away
+their swords and pistols, carried them to the edge of the cliff
+and placed them with their heads hanging over the precipice; with
+the comfortable assurance that if they made the least noise, or
+gave alarm, they should be immediately thrown over.&nbsp; <a
+name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 122</span>In the
+interval a smuggling vessel landed a &ldquo;crop&rdquo; of one
+hundred casks, which the shore-gang placed on their horses and
+triumphantly carried away.&nbsp; The prisoners were then removed
+from their perilous position, and taken into an adjoining field,
+where they were bound hand and foot, and left overnight.&nbsp;
+They were found the next morning by their comrades, searching for
+them.</p>
+<p>There are several points in this true tale that suggest it to
+have been the original whence Mr. Thomas Hardy obtained the chief
+motive of his short story, <i>The Distracted Preacher</i>.</p>
+<p>We do not find consecutive accounts of smuggling on this wild
+coast of Dorset; but when the veil is occasionally lifted and we
+obtain a passing glimpse, it is a picturesque scene that is
+disclosed.&nbsp; Thus, a furious encounter took place under St.
+Aldhelm&rsquo;s Head, in 1827, between an armed band of some
+seventy or eighty smugglers and the local preventive men, who
+numbered only ten, but gave a good account of themselves, two
+smugglers being reported killed on the spot, and many others
+wounded, while some of the preventive force, during the progress
+of the fight, quietly slipped to where the smugglers&rsquo; boats
+had been left and made off with the goods stored in them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The smugglers are armed,&rdquo; says a report of this
+affair, &ldquo;with swingels, like flails, with which they can
+knock people&rsquo;s brains out&rdquo;; and proceeds to say that
+weapons of this kind, often <a name="page123"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 123</span>delivering blows from unexpected
+quarters, are extremely difficult to fight against.</p>
+<p>The captain of this gang was a man named Lucas, who kept an
+inn called the &ldquo;Ship,&rdquo; at Woolbridge; and,
+information being laid, Captain Jackson, the local inspector of
+customs, went with an assistant and a police officer from London
+to his house at two o&rsquo;clock in the morning and roused
+him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Who&rsquo;s there?&rdquo; asked Lucas.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Only I, Mrs. Smith&rsquo;s little girl.&nbsp; I want a
+drop of brandy for mother,&rdquo; returned the inspector, in a
+piping voice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, my dear,&rdquo; said the landlord, and
+opened the door; to find himself in the grasp of the
+police-officer.&nbsp; Henry Fooks, of Knowle, and three others of
+the gang, were then arrested; and the whole five committed to
+Dorchester gaol.</p>
+<p>The wild coast of Dorset, if we except Poole Harbour and the
+cliffs of Purbeck, yields little to the inquirer in this sort,
+although there can be no doubt of smuggling having been in full
+operation here.&nbsp; Jack Rattenbury, whose story is told on
+another page, could doubtless have rubricated this shore of many
+cliffs and remote hamlets with striking instances; and not a
+cliff-top but must have frequently exhibited lights to
+&ldquo;flash the lugger off,&rdquo; what time the preventive men
+were on the prowl; and no lonely strand but must have witnessed
+the smugglers, when the coast was again clear, rowing out <a
+name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 124</span>and
+&ldquo;creeping for the crop&rdquo; that had been sunk and
+buoyed, or &ldquo;put in the collar,&rdquo; as the saying
+went.</p>
+<p>A relic of these for the most part unrecorded and forgotten
+incidents is found in the epitaph at Wyke, near Weymouth, on one
+William Lewis:</p>
+<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">Sacred to the memory<br
+/>
+of<br />
+WILLIAM LEWIS,</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">who was killed by a shot<br />
+from the <i>Pigmy</i> Schooner<br />
+21st April 1822, aged 53 years.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<div class="gapshortline">&nbsp;</div>
+<blockquote><p>Of life bereft (by fell design),<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; I mingle with my fellow clay,<br />
+On God&rsquo;s protection I recline<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; To save me on the Judgment-day.<br />
+There shall each blood-stain&rsquo;d soul appear,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Repent, all, ere it be too late,<br />
+Or Else a dreadful doom you&rsquo;ll hear,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; For God will sure avenge my fate.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<div class="gapshortline">&nbsp;</div>
+<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">This Stone is Erected
+by his Wife<br />
+as the last mark of respect to an<br />
+Affectionate Husband.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The inscription is surmounted by a representation, carved in
+low relief, of the <i>Pigmy</i> schooner chasing the smuggling
+vessel.</p>
+<p>Old folk, now gone from the scene of their reminiscences, used
+to tell of this tragedy, and of the landing of the body of the
+unfortunate Lewis on the rocks of Sandsfoot Castle, where the
+ragged, roofless walls of that old seaward fortress impend over
+the waves, and the great bulk of Portland isle glooms in mid
+distance upon the bay.&nbsp; They tell, too, how the inscription
+was long <a name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+125</span>kept gilded by his relatives; but the last trace of it
+has long since vanished.</p>
+<p>Many miles intervene, and another county must be entered,
+before another tragical epitaph bearing upon smuggling is
+found.&nbsp; If you go to Seaton, in South Devon, and walk inland
+from the modern developments of that now rapidly growing town to
+the old church, you may see there a tablet recording the sad fate
+of William Henry Paulson, midshipman of H.M.S. <i>Queen
+Charlotte</i>, and eight seamen, who all perished in a gale of
+wind off Sidmouth, while cruising in a galley after smugglers, in
+the year 1816.</p>
+<p>A few miles westward, through Beer to Branscombe, the country
+is of a very wild and lonely kind.&nbsp; In the weird, eerie
+churchyard of Branscombe, in which astonishing epitaphs of all
+kinds abound, is a variant upon the smugglers&rsquo; violent
+ends, in the inscription to one &ldquo;Mr. John Harley, Custom
+House Officer of this parish.&rdquo;&nbsp; It proceeds to narrate
+how, &ldquo;as he was endeavouring to extinguish some Fire made
+between Beer and Seaton as a signal to a Smuggling Boat then off
+at sea, he fell by some means or other from the top of the cliff
+to the bottom, by which he was unfortunately killed.&nbsp; This
+unhappy accident happened the 9th day of August in the year of
+our Lord 1755, <i>&aelig;tatis su&aelig;</i> 45.&nbsp; He was an
+active and diligent officer and very inoffensive in his life and
+conversation.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>So here was another martyr to the conditions created by bad
+government.</p>
+<p><a name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 126</span>The
+estuary of the Exe, between Exmouth and Starcross, was for many
+years greatly favoured by smugglers, for, as may readily be
+perceived to this day, there lay in the two-miles-broad channel,
+where sea and river mingle, a wide, wild stretch of sand, almost
+awash at high water, heaped up in towans overgrown with tussocks
+of coarse, sour grasses, or sinking into hollows full of brackish
+water: pleasant in daytime, but a dangerous place at night.&nbsp;
+Here, in this islanded waste, there were no roads nor tracks at
+all, and few were those who ever came to disturb the curlews or
+the seabirds that nested, unafraid.&nbsp; In these
+twentieth-century times of ours the Warren&mdash;for such is the
+name of this curiously amphibious place&mdash;has become a place
+of picnic parties on summer afternoons, largely by favour of the
+Great Western Railway having provided, midway between the
+stations of Starcross and Dawlish, a little platform called the
+&ldquo;Warren Halt.&rdquo;&nbsp; But in those times before
+railways, when the Warren was not easily come at, the smugglers
+found it a highly convenient place for their business.&nbsp;
+Beside it, under the lee of Langston Point, there is a sheltered
+strand, and, at such times when it was considered quite safe, the
+sturdy free-traders quietly ran their boats ashore here, on the
+yellow sands, and conveyed their contents to the &ldquo;Mount
+Pleasant&rdquo; inn, which is an unassuming&mdash;and was in
+those times a still more unassuming&mdash;house, perched
+picturesquely on the crest of a red sandstone bluff which rises
+inland, sheer from the <a name="page127"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 127</span>marshy meadows.&nbsp; It was a very
+convenient receiving-house and signal-station for all of this
+trade, for it owned caverns hollowed out of the red sandstone in
+places inaccessible to the authorities, and from its isolated
+height, overlooking the flats, could easily communicate
+encouragement or warning to friends anxiously riding at anchor
+out at sea.&nbsp; The lights that flashed on dark and tempestuous
+nights from its high-hung rustic balcony were significant.&nbsp;
+The only man who could have told much of the smugglers&rsquo;
+secrets here was the unfortunate Lieutenant Palk, who lay wait
+one such night upon the Warren.&nbsp; But dead men tell no tales;
+and that ill-starred officer was found in the morning, drowned,
+face downwards, in a shallow pool, whether by accident or design
+there was nothing to show.&nbsp; As already remarked, the Warren
+was a dangerous place to wander in after dark.</p>
+<p>It is quite vain nowadays to seek for the smugglers&rsquo;
+caves at Mount Pleasant.&nbsp; They were long ago filled up.</p>
+<p>In these times the holiday-maker, searching for shells, is the
+only feature of the sands that fringe the seaward edge of the
+Warren.&nbsp; It is a fruitful hunting-ground for such,
+especially after rough weather.&nbsp; But the day following a
+storm was, in those times, the opportunity of the local revenue
+men, who, forming a strong party, were used to take boat and pull
+down here and thoroughly search the foreshore; for at such times
+any spirit-tubs that might have been sunk out at sea and <a
+name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 128</span>carefully
+buoyed by the smugglers, awaiting a favourable time for landing,
+were apt to break loose and drift in-shore.&nbsp; There was
+always, at such times, a sporting chance of a good haul.&nbsp;
+But, on the other hand, some of the many tubs that had been sunk
+months before, and lost, would on these occasions come to hand,
+and they were worth just nothing at all: long immersion in salt
+water having spoiled their contents, with the result that what
+had been right good hollands or cognac had become a peculiarly
+ill-savoured liquid, which smelt to heaven when it was
+broached.&nbsp; The revenue people called this abominable stuff,
+which, as Shakespeare might say, had &ldquo;suffered a sea-change
+into something new and strange,&rdquo; by the appropriate name of
+&ldquo;stinkibus.&rdquo;</p>
+<h2><a name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+129</span>CHAPTER X</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">Cornwall in Smuggling Story</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Cruel Coppinger</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Hawker&rsquo;s Sketch</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">The Fowey Smugglers</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Tom Potter</span>, <span class="smcap">of
+Polperro</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Devils of
+Talland</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Smugglers&rsquo;
+Epitaphs</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Cave at
+Wendron</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">St. Ives</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Cornwall</span> is the region of romance:
+the last corner of England in which legend and imagination had
+full play, while matter-of-fact already sat enthroned over the
+rest of the land.&nbsp; At a time when newspapers almost
+everywhere had already long been busily recording facts, legends
+were still in the making throughout this westernmost part of the
+island.&nbsp; We may, in our innocence, style Cornwall a part of
+England; but the Cornish do not think of it as such, and when
+they cross the Tamar into Devonshire will still often speak of
+&ldquo;going into England.&rdquo;&nbsp; They are historically
+correct in doing so, for this is the unconquered land of the
+Cornu-Welsh, never assimilated by the Saxon kingdoms.&nbsp;
+Historically and ethnologically, the Cornish are a people
+apart.</p>
+<p>The Coppinger legend is a case in point, illustrating the
+growth of wild stories out of meagre facts.&nbsp; &ldquo;Cruel
+Coppinger&rdquo; is a <a name="page130"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 130</span>half-satanic, semi-viking character
+in the tales of North Cornwall and North Devon, of whom no
+visitor is likely to remain ignorant, for not only was he a dread
+figure of local folklore from about the first quarter of the
+nineteenth century, but he was written up in 1866 by the Reverend
+R. S. Hawker, Vicar of Morwenstow, who not only collated those
+floating stories, but added very much of his own, for Hawker was
+a man&mdash;and a not very scrupulous man&mdash;of
+imagination.&nbsp; Hawker&rsquo;s presentment of &ldquo;Cruel
+Coppinger&rdquo; was published in a popular magazine, and then
+the legend became full-blown.</p>
+<p>The advent of Coppinger upon the coast at Welcombe Mouth, near
+where Devon and Cornwall join, was dramatic.&nbsp; The story
+tells how a strange vessel went to pieces on the reefs and how
+only one person escaped with his life, in the midst of a howling
+tempest.&nbsp; This was the skipper, a Dane named
+Coppinger.&nbsp; On the beach, on foot and on horseback, was a
+crowd, waiting, in the usual Cornish way, for any wreck of the
+sea that might be thrown up.&nbsp; Into the midst of them, like
+some sea-monster, dashed this sole survivor, and bounded suddenly
+upon the crupper of a young damsel who had ridden to the shore to
+see the sight.&nbsp; He grasped her bridle, and, shouting in a
+foreign tongue, urged the doubly-laden animal to full speed, and
+the horse naturally took his usual way home.&nbsp; The damsel was
+Miss Dinah Hamlyn.&nbsp; The stranger descended at her
+father&rsquo;s door and lifted her off her saddle.&nbsp; He <a
+name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 131</span>then
+announced himself as a Dane, named Coppinger, and took his place
+at the family board and there remained until he had secured the
+affections and hand of Dinah.&nbsp; The father died, and
+Coppinger succeeded to the management and control of the house,
+which thenceforward became the refuge of every lawless character
+along the coast.&nbsp; All kinds of wild uproar and reckless
+revelry appalled the neighbourhood, night and day.&nbsp; It was
+discovered that an organised band of smugglers, wreckers, and
+poachers made this house their rendezvous, and that &ldquo;Cruel
+Coppinger&rdquo; was their captain.&nbsp; In those times no
+revenue officer durst exercise vigilance west of the Tamar, and,
+to put an end at once to all such surveillance, the head of a
+gauger was chopped off by one of Coppinger&rsquo;s gang, on the
+gunwale of a boat.</p>
+<p>Strange vessels began to appear at regular intervals on the
+coast, and signals were flashed from the headlands, to lead them
+into the safest creek or cove.&nbsp; Amongst these, one, a
+full-rigged schooner, soon became ominously conspicuous.&nbsp;
+She was for long the terror of those shores, and her name was the
+<i>Black Prince</i>.&nbsp; Once, with Coppinger aboard, she led a
+revenue cutter into an intricate channel near the Bull Rock,
+where, from knowledge of the bearings, the <i>Black Prince</i>
+escaped scathless, while the King&rsquo;s vessel perished with
+all on board.&nbsp; In those times, if any landsman became
+obnoxious to Coppinger&rsquo;s men, he was seized and carried
+aboard the <i>Black Prince</i>, <a name="page132"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 132</span>and obliged to save his life by
+enrolling himself as one of the crew.</p>
+<p>Amid such practices, ill-gotten gold began to accrue to
+Coppinger.&nbsp; At one time he had enough money to purchase a
+freehold farm bordering on the sea.&nbsp; When the day of
+transfer came, he and one of his followers appeared before the
+lawyer and paid the money in dollars, ducats, doubloons, and
+pistoles.&nbsp; The lawyer objected, but Coppinger, with an oath,
+bade him take that or none.</p>
+<p>Long impunity increased Coppinger&rsquo;s daring.&nbsp; Over
+certain bridle-paths along the fields he exercised exclusive
+control, and issued orders that no man was to pass over them by
+night.&nbsp; They were known as &ldquo;Coppinger&rsquo;s
+Tracks,&rdquo; and all converged at a cliff called &ldquo;Steeple
+Brink.&rdquo;&nbsp; Here the precipice fell sheer to the sea, 300
+feet, with overhanging eaves a hundred feet from the
+summit.&nbsp; Under this part was a cave, only to be reached by a
+rope-ladder from above.&nbsp; This was &ldquo;Coppinger&rsquo;s
+Cave.&rdquo;&nbsp; Here sheep were tethered to the rock and fed
+on stolen hay and corn until slaughtered.&nbsp; Kegs of brandy
+and hollands were piled around; chests of tea, and iron-bound
+sea-chests contained the chattels and revenues of the Coppinger
+royalty of the sea.</p>
+<p>The terror linked with Coppinger&rsquo;s name throughout the
+north coasts of Cornwall and Devon was so extreme that the people
+themselves, wild and lawless though they were, submitted to his
+sway as though he had been lord of the soil, and they his
+vassals.&nbsp; Such a household as his was, <a
+name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 133</span>of course,
+far from happy or calm.&nbsp; Although, when his father-in-law
+died, he had insensibly acquired possession of the stock and
+farm, there remained in the hands of the widow a considerable
+amount of money.&nbsp; This he obtained from the helpless woman
+by instalments, and by force.&nbsp; He would fasten his wife to
+the pillar of her oak bedstead, and call her mother into the
+room, and assure her he would flog Dinah with a
+cat-o&rsquo;-nine-tails till her mother had transferred to him
+what he wanted.&nbsp; This act of brutal cruelty he repeated
+until he had utterly exhausted the widow&rsquo;s store.</p>
+<p>There was but one child of Coppinger&rsquo;s marriage.&nbsp;
+It was a boy, and deaf and dumb, but mischievous and
+ungovernable, delighting in cruelty to other children, animals,
+or birds.&nbsp; When he was but six years of age, he was found
+one day, hugging himself with delight, and pointing down from the
+brink of a cliff to the beach, where the body of a
+neighbour&rsquo;s child was found and it was believed that little
+Coppinger had flung him over.&nbsp; It was a saying in the
+district that, as a judgment on his father&rsquo;s cruelty, the
+child had been born without a human soul.</p>
+<p>But the end arrived.&nbsp; Money became scarce, and more than
+one armed King&rsquo;s cutter was seen, day and night, hovering
+off the land.&nbsp; And at last Coppinger, &ldquo;who came with
+the water, went with the wind.&rdquo;&nbsp; A wrecker, watching
+the shore, saw, as the sun went down, a full-rigged vessel
+standing off and on.&nbsp; Coppinger came to <a
+name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 134</span>the beach,
+put off in a boat to the vessel, and jumped aboard.&nbsp; She
+spread canvas, and was seen no more.&nbsp; That night was one of
+storm, and whether the vessel rode it out or not, none ever
+knew.</p>
+<p>It is hardly necessary to add that the Coppinger of these and
+other rumbustious stories is a strictly unhistorical Coppinger;
+and that, in short, they are mainly efforts of Hawker&rsquo;s own
+imagination, built upon very slight folklore traditions.</p>
+<p>Who and what, however, was the real Coppinger?&nbsp; Very
+little exact information is available, but what we have entirely
+demolishes the legendary half-man, half-monster of those
+remarkable exploits.</p>
+<p>Daniel Herbert Copinger, or Coppinger, was wrecked at Welcombe
+Mouth on December 23rd, 1792, and was given shelter beneath the
+roof of Mr. William Arthur, yeoman farmer, at Golden Park,
+Hartland, where for many years afterwards his name might have
+been seen, scratched on a window-pane:</p>
+<blockquote><p>D. H. Coppinger, shipwrecked December 23 1792,
+kindly received by Mr. Wm. Arthur.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>There is not the slightest authority for the story of his
+sensational leap on to the saddle of Miss Dinah Hamlyn; but it is
+true enough that the next year he married a Miss Hamlyn&mdash;her
+Christian name was Ann&mdash;elder of the two daughters of
+Ackland Hamlyn, of Galsham, in Hartland, and in the registers of
+Hartland church <a name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+135</span>may be found this entry: &ldquo;Daniel Herbert
+Coppinger, of the King&rsquo;s Royal Navy, and Ann Hamlyn mard.
+(by licence) 3 Aug.&rdquo;&nbsp; The &ldquo;damsel&rdquo; of the
+story also turns out, by the cold, calm evidence of this entry,
+to have been of the mature age of forty-two.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Hamlyn, Coppinger&rsquo;s mother-in-law, died in 1800,
+and was buried in the chancel of Hartland church.&nbsp; It is, of
+course, quite possible that his married life was stormy and that
+he, more or less by force, extracted money from Mrs. Hamlyn, and
+he was certainly more or less involved in smuggling.&nbsp; But
+that he, or any of his associates, chopped off the head of an
+excise officer is not to be credited.&nbsp; Tales are told of
+revenue officers searching at Galsham for contraband, and of Mrs.
+Coppinger hurriedly hiding a quantity of valuable silks in the
+kitchen oven, while her husband engaged their attention in
+permitting them to find a number of spirit-kegs, which they
+presently found, much to their disgust, to be empty; and,
+moreover, empty so long that scarce the ghost of even a smell of
+the departed spirit could be traced.&nbsp; But the flurried Mrs.
+Coppinger had in her haste done a disastrous thing, for the oven
+was in baking trim, and the valuable silks were baked to a
+cinder.</p>
+<p>Little else is known of Coppinger, and nothing whatever of his
+alleged connection with the Navy.&nbsp; He became bankrupt in
+1802, and was then a prisoner in the King&rsquo;s Bench
+Prison.&nbsp; With him was one Richard Copinger, said to have
+been a <a name="page136"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+136</span>merchant in Martinique.&nbsp; Nothing is known of him
+after this date, but rumour told how he was living apart from his
+wife, at Barnstaple, and subsisting on an allowance from her.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Coppinger herself, in after years, resided at Barnstaple,
+and died there on August 31st, 1833.&nbsp; She lies buried in the
+chancel of Hartland church beside her mother.</p>
+<p>According to the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, Coppinger was not
+really a Dane, but an Irishman, and had a wife at Trewhiddle near
+St. Austell.&nbsp; He, on the same authority, is said to have
+done extremely well as a smuggler, and had not only a farm at
+Trewhiddle, but another at Roscoff, in Brittany.&nbsp; A
+daughter, says Mr. Baring-Gould, married a Trefusis, son of Lord
+Clinton, and Coppinger gave her &pound;40,000 as a dowry.&nbsp; A
+son married the daughter of Sir John Murray, Bart., of
+Stanhope.&nbsp; The source of this interesting information is not
+stated.&nbsp; It appears wildly improbable.</p>
+<p>Hawker very cleverly embodied the smuggling sentiment of
+Cornwall in a sketch he wrote, styled &ldquo;The Light of Other
+Days.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was full six in the evening of an autumn day when a
+traveller arrived where the road ran along by a sandy beach just
+above high-water mark.&nbsp; The stranger, who was a native of
+some inland town, and utterly unacquainted with Cornwall and its
+ways, had reached the brink of the tide just as a
+&lsquo;landing&rsquo; was coming off.&nbsp; It was a scene not
+only to instruct a townsman, but to dazzle and surprise.&nbsp; At
+sea, just beyond <a name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+137</span>the billows, lay the vessel, well moored with anchors
+at stem and stern.&nbsp; Between the ship and the shore, boats,
+laden to the gunwale, passed to and fro.&nbsp; Crowds assembled
+on the beach to help the cargo ashore.&nbsp; On one hand a
+boisterous group surrounded a keg with the head knocked in, for
+simplicity of access to the good cognac, into which they dipped
+whatsoever vessel came first to hand; one man had filled his
+shoe.&nbsp; On the other side they fought and wrestled, cursed
+and swore.&nbsp; Horrified at what he saw, the stranger lost all
+self-command, and, oblivious of personal danger, he began to
+shout, &lsquo;What a horrible sight!&nbsp; Have you no
+shame?&nbsp; Is there no magistrate at hand?&nbsp; Cannot any
+justice of the peace be found in this fearful country?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;No; thanks be to God,&rsquo; answered a gruff,
+hoarse voice.&nbsp; &lsquo;None within eight miles.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Well, then,&rsquo; screamed the stranger,
+&lsquo;is there no clergyman hereabout?&nbsp; Does no minister of
+the parish live among you on this coast?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Aye, to be sure there is,&rsquo; said the same
+deep voice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Well, how far off does he live?&nbsp; Where is
+he?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;That&rsquo;s he, yonder, sir, with the
+lantern.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And, sure enough, there he stood on a rock, and poured,
+with pastoral diligence, &lsquo;the light of other days&rsquo; on
+a busy congregation.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p136.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"&ldquo;The Light of other Days&rdquo;"
+title=
+"&ldquo;The Light of other Days&rdquo;"
+src="images/p136.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The complete, true story of smuggling along the Cornish coast
+will never be told.&nbsp; Those who could have contributed
+illuminating chapters to <a name="page138"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 138</span>it, and would not, are dead, and
+those who now would are reduced to seeking details and finding
+only scraps.&nbsp; But some of these scraps are not
+unpalatable.</p>
+<p>Thus we have the story of that Vicar of Maker whose church was
+used as a smugglers&rsquo; store.&nbsp; The Vicar was not a party
+to these proceedings, as may well be judged by his inviting his
+rural dean to ascend to the roof of the church-tower with him,
+for sake of the view: the view disclosing not only a lovely
+expanse of sea and wooded foreshore, but also a heap of
+twenty-three spirit-kegs, reposing in the gutters between the
+roofs of nave and aisle.</p>
+<p>The &ldquo;Fowey Gallants,&rdquo; as the townsfolk of that
+little seaport delighted to call themselves,&mdash;the title
+having descended from Elizabethan and even earlier times, when
+the &ldquo;Gallants&rdquo; in question were, in plain speech,
+nothing less than turbulent seafaring rowdies and
+pirates&mdash;were not behind other Cornish folk in their
+smuggling enterprises.&nbsp; That prime authority on this part of
+the Cornish coast, Jonathan Couch, historian of Polperro, tells
+us of an exciting incident at Fowey, in the smuggling way.&nbsp;
+On one occasion, the custom-house officers heard of an important
+run that had taken place overnight, and accordingly sent out
+scouts in every direction to locate the stuff, if possible.&nbsp;
+At Landaviddy one of these parties met a farm-labourer whom they
+suspected of having taken part in the run.&nbsp; They taxed him
+with it, and tried him all ways; <a name="page139"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 139</span>without effect, until they
+threatened to impress him for service in the Navy unless he
+revealed the hiding-place of the cognac.&nbsp; His resolution
+broke down at that, and he told how the kegs had been hidden in a
+large cave at Yellow Rock, which the officers then instructed him
+to mark with a chalk cross.</p>
+<p>The revenue men then went off for reinforcements, and,
+returning, met an armed band of smugglers, who had taken up a
+strong position at New Quay Head.&nbsp; They were armed with
+sticks, cutlasses, and muskets, and had brought a loaded gun upon
+the scene, which they trained upon the cave; while a man with
+flaring portfire stood by and dared the officers to remove the
+goods.&nbsp; Official prudence counselled the revenue men to
+retire for further support; but when they had again returned the
+smugglers had disappeared, and the kegs with them.</p>
+<p>Fowey&rsquo;s trade in &ldquo;moonshine,&rdquo; <i>i.e.</i>
+contraband spirits, was, like that of the Cornish coast in
+general, with Roscoff, in Brittany; and a regular service was
+maintained for years.&nbsp; As late as 1832 the luggers
+<i>Eagle</i>, thirty-five tons; <i>Rose</i>, eleven tons; and
+<i>Dove</i>, of the same burthen, were well known in the
+trade.&nbsp; Among the smuggling craft belonging to Polperro, the
+<i>Unity</i> was said to have made upwards of five hundred
+entirely successful trips.</p>
+<p>The story of Tom Potter is even yet told by oldsters at
+Polperro, who, not themselves old enough to recollect the
+circumstances, have it <a name="page140"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 140</span>from their parents and
+grandparents.&nbsp; Jonathan Couch tells the story, but he forgot
+the exact year.</p>
+<p>It seems, then, that one morning a lugger was observed by a
+revenue cutter lying becalmed in Whitesand Bay.&nbsp; Through
+their glasses the revenue men made it out to be the
+<i>Lottery</i>, of Polperro, well known for her fast-sailing
+qualities, as well as for the hardihood of her crew.&nbsp; With
+the springing up of the breeze, there was little doubt but that
+she would put to sea, and thus add yet another opportunity to the
+many already existing for sneering at the stupidity of the local
+preventive force.</p>
+<p>Accordingly, the chief officer, with all despatch, manned two
+or three boats and put off, before a breeze could spring up,
+making sure of an easy capture.&nbsp; The smugglers, however,
+observed these movements of their watchful enemies, and commenced
+to make preparations for resistance, whereupon the revenue boats
+opened fire; but it was not until they had approached closely
+that the smugglers returned their volleys, and then the firing
+grew very heavy, and when within a few yards of the expected
+prize, Ambrose Bowden, who pulled bow-oar in one of the attacking
+boats, fell mortally wounded.</p>
+<p>It was plain that the Polperro men had come to a determination
+not to surrender their fine craft, or the valuable cargo it
+carried; and the commander of the revenue men thought it, under
+the circumstances, the wisest thing to withdraw <a
+name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 141</span>and to
+allow the <i>Lottery</i> to proceed to sea, which she did, at the
+earliest opportunity.&nbsp; But the names of those who formed the
+crew were sufficiently well known to the authorities, and the
+smugglers accordingly found themselves in a very difficult
+position; not indeed on account of smuggling, but for the
+resistance they had offered to authority, resulting in what was
+technically murder.&nbsp; They all scattered and went into
+hiding, and, secreted by friends, relatives, and sympathisers in
+out-of-the-way places, long baffled the efforts of the revenue
+officers, aided by searching parties of dragoons, to find
+them.&nbsp; The authorities no sooner had learnt, on reliable
+information, where they lay hidden, than they were found to have
+been spirited away elsewhere.</p>
+<p>But all this skulking about, with its enforced idleness and
+waste of time, grew wearisome to the skulkers, and at length one
+of the crew of the <i>Lottery</i>, Roger Toms by name, more weary
+than his fellows of hiding, and perhaps also thinking that his
+services would be handsomely rewarded, offered himself as
+King&rsquo;s evidence.</p>
+<p>According to his showing, it was a man named Tom Potter who
+fired the shot that killed Bowden.&nbsp; The search then
+concentrated upon Potter.&nbsp; The fury of Toms&rsquo;s
+fellow-smugglers, and the entire population of Polperro, against
+the informer, Toms, may readily be imagined.&nbsp; To in any way
+aid these natural enemies of the people was of itself the
+unforgiveable sin, and to further go and offer evidence that
+would result in the forfeit <a name="page142"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 142</span>of the life of one of his own
+comrades disclosed an even deeper depth of infamy.</p>
+<p>Toms was therefore obliged to go into hiding again, and, this
+time, from his old associates.&nbsp; It was some considerable
+time before they captured him, and they did it, even then, only
+by stratagem.&nbsp; His wife, and others, knowing the intense
+feeling aroused, not unnaturally supposed his life to be in
+danger; but the smugglers assured her that they only wanted to
+secure him and hold him prisoner until after the trial of Bowden,
+and would not otherwise harm him.&nbsp; They added, mysteriously,
+that things might go worse with Toms if he continued to hide
+away; for they would be certain sooner or later to find
+him.&nbsp; The greatly alarmed woman at last arranged that they
+should capture him when accompanying her across the moors in the
+direction of Polruan, and they accordingly seized the informer
+when in her company, on Lantock Downs.&nbsp; They hid him for
+awhile close by, and then smuggled him, a close prisoner, over to
+that then noted smugglers&rsquo; Alsatia, Guernsey, with the idea
+of eventually shipping him to America.&nbsp; But while at
+Guernsey he escaped and made his way to London.</p>
+<p>The evidence he gave was to the effect that, during the
+firing, he went down into the cabin of the <i>Lottery</i>, and
+there saw Potter with a gun.&nbsp; Potter said &ldquo;Damn
+them!&nbsp; I have just done for one of them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Potter was convicted and hanged.&nbsp; Toms, of course, never
+dared to again return to Polperro, <a name="page143"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 143</span>and was given a small post as
+under-turnkey at Newgate, where he lived the remainder of his
+life.</p>
+<p>Talland, midway between Polperro and Looe, was a favourite
+spot with these daring Polperro fellows.&nbsp; It offered better
+opportunities than those given by Polperro itself for unobserved
+landings; for it was&mdash;and it still is&mdash;a weird, lonely
+place, overhanging the sea, with a solitary ancient church well
+within sound of the waves that beat heavily upon the little
+sands.&nbsp; It was an easy matter to store kegs in the
+churchyard itself, and to take them inland, or into Polperro by
+the country roads, when opportunity offered, hidden in carts
+taking seaweed for manure to the fields.</p>
+<p>At one time Talland owned a shuddery reputation in all this
+country-side, and people in the farmhouses told, with many a
+fearful glance over their shoulders, of the uncanny creatures
+that nightly haunted the churchyard.&nbsp; Devils, wraiths, and
+fearful apparitions made the spot a kind of satanic parliament;
+and we may be amply sure that these horrid stories lost no accent
+or detail of terror by constant repetition in those inglenooks on
+winter evenings.&nbsp; This is not to say that other places round
+about were innocent of things supernatural; for those were times
+when every Cornish glen, moor, stream, and hill had their
+bukkadhus, their piskies, and gnomes of sorts, good and evil; but
+the infernal company that consorted together in Talland <a
+name="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 144</span>churchyard
+was entirely beside these old-established creatures.&nbsp; They
+were <i>hors concours</i>, as the French would say: they formed a
+class by themselves; and, in the expressive slang of to-day, they
+were &ldquo;the Limit,&rdquo; the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of
+militant ghostdom.&nbsp; People rash enough to take the
+church-path through Talland after night had fallen were sure to
+hear and see strange semi-luminous figures; and they bethought
+them then of the at once evil and beneficent reputation owned and
+really enjoyed by Parson Dodge, the eccentric clergyman of
+Talland, who was reputed an exorcist of the first quality.&nbsp;
+He it was who, doughty wrestler with the most obstinate spectres,
+found himself greatly in demand in a wide geographical area for
+the banishing of troublesome ghosts for a long term of years to
+the Red Sea; but it was whispered, on the other hand, that he
+kept a numerous band of diabolic familiars believed by the simple
+folk of that age to resort nightly to the vicarage for their
+orders, and then to do his bidding.&nbsp; These were the spiteful
+creatures, thought the country people, who, to revenge themselves
+for this servitude, lurked in the churchyard, and got even with
+mankind by pinching and smacking and playing all manner of scurvy
+tricks upon those who dared pass this way under cover of
+night.&nbsp; Uncle Zack Chowne even got a black eye by favour of
+these inimical agencies, one exceptionally dark night when,
+coming home-along this way, under the influence of spirits not of
+supernatural origin, he met a <a name="page145"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 145</span>posse of fiends, and, in the amiable
+manner of the completely intoxicated, insisted upon their
+adjourning with him to the nearest inn, &ldquo;jush for shake of
+ole timesh.&rdquo;&nbsp; In fact, he made the sad mistake of
+taking the fiends in question for friends, and addressed them by
+name: with the result that he got a sledge-hammer blow in what
+the prize-fighting brotherhood used to call &ldquo;the
+peeper.&rdquo;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p144.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Devils of Talland"
+title=
+"The Devils of Talland"
+src="images/p144.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>If he had adopted the proper method to be observed when
+meeting spirits, <i>i.e.</i> if he had stood up and &ldquo;said
+his Nummy Dummy,&rdquo; all would doubtless have been well; this
+form of exorcism being in Cornwall of great repute and never
+known to fail: being nothing less, indeed, than the Latin <i>In
+Nomine Domine</i> in disguise.</p>
+<p>But the real truth of the matter, as the readers of these
+lines who can see further through a brick wall than others may
+readily perceive, was that those savage spooks and mischievous,
+Puck-like shapes, were really youthful local smugglers in
+disguise, engaged at one and the same time in a highly profitable
+nocturnal business, and in taking the welcome opportunity thus
+offered in an otherwise dull circle of establishing a glorious
+&ldquo;rag.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Parson Dodge himself was something more than suspected of
+being &ldquo;ower sib&rdquo; to these at once commercial and
+rollicking dogs, and Talland was in fact the scene of many a
+successful run that could scarce have been successful had not
+this easy-going cleric amiably permitted.</p>
+<p>It is thus peculiarly appropriate that we find <a
+name="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 146</span>to-day in
+this lonely churchyard an epitaph upon a smuggler of those
+times.&nbsp; It is a tragical enough epitaph, its tragedy perhaps
+disguised at the first glance by the grotesquely comic little
+cherubs carved upon the tombstone, and representing the local
+high-water mark of mortuary sculpture a hundred years or so
+ago.&nbsp; They are pursy cherubs, of oleaginous appearance and
+of this-worldly, rather than of other-worldly paunch and
+deportment.&nbsp; In general, Talland churchyard is rich in such
+carvings; death&rsquo;s-heads of appalling ugliness to be seen in
+company with middle-aged, double-chinned angels wearing what look
+suspiciously like chest-protectors and pyjamas, and they
+decorate, with weirdly humorous aspect, the monuments and ledger
+stones, and grin familiarly from the pavement with the
+half-obliterated grins of many generations back.&nbsp; One of
+them points with a claw, intended for a hand, to an object
+somewhat resembling a crumpled dress-tie set up on end, probably
+designed to represent an hour-glass.</p>
+<p>Such is the mortuary art of these lonesome parishes in far
+Cornwall: na&iuml;ve, uninstructed, home-made.&nbsp; It sufficed
+the simple folk for whom it was wrought; and now that more
+conventional and pretentious memorials have taken its place, to
+serve the turn of folk less simple, there are those who would
+abolish its uncouth manifestations.&nbsp; But that way&mdash;with
+the urbanities of the world&mdash;goes old Cornwall, never to be
+replaced.</p>
+<p><a name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 147</span>Here
+is the epitaph to the smuggler, one&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">ROBERT MARK;</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">late of Polperro, who
+Unfortunately<br />
+was <i>shot at Sea</i> the 24th day of Jan<sup>y</sup>.<br />
+in the year of our Lord <span class="smcap">God</span><br />
+1802, in the 40th Year of His <span class="smcap">Age</span></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<div class="gapshortline">&nbsp;</div>
+<blockquote><p>In prime of Life most suddenly,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Sad tidings to relate;<br />
+Here view My utter destiny,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And pity, My sad state:<br />
+I by a shot, which Rapid flew,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Was instantly struck dead;<br />
+<span class="smcap">Lord</span> pardon the Offender who<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; My precious blood did shed.<br />
+Grant Him to rest, and forgive Me,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; All I have done amiss;<br />
+And that I may Rewarded be<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; With Everlasting Bliss.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Robert Mark was at the helm of a boat which had been obliged
+to run before a revenue cutter.&nbsp; It was at the point of
+escaping when the cutter&rsquo;s crew opened fire upon the
+fugitive, killing the helmsman on the spot.&nbsp; Let us trust he
+has duly won to that everlasting bliss that not even smugglers
+are denied.&nbsp; The mild and forgiving terms of the epitaph are
+to be noted with astonishment; the usual run of sentiment to be
+observed on the very considerable number of these memorials to
+smugglers cut off suddenly in the plenitude of their youth and
+beauty, being particularly revengeful and bloodthirsty, or at the
+best, bitterly reproachful.</p>
+<p>Among these many epitaphs on smugglers <a
+name="page148"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 148</span>to be met
+with in the churchyards of seaboard parishes is the following, to
+be found in the waterside parish of Mylor, near Falmouth.&nbsp;
+Details of the incident in which this &ldquo;Cus-toms house
+officer&rdquo; (spelled here exactly as the old lettering on the
+tombstone has it) shot and mortally wounded Thomas James appear
+to have been altogether lost:</p>
+<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">We have not a moment we
+can call our own.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<div class="gapshortline">&nbsp;</div>
+<blockquote><p>In Memory of Thomas James, aged 35 years, who<br
+/>
+on the evening of the 7th Dec. 1814, on his returning<br />
+to Flushing from St. Mawes in a boat was shot by a<br />
+Cus-toms house officer and expired a few days after.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<div class="gapshortline">&nbsp;</div>
+<blockquote><p>Officious zeal in luckless hour laid wait<br />
+And wilful sent the murderous ball of fate:<br />
+James to his home, which late in health he left,<br />
+Wounded returned&mdash;of life is soon bereft.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>This is quite a mild and academic example, and obviously the
+work of some passionless hireling, paid for his verses.&nbsp; He
+would have written not less affectingly for poor dog Tray.</p>
+<p>Prussia Cove, the most famous smuggling centre in Cornwall,
+finds mention in another chapter.&nbsp; Little else remains to be
+said, authentically at any rate.&nbsp; Invention, however, could
+readily people every cove with desperate men and hair-raising
+encounters, and there could nowadays be none who should be able
+to deny the truth of them.&nbsp; But we will leave all that to
+the novelists, merely pointing out that facts continually prove
+themselves at least as strange as fiction.&nbsp; Thus at Wendron,
+five miles inland from Helston, <a name="page149"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 149</span>two caves, or underground chambers,
+were discovered in 1905 during some alterations and rebuildings,
+close to the churchyard.&nbsp; Local opinion declared them to be
+smugglers&rsquo; hiding-holes.</p>
+<p>There stands in St. Ives town a ruined old mansion in one of
+the narrow alley-ways.&nbsp; It is known as Hicks&rsquo; Court,
+and must have been a considerable place, in its day.&nbsp; Also
+the owners of it must have been uncommonly fond of good liquors,
+for it has a &ldquo;secret&rdquo; cellar, so called no doubt
+because, like the &ldquo;secret&rdquo; drawers of bureaus, its
+existence was perfectly obvious.&nbsp; Locally it is known as a
+&ldquo;smugglers&rsquo; store.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In such a place as St. Ives, on a coast of old so notorious
+for smuggling, we naturally look for much history in this sort,
+but research fails to reward even the most diligent; and we have
+to be content with the meagre suspicions (for they were nothing
+more) of the honesty of John Knill, a famous native and resident
+of the town in the second half of the eighteenth century, who was
+Collector of Customs in that port, and in 1767 was chosen
+Mayor.&nbsp; His action in equipping some small craft to serve as
+privateers against smugglers was wilfully misconstrued; and, at
+any rate, it does not seem at all fitting that he, as an official
+of the customs service, should have been concerned in such
+private ventures.&nbsp; These &ldquo;privateers,&rdquo; it was
+said locally, were themselves actively employed in smuggling.</p>
+<p>He was also, according to rumour, responsible, <a
+name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 150</span>together
+with one Praed, of Trevetho, for a ship which was driven ashore
+in St. Ives Bay, and, when boarded by Roger Wearne, customs
+officer, was found to be deserted by captain and crew, who had
+been careful to remove all the ship&rsquo;s papers, so that her
+owners remained unknown.&nbsp; The vessel was found to be full of
+contraband goods, including a great quantity of china, some of it
+of excellent quality.&nbsp; Wearne conceived the brilliant idea
+of taking some samples of the best for his own personal use, and
+filled out the baggy breeches he was wearing with them, before he
+made to rejoin the boat that had put him aboard.&nbsp; This
+uncovenanted cargo made his movements, as he came over the side,
+so slow that one of his impatient boatmen smartly whacked him
+with the flat of his oar, calling, &ldquo;Look sharp,
+Wearne,&rdquo; and was dismayed when, in place of the thud that
+might have been expected, there came a crash like the falling of
+a trayful of crockery, followed by a cry of dismay and
+anguish.</p>
+<h2><a name="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+151</span>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">Testimony to the Qualities of the Seafaring
+Smugglers</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Adam Smith on
+Smuggling</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Clerical
+Counterblast</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Biographical
+Sketches of Smugglers</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Robert
+Johnson</span>, <span class="smcap">Harry
+Paulet</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">William Gibson</span>,
+<span class="smcap">A Converted Smuggler</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Care</span> has already been taken to
+discriminate between the hardy, hearty, and daring fellows who
+brought their duty-free goods across the sea and those others
+who, daring also, but often cruel and criminal, handled the goods
+ashore.&nbsp; We now come to close quarters with the seafaring
+smugglers, in a few biographical sketches: premising them with
+some striking testimony to their qualities as seamen.</p>
+<p>Captain Brenton, in his &ldquo;History of the Royal
+Navy,&rdquo; pays a very high, but not extravagant, compliment to
+these daring fellows: &ldquo;These men,&rdquo; he says,
+&ldquo;are as remarkable for their skill in seamanship as for
+their audacity in the hour of danger; their local knowledge has
+been highly advantageous to the Navy, into which, however, they
+never enter, unless sent on board ships of war as a punishment
+for some crime <a name="page152"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+152</span>committed against the revenue laws.&nbsp; They are
+hardy, sober, and faithful to each other, beyond the generality
+of seamen; and, when shipwreck occurs, have been known to perform
+deeds not exceeded in any country in the world; probably
+unequalled in the annals of other maritime powers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Such men as these, besides being, in the rustic opinion, very
+much of heroes, engaged in an unequal warfare, against heavy
+odds, with a hateful, ogreish abstraction called &ldquo;the
+Government,&rdquo; which existed only for the purpose of taxing
+and suppressing the poor, for the benefit of the rich, were
+regarded as benefactors; for they supplied the downtrodden,
+overtaxed people with better articles, at lower prices, than
+could be obtained in the legitimate way of traders who had paid
+excise duties.</p>
+<p>There was probably a considerable basis of truth to support
+this view, for there is no doubt that duty-paid goods were
+largely adulterated.&nbsp; To adulterate his spirits, his tea,
+and his tobacco was the nearest road to any considerable profit
+that the tradesman could then make.</p>
+<p>Things being of this complexion, it would have been the
+sheerest pedantry to refuse to purchase the goods the
+free-traders supplied at such alluringly low prices, and of such
+indubitably excellent quality; and to give retail publicans and
+shopkeepers and private consumers their due, as sensible folk,
+untroubled by supersensitive consciences, they rarely did
+refuse.</p>
+<p><a name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 153</span>Adam
+Smith, in the course of his writings on political economy, nearly
+a century and a half ago, stated the popular view about smuggling
+and the purchase of smuggled goods:</p>
+<blockquote><p>&ldquo;To pretend to have any scruple about buying
+smuggled goods, though a manifest encouragement to the violation
+of the revenue laws, and to the perjury which almost always
+attends it, would in most countries be regarded as one of those
+pedantic pieces of hypocrisy which, instead of gaining credit
+with anybody, seems only to expose the person who affects to
+practise it to the suspicion of being a greater knave than most
+of his neighbours.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>From even the most charitable point of view, that person who
+was so eccentric as to refuse to take advantage of any favourable
+opportunity of purchasing cheaply such good stuff as might be
+offered to him, and had not paid toll to the Revenue, was a
+prig.</p>
+<p>Smith himself looked upon the smuggler with a great deal of
+sympathy, and regarded him as &ldquo;a person who, though no
+doubt blamable for violating the laws of his country, is
+frequently incapable of violating those of natural justice, and
+would have been in every respect an excellent citizen had not the
+laws of his country made that a crime which nature never meant to
+be so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Very few, indeed, were those voices raised against the
+practice of smuggling.&nbsp; Among them, however, was that of
+John Wesley, perhaps the <a name="page154"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 154</span>most influential of all, especially
+in the West of England.&nbsp; The clergy in general might rail
+against the smugglers, but there were few among them who did not
+enjoy the right sort of spirits which, singularly enough, could
+only commonly be obtained from these shy sources; and there was a
+certain malignant satisfaction to any properly constituted
+smuggler in using the tower, or perhaps even the pulpit, of a
+parish church as temporary spirit-cellar, and in undermining the
+parson&rsquo;s honesty by the present of a tub.&nbsp; Few were
+those reverend persons who repudiated this sly suggestion of
+co-partnery, and those few who felt inclined so to do were
+generally silenced by the worldly wisdom of their parish clerks,
+who, forming as it were a connecting link between things sacred
+and profane, could on occasion inform a clergyman that his most
+respected churchwarden was financially interested in the success
+of some famous run of goods just notoriously brought off.</p>
+<p>Among those few clergy who actively disapproved of these
+things we must include the Rev. Robert Hardy, somewhat
+multitudinously beneficed in Sussex and elsewhere in the
+beginning of the nineteenth century.&nbsp; He published in 1818 a
+solemn pamphlet entitled: &ldquo;Serious Cautions and Advice to
+all concerned in Smuggling; setting forth the Mischiefs attendant
+upon that Traffic; together with some exhortations to Patience
+and Contentment under the Difficulties and Trials of Life.&nbsp;
+<a name="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 155</span>By
+Robert Hardy, A.M., Vicar of the united parishes of Walberton and
+Yapton, and of Stoughton, in Sussex; and Chaplain to H.R.H. the
+Prince Regent.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The author did not by any means blink the difficulties or
+dangers, but was, it will be conceded, far too sanguine when he
+wrote the following passage, in the hope of his words suppressing
+the trade:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The calamities with which the Smuggler is now
+perpetually visited, by Informations and Fines, and Seizures, and
+Imprisonments, will, I trust, if properly considered, prevail
+upon the rich to discountenance, and upon the poor to forbear
+from, a traffic which, <i>in addition to the sin of it</i>,
+carries in its train so many evils, and mischiefs, and
+sorrows.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His voice we may easily learn, in perusing the history of
+smuggling at and after the date of his pamphlet, was as that of
+one crying in the wilderness.&nbsp; Its sound may have pleased
+himself, but it was absolutely wasted upon those who smuggled,
+and those who purchased smuggled goods.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Smugglers,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;are of three
+descriptions:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;1.&nbsp; Those who employ their capital in the
+trade;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;2.&nbsp; Those who do the work;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;3.&nbsp; Those who deal in Smuggled Articles, either as
+Sellers or as Buyers.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All these are involved <i>in the guilt</i> of this
+unlawful traffic; but its <i>moral injuries</i> fall principally
+upon the <i>second</i> class.</p>
+<p><a name="page156"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+156</span>&ldquo;Smuggling,&rdquo; he then proceeds to say,
+&ldquo;has not been confined to the lower orders of people; but,
+from what I have heard, I apprehend that it has very generally
+been encouraged by their superiors, for whom no manner of excuse,
+that I know of, can be offered.&nbsp; I was once asked by an
+inhabitant of a village near the sea whether I thought there was
+any harm in smuggling.&nbsp; Upon my replying that I not only
+thought there was a <i>great deal of harm</i> in it, but a
+<i>great deal of sin</i>, he exclaimed, &lsquo;Then the Lord have
+mercy upon the county of Sussex, for who is there that has not
+had a tub?&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Among the ascertained careers of notable smugglers, that of
+Thomas Johnson affords some exciting episodes.&nbsp; This worthy,
+who appears to have been born in 1772 and to have died in 1839,
+doubled the parts of smuggler and pilot.&nbsp; He was known
+pretty generally as &ldquo;the famous Hampshire
+smuggler.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>As a captured and convicted smuggler he was imprisoned in the
+New Prison in the Borough, in 1798, but made his escape, not
+without suspicion of connivance on the part of the warders.&nbsp;
+That the possession of him was ardently desired by the
+authorities seems sufficiently evident by the fact of their
+offering a reward of &pound;500 for his apprehension; but he
+countered this by offering his services the following year as
+pilot to the British forces sent to Holland.&nbsp; This offer was
+duly accepted, and Johnson acquitted himself so greatly to the
+satisfaction of <a name="page157"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+157</span>Sir Ralph Abercromby, commanding, that he was fully
+pardoned.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p156.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"The Escape of Johnson"
+title=
+"The Escape of Johnson"
+src="images/p156.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>He then plunged into extravagant living, and finally found
+himself involved in heavy debts, stated (but not altogether
+credibly) to have totalled &pound;11,000.&nbsp; Resuming his old
+occupation of smuggling, he was sufficiently wary not to be
+captured again by the revenue officers; but what they found it
+impossible to achieve was with little difficulty accomplished by
+the bailiffs, who arrested him for debt and flung him into the
+debtors&rsquo; prison of the Fleet, in 1802.&nbsp; Once there,
+the Inland Revenue were upon him with smuggling charges, and the
+situation seemed so black that he determined on again making a
+venture for freedom.&nbsp; Waiting an exceptionally dark night,
+he, on November 29th, stealthily crossed the yard and climbed the
+tall enclosing wall that separated the prison from the outer
+world.&nbsp; Sitting on the summit of this wall, he let himself
+down slowly by the full length of his arms, just over the place
+where a lamp was bracketed out over the pathway, far
+beneath.&nbsp; He then let himself drop so that he would fall on
+to the bracket, which he calculated would admirably break the too
+deep drop from the summit of the wall to the ground.&nbsp;
+Unfortunately for him, an unexpected piece of projecting ironwork
+caught him and ripped up the entire length of his thigh.&nbsp; At
+that moment the slowly approaching footsteps of the watchman were
+heard, and Johnson, with agonised apprehension, saw him coming
+along, swinging his lantern.&nbsp; <a name="page158"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 158</span>There was nothing for it but to lie
+along the bracket, bleeding profusely the while, until the
+watchman should have passed.</p>
+<p>He did so, and, as soon as seemed safe, dropped to the ground
+and crawled to a hackney-coach, hired by his friends, that had
+been waiting that night and several nights earlier, near by.</p>
+<p>Safely away from the neighbourhood of the prison, his friends
+procured him a post-chaise and four; and thus he travelled
+post-haste to the Sussex coast at Brighton.&nbsp; On the beach a
+small sailing-vessel was waiting to convey him across
+Channel.&nbsp; He landed at Calais and thence made for Flushing,
+where he was promptly flung into prison by the agents of
+Napoleon, who was at that time seriously menacing our shores with
+invasion from Boulogne, where his flotilla for the transport of
+troops then lay.</p>
+<p>Johnson and others were, in the opening years of the
+nineteenth century, very busily employed in smuggling gold out of
+the country into France.&nbsp; Ever since the troubles of the
+Revolution in that country, and all through the wars that had
+been waged with the rise of Napoleon, gold had been
+dwindling.&nbsp; People, terrified at the unrest of the times,
+and nervous of fresh troubles to come, secreted coin, and
+consequently the premium on gold rose to an extraordinary height,
+not only on the Continent but in England as well.&nbsp; A guinea
+would then fetch as much as twenty-seven shillings, and was worth
+a good deal more on the other side of the Channel.&nbsp;
+Patriotism was not proof against <a name="page159"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 159</span>the prospects of profits to be
+earned by the export of gold, and not a few otherwise respectable
+banking-houses embarked in the trade.&nbsp; Finance has no
+conscience.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p158.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Johnson putting off from Brighton Beach"
+title=
+"Johnson putting off from Brighton Beach"
+src="images/p158.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>It is obvious that only thoroughly dependable and responsible
+men could be employed on this business, for shipments of gold
+varied from &pound;20,000 to &pound;50,000.</p>
+<p>Eight and ten-oared galleys were as a rule used for the
+traffic; the money slung in long leather purses around the
+oarsmen&rsquo;s bodies.</p>
+<p>Napoleon is said to have offered Johnson a very large reward
+if he would consent, as pilot, to aid his scheme of invasion, and
+we are told that Johnson hotly refused.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am a smuggler,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;but a true
+lover of my country, and no traitor.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Napoleon was no sportsman.&nbsp; He kept Johnson closely
+confined in a noisome dungeon for nine months.&nbsp; How much
+longer he proposed to hold him does not appear, for the smuggler,
+long watching a suitable opportunity, at last broke away, and,
+ignorant that a pardon was awaiting him in England, escaped to
+America.</p>
+<p>Returning from that &ldquo;land of the brave and the
+free,&rdquo; we find him in 1806 with the fleet commanded by Lord
+St. Vincent, off Brest.&nbsp; Precisely what services, beside the
+obvious one of acting as pilot, he was then rendering our Navy
+cannot be said, for the materials toward a life of this somewhat
+heroic and picturesque figure are very scanty.&nbsp; But that he
+had some plan for the <a name="page160"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 160</span>destruction of the French fleet
+seems obvious from the correspondence of Lord St. Vincent, who,
+writing on August 8th, 1806, to Viscount Howick, remarks,
+&ldquo;The vigilance of the enemy alone prevented Tom Johnstone
+[sic] from doing what he professed.&rdquo;&nbsp; What he
+professed is, unfortunately, hidden from us.</p>
+<p>After this mysterious incident we lose sight for a while of
+our evasive hero, and may readily enough assume that he returned
+again to his smuggling enterprises; for it is on record that in
+1809, when the unhappy Walcheren expedition was about to be
+despatched, at enormous cost, from England to the malarial shores
+of Holland, he once more offered his services as pilot, and they
+were again accepted, with the promise of another pardon for
+lately-accrued offences.</p>
+<p>He duly piloted the expedition, to the entire satisfaction of
+the Government, and received his pardon and a pension of
+&pound;100 a year.&nbsp; He fully deserved both, for he signally
+distinguished himself in the course of the operations by swimming
+to the ramparts of a fort, with a rope, by which in some
+unexplained manner a tremendous and disastrous explosion was
+effected.</p>
+<p>He was further appointed to the command of the revenue cruiser
+<i>Fox</i>, at the conclusion of the war, and thus set to prey
+upon his ancient allies; who, in their turn, made things so
+uncomfortable for the &ldquo;scurvy rat,&rdquo; as they were
+pleased picturesquely to style him, that he rarely dared venture
+out of port.&nbsp; So it would appear that he <a
+name="page161"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 161</span>did not for
+any great length of time hold that command.</p>
+<p>But the reputation for daring and resourcefulness that he
+enjoyed did not seem to be clouded by this incident, for he was
+approached by the powerful friends of Napoleon, exiled at St.
+Helena, to aid them in a desperate attempt to rescue the fallen
+Emperor.&nbsp; It was said that they offered him the sum of
+&pound;40,000 down, and a further very large sum, if the attempt
+were successful.&nbsp; The patriotic hero of some years earlier
+seems to have been successfully tempted.&nbsp; &ldquo;Every
+man,&rdquo; says the cynic, &ldquo;has his price&rdquo;; and
+&pound;40,000 and a generous refresher formed his.&nbsp; For
+personal gain he was prepared to let loose once more the scourge
+of Europe.</p>
+<p>Plans were actively afoot for the construction of a submarine
+boat (there is nothing new under the sun!) for the purpose of
+secretly conveying the distinguished exile away, when he
+inconsiderately died; and thus vanished Johnson&rsquo;s dreams of
+wealth.</p>
+<p>Some years later Johnson built a submarine boat to the order
+of the Spanish Government, and ran trials with it in the Thames,
+between London Bridge and Blackwall.&nbsp; On one occasion it
+became entangled in a cable of one of the vessels lying in the
+Pool, and for a time it seemed scarce possible the boat could
+easily be freed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We have but two and a half minutes to live,&rdquo; said
+he, consulting his watch calmly, &ldquo;unless we get clear of
+that cable.&rdquo;</p>
+<p><a name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+162</span>&ldquo;Captain&rdquo; Johnson, as he was generally
+styled, lived in quiet for many years, finally dying at the age
+of sixty-seven, in March 1839, in the unromantic surroundings of
+the Vauxhall Bridge Road.</p>
+<p>Another smuggler of considerable reputation, of whom, however,
+we know all too little, was Harry Paulet.&nbsp; This person, who
+appears in some manner to have become a prisoner aboard a French
+man-o&rsquo;-war, made his escape and took with him a bag of the
+enemy&rsquo;s despatches, which he handed over to the English
+naval authorities.</p>
+<p>A greater deed was that when, sailing with a cargo of smuggled
+brandy, he came in view of the French fleet (we being then, as
+usual, at war with France), Paulet immediately went on a new tack
+and carried the news of the enemy&rsquo;s whereabouts to Lord
+Hawke, who promised to hang him if the news were not true.</p>
+<p>A somewhat interesting and curious account of the conversion
+of a youthful smuggler may be found in an old volume of <i>The
+Bible Christian Magazine</i>.&nbsp; The incident belongs to the
+Scilly Isles.</p>
+<p>William Gibson, the smuggler in question, was a bold, daring
+young man, and he, with others, had crossed over to France more
+than once in a small open boat, a distance of 150 miles, rowing
+there and back, running great risks to bring home a cargo of
+brandy.</p>
+<p>In 1820, the time when William was at his best in these
+smuggling enterprises, St. Mary&rsquo;s was visited by a pious,
+simple-minded young woman, <a name="page163"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 163</span>Mary Ann Werry by name, the first
+representative of the Bible Christian connexion to land on the
+island.&nbsp; The congregation were in the throes of a revival,
+and eager for more and more preaching, but the minister upon whom
+they principally relied was commercially minded, and demanded
+&pound;2 for his services.&nbsp; The members refused to give
+it.&nbsp; &ldquo;There is a woman here,&rdquo; said they,
+&ldquo;we will have her to preach to us&rdquo;; and, being asked,
+she consented, and preached from 1 Tim. iv. 8, &ldquo;For bodily
+exercise profiteth little; but godliness is profitable unto all
+things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which
+is to come.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>We have the well-known ruling of Dr. Johnson upon the
+preaching of women, that it in a manner resembles a dog walking
+on its hind-legs: it is not done well; you only marvel that it is
+done at all.&nbsp; [N.B.&mdash;Dr. Johnson would not have
+favoured, or been favoured by, modern Women&rsquo;s
+Leagues.]&nbsp; But, at any rate, Miss Werry seems to have been a
+notable exception.&nbsp; She was eloquent and persuasive, and
+played upon the sensibilities of those rugged Scillonians what
+tune she would.</p>
+<p>Tears of penitence rolled down the cheeks of many a stalwart
+man (to say nothing of the hoary sinners) that day.&nbsp; Among
+the number thus affected was William Gibson, of St.
+Martin&rsquo;s, who from that hour became a changed person.&nbsp;
+No longer did he refuse to render unto C&aelig;sar (otherwise
+King George) that which was C&aelig;sar&rsquo;s (or King
+George&rsquo;s).&nbsp; He gave up the contraband <a
+name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 164</span>trade, and,
+forswearing his old companions&rsquo; ways, turned to those of
+the righteous and the law-abiding, and became a burning and a
+shining light, and, as &ldquo;Brother Gibson,&rdquo; a painful
+preacher in the Bible Christian communion.&nbsp; And thus, and in
+lawful fishing, with some little piloting, he continued
+steadfast, until his death in 1877, in his eighty-third year.</p>
+<h2><a name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+165</span>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">The Carter Family</span>, <span class="smcap">of
+Prussia Cove</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the west of Cornwall, on the
+south coast of the narrow neck of land which forms the beginning
+of that final westerly region known as
+&ldquo;Penwithstart,&rdquo; is situated Prussia Cove, originally
+named Porth Leah, or King&rsquo;s Cove.&nbsp; It lies just
+eastwardly of the low dark promontory known as Cuddan Point, and
+is even at this day a secluded place, lying remote from the dull
+high-road that runs between Helston, Marazion, and
+Penzance.&nbsp; In the days of the smugglers Porth Leah, or
+Prussia Cove, was something more than secluded, and those who had
+any business at all with the place came to it much more easily by
+sea than by land.&nbsp; This disability was, however, not so
+serious as at first sight it would seem to be, for the
+inhabitants of Prussia Cove were few, and were all, without
+exception, fishermen and smugglers, who were much more at home
+upon the sea than on land, and desired nothing so little as good
+roads and easy communication with the world.&nbsp; An interesting
+and authoritative sidelight upon the then condition of this
+district of West Cornwall is afforded by <i>The Gentleman&rsquo;s
+Magazine</i> of 1754, in which the <a name="page166"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 166</span>entire absence of roads of any kind
+is commented upon.&nbsp; Bridle-paths there were, worn doubtless
+in the first instance by the remote original inhabitants of this
+region, trodden by the Phoenician traders of hoary antiquity, and
+unaltered in all the intervening ages.&nbsp; They then remained,
+says <i>The Gentleman&rsquo;s Magazine</i>, &ldquo;as the Deluge
+left them, and dangerous to travel over.&rdquo;&nbsp; That time
+of writing was the era when these conditions were coming to an
+end, for the road from Penryn to Marazion was shortly afterwards
+constructed, much to the alarm and disgust of the people of West
+Cornwall in general, and of those of Penzance in
+particular.&nbsp; Penzance required no roads, and in 1760 its
+Corporation petitioned, but unsuccessfully, against the extension
+of the turnpike road then proposed, from Marazion.&nbsp; That was
+the time when there was but one cart in the town, and when
+wheeled traffic was impossible outside it: pack-horses and the
+sledge-like contrivances known as &ldquo;truckamucks&rdquo; being
+the only methods of conveying such few goods as were
+required.</p>
+<p>Under these interesting social conditions the ancient
+semi-independence of Western Cornwall remained, little
+impaired.&nbsp; Many still spoke the older Cornish language; the
+majority of folk referred to Devonshire and the country in
+general beyond the Tamar as &ldquo;England&rdquo;&mdash;the
+inference being, of course, that Cornwall itself was <i>not</i>
+England&mdash;and smuggling was as usual an industry as tin and
+copper-mining, fishing, or farming.&nbsp; Indeed the distances in
+Western <a name="page167"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+167</span>Cornwall between sea and sea are so narrow that any man
+was commonly as excellent at farming as he was at fishing, and as
+expert at smuggling as at either of those more legitimate
+occupations.&nbsp; This amphibious race, wholly Celtic,
+adventurous, and enthusiastic, was not readily amenable to the
+restrictions upon trade imposed by that shadowy, distant, and
+impersonal abstraction called &ldquo;the Government,&rdquo;
+supported by visible forces, in the way of occasional soldiers or
+infrequent revenue cruisers, wherewith to make the collectors of
+customs at Penzance, Falmouth, or St. Ives, respected.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The coasts here swarm with smugglers,&rdquo; wrote
+George Borlase, of Penzance, agent to Lieut.-General Onslow, in
+1750.&nbsp; Many letters by the same hand, printed in the
+publications of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, under the
+title of the &ldquo;Lanisley Letters,&rdquo; reiterate this
+statement, the writer of them urging the establishment of a
+military force at Helston, for &ldquo;just on that neighbourhood
+lye the smugglers and wreckers, more than about us (at Penzance),
+tho&rsquo; there are too many in all parts of the
+country.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Cornish of that time were an unregenerate race, in the
+fullest sense of that term, and indulged in all the evil excesses
+to which the Celtic nature, untouched by religion, and wallowing
+in ancient superstitions, is prone.&nbsp; They drank to excess,
+fought brutally, and were shameless wreckers, who did not
+hesitate to lure ships upon the rocks and so bring about their
+destruction and <a name="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+168</span>incidentally their own enrichment by the cargo and
+other valuables washed ashore.&nbsp; Murder was a not unusual
+corollary of the wreckers&rsquo; fearful trade, partly because of
+the olden superstition that, if you saved the life of a castaway,
+that person whom you had preserved would afterwards bring about
+your own destruction.&nbsp; Therefore it was merely the instinct
+of self-preservation, and not sheer ferocity, that prompted the
+knocking on the head of such waifs and strays.&nbsp; If, at the
+same time, the wrecker went over the pockets of the deceased, or
+cut off his or her fingers, for the sake of any rings, that must
+not, of course, be accounted mere vulgar robbery: it was simply
+the frugal nature of the people, unwilling to waste anything.</p>
+<p>Upon these simple children of nature, imbued with many of the
+fearful beliefs current among the savages of the South Sea
+islands, the Reverend John Wesley descended, in 1743.&nbsp; They
+were then, he says, a people &ldquo;who neither feared God nor
+regarded man.&rdquo;&nbsp; Yet, so impressionable is the Celtic
+nature, so childlike and easily led for good or for evil, that
+his preaching within a marvellously short space of time entirely
+changed the habits of these folk.&nbsp; In every village and
+hamlet there sprang up, as by magic, Wesleyan Methodist
+meeting-houses; and these and other chapels of dissent from the
+Church of England are to this day the most outstanding features
+of the Cornish landscape.&nbsp; They are, architecturally
+speaking, without exception, hideous eyesores, but morally <a
+name="page169"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 169</span>they are
+things of beauty.&nbsp; It is one of the bitterest indictments
+possible to be framed against the Church of England in the west
+that, in all its existence, it has never commanded the
+affections, nor exercised the spiritual influence, won by Wesley
+in a few short years.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p168.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Smugglers using Church Tower for Storage"
+title=
+"Smugglers using Church Tower for Storage"
+src="images/p168.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>It was about this period of Wesley&rsquo;s first visits to
+Cornwall that the Carter family of Prussia Cove were born.&nbsp;
+Their father, Francis Carter, who was a miner, and had, in
+addition, a small farm at Pengersick, traditionally came of a
+Shropshire family, and died in 1784.&nbsp; He had eight sons and
+two daughters, John Carter, the &ldquo;King of Prussia,&rdquo;
+being the eldest.&nbsp; Among the others, Francis, born 1745,
+Henry, born 1749, and Charles, 1757, were also actively engaged
+in smuggling; but John, both in respect of being the eldest, and
+by force of character, was chief of them.&nbsp; He and his
+brethren were all, to outward seeming, small farmers and
+fisherfolk, tilling the ungrateful land in the neighbourhood of
+Porth Leah, but in reality busily employed in bringing over
+cargoes of spirits from Roscoff, Cherbourg, and St. Malo.&nbsp;
+The origin of the nickname, &ldquo;King of Prussia,&rdquo; borne
+by John Carter, is said to lie in the boyish games of the
+&ldquo;king of the castle&rdquo; kind, of himself and his
+brothers, in which he was always the &ldquo;King of
+Prussia&rdquo;&mdash;<i>i.e.</i> Frederick the Great, the popular
+hero of that age.&nbsp; Overlooking the cove of Porth Leah, at
+that time still bearing that name, he built about 1770 a large
+and substantial stone house, which stood <a
+name="page170"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 170</span>a prominent
+feature in the scene, until it was demolished in 1906.&nbsp; This
+he appears to have kept partly as an inn, licensed or unlicensed,
+which became known by his own nickname, the &ldquo;King of
+Prussia,&rdquo; and in it he lived until 1807.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Prussia Cove&rdquo; is, in fact, two coves, formed by
+the interposition of a rocky ledge, at whose extremity is a
+rock-islet called the &ldquo;Eneys&rdquo;&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>
+&ldquo;ynys,&rdquo; ancient Cornish for island.&nbsp; The western
+portion of these inlets is &ldquo;Bessie&rsquo;s Cove,&rdquo;
+which takes its name from one Bessie Burrow, who kept an inn on
+the cliff-top, known as the &ldquo;Kidleywink.&rdquo;&nbsp; The
+easterly inlet was the site of the &ldquo;King of
+Prussia&rsquo;s&rdquo; house.&nbsp; Both these rocky channels had
+the advantage of being tucked away by nature in recesses of the
+coast, and so overhung by the low cliffs that no stranger could
+in the least perceive what harboured there until he was actually
+come to the cliff&rsquo;s edge, and peering over them; while no
+passing vessel out in the Channel could detect the presence of
+any craft, which could not be located from the sea until the cove
+itself was approached.</p>
+<p>Thus snugly seated, the Carter family throve.&nbsp; Of John
+Carter, although chief of the clan, we have few details, always
+excepting the one great incident of his career; and of that the
+account is but meagre.&nbsp; It seems that he had actually been
+impudent enough to construct a battery, mounted with some small
+cannon, beside his house, and had the temerity to unmask it and
+open fire upon the <i>Fairy</i> revenue sloop, which one day
+chased a <a name="page171"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+171</span>smuggling craft into this lair, and had sent in a boat
+party.&nbsp; The boat withdrew before this unexpected reception,
+and, notice having been sent round to Penzance, a party of
+mounted soldiers appeared the following morning and let loose
+their muskets upon the smugglers, who were still holding the
+fort, but soon vacated it upon thus being taken in the rear,
+retreating to the &ldquo;Kidleywink.&rdquo;&nbsp; What would next
+have happened had the soldiers pursued their advantage we can
+only surmise; but they appear to have been content with this
+demonstration, and to have returned whence they came, while of
+the revenue sloop we hear no more.&nbsp; Nor does Carter ever
+appear to have been called to account for his defiance.&nbsp; But
+if a guess may be hazarded where information does not exist, it
+may be assumed that Carter&rsquo;s line of defence would be that
+his fort was constructed and armed against French raids, and that
+he mistook the revenue vessel for a foreign privateer.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p170.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Prussia Cove"
+title=
+"Prussia Cove"
+src="images/p170.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>John Carter, and indeed all his brothers with him, was highly
+respected, as the following story will show.&nbsp; The excise
+officers of Penzance, hearing on one occasion that he was away
+from home, descended upon the cove with a party, and searched the
+place.&nbsp; They found a quantity of spirits lately landed, and,
+securing all the kegs, carried them off to Penzance and duly
+locked them up in the custom-house.&nbsp; The anger of the
+&ldquo;King of Prussia&rdquo; upon his return was great; not so
+great, it seems, on account of the actual loss <a
+name="page172"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 172</span>of the
+goods as for the breaking of faith with his customers it
+involved.&nbsp; The spirits had been ordered by some of the
+gentlefolk around, and a good deal of them had been paid
+for.&nbsp; Should he be disgraced by failing to keep his
+engagements as an honest tradesman?&nbsp; Never!&nbsp; And so he
+and his set off to Penzance overnight, and, raiding the
+custom-house, brought away all his tubs, from among a number of
+others.&nbsp; When morning came, and the custom-house was
+unlocked, the excisemen knew whose handiwork this had been,
+because Carter was such an honourable man, and none other than
+himself would have been so scrupulous as to take back only his
+own.&nbsp; Yet he was also the hero of the next incident.&nbsp;
+The revenue officers once paid him a surprise visit, and
+overhauled his outhouses, in search of contraband.&nbsp; The
+search, on this occasion, was fruitless.&nbsp; But there yet
+remained one other shed, and this, suspiciously enough, was
+locked.&nbsp; He refused to hand over the key, whereupon the door
+was burst open, revealing only domestic articles.&nbsp; The
+broken door remained open throughout the night, and by morning
+all the contents of the shed had vanished.&nbsp; Carter
+successfully sued for the value of the property he had
+&ldquo;lost,&rdquo; but he had removed it himself!</p>
+<p>We learn something of the Carter family business from the
+autobiography written by Henry Carter, an account of his life
+from 1749 until 1795.&nbsp; Much else is found in a memoir
+printed in <i>The Wesleyan Methodist Magazine</i>, 1831.&nbsp; <a
+name="page173"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+173</span>&ldquo;Captain Harry&rdquo; lived until 1829, farming
+in a small way at the neighbouring hamlet of Rinsey.&nbsp; He had
+long relinquished smuggling, having been converted in 1789, and
+living as a burning and a shining light in the Wesleyan communion
+thereafter, preaching with fervour and unction.&nbsp; He tells
+us, in his rough, unvarnished autobiography <a
+name="citation173"></a><a href="#footnote173"
+class="citation">[173]</a> that he first went smuggling and
+fishing with his brothers when seventeen years of age, having
+already worked in the mines.&nbsp; At twenty-five years of age he
+went regularly smuggling in a ten-ton sloop, with two men to help
+him; and was so successful that he soon had a sloop, nearly twice
+as large, especially built for him.&nbsp; Successful again,
+&ldquo;rather beyond common,&rdquo; he (or &ldquo;we,&rdquo; as
+he says) bought a cutter of some thirty tons, and employed a crew
+of ten men.&nbsp; &ldquo;I saild in her one year, and I suppose
+made more safe voyages than have been ever made, since or before,
+with any single person.&rdquo;&nbsp; All this while, he tells us,
+he was under conviction of sin, but went on, nevertheless, for
+years, sinning and repenting.&nbsp; &ldquo;Well, then,&rdquo; he
+continues, &ldquo;in the cource of these few years, as we card a
+large trade with other vessels allso, we gained a large sum of
+money, and being a speculating family, was not satisfied with
+small things.&rdquo;&nbsp; A new cutter was accordingly built, of
+about sixty tons burthen, and Captain Harry took her to sea in
+December 1777.&nbsp; Putting <a name="page174"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 174</span>into St. Malo, to repair a sprung
+bowsprit, his fine new cutter, with its sixteen guns, was taken
+by the French, and himself and his crew of thirty-six men flung
+into prison, difficulties having again sprung up between England
+and France, and an embargo being laid upon all English shipping
+in French ports.&nbsp; In prison he was presently joined by his
+brother John; both being shortly afterwards sent on parole to
+Josselin.&nbsp; In November 1779 they were liberated, in exchange
+for two French gentlemen, prisoners of war.&nbsp; The family,
+Captain Harry remarks, they found alive and well on their return
+home after this two years&rsquo; absence, but in a low state, the
+&ldquo;business&rdquo; not having been managed well in their
+enforced absence.</p>
+<p>It is impossible to resist the strong suspicion, in all this
+and other talk in the autobiography, of buying and building newer
+and larger vessels, that the Carters were financed by some
+wealthy and influential person, or persons, as undoubtedly many
+smugglers were, the profits of the smuggling trade, when
+conducted on a large scale and attended by a run of luck, being
+very large and amply recouping the partners for the incidental
+losses.&nbsp; But the loss of the fine new cutter, on her first
+voyage, at St. Malo, must have been a very serious business.</p>
+<p>After another interval of success with the smaller cutter they
+had earlier used, with spells ashore, &ldquo;riding about the
+country getting freights, collecting money for the company, etc.,
+etc.,&rdquo; <a name="page175"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+175</span>another fifty-ton cutter was purchased, mounting
+nineteen guns.&nbsp; That venture, too, was highly successful,
+and &ldquo;the company accordingly had a new lugger built,
+mounting twenty guns.&rdquo;&nbsp; Horrible to relate, Captain
+Harry, &ldquo;being exposed to more company and sailors of all
+descriptions, larned to swear at times.&rdquo;&nbsp; This is bad
+hearing.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p174.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"In a French prison"
+title=
+"In a French prison"
+src="images/p174.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Obviously in those times there was a good deal of give and
+take going on between the Customs and those smugglers who
+smuggled on a large scale, and the Carters&rsquo; vessels must in
+some unofficial way have ranked as privateers.&nbsp; Hence,
+possibly, the considerable armament they carried.&nbsp; The
+Customs, and the Admiralty too, were prepared to wink at
+smuggling when services against the foreign foe could be
+invoked.&nbsp; Thus we find Captain Harry, in his autobiography,
+narrating how the Collector of Customs at Penzance sent him a
+message to the effect that the <i>Black Prince</i> privateer,
+from Dunkirk, was off the coast, near St. Ives, and desiring him
+to pursue her.&nbsp; &ldquo;It was not,&rdquo; frankly says
+Captain Harry, &ldquo;a very agreeable business&rdquo;; but,
+being afraid of offending the Collector, he obeyed, and went in
+pursuit, with two vessels.&nbsp; Coming up with the enemy, after
+a running fight of three or four hours, the lugger received a
+shot that obliged her to bear up, in a sinking condition; and so
+her consort stood by her, and the chase was of necessity
+abandoned.&nbsp; Presently the lugger sank, fourteen of her crew
+of thirty-one being drowned.</p>
+<p><a name="page176"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 176</span>In
+January 1788 he went with a cargo of contraband in a
+forty-five-ton lugger to Cawsand Bay, near Plymouth, and there
+met with the most serious reverse of his smuggling career, two
+man-o&rsquo;-war&rsquo;s boats boarding the vessel and seizing it
+and its contents.&nbsp; He was so knocked about over the head
+with cutlasses that he was felled to the deck, and left there for
+dead.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose I might have been there aboute a quarter of
+an hour, until they had secured my people below, and after found
+me lying on the deck.&nbsp; One of them said, &lsquo;Here is one
+of the poor fellows dead.&rsquo;&nbsp; Another made answer,
+&lsquo;Put the man below.&rsquo;&nbsp; He answered again, saying,
+&lsquo;What use is it to put a dead man below?&rsquo; and so past
+on.&nbsp; Aboute this time the vessel struck aground, the wind
+being about east-south-east, very hard, right on the shore.&nbsp;
+So their I laid very quiet for near the space of two hours,
+hearing their discourse as they walked by me, the night being
+very dark on the 30 Jany. 1788.&nbsp; When some of them saw me
+lying there, said, &lsquo;Here lays one of the fellows
+dead,&rsquo; one of them answered as before, &lsquo;Put him
+below.&rsquo;&nbsp; Another said, &lsquo;The man is
+dead.&rsquo;&nbsp; The commanding officer gave orders for a
+lantern and candle to be brought, so they took up one of my legs,
+as I was lying upon my belly; he let it go, and it fell as dead
+down on the deck.&nbsp; He likewayse put his hand up under my
+clothes, between my shirt and my skin, and then examined my head,
+saying, &lsquo;This man is so warm now as he was two hours <a
+name="page177"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 177</span>back, but
+his head is all to atoms.&rsquo;&nbsp; I have thought hundreds of
+times since what a miracle it was I neither sneezed, coughed, nor
+drew breath that they perceived in all this time, I suppose not
+less than ten or fifteen minutes.&nbsp; The water being ebbing,
+the vessel making a great heel towards the shore, so that in the
+course of a very little time after, as their two boats were made
+fast alongside, one of them broke adrift.&nbsp; Immediately there
+was orders given to man the other boat, in order to fetch her; so
+that when I saw them in the state of confusion, their gard
+broken, I thought it was my time to make my escape; so I crept on
+my belly on the deck, and got over a large raft just before the
+mainmast, close by one of the men&rsquo;s heels, as he was
+standing there handing the trysail.&nbsp; When I got over the
+lee-side I thought I should be able to swim on shore in a stroke
+or two.&nbsp; I took hold of the burtons of the mast, and, as I
+was lifting myself over the side, I was taken with the cramp in
+one of my thighs.&nbsp; So then I thought I should be drowned,
+but still willing to risk it, so that I let myself over the side
+very easily by a rope into the water, fearing my enemies would
+hear me, and then let go.&nbsp; As I was very near the shore, I
+thought to swim on shore in the course of a stroke or two, as I
+used to swim so well, but soon found out my mistake.&nbsp; I was
+sinking almost like a stone, and hauling astarn in deeper water,
+when I gave up all hopes of life, and began to swallow some
+water.&nbsp; I found a rope <a name="page178"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 178</span>under my breast, so that I had not
+lost all my senses.&nbsp; I hauled upon it, and soon found one
+end fast to the side, just where I went overboard, which gave me
+a little hope of life.&nbsp; So that when I got there, could not
+tell which was best, to call to the man-of-war&rsquo;s men to
+take me in, or to stay there and die, for my life and strength
+were allmoste exhausted; but whilst I was thinking of this,
+touched bottom with my feet.&nbsp; Hope then sprung up, and I
+soon found another rope, leading towards the head of the vessel
+in shoaler water, so that I veered upon one and hauled upon the
+other that brought me under the bowsprit, and then at times upon
+the send of the sea, my feete were allmoste dry.&nbsp; I thought
+then I would soon be out of their way.&nbsp; Left go the rope,
+but as soon as I attempted to run, fell down, and as I fell,
+looking round aboute me, saw three men standing close by
+me.&nbsp; I knew they were the man-of-war&rsquo;s men seeing for
+the boat, so I lyed there quiet for some little time, and then
+creeped upon my belly I suppose aboute the distance of fifty
+yards; and as the ground was scuddy, some flat rock mixt with
+channels of sand, I saw before me a channel of white sand, and
+for fear to be seen creeping over it, which would take some time,
+not knowing there was anything the matter with me, made the
+second attempt to run, and fell in the same manner as
+before.&nbsp; My brother Charles being there, looking out for the
+vessel, desired some Cawsand men to go down to see if they could
+<a name="page179"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 179</span>pick up
+any of the men, dead or alive, not expecting to see me ever any
+more, allmoste sure I was ither shot or drowned.&nbsp; One of
+them saw me fall, ran to my assistance, and, taking hold of me
+under the arm, says, &lsquo;Who are you?&rsquo;&nbsp; So as I
+thought him to be an enemy, made no answer.&nbsp; He said,
+&lsquo;Fear not, I am a friend; come with me.&rsquo;&nbsp; And by
+that time, forth was two more come, which took me under both
+arms, and the other pushed me in the back, and so dragged me up
+to the town.&nbsp; I suppose it might have been about the
+distance of the fifth part of a mile.&nbsp; My strength was
+allmoste exhausted; my breath, nay, my life, was allmoste
+gone.&nbsp; They took me into a room where there were seven or
+eight of Cawsand men and my brother Charles, and when he saw me,
+knew me by my great coat, and cryed with joy, &lsquo;This is my
+brother!&rsquo;&nbsp; So then they immediately slipt off my wet
+clothes, and one of them pulled off his shirt from off him and
+put on me, sent for a doctor, and put me to bed.&nbsp; Well,
+then, I have thought many a time since what a wonder it
+was.&nbsp; The bone of my nose cut right in two, nothing but a
+bit of skin holding it, and two very large cuts on my head, that
+two or three pieces of my skull worked out afterwards.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The difficulty before Captain Harry&rsquo;s friends was how to
+hide him away, for they were convinced that a reward would be
+offered for his apprehension.&nbsp; He was, in the first
+instance, taken to the house of his brother Charles, and stayed
+<a name="page180"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 180</span>there
+six or seven days, until an advertisement appeared in the
+newspapers, offering a reward of three hundred pounds for him,
+within three months.&nbsp; He was then taken to the house of a
+gentleman at Marazion, and there remained close upon three weeks,
+removing thence to the mansion called Acton Castle, near Cuddan
+Point, then quite newly built by one Mr. John Stackhouse.&nbsp;
+He was moved to and fro, between Acton Castle and Marazion, and
+so great did his brothers think the need of precaution that the
+doctor who attended to his hurts was blindfolded on the
+way.&nbsp; And so matters progressed until October, when he was
+shipped from Mount&rsquo;s Bay to Leghorn, and thence, in 1789,
+sailed for New York.&nbsp; It was in New York that the Lord
+strove mightily with him, and he was converted and became a
+member of the Wesleyan Methodist communion.&nbsp; After some
+considerable trials, he sailed for England, and finally reached
+home again in October 1790, to his brother Charles&rsquo;s house
+at Kenneggey.&nbsp; His reception was enthusiastic, and he became
+in great request as a preacher in all that countryside.&nbsp; But
+in April 1791 he tells us he was sent for &ldquo;by a great man
+of this neighbourhood&rdquo; (probably one of those whom we have
+already suspected of being sleeping-partners in the
+Carters&rsquo; business), and warned that three gentlemen had
+been in his company one day at Helston, when one said, looking
+out of window, &ldquo;There goes a Methodist preacher&rdquo;;
+whereupon another answered, &ldquo;I wonder how Harry Carter goes
+<a name="page181"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 181</span>about so
+publicly, preaching, and the law against him.&nbsp; I wonder he
+is not apprehended.&rdquo;&nbsp; The great man warned him that it
+might be a wise course to return to America.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;And,&rdquo; continues Captain Harry, &ldquo;as the gent
+was well acquainted with our family, I dined with him, and he
+brought me about a mile in my way home; so I parted with him,
+fully determining in my own mind to soon see my dear friends in
+New York again.&nbsp; So I told my brothers what the news was,
+and that I was meaning to take the gent&rsquo;s advice.&nbsp;
+They answered, &lsquo;If you go to America, we never shall see
+you no more.&nbsp; We are meaning to car on a little trade in
+Roscoff, in the brandy and gin way, and if you go there
+you&rsquo;ll be as safe there as in America; likewayse we shal
+pay you for your comision, and you car on a little business for
+yourself, if you please.&rsquo;&nbsp; So,&rdquo; continues this
+simple soul, &ldquo;with prayer and supplication I made my
+request known unto God.&rdquo;&nbsp; And as there appeared no
+divine interdict upon smuggling, he accepted the agency and went
+to reside at Roscoff, sending over many a consignment of ardent
+liquors that were never intended to&mdash;and never did&mdash;pay
+tribute to the Revenue.&nbsp; All went well until, in the
+troubles that attended the French Revolution, he was, in company
+with other English, arrested and flung into prison in 1793.&nbsp;
+And in prison he remained during that Reign of Terror in which
+English prisoners were declared by the Convention to rank with
+the &ldquo;aristocrats&rdquo; and the &ldquo;suspects,&rdquo; and
+were <a name="page182"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+182</span>therefore in hourly danger of the guillotine.&nbsp;
+This immediate terror passed when Robespierre was executed, July
+28th, 1794, but it was not until August 1795 that Harry Carter
+was released.&nbsp; He reached home on August 22nd, and appears
+ever after to have settled down to tilling a modest farm and
+leaving smuggling to brothers John and Charles.</p>
+<h2><a name="page183"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+183</span>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">Jack Rattenbury</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">We</span> do not expect of smugglers that
+they should be either literary or devout.&nbsp; The doings of the
+Hawkhurst Gang, and of other desperate and bloody-minded
+associations of free-traders, seem more in key with the business
+than either the sitting at a desk, nibbling a pen and rolling a
+frenzied eye, in search of a telling phrase, or the singing of
+Methodist psalms.&nbsp; Yet we have, in the &ldquo;Memoirs of a
+Smuggler,&rdquo; published at Sidmouth in 1837, the career of
+Jack Rattenbury, smuggler, of Beer, in Devonshire, told by
+himself; and in the diary of Henry Carter, of Prussia Cove, and
+later of Rinsey, we have learned how he found peace and walked
+with the saints, after a not uneventful career in robbing the
+King&rsquo;s Revenue of a goodly portion of its dues as by law
+enacted.&nbsp; With the eminent Mr. Henry Carter and his
+interesting brothers we have already dealt, reserving this
+chapter for the still more eminent Rattenbury, &ldquo;commonly
+called,&rdquo; as he says on his own title-page (in the manner of
+one who knows his own worth), &ldquo;The Rob Roy of the
+West.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>We need not be so simple as to suppose that <a
+name="page184"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 184</span>Rattenbury
+himself actually wrote, with his own hand, this interesting
+account of his adventures.&nbsp; The son of a village cobbler in
+South Devon, born in 1778, and taking to a seafaring life when
+nine years of age, would scarce be capable, in years of eld, of
+writing the conventionally &ldquo;elegant&rdquo; English of which
+his &ldquo;Autobiography&rdquo; is composed.&nbsp; But nothing
+&ldquo;transpires&rdquo; (as the actual writer of the book might
+say) as to whom Rattenbury recounted his moving tale, or by whose
+hand it was really set down.&nbsp; Bating, however, the
+conventional language, the book has the unmistakable forthright
+first-hand character of a personal narrative.</p>
+<p>Before the future smuggler was born, as he tells us, his
+shoemaker, or cobbler, father disappeared from Beer in a manner
+in those days not unusual.&nbsp; He went on board a
+man-o&rsquo;-war, and was never again heard of.&nbsp; Whether he
+actually &ldquo;went,&rdquo; or was taken by a press-gang, we are
+left to conjecture.&nbsp; But they were sturdy, self-reliant
+people in those days, and Mrs. Rattenbury earned a livelihood in
+this bereavement by selling fish, &ldquo;without receiving the
+least assistance from the parish, or any of her
+friends.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When Jack Rattenbury was nine years of age he was introduced
+to the sea by means of his uncle&rsquo;s fishing-boat, but
+dropped the family connection upon being lustily
+rope&rsquo;s-ended by the uncle, as a reward for losing the
+boat&rsquo;s rudder.&nbsp; He then went apprentice to a Brixham
+fisherman, but, being the younger among several <a
+name="page185"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+185</span>apprentices, was accordingly bullied, and left;
+returning to Beer, where he found his uncle busily engaging a
+privateer&rsquo;s crew, war having again broken out between
+England and France, and merchantmen being a likely prey.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p184.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Jack Rattenbury"
+title=
+"Jack Rattenbury"
+src="images/p184.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>So behold our bold privateer setting forth, keen for loot and
+distinction; the hearts of men and boys alike beating high in
+hope of such glory as might attach to capturing some defenceless
+trader, and in anticipation of the prize-money to be obtained by
+robbing him.&nbsp; But see the irony of the gods in their high
+heavens!&nbsp; After seven weeks&rsquo; fruitless and expensive
+cruising at sea, they espied a likely vessel, and bore down upon
+her, with the horrible result that she proved to be an armed
+Frenchman of twenty-six guns, who promptly captured the
+privateer, without even the pretence of a fight: the privateering
+crew being sent, ironed, down below hatches aboard the Frenchman,
+which then set sail for Bordeaux.&nbsp; There those more or less
+gallant souls were flung into prison, whence Rattenbury managed
+to escape to an American ship lying in the harbour.&nbsp; It
+continued to lie there, in consequence of an embargo upon all
+shipping, for twelve months: an anxious time for the boy.&nbsp;
+At last, the interdict being removed, they sailed, and Rattenbury
+landed at New York.&nbsp; From that port he returned to France in
+another American ship, landing at Havre; and at last, after a
+variety of transhipments, came home again to Beer, by way of
+Guernsey.</p>
+<p><a name="page186"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 186</span>He
+was by this time about sixteen years of age.&nbsp; For six months
+he remained at home engaged in fishing; but this he found a very
+dull occupation after his late roving life, and, as smuggling was
+then very active in the neighbourhood, and promised both profit
+and excitement, he accordingly engaged in a small vessel that
+plied between Lyme Regis and the Channel Islands, chiefly in the
+cognac-smuggling business.&nbsp; This interlude likewise soon
+came to an end, and he then joined a small vessel called <i>The
+Friends</i>, lying at Bridport.&nbsp; On his first voyage, in the
+entirely honest business of sailing to Tenby for a cargo of culm,
+this ship was unlucky enough to be captured by a French
+privateer; but Rattenbury escaped by a clever ruse, off Swanage,
+and, swimming ashore, secured the intervention of the
+<i>Nancy</i>, revenue cutter, which recaptured <i>The
+Friends</i>, and brought her into Cowes that same night: a very
+smart piece of work, as will be readily conceded.&nbsp; Those
+were times of quick and surprising changes, and Rattenbury had
+not been again aboard <i>The Friends</i> more than two days when
+he was forcibly enlisted in the Navy, by the press-gang.&nbsp;
+Escaping from the more or less glorious service of his country at
+the end of a fortnight, he then prudently went on a long
+cod-fishing cruise off Newfoundland; but on the return voyage the
+ship was captured by a Spanish privateer and taken to Vigo.&nbsp;
+Escaping thence, he again reached home, to be captured by the
+bright eyes of one of the buxom maids of Beer, where he was
+married, <a name="page187"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+187</span>April 17th, 1801, proceeding then to live at Lyme
+Regis.&nbsp; Privateering to the west coast of Africa then
+occupied his activities for a time, but that business was never a
+profitable one, as far as Rattenbury was concerned, and they
+caught nothing; but, on the other hand, were nearly impressed,
+ship and ship&rsquo;s company too, by the <i>Alert</i>,
+King&rsquo;s cutter.&nbsp; Piloting, rather than privateering,
+then engaged his attention, and it was while occupied in that
+trade that he was again impressed and again escaped.</p>
+<p>He then returned to Beer, and embarked upon a series of
+smuggling ventures, varied by attempts on the part of the
+press-gang to lay hold of him, and by some other (and always
+barren) privateering voyages.&nbsp; Ostensibly engaged in
+fishing, he landed many boat-loads of contraband at Beer,
+bringing them from quiet spots on the coasts of Dorset and
+Hampshire, where the goods had been hidden.&nbsp; Christchurch
+was one of these smugglers&rsquo; warehouses, and from the creeks
+of that flat shore he and his fellows brought many a load, in
+open boats.&nbsp; On one of these occasions he fell in with the
+<i>Roebuck</i> revenue tender, which chased and fired upon him:
+the man who fired doing the damage to himself, for the gun burst
+and blew off his arm.&nbsp; But Rattenbury and his companions
+were captured, and their boat-load of gin was impounded.&nbsp;
+Rattenbury surely was a very Puck among smugglers: a tricksy
+sprite, at once impudent and astonishingly fortunate.&nbsp; He
+hid <a name="page188"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+188</span>himself in the bottom of the enemy&rsquo;s own boat,
+and by some magical dexterity escaped when it touched shore:
+while his companions were held prisoners.&nbsp; Nay, more.&nbsp;
+When night was come, he was impudent enough, and successful
+enough, to go and release his friends, and at the same time to
+bring away three of the captured gin-kegs.&nbsp; In that same
+winter of 1805 he made seven trips in a new-built smuggling
+vessel.&nbsp; Five of these were successful ventures, and two
+were failures.&nbsp; In the spring of 1806 his crew and cargo of
+spirit-tubs were captured, on returning from Alderney, by the
+<i>Duke of York</i> cutter.&nbsp; He was taken to Dartmouth, and,
+with his companions, fined and given the alternative of
+imprisonment or serving aboard a man-o&rsquo;-war.&nbsp; After a
+very short experience of gaol, they chose to serve their country,
+chiefly because it was much easier to desert that service than to
+break prison; and they were then shipped in Dartmouth roads,
+whence Rattenbury escaped from the navy tender while the officers
+were all drunk; coming ashore in a fisherman&rsquo;s boat, and
+thence making his way home by walking and riding horseback to
+Brixham, and from that port by fishing-smack.</p>
+<p>Soon after this adventure he purchased a share in a galley,
+and, with some companions, made several successful trips in the
+cognac-smuggling between Beer and Alderney.&nbsp; At last the
+galley was lost in a storm, and in rowing an open boat across
+Channel Rattenbury and <a name="page189"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 189</span>another were captured by the
+<i>Humber</i> sloop, and taken for trial to Falmouth and
+committed to Bodmin gaol, to which they were consigned in two
+post-chaises, in company with two constables.&nbsp; Travellers
+were thirsty folk in those days, and at every inn between
+Falmouth and Bodmin the chaises were halted, so that the
+constables could refresh themselves.&nbsp; Evening was come
+before they had reached Bodmin, and while the now half-seas-over
+constables were taking another dram at the lonely wayside inn
+called the &ldquo;Indian Queens,&rdquo; Rattenbury and his
+companions conspired to escape.&nbsp; Behold them, then, when
+ordered by the constables to resume their places, refusing, and
+entering into a desperate struggle with those officers of the
+law.&nbsp; A pistol was fired, the shot passing close to
+Rattenbury&rsquo;s head.&nbsp; He and his companion then downed
+the constables and escaped across the moors; where, meeting with
+another party of smugglers, they were sheltered at Newquay.&nbsp;
+Next morning they travelled horseback, in company with the host
+who had sheltered them, to Mevagissey, whence they hired a boat
+to Budleigh Salterton, and thence walked home again to Beer.</p>
+<p>Next year Rattenbury was appointed captain of a smuggling
+vessel called the <i>Trafalgar</i>, and after five fortunate
+voyages had the misfortune to lose her in heavy weather off
+Alderney.&nbsp; He and some associates then bought a vessel
+called the <i>Lively</i>, but she was chased by a French <a
+name="page190"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 190</span>privateer
+and the helmsman shot.&nbsp; The privateer&rsquo;s captain was so
+overcome by this incidental killing that he relinquished his
+prize.&nbsp; After a few more trips, the <i>Lively</i> proved
+unseaworthy, and the confederates then purchased the
+<i>Neptune</i>, which was wrecked after three successful voyages
+had been made.&nbsp; But Rattenbury tells us, with some pride,
+that he saved the cargo.&nbsp; In the meanwhile, however, the
+<i>Lively</i> having been repaired, had put to sea in the
+smuggling interest again, and had been captured and confiscated
+by the revenue officers.&nbsp; Rattenbury lost &pound;160 by that
+business.&nbsp; Soon afterwards he took a share in a twelve-oared
+galley, and was one of those who went in it to Alderney for a
+cargo.&nbsp; On the return they were unfortunate enough to fall
+in with two revenue cutters: the <i>Stork</i> and the
+<i>Swallow</i>, that had been especially detailed to capture
+them; and accordingly did execute that commission, in as thorough
+and workmanlike fashion as possible, seizing the tubs and
+securing the persons of Rattenbury and two others; although the
+nine other oarsmen escaped.&nbsp; Captain Emys, of the
+<i>Stork</i>, took Rattenbury aboard his vessel, and treated him
+well, inviting him to his cabin and to eat and drink with
+him.&nbsp; Next day the smugglers were landed at Cowes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Rattenbury,&rdquo; said the genial captain, &ldquo;I am
+going to send you aboard a man-o&rsquo;-war, and you must get
+clear how you can.&rdquo;&nbsp; To this the saucy Rattenbury
+replied, &ldquo;Sir, you have been giving me roast meat ever
+since I have been <a name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+191</span>aboard, and now you have run the spit into
+me.&rdquo;&nbsp; He was then put aboard the <i>Royal William</i>,
+on which he found a great many other smuggler prisoners.&nbsp;
+Thence, in the course of a fortnight, he and the others were
+drafted to the <i>Resistance</i> frigate, and sent to Cork.&nbsp;
+Arrived there, our slippery Rattenbury duly escaped in course of
+the following day, and was home again in six days more.</p>
+<p>The activities of the smugglers were at times exceedingly
+unpatriotic, in other ways than merely cheating the Revenue, and
+Rattenbury was no whit better than his fellows.&nbsp; He had not
+long returned home when he made arrangements, for the substantial
+consideration of one hundred pounds, to embark across the Channel
+four French officers, prisoners of war, who had escaped from
+captivity at Tiverton.&nbsp; Receiving them on arrival at Beer,
+and concealing them in a house near the beach, their presence was
+soon detected and warrants were issued for the arrest of
+Rattenbury and five others concerned.&nbsp; Rattenbury adopted
+the safest course and surrendered voluntarily, and was acquitted,
+with a magisterial caution not to do it again.</p>
+<p>Every now and again Rattenbury found himself arrested, or in
+danger of being arrested, as a deserter from the Navy.&nbsp;
+Returning on one of many occasions from a successful smuggling
+trip to Alderney, and drinking at an inn, he found himself in
+company with a sergeant and several privates of the South Devon
+Militia.&nbsp; Presently <a name="page192"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 192</span>the sergeant, advancing towards him,
+said, &ldquo;You are my prisoner.&nbsp; You are a deserter, and
+must go along with me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Must! what meaning was there in that imperative word for the
+bold smuggler of old?&nbsp; None.&nbsp; But Rattenbury&rsquo;s
+first method was suavity, especially as the militia had armed
+themselves with swords and muskets, and as such weapons are
+exceptionally dangerous things in the hands of militiamen.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Sergeant,&rdquo; said he (or says his author for him, in
+that English which surely Rattenbury himself never employed)
+&ldquo;you are surely labouring under an error.&nbsp; I have done
+nothing that can authorise you in taking me up, or detaining me;
+you must certainly have mistaken me for some other
+person.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He then describes how he drew the sergeant into a parley, and
+how, in course of it, he jumped into the cellar, and, throwing
+off jacket and shirt, to prevent any one holding him, armed
+himself with a reaphook and bade defiance to all who should
+attempt to take him.</p>
+<p>The situation was relieved at last by the artful women of Beer
+rushing in with an entirely fictitious story of a shipwreck and
+attracting the soldiers&rsquo; attention.&nbsp; In midst of this
+diversion, Rattenbury jumped out, and, dashing down to the beach,
+got aboard his vessel.&nbsp; After this incident he kept out of
+Beer as much as possible; and shortly afterwards was successful
+in piloting the <i>Linskill</i> transport through a storm that
+was likely to have wrecked her, and so safely into <a
+name="page193"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 193</span>the
+Solent.&nbsp; He earned twenty guineas by this; and received the
+advice of the captain to get a handbill printed, detailing the
+circumstances of this service, by way of set-off against the
+various desertions for which he was liable to be at any time
+called to account.</p>
+<p>Soon after this, Lord and Lady Rolle visited Beer, and
+Rattenbury&rsquo;s wife took occasion to present his lordship
+with one of the bills that had been struck off.&nbsp; &ldquo;I am
+sorry,&rdquo; observed Lord Rolle, reading it, &ldquo;that I
+cannot do anything for your husband, as I am told he was the man
+who threatened to cut my sergeant&rsquo;s guts out.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Such, you see, was the execution Rattenbury, at bay in the
+cellar, had proposed with his reaphook upon the military.</p>
+<p>Hearing this, and learning that Lady Rolle was also in the
+village, he ran after her, and overtaking her carriage, fell upon
+his knees and presented one of his handbills, entreating her
+ladyship to use her influence on his behalf, so that the
+authorities might not be allowed to take him.&nbsp; It is a
+ridiculous picture, but Rattenbury makes no shame in presenting
+it.&nbsp; &ldquo;She then said,&rdquo; he tells us, &ldquo;you
+ought to go back on board a man-o&rsquo;-war, and be equal to
+Lord Nelson; you have such spirits for fighting.&nbsp; If you do
+so, you may depend I will take care you shall not be
+hurt.&rdquo;&nbsp; To which he replied; &ldquo;My lady, I have
+ever had an aversion to [sic] the Navy.&nbsp; I wish to remain
+with my wife and family, and to support them in a creditable <a
+name="page194"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 194</span>manner, <a
+name="citation194"></a><a href="#footnote194"
+class="citation">[194]</a> and therefore can never think of
+returning.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her ladyship then said, &ldquo;I will consider about
+it,&rdquo; and turned off.&nbsp; About a week afterwards, the
+soldiers were ordered away from Beer, through the influence of
+her ladyship, as I conjecture, and the humanity of Lord
+Rolle.</p>
+<p>And so Rattenbury was left in peace.&nbsp; He tells us that he
+would have now entered upon a new course of life, but found
+himself &ldquo;engaged in difficulties from which I was unable to
+escape, and bound by a chain of circumstances whose links I was
+unable to break. . . .&nbsp; I seriously resolved to abandon the
+trade of smuggling; to take a public-house, and to employ my
+leisure hours in fishing, etc.&nbsp; At first the house appeared
+to answer pretty well, but after being in it for two years, I
+found that I was considerably gone back in the world; for that my
+circumstances, instead of improving, were daily getting worse,
+for all the money I could get by fishing and piloting went to the
+brewer.&rdquo;&nbsp; Thus, he says, he was obliged to return to
+smuggling; but we cannot help suspecting that Rattenbury is here
+not quite honest with us, and that smuggling offered just that
+alluring admixture of gain and adventure he found himself
+incapable of resisting.</p>
+<p>Adventures, it has been truly said, are to the adventurous;
+and Rattenbury&rsquo;s career offered no exception to the
+rule.&nbsp; There was, perhaps, <a name="page195"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 195</span>never so unlucky a smuggler as
+he.&nbsp; Returning to the trade in November 1812, and returning
+with a cargo of spirits from Alderney, his vessel fell in with
+the brig <i>Catherine</i>, and was pursued, heavily fired upon,
+and finally captured.&nbsp; The captain of the <i>Catherine</i>,
+raging at them, declared they should all be sent aboard a
+man-o&rsquo;-war; but a search of the smuggling craft revealed
+nothing except one solitary pint of gin in a bottle: the cargo
+having presumably been put over the side.&nbsp; The crew were,
+however, taken prisoners aboard the <i>Catherine</i>, and their
+vessel was taken to Brixham.&nbsp; Rattenbury and his men were
+kept aboard the <i>Catherine</i> for a week, cruising in the
+Channel, and then the brig put in again to Brixham, where the
+wives of the prisoners were anxiously waiting.&nbsp; Next
+morning, in the absence of the captain and chief officer ashore,
+the women came off in a boat, and were helped aboard the brig;
+when Rattenbury and three of his men jumped into the boat and
+pushed off.&nbsp; The second mate, who was in charge of the
+vessel, caught hold of the oar Rattenbury was using, and broke
+the blade of it, and the smuggler then threw the remaining part
+at him.&nbsp; The mate then fired; whereupon Rattenbury&rsquo;s
+wife knocked the firearm out of his hand.&nbsp; Picking it up, he
+fired again, but the boat&rsquo;s sail was up, and the fugitives
+were well on the way to shore, and made good their escape, amid a
+shower of bullets.&nbsp; They then dispersed, two of them being
+afterwards re-taken and sent aboard a man-o&rsquo;-war bound for
+the West <a name="page196"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+196</span>Indies; but Rattenbury made his way safely home again
+and was presently joined there by his wife.</p>
+<p>The public-house was closed in November 1813, smuggling was
+for a time in a bad way, owing to the Channel being closely
+patrolled; and Rattenbury, now with a wife and four children,
+made but a scanty subsistence on fishing and a little
+piloting.&nbsp; In September 1814 he ventured again in the
+smuggling way, making a successful run to and from Cherbourg, but
+in November another run was quite spoilt, in the first instance
+by a gale, which obliged the smugglers to sink their kegs, and in
+the second by the revenue officers seizing the boats.&nbsp;
+Finally, on the next day a custom-house boat ran over their buoy
+marking the spot where the kegs had been sunk, and seized them
+all&mdash;over a hundred.&nbsp; &ldquo;This,&rdquo; says
+Rattenbury, with the conciseness of a resigned victim, &ldquo;was
+a severe loss.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The succeeding years were more fortunate for him.&nbsp; In
+1816 he bought the sloop <i>Elizabeth and Kitty</i>, cheap,
+having been awarded a substantial sum as salvage, for having
+rescued her when deserted by her crew; and all that year did very
+well in smuggling spirits from Cherbourg.&nbsp; Successes and
+failures, arrests, escapes, or releases, then followed in
+plentiful succession until the close of 1825, when the most
+serious happening of his adventurous career occurred.&nbsp; He
+was captured off Dawlish, on December 18th, returning from a
+smuggling expedition, and detained at <a name="page197"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 197</span>Budleigh Salterton watch-house until
+January 2nd, when he was taken before the magistrates at Exeter,
+and committed to gaol.&nbsp; There he remained until April 5th,
+1827.&nbsp; In 1829 he says he &ldquo;made an application&rdquo;
+to Lord Rolle, who gave him a letter to the Admiral at
+Portsmouth, and went aboard the <i>Tartar</i> cutter.&nbsp; In
+January 1830 he took his discharge, received his pay at the
+custom-house, and went home.</p>
+<p>Very slyly does he withhold from us the subject of that
+application, and the nature of the <i>Tartar&rsquo;s</i>
+commission; and it is left for us to discover that the bold
+smuggler had taken service at last with the revenue and customs
+authorities, and for a time placed his knowledge of the ins and
+outs of smuggling at the command of those whose duty it was to
+defeat the free-traders.&nbsp; It was perhaps the discovery that
+the work of spying and betraying was irksome, or perhaps the
+ready threats of his old associates, that caused him to
+relinquish the work.</p>
+<p>However that may be, he was soon at smuggling again, carried
+on in between genuine trading enterprises; and in November 1831
+was unlucky enough to be chased and captured by the Beer
+preventive boat.&nbsp; As usual, the cargo was carefully sunk
+before the capture was actually made, and although the preventive
+men strenuously grappled for it, they found nothing but a piece
+of rope, about one fathom long.&nbsp; On the very slight
+presumptive evidence of that length of rope, Rattenbury and his
+eldest son and two men <a name="page198"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 198</span>were found guilty on their trial at
+Lyme Regis, and were committed to Dorchester gaol.&nbsp; There
+they remained until February 1833.</p>
+<p>Rattenbury&rsquo;s last smuggling experience was a shoregoing
+one, in the month of January 1836, at Torquay, where he was
+engaged with another man in carting a load of twenty tubs of
+brandy.&nbsp; They had got about a mile out of Newton Abbot, at
+ten o&rsquo;clock at night, when a party of riding-officers came
+up and seized the consignment &ldquo;in the King&rsquo;s
+name.&rdquo;&nbsp; Rattenbury escaped, being as eel-like and
+evasive as ever, but his companion was arrested.</p>
+<p>Thus, before he was quite fifty-eight years of age, he quitted
+an exceptionally chequered career; but his wonted fires lived in
+his son, who continued the tradition, even though the great days
+of smuggling were by now done.</p>
+<p>That son was charged, at Exeter Assizes, in March 1836, with
+having on the night of December 1st, 1835, taken part with others
+in assaulting two custom-house officers at Budleigh
+Salterton.&nbsp; Numerous witnesses swore to his having been at
+Beer that night, sixteen miles away, but he was found guilty and
+sentenced to seven years&rsquo; transportation; the Court being
+quite used to this abundant evidence, and quite convinced, Bible
+oaths to the contrary notwithstanding, that he was at Budleigh
+Salterton, and did in fact take part in maltreating His
+Majesty&rsquo;s officers.</p>
+<p>Jack Rattenbury was on this occasion <a
+name="page199"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+199</span>cross-examined by the celebrated Mr. Serjeant Bompas,
+in which he declared he had brought up that son in a proper way,
+and &ldquo;larnt him the Creed, the Lord&rsquo;s Prayer, and the
+Ten Commandments.&rdquo;&nbsp; (Perhaps also that important
+Eleventh Commandment, &ldquo;Thou shalt not be found
+out!&rdquo;)</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t find there, &lsquo;Thou shalt not
+smuggle?&rsquo;&rdquo; asked Mr. Serjeant Bompas.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Rattenbury the ready, &ldquo;but I
+find there, &lsquo;Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy
+neighbour.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The injured innocent, like to be transported for his
+country&rsquo;s good, was granted a Royal Pardon, as the result
+of several petitions sent to Lord John Russell.</p>
+<p>The village of Beer, deep down in one of the most romantic
+rocky coves of South Devon, is nowadays a very different kind of
+place from what it was in Rattenbury&rsquo;s time.&nbsp; Then the
+home of fishermen daring alike in fishing and in smuggling, a
+village to which strangers came but rarely, it is now very much
+of a favourite seaside resort, and full of boarding-houses that
+have almost entirely abolished the ancient thatched
+cottages.&nbsp; A few of these yet linger on, together with one
+or two of the curious old stone water-conduits and some stretches
+of the primitive cobbled pavements, but they will not long
+survive.&nbsp; The sole characteristic industry of Beer that is
+left, besides the fishing and the stone-quarrying that has been
+in progress from the very earliest <a name="page200"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 200</span>times, is the lace-making, nowadays
+experiencing a revival.</p>
+<p>But the knowing ones will show you still the smugglers&rsquo;
+caves: deep crannies in the chalk cliffs of Beer, that at this
+place so curiously alternate with the more characteristic red
+sandstone of South Devon.</p>
+<h2><a name="page201"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+201</span>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">The Whisky Smugglers</span></p>
+<p>A <span class="smcap">modern</span> form of smuggling little
+suspected by the average Englishman is found in the illicit
+whisky-distilling yet carried on in the Highlands of Scotland and
+the wilds of Ireland, as the records of Inland Revenue
+prosecutions still annually prove.&nbsp; The sportsman, or the
+more adventurous among those tourists who roam far from the
+beaten track, are still likely to discover in rugged and remote
+situations the ruins of rough stone and turf huts of no
+antiquity, situated in lonely rifts in the mountain-sides, always
+with a stream running by.&nbsp; If the stranger is at all
+inquisitive on the subject of these solitary ruins, he will
+easily discover that not only are they not old, but that they
+have, in many cases, only recently been vacated.&nbsp; They are,
+in fact, the temporary bothies built from the abundant materials
+of those wild spots by the ingenious crofters and other
+peasantry, for the purpose of distilling whisky that shall not,
+between its manufacture and its almost immediate consumption, pay
+duty to the revenue authorities.</p>
+<p><a name="page202"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 202</span>This
+illegal production of what is now thought to be the
+&ldquo;national drink&rdquo; of Scotland and Ireland, is not of
+any considerable antiquity, for whisky itself did not grow
+popular until comparatively recent times.&nbsp; Robert Burns, who
+may not unfairly be considered the poet-laureate of whisky, and
+styles it &ldquo;whisky, drink divine,&rdquo; would have had
+neither the possibility of that inspiration, nor have filled the
+official post of exciseman, had he flourished but a few
+generations earlier; but he was born in that era when
+whisky-smuggling and dram-drinking were at their height, and he
+took an active part in both the drinking of whisky and the
+hunting down of smugglers of it.</p>
+<p>One of the most stirring incidents of his career was that
+which occurred in 1792, when, foremost of a little band of
+revenue officers, aided by dragoons, he waded into the waters of
+Solway, reckless of the quicksands of that treacherous estuary,
+and, sword in hand, was the first to board a smuggling brig,
+placing the crew under arrest and conveying the vessel to
+Dumfries, where it was sold.&nbsp; It was this incident that
+inspired him with the poem, if indeed, we may at all fitly claim
+inspiration for such an inferior Burns product:</p>
+<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">THE DE&rsquo;IL&rsquo;S
+AWA&rsquo; WI&rsquo; THE EXCISEMAN</p>
+<p>The De&rsquo;il cam&rsquo; fiddling thro&rsquo; the town,<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp; And danc&rsquo;d awa&rsquo; wi&rsquo; the
+exciseman;<br />
+And ilka wife cry&rsquo;d, &ldquo;Auld Mahoun,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; I wish you luck o&rsquo; your prize, man.&rdquo;</p>
+<p><a name="page203"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+203</span>We&rsquo;ll mak&rsquo; our maut and brew our drink,<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp; We&rsquo;ll dance, and sing, and rejoice, man;<br />
+And monie thanks to the muckle black De&rsquo;il,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; That danced awa&rsquo; wi&rsquo; the exciseman.</p>
+<p>There&rsquo;s threesome reels, and foursome reels,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp; There&rsquo;s hornpipes and strathspeys, man;<br />
+But the ae best dance e&rsquo;er cam&rsquo; to our lan&rsquo;,<br
+/>
+&nbsp;&nbsp; Was&mdash;the De&rsquo;il&rsquo;s awa&rsquo;
+wi&rsquo; the exciseman.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Whisky, <i>i.e. usquebaugh</i>, signifying in Gaelic
+&ldquo;water of life,&rdquo; originated, we are told, in the
+monasteries, where so many other comforting cordials were
+discovered, somewhere about the eleventh or twelfth
+century.&nbsp; It was for a very long period regarded only as a
+medicine, and its composition remained unknown to the generality
+of people; and thus we find among the earliest accounts of
+whisky, outside monastic walls, an item in the household expenses
+of James the Fourth of Scotland, at the close of the fifteenth
+century.&nbsp; There it is styled &ldquo;aqua
+vit&aelig;.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A sample of this then new drink was apparently introduced to
+the notice of the King or his Court, and seems to have been so
+greatly appreciated that eight bolls of malt figure among the
+household items as delivered to &ldquo;Friar James Cor,&rdquo;
+for the purpose of manufacturing more, as per sample.</p>
+<p>But for generations to come the nobles and gentry of Scotland
+continued to drink wine, and the peasantry to drink ale, and it
+was only with the closing years of another century that whisky <a
+name="page204"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 204</span>became at
+all commonly manufactured.&nbsp; We read that in 1579 distillers
+were for the first time taxed in Scotland, and private stills
+forbidden; and the rural population did not altogether forsake
+their beer for the spirit until about the beginning of the
+eighteenth century.&nbsp; Parliament, however, soon discovered a
+tempting source of revenue in it, and imposed constantly
+increasing taxation.&nbsp; In 1736 the distillers&rsquo; tax was
+raised to 20<i>s.</i> a gallon, and there were, in addition,
+imposts upon the retailers.</p>
+<p>It might have been foreseen that the very natural result of
+these extortionate taxes would be to elevate illegal distilling,
+formerly practised here and there, into an enormously increased
+industry, flourishing in every glen.&nbsp; Only a very small
+proportion of the output paid the duties imposed.&nbsp; Every
+clachan had its still, or stills.</p>
+<p>This state of things was met by another Act which prohibited
+the making of whisky from stills of a smaller capacity than five
+hundred gallons; but this enactment merely brought about the
+removal of the more or less openly defiant stills from the
+villages to the solitary places in the hills and mountains, and
+necessitated a large increase in the number of excisemen.</p>
+<p>Seven years of these extravagant super-taxes sufficed to
+convince the Government of the folly of so overweighting an
+article with taxation that successful smuggling of it would
+easily bring fortunes to bold and energetic men.&nbsp; To do so
+was thus abundantly proved to be a direct <a
+name="page205"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 205</span>provocation
+to men of enterprise; and the net result the Government found to
+be a vastly increased and highly expensive excise establishment,
+whose cost was by no means met by the revenue derived from the
+heavy duties.&nbsp; Failure thus becoming evident, the taxes were
+heavily reduced, until they totalled but ten shillings and
+sixpence a gallon.</p>
+<p>But the spice of adventure introduced by illegal distilling
+under the old heavy taxation had aroused a reckless frame of mind
+among the Highlanders, who, once become used to defy the
+authorities, were not readily persuaded to give up their illegal
+practices.&nbsp; The glens continued to be filled with private
+stills.&nbsp; Glenlivet was, in especial, famed for its
+whisky-smugglers; and the peat-reek arose in every surrounding
+fold in the hills from hundreds of &ldquo;sma&rsquo;
+stills.&rdquo;&nbsp; Many of these private undertakings did
+business in a large way, and openly sold their products to
+customers in the south, sending their tubs of spirits under
+strong escort, for great distances.&nbsp; They had customers in
+England also, and exciting incidents arose at the Border, for not
+only the question of excise then arose, but that of customs duty
+as well; for the customs rates on spirits were then higher in
+England than in Scotland.&nbsp; The border counties of
+Northumberland and Cumberland, Berwick, Roxburgh, and
+Dumfriesshire were infested with smugglers of this double-dyed
+type, to whom must be added the foreign contrabandists, such as
+the Dutchman, Yawkins, who haunted the <a
+name="page206"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 206</span>coasts of
+Dumfriesshire and Galloway with his smuggling lugger, the
+<i>Black Prince</i>, and is supposed to be the original of Dirk
+Hatteraick, in Scott&rsquo;s romance, &ldquo;Guy
+Mannering.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The very name of this bold fellow was a terror to those whose
+duty it was to uphold law and order in those parts; and it was,
+naturally, to his interest to maintain that feeling of dread, by
+every means in his power.&nbsp; Scott tells us how, on one
+particular night, happening to be ashore with a considerable
+quantity of goods in his sole custody, a strong party of
+excisemen came down upon him.&nbsp; Far from shunning the attack,
+Yawkins sprang forward, shouting, &ldquo;Come on, my lads,
+Yawkins is before you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The revenue officers were intimidated, and relinquished their
+prize, though defended only by the courage and address of one
+man.&nbsp; On his proper element, Yawkins was equally
+successful.&nbsp; On one occasion he was landing his cargo at the
+Manxman&rsquo;s Lake, near Kirkcudbright, when two revenue
+cutters, the <i>Pigmy</i> and the <i>Dwarf</i>, hove in sight at
+once, on different tacks, the one coming round by the Isles of
+Fleet, the other between the point of Rueberry and the Muckle
+Ron.&nbsp; The dauntless free-trader instantly weighed anchor and
+bore down right between the luggers, so close that he tossed his
+hat on the deck of the one and his wig on that of the other,
+hoisted a cask to his maintop, to show his occupation, and bore
+away under an extraordinary pressure of canvas, without receiving
+injury.</p>
+<p><a name="page207"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 207</span>So,
+at any rate, the fantastic legends tell us, although it is but
+fair to remark, in this place, that no practical yachtsman, or
+indeed any other navigator, would for a moment believe in the
+possibility of such a feat.</p>
+<p>To account for these and other hairbreadth escapes, popular
+superstition freely alleged that Yawkins insured his celebrated
+lugger by compounding with the Devil for one-tenth of his crew
+every voyage.&nbsp; How they arranged the separation of the stock
+and tithes is left to our conjecture.&nbsp; The lugger was
+perhaps called the <i>Black Prince</i> in honour of the
+formidable insurer.&nbsp; Her owner&rsquo;s favourite
+landing-places were at the entrance of the Dee and the Cree, near
+the old castle of Rueberry, about six miles below
+Kirkcudbright.&nbsp; There is a cave of large dimensions in the
+vicinity of Rueberry, which, from its being frequently used by
+Yawkins and his supposed connection with the smugglers on the
+shore, is now called &ldquo;Dirk Hatteraick&rsquo;s
+Cave.&rdquo;&nbsp; Strangers who visit this place, the scenery of
+which is highly romantic, are also shown, under the name of the
+&ldquo;Gauger&rsquo;s Leap,&rdquo; a tremendous precipice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;In those halcyon days of the free trade,&rdquo; says
+Scott, &ldquo;the fixed price for carrying a box of tea or bale
+of tobacco from the coast of Galloway to Edinburgh was fifteen
+shillings, and a man with two horses carried four such
+packages.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>This condition of affairs prevailed until peace had come,
+after the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.&nbsp; The
+Government then, as always, <a name="page208"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 208</span>sadly in need of new sources of
+revenue, was impressed with the idea that a fine sum might
+annually be obtained by placing these shy Highland distillers
+under contribution.&nbsp; But there were great difficulties in
+the way.&nbsp; The existing laws were a mere dead letter in those
+regions, and it was scarce likely that any new measures, unless
+backed up by a display of military force, would secure
+obedience.&nbsp; The Duke of Gordon, at that period a personage
+of exceptionally commanding influence with the clansmen, was
+appealed to by the Government to use his authority for the
+purpose of discouraging these practices; but he declared, from
+his place in the House of Lords, that the Highlanders were
+hereditary distillers of whisky: it had from time immemorial been
+their drink, and they would, in spite of every discouragement,
+continue to make it and to consume it.&nbsp; They would sell it,
+too, he said, when given the opportunity of doing so by the
+extravagantly high duty on spirits.&nbsp; The only way out of the
+difficulty with which the Government was confronted was, he
+pointed out, the passing of an Act permitting the distilling of
+whisky on reasonable terms.</p>
+<p>The result of this straightforward speech was the passing of
+an Act in 1823 which placed the moderate excise duty of
+2<i>s.</i> 3<i>d.</i> a gallon on the production of spirits, with
+a &pound;10 annual license for every still of a capacity of forty
+gallons: smaller stills being altogether illegal.</p>
+<p>These provisions were reasonable enough, but <a
+name="page209"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 209</span>failed to
+satisfy the peasantry, and the people were altogether so opposed
+to the regulation of distilling that they destroyed the licensed
+distilleries.&nbsp; It was scarce worth the while of retailers,
+under those circumstances, to take out licenses, and so it
+presently came to pass that for every one duly licensed dealer
+there would be, according to the district, from fifty to one
+hundred unlicensed.</p>
+<p>And so things remained until by degrees the gradually
+perfected system of excise patrols wore down this resistance.</p>
+<p>In the meanwhile, the licensed distillers had a sorry time of
+it.</p>
+<p>Archibald Forbes, many years ago, in the course of some
+observations upon whisky-smugglers, gave reminiscences of George
+Smith, who, from having in his early days been himself a
+smuggler, became manager of the Glenlivet Distillery.&nbsp; This
+famous manufactory of whisky, in these days producing about two
+thousand gallons a week, had an output in 1824 of but one hundred
+gallons in the same time; and its very existence was for years
+threatened by the revengeful peasantry and proprietors of the
+&ldquo;sma&rsquo; stills.&rdquo;&nbsp; Smith was a man of fine
+physical proportions and great courage and tenacity of purpose,
+or he could never have withstood the persecutions and dangers he
+had long to face.&nbsp; &ldquo;The outlook,&rdquo; he said,
+&ldquo;was an ugly one.&nbsp; I was warned, before I began, by my
+neighbours that they meant to burn the new distillery to the <a
+name="page210"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 210</span>ground, and
+me in the heart of it.&nbsp; The Laird of Aberlour presented me
+with a pair of hair-trigger pistols, and they were never out of
+my belt for years.&nbsp; I got together three or four stout
+fellows for servants, armed them with pistols, and let it be
+known everywhere that I would fight for my place till the last
+shot.&nbsp; I had a pretty good character as a man of my word,
+and through watching, by turns, every night for years, we
+contrived to save the distillery from the fate so freely
+predicted for it.&nbsp; But I often, both at kirk and market, had
+rough times of it among the glen people, and if it had not been
+for the Laird of Aberlour&rsquo;s pistols I don&rsquo;t think I
+should have been telling you this story now.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In &rsquo;25 and &rsquo;26 three more small distilleries were
+started in the glen; but the smugglers succeeded very soon in
+frightening away their occupants, none of whom ventured to hang
+on a second year in the face of the threats uttered against
+them.&nbsp; Threats were not the only weapons used.&nbsp; In 1825
+a distillery which had just been started at the head of
+Aberdeenshire, near the banks o&rsquo; Dee, was burnt to the
+ground with all its outbuildings and appliances, and the
+distiller had a very narrow escape of being roasted in his own
+kiln.&nbsp; The country was in a desperately lawless state at
+this time.&nbsp; The riding-officers of the Revenue were the mere
+sport of the smugglers, and nothing was more common than for them
+to be shown a still at work, and then coolly defied to make a
+seizure.</p>
+<p><a name="page211"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+211</span>Prominent among these active and resourceful men was
+one Shaw, proprietor of a shebeen on the Shea Water, in the wilds
+of Mar.&nbsp; Smugglers were free of his shy tavern, which, as a
+general rule, the gaugers little cared to visit singly.&nbsp;
+Shaw was alike a man of gigantic size, great strength, and of
+unscrupulous character, and stuck at little in the furtherance of
+his illegal projects.&nbsp; But if Shaw was a terror to the
+average exciseman, George Smith, for his part, was above the
+average, and feared no man; and so, when overtaken by a storm on
+one occasion, had little hesitation in seeking the shelter of
+this ill-omened house.&nbsp; Shaw happened to be away from home
+at the time, and Smith was received by the hostess, who, some
+years earlier, before she had married her husband, had been a
+sweetheart of the man who now sought shelter.&nbsp; The
+accommodation afforded by the house was scanty, but a bedroom was
+found for the unexpected guest, and he in due course retired to
+it.&nbsp; Mrs. Shaw had promised that his natural enemies, the
+smugglers, should not disturb him, if they returned in the night;
+but when they did return, later on, Shaw determined that he would
+at least give the distillery man a fright.&nbsp; Most of them
+were drunk, and ready for any mischief, and would probably have
+been prepared even to murder him.&nbsp; Shaw was, however, with
+all his faults, no little of a humorist, and only wanted his joke
+at the enemy&rsquo;s expense.</p>
+<p>The band marched upstairs solemnly, in spite of some little
+hiccoughing, and swung into the <a name="page212"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 212</span>bedroom, a torch carried by the
+foremost man throwing a fitful glare around.&nbsp; The door was
+locked when they had entered, and all gathered in silence round
+the bed.&nbsp; Shaw then, drawing a great butcher&rsquo;s knife
+from the recesses of his clothes, brandished it over the
+affrighted occupant of the bed.&nbsp; &ldquo;This gully, mon, iss
+for your powels,&rdquo; said he.</p>
+<p>But Smith had not entered this House of Dread without being
+properly armed, and he had, moreover, taken his pistols to bed
+with him, and was at that moment holding one in either hand,
+under the clothes.&nbsp; As Shaw flourished his knife and uttered
+his alarming threats, he whipped out the one and presented it at
+Shaw&rsquo;s head, promising him he would shoot him if the whole
+party did not immediately quit the room; while with the other
+(the bed lying beside the fireplace) he fired slyly up the
+chimney, creating a thunderous report and a choking downfall of
+soot, in midst of which all the smugglers fled except Shaw, who
+remained, laughing.</p>
+<p>Shaw had many smart encounters with the excise, in which he
+generally managed to get the best of it.&nbsp; The most dramatic
+of these was probably the exploit that befell when he was
+captaining a party of smugglers conveying two hundred kegs of
+whisky from the mountains down to Perth.&nbsp; The time was
+winter, and snow lay thick on field and fell; but the journey was
+made in daytime, for they were a numerous band and well armed,
+and feared no one.&nbsp; But the local <a
+name="page213"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 213</span>Supervisor
+of Excise had by some means obtained early news of this
+expedition, and had secured the aid of a detachment of six
+troopers of the Scots Greys at Coupar-Angus, part of a squadron
+stationed at Perth.&nbsp; At the head of this little force rode
+the supervisor.&nbsp; They came in touch with the smugglers at
+Cairnwell, in the Spittal of Glenshee.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Gang aff awa&rsquo; wi&rsquo; ye, quietly back up the
+Spittal,&rdquo; exclaimed the supervisor, &ldquo;and leave the
+seizure to us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Na, faith,&rdquo; replied Shaw; &ldquo;ye&rsquo;ll get
+jist what we care to gie!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Say ye so?&rdquo; returned the excise officer
+hotly.&nbsp; &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll hae the whole or nane!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The blood rose in Shaw&rsquo;s head, and swelled out the veins
+of his temples.&nbsp; &ldquo;By God,&rdquo; he swore,
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll shoot every gauger here before ye&rsquo;ll get
+a drap!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The supervisor was a small man with a bold spirit.&nbsp; He
+turned to his cavalry escort with the order &ldquo;Fire!&rdquo;
+and at the same time reached for Shaw&rsquo;s collar, with the
+exclamation, &ldquo;Ye&rsquo;ve given me the slip often enough,
+Shaw!&nbsp; Yield now, I&rsquo;ve a pistol in each pocket of my
+breeches.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have ye so?&rdquo; coolly returned the immense and
+statuesque Shaw, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s no&rsquo; lang they&rsquo;ll
+be there, then!&rdquo; and with that he laid violent hands upon
+each pocket and so picked the exciseman bodily out of his saddle,
+tore out both pistols and pockets, and then pitched him, as
+easily as an ordinary man could have done a baby, head over heels
+into a snow-drift.</p>
+<p><a name="page214"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+214</span>Meanwhile, the soldiers had not fired; rightly
+considering that, as they were so greatly outnumbered, to do so
+would be only the signal for an affray in which they would surely
+be worsted.&nbsp; A wordy wrangle then followed, in which the
+exciseman and the soldiers pointed out that they could not
+possibly go back empty-handed; and in the end, Shaw and his
+brother smugglers went their way, leaving four kegs behind,
+&ldquo;just out o&rsquo; ceeveelity,&rdquo; and as some sort of
+salve for the wounded honour of the law and its armed
+coadjutors.</p>
+<p>Not many gaugers were so lion-hearted as this; but one, at
+least, was even more so.&nbsp; This rash hero one day met two
+smugglers in a solitary situation.&nbsp; They had a cart loaded
+up with whisky-kegs, and when the official, unaided, and with no
+human help near, proposed single-handed to seize their
+consignment and to arrest them, they must have been as genuinely
+astonished as ever men have been.&nbsp; The daring man stood
+there, purposeful of doing his duty, and really in grave danger
+of his life; but these two smugglers, relishing the humour of the
+thing, merely descended from their cart, and, seizing him and
+binding him hand and foot, sat him down in the middle of the road
+with wrists tied over his knees and a stick through the crook of
+his legs, in the &ldquo;trussed fowl&rdquo; fashion.&nbsp; There,
+in the middle of the highway, they proposed to leave him; but
+when he pitifully entreated not to be left there, as he might be
+run over and killed in the dark, they <a name="page215"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 215</span>considerately carried him to the
+roadside; with saturnine humour remarking that he would probably
+be starved there instead, before he would be noticed.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p214.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Smugglers hiding goods in a tomb"
+title=
+"Smugglers hiding goods in a tomb"
+src="images/p214.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The flood-tide of Government prosecutions of the
+&ldquo;sma&rsquo; stills&rdquo; was reached in 1823&ndash;5, when
+an average of one thousand four hundred cases annually was
+reached.&nbsp; These were variously for actual distilling, or for
+the illegal possession of malt, for which offence very heavy
+penalties were exacted.</p>
+<p>Preventive men were stationed thickly over the face of the
+Highlands, the system then employed being the establishment of
+&ldquo;Preventive Stations&rdquo; in important districts, and
+&ldquo;Preventive Rides&rdquo; in less important
+neighbourhoods.&nbsp; The stations consisted of an officer and
+one or two men, who were expected by the regulations not to sleep
+at the station more than six nights in the fortnight.&nbsp;
+During the other eight days and nights they were to be on outside
+duty.&nbsp; A ride was a solitary affair, of one exciseman.&nbsp;
+Placed in authority over the stations were
+&ldquo;supervisors,&rdquo; who had each five stations under his
+charge, which he was bound to visit once a week.</p>
+<p>George Smith, of Glenlivet, already quoted, early found his
+position desperate.&nbsp; He was a legalised distiller, and paid
+his covenanted duty to Government, and he rightly considered
+himself entitled, in return for the tribute he rendered, to some
+measure of protection.&nbsp; He therefore petitioned the Lords of
+the Treasury to that <a name="page216"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 216</span>effect; and my lords duly replied,
+after the manner of such, that the Government would prosecute any
+who dared molest him.&nbsp; This, however, was not altogether
+satisfactory from Smith&rsquo;s point of view.&nbsp; He desired
+rather to be protected from molestation than to be left open to
+attack and the aggressors to be punished.&nbsp; A dead man
+derives no satisfaction from the execution of his assassin.&nbsp;
+Moreover, even the prosecution was uncertain.&nbsp; In
+Smith&rsquo;s own words, &ldquo;I cannot say the assurance gave
+me much ease, for I could see no one in Glenlivet who dared
+institute such proceedings.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was necessary for a revenue officer to be almost killed in
+the execution of his duty before the Government resorted to the
+force requisite for the support of the civil power.&nbsp; A
+revenue cutter was stationed in the Moray Firth, with a crew of
+fifty men, designed to be under the orders of the excise officers
+in cases of emergency.</p>
+<p>But the smugglers were not greatly impressed with this
+display, and when the excisemen, accompanied with perhaps
+five-and-twenty sailors, made raids up-country, frequently met
+them in great gangs of perhaps a hundred and fifty, and
+recaptured any seizures they had made and adopted so threatening
+an attitude that the sailors were not infrequently compelled to
+beat a hasty and undignified retreat.&nbsp; One of these
+expeditions was into Glenlivet itself, where the smugglers were
+all Roman Catholics.&nbsp; The excisemen, with this in mind,
+considered that the <a name="page217"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 217</span>best time for a raid would be Monday
+morning, after the debauch of the Sunday afternoon and night in
+which the Roman Catholics were wont to indulge; and accordingly,
+marching out of Elgin town on the Sunday, arrived at Glenlivet at
+daybreak.&nbsp; At the time of their arrival the glen was, to all
+appearance, deserted, and their coming unnoticed, and the sight
+of the peat-reek rising in the still air from some forty or fifty
+&ldquo;sma&rsquo; stills&rdquo; rejoiced their hearts.</p>
+<p>But they presently discovered that their arrival had not only
+been observed but foreseen, for the whole country-side was up,
+and several hundred men, women, and children were assembled on
+the hill-sides to bid active defiance to them.&nbsp; The
+excisemen keenly desired to bring the affair to a decisive issue,
+but the thirty seamen who accompanied them had a due amount of
+discretion, and refused to match their pistols and cutlasses
+against the muskets that the smugglers ostentatiously
+displayed.&nbsp; The party accordingly marched ingloriously back,
+except indeed those sailors who, having responded too freely to
+the smugglers&rsquo; invitation to partake of a &ldquo;wee
+drappie,&rdquo; returned gloriously drunk.&nbsp; The excisemen,
+so unexpectedly baulked of what they had thought their certain
+prey, ungraciously refused a taste.</p>
+<p>This formed the limit of the sorely tried Government&rsquo;s
+patience, and in 1829 a detachment of regulars was ordered up to
+Braemar, with the result that smuggling was gradually reduced to
+less formidable proportions.</p>
+<p><a name="page218"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 218</span>The
+Celtic nature perceives no reason why Governments should confer
+upon themselves the rights of taxing and inspecting the
+manufacture of spirits, any more than any other commodity.&nbsp;
+The matter appears to resolve itself merely into expediency: and
+the doctrine of expediency we all know to be immoral.&nbsp; The
+situation was&mdash;and is, whether you apply it to spirits or to
+other articles in general demand&mdash;the Government wants
+revenue, and, seeking it, naturally taxes the most popular
+articles of public consumption.&nbsp; The producers and the
+consumers of the articles selected for these imposts just as
+naturally seek to evade the taxes.&nbsp; This, to the Celtic
+mind, impatient of control, is the simplest of equations.</p>
+<p>About 1886 was the dullest time in the illicit
+whisky-distilling industry of Scotland, and prosecutions fell to
+an average of about twenty a year.&nbsp; Since then there has
+been, as official reports tell us, in the language of
+officialdom, a &ldquo;marked recrudescence&rdquo; of the
+practice.&nbsp; As Mr. Micawber might explain, in plainer
+English, &ldquo;there is&mdash;ah&mdash;in fact, more whisky made
+now.&rdquo;&nbsp; Several contributory causes are responsible for
+this state of things.&nbsp; Firstly, an economical Government
+reduced the excise establishment; then the price of barley, the
+raw material, fell; and the veiled rebellion of the crofters in
+the north induced a more daring and lawless spirit than had been
+known for generations past.&nbsp; Also, restrictions upon the
+making of malt&mdash;another of the essential constituents from
+which the spirit is distilled&mdash;<a name="page219"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 219</span>were at this time removed, and any
+one who cared might make it freely and without license.</p>
+<p>Your true Highlander will not relinquish his
+&ldquo;mountain-dew&rdquo; without a struggle.&nbsp; His
+forefathers made as much of it as they liked, out of inexpensive
+materials, and drank it fresh and raw.&nbsp; No one bought
+whisky; and a whole clachan would be roaring drunk for a week
+without a coin having changed hands.&nbsp; Naturally, the
+descendants of these men&mdash;&ldquo;it wass the fine time they
+had, whateffer&rdquo;&mdash;dislike the notion of buying their
+whisky from the grocer and drinking stuff made in up-to-date
+distilleries.&nbsp; They prefer the heady stuff of the old
+brae-side pot-still, with a rasp on it like sulphuric acid and a
+consequent feeling as though one had swallowed lighted petroleum:
+stuff with a headache for the Southerner in every drop, not like
+the tamed and subdued creature that whisky-merchants assure their
+customers has not got a headache in a hogshead.</p>
+<p>The time-honoured brae-side manner of brewing whisky is not
+very abstruse.&nbsp; First find your lonely situation, the
+lonelier and the more difficult of access, obviously the
+better.&nbsp; If it is at once lonely and difficult of approach,
+and at the same time commands good views of such approaches as
+there are, by so much it is the better.&nbsp; But one very
+cardinal fact must not be forgotten: the site of the proposed
+still and its sheltering shieling, or bothy, must have a
+water-supply, either from a mountain-stream naturally passing, or
+by an artfully constructed rude system of pipes.</p>
+<p><a name="page220"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 220</span>A
+copper still, just large enough to be carried on a man&rsquo;s
+back, and a small assortment of mash-tubs, and some pitchers and
+pannikins, fully furnish such a rustic undertaking.</p>
+<p>The first step is to convert your barley into malt; but this
+is to-day a needless delay and trouble, now that malt can be made
+entirely without let or hindrance.&nbsp; This was done by
+steeping the sacks of barley in running water for some
+forty-eight hours, and then storing the grain underground for a
+period, until it germinated.&nbsp; The malt thus made was then
+dried over a rude kiln fired with peats, whose smoke gave the
+characteristic smoky taste possessed by all this bothy-made
+stuff.</p>
+<p>It was not necessary for the malt to be made on the site of
+the still, and it was, and is, generally carried to the spot,
+ready-made for the mash-tubs.&nbsp; The removal of the duty upon
+malt by Mr. Gladstone, in 1880, was one of that grossly overrated
+and really amateur statesman&rsquo;s many errors.&nbsp; His
+career was full of false steps and incompetent bunglings, and the
+removal of the Malt Tax was but a small example among many
+Imperial tragedies on a grand scale of disaster.&nbsp; It put new
+and vigorous life into whisky-smuggling, as any expert could have
+foretold; for it was precisely the long operation of converting
+the barley into malt that formed the illegal distiller&rsquo;s
+chief difficulty.&nbsp; The time taken, and the process of
+crushing or bruising the grains, offered some obstacles not
+easily overcome.&nbsp; The crushing, in <a
+name="page221"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 221</span>particular,
+was a dangerous process when the possession of unlicensed malt
+was an offence; for that operation resulted in a very strong and
+unmistakable odour being given forth, so that no one who happened
+to be in the neighbourhood when the process was going on could be
+ignorant of it, while he retained his sense of smell.</p>
+<p>Brought ready-made from the clachan to the bothy, the malt was
+emptied into the mash-tubs to ferment; the tubs placed in charge
+of a boy or girl, who stirs up the mess with a willow-wand or
+birch-twig; while the men themselves are out and about at work on
+their usual avocations.</p>
+<p>Having sufficiently fermented, the next process was to place
+the malt in the still, over a brisk heat.&nbsp; From the still a
+crooked spout descends into a tub.&nbsp; This spout has to be
+constantly cooled by running water, to produce condensation of
+the vaporised alcohol.&nbsp; Thus we have a second, and even more
+important, necessity for a neighbouring stream, which often, in
+conjunction with the indispensable fire, serves the excisemen to
+locate these stills.&nbsp; If a bothy is so artfully concealed by
+rocks and turves that it escapes notice, even by the most
+vigilant eye, amid the rugged hill-sides, the smoke arising from
+the peat-fire will almost certainly betray it.</p>
+<p>The crude spirit thus distilled into the tub is then emptied
+again into the still, which has been in the meanwhile cleared of
+the exhausted malt and cleansed, and subjected to a second
+distilling, <a name="page222"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+222</span>over a milder fire, and with a small piece of soap
+dropped into the liquor to clarify it.</p>
+<p>The question of maturing the whisky never enters into the
+minds of these rustic distillers, who drink it, generally, as
+soon as made.&nbsp; Very little is now made for sale; but when
+sold the profit is very large, a capital of twenty-three
+shillings bringing a return of nine or ten pounds.</p>
+<p>But the typical secret whisky-distiller has no commercial
+instincts.&nbsp; It cannot fairly be said that he has a soul
+above them, for he is just a shiftless fellow, whose soul is not
+very apparent in manner or conversation, and whose only ambition
+is to procure a sufficiency of &ldquo;whusky&rdquo; for self and
+friends; and a &ldquo;sufficiency&rdquo; in his case means a
+great deal.&nbsp; He has not enough money to buy taxed whisky;
+and if he had, he would prefer to make his own, for he loves the
+peat-reek in it, and he thinks &ldquo;jist naething at
+a&rsquo;&rdquo; of the &ldquo;puir stuff&rdquo; that comes from
+the great distilleries.</p>
+<p>He is generally ostensibly by trade a hanger-on to the
+agricultural or sheep-farming industries, but between his spells
+of five days at the bothy (for it takes five days to the making
+of whisky) he is usually to be seen loafing about,
+aimlessly.&nbsp; Experienced folk can generally tell where such
+an one has been, and what he has been doing, after his periodical
+absences, for his eyelids are red with the peat-smoke and his
+clothes reek with it.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p222.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Dragoons dispersing smugglers"
+title=
+"Dragoons dispersing smugglers"
+src="images/p222.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>Perhaps the busiest centre of Highland illicit <a
+name="page223"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+223</span>whisky-distilling is now to be located in the Gairloch,
+but anything in the shape of exact information on so shy a
+subject is necessarily not obtainable.&nbsp; Between this
+district and the Outer Hebrides, islands where no stills are to
+be found, a large secret trade is still believed to exist.&nbsp;
+Seizures are occasionally made but the policy of the Inland
+Revenue authorities is now a broad one, in which the existence of
+small stills in inconsiderable numbers, although actually known,
+is officially ignored: the argument being that undue official
+activity, with the resultant publicity, would defeat itself by
+advertising the fact of it being so easy to manufacture whisky,
+leading eventually to the establishment of more stills.</p>
+<p>The illegal production of spirits does, in fact, proceed all
+over Great Britain and Ireland to a far greater extent than
+generally suspected; and such remote places as the Highlands are
+nowadays by no means the most favourable situations for the
+manufacture.&nbsp; Indeed, crowded towns form in these times the
+most ideal situations.&nbsp; No one in the great cities is in the
+least interested in what his neighbour is doing, unless what he
+does constitutes a nuisance: and it is the secret
+distiller&rsquo;s last thought to obtrude his personality or his
+doings upon the notice of the neighbours.&nbsp; Secrecy, personal
+comfort, and conveniences of every kind are better obtained in
+towns than on inclement brae-sides; and the manufacture and
+repair of the utensils necessary to the business are effected
+more quickly, less expensively, and <a name="page224"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 224</span>without the prying curiosity of a
+Highland clachan.</p>
+<p>It follows from this long-continued course of illegal
+distilling that the Highlands are full of tales of how the
+gaugers were outwitted, and of hairbreadth escapes and curious
+incidents.&nbsp; Among these is the story of the revengeful
+postmaster of Kingussie, who, on his return from a journey to
+Aberlour on a dark and stormy night, called at Dalnashaugh inn,
+where he proposed to stay an hour or two.&nbsp; The pretty maid
+of the inn attended diligently to him for awhile, until a posse
+of some half-dozen gaugers entered, to rest there on their way to
+Badenoch, where they were due, to make a raid on a number of
+illicit stills.&nbsp; The sun of the postmaster suddenly set with
+the arrival of these strangers.&nbsp; They were given the
+parlour, and treated with the best hospitality the house could
+afford, while he was banished to the kitchen.&nbsp; He was
+wrathful, for was he not a Government official, equally with
+these upstarts?&nbsp; But he dissembled his anger, and, as the
+evening wore on and the maid grew tired, he suggested she had
+better go to bed, and he would be off by time the moon
+rose.&nbsp; No sooner had she retired than he took the
+excisemen&rsquo;s boots, lying in the inglenook to dry, and
+pitched them into a great pot of water, boiling over the
+blaze.</p>
+<p>When the moon had risen, he duly mounted his pony and set out
+for Badenoch, where he gave out the news that the gaugers were
+coming.</p>
+<p>The excisemen could not stir from the inn for <a
+name="page225"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 225</span>a
+considerable time, for their boiled boots refused to be drawn on;
+and by the time they had been enabled to stretch them and to set
+out once more on their way, the Badenoch smugglers had made off
+with all their gear, leaving nothing but empty bothies for
+inspection.&nbsp; The local historian is silent as to what
+happened afterwards to the postmaster, the only possible author
+of this outrage.</p>
+<p>A smuggler of Strathdearn was unfortunate in having the excise
+pouncing suddenly upon him in his bothy, and taking away his only
+cask of whisky.&nbsp; The hated myrmidons of a Sassenach
+Government went off with the cask, and were so jealous of their
+prize that they took it with them to the inn where they were to
+pass the night.&nbsp; All that evening they sang songs and were
+merry with a numerous company in an upper room; but even at their
+merriest they did not forget their capture, and one of their
+number sat upon it all the time.</p>
+<p>It chanced, however, that among these merry fellows were some
+of the smuggler&rsquo;s friends, who were careful to note exactly
+the position of the cask.&nbsp; They procured an auger and bored
+a hole from the room below, through the flooring and into the
+cask, draining all the whisky away.&nbsp; When the excisemen had
+come to the end of their jollification, they had only the empty
+cask for their trouble.</p>
+<p>One of the brae-side distillers of Fortingal brought a cart
+laden with kegs of whisky into <a name="page226"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 226</span>Perth, by arrangement with an
+innkeeper of that town; but the innkeeper refused to pay a fair
+price.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Wha will her sell it till, then?&rdquo; asked the
+would-be vendor.</p>
+<p>The innkeeper, a person of a saturnine humour, mentioned a
+name and a house, and the man went thither with his cart.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What is it, my man?&rdquo; asked the occupier, coming
+to the door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, yer honour, &rsquo;tis some o&rsquo; the finest
+whusky that iver was made up yon, and niver paid the
+bawbee&rsquo;s worth o&rsquo; duty.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;D&rsquo;ye know who I am?&rdquo; returned the
+householder.&nbsp; &ldquo;I&rsquo;m an officer of excise, and I
+demand to know who sent you to me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The smuggler told him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said the exciseman, &ldquo;go back to him
+and sell him your whisky at his own price, and then
+begone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The man did as he was bidden; sold his consignment, and left
+the town.&nbsp; It was but a few hours afterwards that the
+innkeeper&rsquo;s premises were raided by the excise, who seized
+the whisky and procured a conviction at the next Assizes, where
+he was heavily fined.</p>
+<p>One of the last incidents along the Border, in connection with
+whisky-smuggling between Scotland and England, occurred after the
+duty had been considerably lowered.&nbsp; This was a desperate
+affray which took place on the night of Sunday, January 16th,
+1825, at Rockcliffe Cross, five miles <a name="page227"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 227</span>from Carlisle on the Wigton
+road.&nbsp; One Edward Forster, officer of excise, was on duty
+when he observed a man, whose name, it afterwards appeared, was
+Charles Gillespie, a labourer, carrying a suspicious object, and
+challenged him.&nbsp; This resulted in an encounter in which the
+excise officer&rsquo;s head was badly cut open.&nbsp; Calling aid
+of another labourer, who afterwards gave evidence, he remarked
+that he thought the smuggler had almost done for him, but pursued
+the man and fired upon him in the dark, with so good an aim that
+he was mortally wounded, and presently died.&nbsp; It was a
+dangerous thing in those times for an excise officer to do his
+duty, and at the inquest held the coroner&rsquo;s jury returned a
+verdict of &ldquo;Murder&rdquo;; the men who formed the jury
+being doubtless drawn from a class entirely in sympathy with
+smuggling, and possibly engaged in it themselves.&nbsp; Forster,
+evidently expectant of that verdict, did not present himself, and
+was probably transferred by his superiors to some post far
+distant.&nbsp; There the affair ends.</p>
+<p>About the same time, on the Carlisle and Wigton road, two
+preventive men at three o&rsquo;clock in the morning met a man
+carrying a load, which, when examined, proved to be a keg of
+spirits.&nbsp; Two other men then came up and bludgeoned the
+officers, one of whom dropped his cutlass; whereupon a smuggler
+picked it up, and, attacking him vigorously, cut him over the
+head.&nbsp; The smugglers then all escaped, leaving behind them
+two bladders containing eight gallons of whisky.</p>
+<h2><a name="page228"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+228</span>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">Some Smugglers&rsquo; Tricks and
+Evasions</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Modern
+Tobacco-Smuggling</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Silks and
+Lace</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Dog
+Detective</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Leghorn
+Hats</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Foreign Watches</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> tricks practised by smugglers
+other than those daring and resourceful fellows who risked life,
+limb, and liberty in conflict with the elements and the
+preventive service, may form, in the narration, an amusing
+chapter.&nbsp; Smugglers of this kind may be divided, roughly,
+into three classes.&nbsp; Firstly, we have the ingeniously
+evasive trade importer in bulk, who resorts to false declarations
+and deceptive packing and labelling, for the purpose of entering
+his merchandise duty-free.&nbsp; Secondly, we have the sailors,
+the firemen of ocean-going steamers, and other persons of like
+classes, who smuggle tobacco and spirits, not necessarily to a
+commercial end, in considerable quantities; and thirdly, there
+are those enterprising holiday-makers and travellers for pleasure
+who cannot resist the sport.</p>
+<p>We read in <i>The Times</i> of 1816 that, among the many
+expedients at that time practised for smuggling goods into
+France, the following scheme <a name="page229"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 229</span>of introducing merchandise into
+Dieppe had some dexterity.&nbsp; Large stone bottles were
+procured, and, the bottoms being knocked off, they were then
+filled with cotton stockings and thread lace.&nbsp; A false
+bottom was fixed, and, to avoid suspicion, the mouth of each
+bottle was left open.&nbsp; Any inquiries were met with the
+statement that the bottles were going to the spirit merchant, to
+be refilled.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p228.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Smugglers Attacked"
+title=
+"Smugglers Attacked"
+src="images/p228.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>This evasion was successfully carried on until a young man
+from Brighton ventured on too heavy a speculation.&nbsp; He
+filled his bottle with ten dozen stockings, which so weighted it
+that the bottom came off, disclosing the contents.</p>
+<p>Ingenuity worthy of a better cause is the characteristic of
+modern types of smugglers.&nbsp; A constant battle of wits
+between them and the custom-house officers is in progress at all
+ports of entry; and the fortunes of either side may be followed
+with much interest.</p>
+<p>One of the most ingenious of such tricks was that of the
+trader who was importing French kid-gloves.&nbsp; He caused them
+to be despatched in two cases; one, containing only right-hand
+gloves, to Folkestone, the other, left-hand only, to
+London.&nbsp; Being at the time dutiable articles, and the
+consignee refusing to pay the duty, the two cases were
+confiscated and their contents in due course sold at
+auction.&nbsp; No one has a use for odd gloves, and these
+oddments accordingly in each case realised the merest trifle; but
+the purchaser&mdash;who was of course the consignee
+himself&mdash;netted <a name="page230"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 230</span>a very considerable profit over the
+transaction.&nbsp; The abolition of duty on such articles has,
+however, rendered a modern repetition of the trick
+unnecessary.&nbsp; Nor is it any longer likely that foreign
+watches find their way to these shores in the old time-honoured
+style&mdash;<i>i.e.</i> hung in leather bags round the persons of
+unassuming travellers.</p>
+<p>Such an one, smuggling an unusual number across from Holland,
+calculated upon the average passage of twenty-four hours, and
+reckoned he could, for once in a way, endure that spell of
+waiting and walking about deck without lying down.&nbsp; He could
+not, as a matter of fact, on account of the watches, afford to
+lie down.&nbsp; To his dismay, the vessel, midway of the passage,
+encountered a dense fog, and had occasionally to stop or slow
+down; and, in the end, it was a forty-eight hours&rsquo;
+passage.&nbsp; The unfortunate smuggler could not endure so much,
+and was obliged to disclose his treasure.&nbsp; So the Revenue
+scored heavily on that occasion.</p>
+<p>Tobacco is still largely smuggled, and is, in fact, the
+foremost article so treated to-day; the very heavy duty, not less
+than five times its value, forming a great, and readily
+understood, temptation.&nbsp; Perhaps the most notable attempt in
+modern times to smuggle tobacco in bulk was that discovered in
+1881.</p>
+<p>The custom-house staff in London had for some time before that
+date become familiar with warning letters sent anonymously,
+hinting that great quantities of tobacco were continually being
+<a name="page231"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 231</span>conveyed
+into England from Rotterdam without paying duty, but for a while
+little notice was taken of these communications; until at length
+they grew so definite that the officials had no choice but to
+inquire.&nbsp; Detective officers were accordingly despatched to
+Rotterdam, to watch the proceedings there, and duly observed the
+packing of two large marine boilers with tobacco, by hydraulic
+pressure.&nbsp; They were then shipped aboard a steamer and taken
+to London, whence they were placed upon the railway at
+King&rsquo;s Cross, for delivery in the north.&nbsp; A great deal
+of secret manoeuvring by the custom-house officials and the
+police resulted in both boilers being seized in London and those
+responsible for them being secured.&nbsp; It was then discovered
+that they were only dummy boilers, made expressly for smuggling
+traffic; and it was further thought that this was by no means the
+first journey they had made.&nbsp; The parties to this
+transaction were fined close upon five thousand pounds, and the
+consignment was confiscated.</p>
+<p>To conceal tobacco in hollow loaves of bread, especially made
+and baked for this purpose, was a common practice, and one not
+altogether unknown nowadays; while the coal-bunkers, the
+engine-rooms, and the hundred and one odd corners among the iron
+plates and girders of modern steamships afford hiding-places not
+seldom resorted to.&nbsp; The customs officers, who board every
+vessel entering port, of course discover many of these
+<i>caches</i>, but it is not to be <a name="page232"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 232</span>supposed that more than a percentage
+of them are found.</p>
+<p>Smuggled cigars are to-day a mere commonplace of the ordinary
+custom-house officer&rsquo;s experience with private travellers,
+and no doubt a great quantity find a secret passage through, in
+the trading way.&nbsp; For some years there was a considerable
+import of broomsticks into England from the Continent, and little
+or no comment was made upon the curious fact of it being worth
+while to import so inexpensive an article, which could equally
+well be made here.&nbsp; But the mystery was suddenly dispelled
+one day when two clerks in a customs warehouse, wearied of a dull
+afternoon, set to the amusement of playing single-stick with two
+of these imported broomsticks.&nbsp; No sooner did one broomstick
+smite upon another in this friendly encounter than they both
+broke in half, liberating a plentiful shower of very excellent
+cigars, which had been secreted in the hollowed staves.</p>
+<p>Silks formed an important item in the smugglers&rsquo; trade,
+and even the gentlemen of that day unconsciously contributed to
+it, by the use of bandana handkerchiefs, greatly affected by that
+snuff-taking generation.&nbsp; Huskisson, a thoroughgoing
+advocate of Free Trade, was addressing the House of Commons on
+one occasion and declaring that the only possible way to stop
+smuggling was to abolish, or at any rate to greatly reduce, the
+duties; when he dramatically instanced the evasions and floutings
+of the laws.&nbsp; &ldquo;Honourable <a name="page233"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 233</span>members of this House are well aware
+that bandana handkerchiefs are prohibited by law, and yet,&rdquo;
+he continued, drawing one from his pocket, while the House
+laughed loud with delight, &ldquo;I have no doubt there is hardly
+a gentleman here who has not got a bandana
+handkerchief.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Lace-smuggling, of course, exercised great fascination for the
+ladies, who&mdash;women being generally lacking in the moral
+sense, or possessing it only in the partial and perverted manner
+in which it is owned by infants&mdash;very rarely could resist
+the temptation to secrete some on their way home from foreign
+parts.&nbsp; The story is told how a lady who had a smuggled lace
+veil of great value in her possession grew very nervous of being
+able to carry it through, and imparted her anxiety to a gentleman
+at the hotel dinner.&nbsp; He offered to take charge of it, as,
+being a bachelor, no one was in the least likely to suspect him
+of secreting such an article.&nbsp; But, in the very act of
+accepting his offer, she chanced to observe a saturnine smile
+spreading over the countenance of the waiter at her elbow.&nbsp;
+She instantly suspected a spy, and secretly altered her plans,
+causing the veil to be sewn up in the back of her husband&rsquo;s
+waistcoat.</p>
+<p>The precaution proved to be a necessary one, for the luggage
+of the unfortunate bachelor was mercilessly overhauled at every
+customs station on the remainder of the journey.</p>
+<p>Among the many ruses practised upon the preventive men, who,
+as the butts of innumerable evasive false-pretences, must have
+been experts <a name="page234"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+234</span>in the ways of practical jokes, was that of the
+pretended drunken smuggler.&nbsp; To divert attention from any
+pursuit of the main body of the tub-carrying gang, one of their
+number would be detailed to stagger along, as though under the
+influence of drink, in a different direction, with a couple of
+tubs slung over his shoulders.&nbsp; It was a very excellently
+effective trick, but had the obvious disadvantage of working only
+once at any one given station.&nbsp; It was the fashion to
+describe the preventive men as fools, but they were not such
+crass fools as all that, to be taken in twice by the same simple
+dodge.</p>
+<p>The solitary and apparently intoxicated tub-carrier would lead
+the pursuers a little way and would then allow himself easily to
+be caught, but would then make a desperate and prolonged
+resistance in defence of his tubs.&nbsp; At last, overpowered and
+the tubs taken from him, and himself escorted to the nearest
+blockade-station, the tubs themselves would be examined&mdash;and
+would generally be found to contain only sea-water!</p>
+<p>The customs men, however, were not without their own bright
+ideas.&nbsp; The service would scarcely have been barren of
+imagination unless it were recruited from a specially selected
+levy of dunderheads.&nbsp; But it was an exceptionally brilliant
+officer who hit upon the notion of training a puppy for
+discovering those places where the smugglers had, as a temporary
+expedient, hidden their spirit-tubs.&nbsp; It would often happen
+that a successful run ended at the beach, and that opportunities
+<a name="page235"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 235</span>for
+conveying the cargo inland had to be waited upon.&nbsp; It would,
+therefore, be buried in the shingle, or in holes dug in the sands
+at low water, until a safe opportunity occurred.&nbsp; The
+customs staff knew this perfectly well, but they necessarily
+lacked the knowledge of the exact spots where these stores had
+been made.</p>
+<p style="text-align: center">
+<a href="images/p234.jpg">
+<img alt=
+"Smugglers Defeated"
+title=
+"Smugglers Defeated"
+src="images/p234.jpg" />
+</a></p>
+<p>The exceptionally imaginative customs officer in question
+trained a terrier pup to the business of scenting them by the
+cunning method of bringing the creature up with an acquired taste
+for alcohol.&nbsp; This he did by mixing the pup&rsquo;s food
+with spirits, and allowing it to take no food that was not so
+flavoured.&nbsp; Two things resulted from this novel treatment:
+the dog&rsquo;s growth was stunted, and it grew up with such a
+liking for spirits that it would take nothing not freely laced
+with whisky, rum, gin, or brandy.</p>
+<p>The plan of operations with a dog educated into these vicious
+tastes was simple.&nbsp; When his master found a favourable
+opportunity for strolling along the shore, in search of buried
+kegs, the dog, having been deprived of his food the day before,
+was taken.&nbsp; When poor hungry Tray came to one of these
+spots, the animal&rsquo;s keen and trained scent instantly
+detected it, and he would at once begin scratching and barking
+like mad.</p>
+<p>The smugglers were not long in solving the mystery of their
+secret hoards being all at once so successfully located; and, all
+too soon for the Revenue, a well-aimed shot from the cliffs
+presently cut the dog&rsquo;s career short.</p>
+<p><a name="page236"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+236</span>&ldquo;Perhaps the oddest form of the smuggling carried
+on in later times,&rdquo; says a writer in an old magazine,
+&ldquo;was a curious practice in vogue between Calais and Dover
+about 1819&ndash;20.&nbsp; This, however, was rather an open and
+well-known technical evasion of the customs dues than actual
+smuggling.&nbsp; The fashion at that time came in of ladies
+wearing Leghorn hats and bonnets of enormous dimensions.&nbsp;
+They were huge, strong plaits, nearly circular, and commonly
+about a yard in diameter; and they sold in England at from two to
+three guineas, and sometimes even more, apiece.&nbsp; A heavy
+duty was laid upon them, amounting to nearly half their
+value.</p>
+<p>It is a well-known concession, made by the custom-houses of
+various countries, that wearing-apparel in use is not liable to
+duty, and herein lay the opportunity of those who were
+financially interested in the import of Leghorn plaits.&nbsp; A
+dealer in them hired, at a low figure, a numerous company of
+women and girls of the poorest class to voyage daily from Dover
+to Calais and back, and entered into a favourable contract with
+the owners of one of the steamers for season-tickets for the
+whole band of them at low rates.&nbsp; The sight of these women
+leaving the town in the morning with the most deplorable headgear
+and returning in the evening gloriously arrayed, so far as their
+heads were concerned, was for some few years a familiar and
+amusing one to the people of Dover.</p>
+<p>Another ingenious evasion was that long <a
+name="page237"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 237</span>practised
+by the Swiss importers of watches at the time when watches also
+were subject to duty.&nbsp; An <i>ad valorem</i> duty was placed
+upon them, which was arrived at by the importers making a
+declaration of their value.&nbsp; In order to prevent the value
+being fixed too low, and the Revenue being consequently
+defrauded, the Government had the right of buying any goods they
+chose, at the prices declared.&nbsp; This was by no means a
+disregarded right, for the authorities did frequently, in
+suspicious cases, exercise it, and bought considerable
+consignments of goods, which were afterwards disposed of by
+auction, at well-known custom-house sales.</p>
+<p>The Swiss makers and importers of watches managed to do a
+pretty good deal of business with the customs as an unwilling
+partner, and they did it in a perfectly legitimate way; although
+a way not altogether without suspicion of sharp practice.&nbsp;
+They would follow consignments of goods declared at ordinary
+prices with others of exactly similar quality, entered at the
+very lowest possible price, consistent with the making of a
+trading profit; and the customs officials, noting the glaring
+discrepancy, would exercise their rights and buy the cheaper
+lots, thinking to cause the importers a severe loss and thus give
+them a greatly needed lesson.&nbsp; The watch-manufacturers
+really desired nothing better, and were cheerfully prepared to
+learn many such lessons; for they thus secured an immediate
+purchaser, for cash, and so greatly increased their
+turnover.&nbsp; Other folks incidentally <a
+name="page238"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 238</span>benefited,
+for goods sold at customs auctions rarely ever fetched their real
+value: there were too many keenly interested middlemen about for
+that to be permitted.&nbsp; Thus, an excellent watch only, as a
+rule, to be bought for from &pound;14 to &pound;15, could on
+these occasions often be purchased for &pound;10.&nbsp; Naturally
+enough, the proprietors of watch and jewellery businesses were
+the chief bidders at these auctions; and, equally naturally, they
+usually found means to keep down the prices to themselves, while
+carefully ensuring that private bidders should be artfully run
+up.</p>
+<h2><a name="page239"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+239</span>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+<p style="text-align: center" class="gutsumm"><span
+class="smcap">Coast Blockade</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The
+Preventive Water-Guard and the Coastguard</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Official Return of Seizures</span>&mdash;<span
+class="smcap">Estimated Loss to the Revenue in</span>
+1831&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Sham Smuggler of the
+Seaside</span>&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Modern
+Coastguard</span></p>
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> early coastguardmen had a great
+deal of popular feeling to contend with.&nbsp; When the
+coast-blockade was broken up in 1831, and the &ldquo;Preventive
+Water-Guard,&rdquo; as this new body was styled, was formed,
+officers and men alike found the greatest difficulty in obtaining
+lodgings.&nbsp; No one would let houses or rooms to the men whose
+business it was to prevent smuggling, and thus incidentally to
+take away the excellent livelihood the fisherfolk and
+longshoremen were earning.&nbsp; Thus, the earliest stations of
+the coastguard were formed chiefly out of old hulks and other
+vessels condemned for sea-going purposes, but quite sound, and
+indeed, often peculiarly comfortable as residences, moored
+permanently in sheltered creeks, or hauled up, high and dry, on
+beaches that afforded the best of outlooks upon the sea.</p>
+<p>Very few of these primitive coastguard stations <a
+name="page240"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 240</span>are now
+left.&nbsp; Their place has been pretty generally taken by the
+neat, if severely unornamental, stations, generally whitewashed,
+and enclosed within a compound-wall, with which summer visitors
+to our coasts are familiar.&nbsp; And the old-time prejudice
+against the men has had plenty of time to die away during the
+eighty years or so in which the coastguard service has
+existed.&nbsp; There are still, however, some eleven or twelve
+old hulks in use as coastguard stations; principally in the
+estuaries of the Thames and Medway.</p>
+<p>The Preventive Water-Guard, from which the existing coastguard
+service was developed, was not only the old coast-blockade
+reorganised, but was an extension of it from the shores of
+Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, and Essex, to the entire coast-line of
+the United Kingdom.&nbsp; It was manned by sailors from the Royal
+Navy, and the stations were commanded by naval lieutenants.&nbsp;
+Many of the martello towers that had been built at regular
+intervals along the shores of Kent and Sussex, and some few in
+Suffolk, in or about 1805, when the terror of foreign invasion
+was acute, were used for these early coastguard purposes.</p>
+<p>That the preventive service did not prevent, and did not at
+first even seriously interfere with, smuggling, was the
+contention of many well-informed people, with whom the Press
+generally sided.&nbsp; The coast-blockade, too, was&mdash;perhaps
+unjustly&mdash;said to be altogether inefficient; and was further
+said, truly enough, to be ruinously costly.&nbsp; Controversy was
+bitter on these matters.&nbsp; <a name="page241"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 241</span>In January 1825 <i>The Times</i>
+recorded the entry of the revenue cutter, <i>Hawke</i>, into
+Portsmouth, after a cruise in which she had chased and failed to
+capture, owing to heavy weather, a smuggling lugger which
+successfully ran seven hundred kegs of spirits.&nbsp; To this
+item of news Lieutenant J. F. Tompson, of H.M.S.
+<i>Ramillies</i>, commanding the coast-blockade at Lancing, took
+exception, and wrote to <i>The Times</i> a violent letter,
+complaining of the statements, and saying that they were
+absolutely untrue.&nbsp; To this <i>The Times</i> replied, with
+considerable acerbity, on February 3rd, that the statement was
+true and the lieutenant&rsquo;s assertions unwarranted.&nbsp; The
+newspaper then proceeded to &ldquo;rub it in&rdquo; vigorously:
+&ldquo;There is nothing more ridiculous, in the eyes of those who
+live upon our sea-coasts, than to witness the tender
+sensibilities of officers employed upon the coast-blockade
+whenever a statement is made that a smuggler has succeeded in
+landing his cargo; as though they formed a part of the most
+perfect system that can be established for the suppression of
+smuggling.&nbsp; Now be it known to all England that this is a
+gross attempt at humbug.&nbsp; Notwithstanding all the unceasing
+vigilance of the officers and men employed, smuggling is carried
+on all along the coast, from Deal to Cornwall, to as great a
+degree as the public require.&nbsp; Any attempt to smuggle
+<i>this</i> <span class="smcap">Fact</span> may answer the
+purpose of a party, or a particular system, but it will never
+obtain belief.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was only a few days since that a party <a
+name="page242"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 242</span>of
+coast-blockade men (we believe belonging to the Tower, No. 61)
+made common cause with the smugglers, and they walked off
+altogether!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Exactly!&nbsp; The sheer madness of the Government in
+maintaining the extraordinary high duties, and of adding always
+another force to existing services, designed to suppress the
+smugglers&rsquo; trade, was sufficiently evident to all who would
+not refuse to see.&nbsp; When commodities in great demand with
+all classes were weighted with duties so heavy that few persons
+could afford to purchase those that had passed through His
+Majesty&rsquo;s Custom-houses, two things might have been
+foreseen: that the regularised imports would, under the most
+favourable circumstances, inevitably decrease; and that the
+smuggling which had already been notoriously increasing by leaps
+and bounds for a century past would be still further encouraged
+to supply those articles at a cheap rate, which the
+Government&rsquo;s policy had rendered unattainable by the
+majority of people.</p>
+<p>An account printed by order of the House of Commons in the
+beginning of 1825 gave details of all customable commodities
+seized during the last three years by the various establishments
+formed for the prevention of smuggling: the Coastguard, or
+Preventive Water-guard; the Riding-officers; and the revenue
+cruisers and ships of war.</p>
+<p>In that period the following articles were seized and dealt
+with:</p>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p><a name="page243"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+243</span>Tobacco</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">902,684&frac14;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>lb.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Snuff</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">3,000</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>,,</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Brandy</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">135,000</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>gallons.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Rum</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">253</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>,,</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Gin</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">227,000</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>,,</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Whisky</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">10,500</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>,,</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Tea</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">19,000</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>lb.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Silk</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">42,000</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>yards.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>India handkerchiefs</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">2,100</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>pieces.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Leghorn hats</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">23</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Cards</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">3,600</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>packs.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Timber</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">10,000</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>pieces.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Stills</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">75</p>
+</td>
+<td><p>&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p>The cost of making these seizures, and dealing with them, was
+put as follows:</p>
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: center">&pound;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>s.</i></p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>d.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Law expenses </p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">29,816</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">19</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">4&frac34;</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Storage, rent of warehouses, etc. </p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">18,875</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">14</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">10&frac12;</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Salaries, cooperage, casks, repairs, etc.</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">1,533,708</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">4</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">10</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>Rewards to officers, etc. </p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">488,127</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">2</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">11&frac12;</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><p>&nbsp;</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">&pound;2,070,528</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">2</p>
+</td>
+<td><p style="text-align: right">0&frac34;</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p>The produce of all these articles sold was &pound;282,541
+8<i>s.</i> 5&frac34;<i>d.</i>; showing a loss to the nation, in
+attempting during that period to suppress smuggling, of
+considerably over one million and three quarters sterling.</p>
+<p>This return of seizures provides an imposing array of figures,
+but, amazing as those figures are by themselves, they would be
+still more so if it were possible to place beside them an exact
+return of the goods successfully run, in spite of blockades <a
+name="page244"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 244</span>and
+preventive services.&nbsp; Then we should see these figures fade
+into insignificance beside the enormous bulk of goods that came
+into the country and paid no dues.</p>
+<p>Some very startling figures are available by which the
+enormous amount of smuggling effected for generations may be
+guessed.&nbsp; It would be possible to prepare a tabulated form
+from the various reports of the Board of Customs, setting forth
+the relation between duty-paid goods and the estimated value of
+smuggled commodities during a term of years, but as this work is
+scarce designed to fill the place of a statistical abstract, I
+will forbear.&nbsp; A few illuminating items, it may be, will
+suffice.</p>
+<p>Thus in 1743 it was calculated that the annual average import
+of tea through the legitimate channels was 650,000 lb.; but that
+the total consumption was three times this amount.&nbsp; One
+Dutch house alone was known to illegally import an annual weight
+of 500,000 lb.</p>
+<p>An even greater amount of spirit-smuggling may legitimately be
+deduced from the perusal of the foregoing pages, and, although in
+course of time considerably abated, as the coastguard and other
+organisations settled down to their work of prevention and
+detection, it remained to a late date of very large
+proportions.&nbsp; Thus the official customs report for 1831
+placed the loss to the Revenue on smuggled goods at
+&pound;800,000 annually.&nbsp; To this amount the item of French
+brandy contributed &pound;500,000.&nbsp; The annual cost of
+protecting <a name="page245"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+245</span>the Revenue (excise, customs, and preventive service)
+was at the same time between &pound;700,000 and
+&pound;800,000.</p>
+<p>An interesting detailed statement of the contraband trade in
+spirits from Roscoff, one of the Brittany ports, shows that, two
+years later than the above, from March 15th to 17th, 1833, there
+were shipped to England, per smuggling craft, 850 tubs of brandy;
+and between April 13th and 20th in the same year 750 tubs; that
+is to say, 6,400 gallons in little more than one month.&nbsp; And
+although Roscoff was a prominent port in this trade, it was but
+one of several.</p>
+<p>So late as 1840, forty-eight per cent. of the French silks
+brought into this country were said to have paid no duty; and for
+years afterwards silk-smugglers, swathed apoplectically in
+contraband of this description, formed the early steamship
+companies&rsquo; most regular patrons.</p>
+<p>The seaside holiday-maker of that age was an easy prey of
+pretended smugglers, cunning rascals who traded upon that most
+wide-spread of human failings, the love of a bargain, no matter
+how illegitimately it may be procured.&nbsp; The lounger on the
+seaside parades of that time was certain, sooner or later, to be
+approached by a mysterious figure with an indefinable air of
+mystery and a semi-nautical rig, who, with many careful glances
+to right and left, and in a hoarse whisper behind a secretive
+hand, told a tale of smuggled brandy or cigars, watches or
+silks.&nbsp; &ldquo;Not &rsquo;arf the price you&rsquo;d pay for
+&rsquo;em in the shops, guv&rsquo;nor,&rdquo; the <a
+name="page246"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 246</span>shameless
+impostor would say, producing a bundle of cigars, &ldquo;but the
+real thing; better than them wot most of the shops keep.&nbsp; I
+see you&rsquo;re a gent. as knows a good smoke.&nbsp; You shall
+&rsquo;ave &rsquo;em&rdquo;&mdash;at some preposterously low
+price.&nbsp; And generally the greenhorn did have them; finding,
+when he came to smoke the genuine Flor de Cabbage he had bought,
+that they would have been dear at any price.&nbsp; To that
+complexion of mean fraud did the old smuggling traditions of
+courage, adventure, and derring-do come at last!</p>
+<p>The modern coastguard, known technically as the First Naval
+Reserve, is still under Admiralty control, but proposals are, it
+is understood, now afoot for entirely altering its status, and
+for reorganising it as a purely civil force, under the orders of
+the customs and excise authorities.&nbsp; At present the
+coastguard establishment numbers some 4,200 officers and men, and
+is understood to cost &pound;260,000 a year.&nbsp; It is not,
+perhaps, generally understood that the coastguardman is really a
+man-o&rsquo;-war&rsquo;s man, attached to a particular ship, and
+liable at any moment of national emergency to be called to rejoin
+his ship, and to proceed on active service.</p>
+<p>It is not really to be supposed that the coastguard succeed in
+entirely suppressing smuggling, even in our own times.&nbsp; Few
+are the articles that are now subject to duty, and the temptation
+is consequently not now very great.&nbsp; Also, the landing of
+such goods as tea, tobacco, and spirits in bulk would readily be
+detected; but smuggling <a name="page247"></a><span
+class="pagenum">p. 247</span>of spirits and of tobacco in small
+quantities is commercially remunerative while the duties are as
+high as from 11<i>s.</i> to 17<i>s.</i> a gallon, and from
+3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> to 5<i>s.</i> a pound in respect of tobacco
+and cigars; while large quantities of that entirely modern
+article, saccharine, on which there is a duty of one shilling and
+threepence an ounce (with a minimum legal weight on import of
+eleven pounds, designed to render clandestine traffic in it
+difficult), must, in the very nature of things, be illegally
+introduced.</p>
+<p>That there will be a phenomenal increase of smuggling when the
+inevitable happens and protection of the country&rsquo;s trade
+against the foreigner is instituted, seems certain.&nbsp; It will
+seem like old times come again.</p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p style="text-align: center">THE END</p>
+<h2><a name="page249"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+249</span>INDEX</h2>
+<p>(<i>Individual smugglers indexed only when mentioned at
+length</i>.)</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Acts of Parliament</span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page7">7</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page14">14</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page17">17</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page23">23</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page27">27</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page34">34</a></span>&ndash;6</p>
+<p>Arundel, Conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page29">29</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Barhatch</span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page104">104</a></span></p>
+<p>Beccles, Outrage at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page113">113</a></span></p>
+<p>Bedhampton Mill, near Havant, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page107">107</a></span>&ndash;109</p>
+<p>Beer, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page125">125</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page183">183</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page187">187</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page191">191</a></span>&ndash;4, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page199">199</a></span></p>
+<p>Blackwater, The, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page114">114</a></span></p>
+<p>Blakeney, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page116">116</a></span></p>
+<p>Bo-Peep, Fatal conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page98">98</a></span>&ndash;100</p>
+<p>&mdash; Conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page100">100</a></span></p>
+<p>Borstal Hill (near Canterbury), Fatal conflict at, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page80">80</a></span></p>
+<p>Bradwell Quay, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page114">114</a></span></p>
+<p>Braemar, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page217">217</a></span></p>
+<p>Branscombe, Epitaph at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page125">125</a></span></p>
+<p>Budleigh Salterton, Conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page198">198</a></span></p>
+<p>Bulverhythe, Fatal conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page102">102</a></span></p>
+<p>Burns, Robert, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page202">202</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Caister</span>, <span
+class="smcap">Conflict at</span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page30">30</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page115">115</a></span></p>
+<p>Camber Castle, Fatal conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page101">101</a></span></p>
+<p>Canvey Island, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page113">113</a></span></p>
+<p>Carter family, smugglers, of Prussia Cove, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page165">165</a></span>&ndash;82</p>
+<p>&mdash; Henry, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page169">169</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page172">172</a></span>&ndash;83</p>
+<p>&mdash; John, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page169">169</a></span>&ndash;72, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page174">174</a></span></p>
+<p>Carter, Wm., customs officer, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page15">15</a></span></p>
+<p>Castle, Mr., excise officer, murdered, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page68">68</a></span></p>
+<p>Chater, Daniel, Murder of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page49">49</a></span>-60</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Chop-backs,&rdquo; <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page78">78</a></span>&ndash;80</p>
+<p>Coastguard, The, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page239">239</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page246">246</a></span></p>
+<p>Colchester, Outrage at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page113">113</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Cruel Coppinger,&rdquo; <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page129">129</a></span>&ndash;36</p>
+<p>Cuckmere, Conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page29">29</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Dalnashaugh</span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page224">224</a></span></p>
+<p>Diamond, John, smuggler, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page49">49</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page53">53</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page54">54</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dog and Partridge,&rdquo; Slindon Common, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page63">63</a></span>&ndash;7</p>
+<p>Dover, Fatal conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page98">98</a></span></p>
+<p>Dymchurch, Conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page96">96</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Eastbourne</span>, <span
+class="smcap">Fatal conflict near</span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page97">97</a></span></p>
+<p>&mdash; at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page101">101</a></span></p>
+<p>Ewhurst, Smugglers&rsquo; hiding-places at, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page102">102</a></span>&ndash;104</p>
+<p>Export smuggling, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page2">2</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page12">12</a></span>&ndash;23</p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Fairall</span>, <span
+class="smcap">smuggler</span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page70">70</a></span>&ndash;72</p>
+<p>Fairlight Glen, Fatal conflict at, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page100">100</a></span></p>
+<p>Ferring, Conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page22">22</a></span></p>
+<p>Four Brothers, smuggling lugger, Fatal conflict with, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page87">87</a></span>&ndash;92</p>
+<p>Fowey, Conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page139">139</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Free-traders,&rdquo; a term for smugglers, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page39">39</a></span></p>
+<p>Fuller&rsquo;s-earth, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page23">23</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Galley</span>, <span
+class="smcap">William</span>, <span class="smcap">Murder
+of</span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page49">49</a></span>&ndash;61</p>
+<p><a name="page250"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+250</span>Gibson, William, smuggler, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page162">162</a></span>&ndash;4</p>
+<p>Glenlivet, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page209">209</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page215">215</a></span></p>
+<p>Gloves, evasions of glove-smugglers, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page229">229</a></span></p>
+<p>Goudhurst, Attack by smugglers on, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page42">42</a></span>&ndash;4</p>
+<p>Gray, Arthur, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page40">40</a></span></p>
+<p>Greenhay, Conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page29">29</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Green Man,&rdquo; Bradwell Quay, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page114">114</a></span></p>
+<p>Grinstead Green, Outrage at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page41">41</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Harley</span>, <span
+class="smcap">John</span>, Epitaph on, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page125">125</a></span></p>
+<p>Harting Combe, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page55">55</a></span></p>
+<p>Hartland, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page134">134</a></span></p>
+<p>Hastings, Epitaph at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page87">87</a></span></p>
+<p>&mdash; Murder at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page86">86</a></span></p>
+<p>&mdash; Outrage off, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page79">79</a></span></p>
+<p>Hawkhurst Gang, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page40">40</a></span>&ndash;73</p>
+<p>&mdash; Outrage at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page41">41</a></span></p>
+<p>Hawkins, Richard, Murder of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page63">63</a></span>&ndash;7</p>
+<p>Herstmonceux Castle, Ghostly drummer of, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page84">84</a></span></p>
+<p>Highdown Hill, near Worthing, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page104">104</a></span></p>
+<p>Hove church-tower as smugglers&rsquo; store, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page81">81</a></span>&ndash;3</p>
+<p>&mdash; Conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page83">83</a></span></p>
+<p>Hunstanton, Epitaph at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page117">117</a></span></p>
+<p>Hurstmonceux Castle, Ghostly drummer of, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page84">84</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Indian Queens</span>,&rdquo; <span
+class="smcap">The</span>, <span class="smcap">near Bodmin</span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a href="#page189">189</a></span></p>
+<p>Informers, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page30">30</a></span>&ndash;34, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page65">65</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Jackson</span>, <span
+class="smcap">Wm</span>., <span class="smcap">smuggler</span>,
+<span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page51">51</a></span>&ndash;4, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page62">62</a></span></p>
+<p>James, G. P. R., on smuggling, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page44">44</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page73">73</a></span>&ndash;7</p>
+<p>James, Thos., Epitaph on, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page148">148</a></span></p>
+<p>Johnson, Dr., on Commissioner of Excise, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page36">36</a></span></p>
+<p>&mdash; on smugglers (see Title-page)</p>
+<p>Johnson, Thomas, smuggler, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page156">156</a></span>&ndash;62</p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">King of Prussia</span>,&rdquo;
+<span class="smcap">Porth Leah</span>, <span class="smcap">or
+Prussia Cove</span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page165">165</a></span>&ndash;72</p>
+<p>Kingsmill, George, smuggler, shot, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page43">43</a></span></p>
+<p>&mdash; Thomas, smuggler, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page43">43</a></span></p>
+<p>&mdash; executed, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page70">70</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page72">72</a></span></p>
+<p>Kingston-by-the-sea, Conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page29">29</a></span></p>
+<p>Kinson, Epitaph at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page119">119</a></span></p>
+<p>Kipling, Rudyard, &ldquo;smugglers&rsquo; song,&rdquo; <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page45">45</a></span></p>
+<p>Knill, John, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page149">149</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Lace</span>, <span class="smcap">Smuggling
+of</span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page19">19</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page233">233</a></span></p>
+<p>Lady Holt Park, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page54">54</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page57">57</a></span>&ndash;9</p>
+<p>Langston Harbour, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page107">107</a></span></p>
+<p>Leghorn hats, Smuggling of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page236">236</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page243">243</a></span></p>
+<p>Lewis, Wm., Epitaph on, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page124">124</a></span></p>
+<p><i>Lively</i>, smuggling lugger, Conflict with, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page190">190</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lobster Smack,&rdquo; Canvey Island, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page114">114</a></span></p>
+<p>Lulworth, Conflict near, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page121">121</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Maidstone</span>, <span
+class="smcap">Murder by smuggler at</span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page45">45</a></span></p>
+<p>Maker, near Plymouth, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page138">138</a></span></p>
+<p>Mark, Robert, Epitaph on, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page147">147</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miller&rsquo;s Tomb,&rdquo; near Worthing, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page104">104</a></span>&ndash;106</p>
+<p>Mills, John, smuggler, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page63">63</a></span>&ndash;7</p>
+<p>Mills, Richard, the elder, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page55">55</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page58">58</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page62">62</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page66">66</a></span></p>
+<p>&mdash; the younger, smuggler, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page56">56</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page62">62</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page66">66</a></span></p>
+<p>Moon, John, Epitaph on, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page86">86</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Moonshine,&rdquo; a term for smuggled spirits, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page139">139</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mount Pleasant&rdquo; inn, near Dawlish, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page126">126</a></span></p>
+<p>Mylor, Epitaph at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page148">148</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Olliver</span>, <span
+class="smcap">John</span>, miller, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page104">104</a></span>&ndash;106</p>
+<p>Owlers, The, of Romney Marsh, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page3">3</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page12">12</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page14">14</a></span>&ndash;23</p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Parham Park</span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page65">65</a></span></p>
+<p><a name="page251"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+251</span>Patcham, Epitaph at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page85">85</a></span></p>
+<p>Paulson, Henry, midshipman, Epitaph on, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page125">125</a></span></p>
+<p>Paulet, Harry, smuggler, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page162">162</a></span></p>
+<p>Peddar&rsquo;s (or Padder&rsquo;s) Way, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page118">118</a></span></p>
+<p>Pett, Smugglers drowned at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page95">95</a></span></p>
+<p>Pewit Island, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page114">114</a></span></p>
+<p>Polperro, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page140">140</a></span></p>
+<p>Poole, Outrage at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page48">48</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page70">70</a></span></p>
+<p>Potter, Tom, smuggler, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page141">141</a></span></p>
+<p>Preventive Water Guard, The, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page239">239</a></span>&ndash;44</p>
+<p>Pring, Wm., smuggler and informer, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page65">65</a></span></p>
+<p>Privateers for prevention of smuggling, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page37">37</a></span></p>
+<p>Profits of smuggling, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page9">9</a></span></p>
+<p>Prussia Cove, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page148">148</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page165">165</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page169">169</a></span>&ndash;72</p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Rake</span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page54">54</a></span>&ndash;62</p>
+<p>Ransley Gang, The, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page73">73</a></span></p>
+<p>Rattenbury, Jack, smuggler, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page123">123</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page183">183</a></span>&ndash;99</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Red Lion,&rdquo; Rake, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page54">54</a></span>&ndash;62</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Red Lion,&rdquo; Rye, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page44">44</a></span></p>
+<p>Rockcliffe Cross, Fatal conflict at, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page226">226</a></span></p>
+<p>Romney Marsh, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page95">95</a></span></p>
+<p>&mdash; wool-smuggling, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page15">15</a></span>&ndash;19</p>
+<p>&mdash; Conflict on, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page15">15</a></span>&ndash;17&nbsp; <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page23">23</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Royal Oak,&rdquo; Langston Harbour, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page107">107</a></span></p>
+<p>Ruxley Gang, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page79">79</a></span></p>
+<p>Rye, Conflict at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page94">94</a></span></p>
+<p>&mdash; Outrage at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page44">44</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Saccharine</span>, <span
+class="smcap">Smuggling of</span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page247">247</a></span></p>
+<p>St. Aldhelm&rsquo;s Head, Fatal conflict at, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page122">122</a></span></p>
+<p>St. Ives, Cornwall, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page149">149</a></span></p>
+<p>St. Peter-upon-the-Wall, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page114">114</a></span></p>
+<p>Scales, Daniel, Epitaph on, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page85">85</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Sea Cocks,&rdquo; The, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page40">40</a></span></p>
+<p>Seacox Heath, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page40">40</a></span></p>
+<p>Seaford, Murders by smugglers at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page45">45</a></span></p>
+<p>Seaton, Epitaph at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page125">125</a></span></p>
+<p>Shaw, whisky smuggler, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page211">211</a></span>&ndash;14</p>
+<p>Sheerness, Wool robbery near, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page41">41</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ship,&rdquo; Woolbridge, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page12">12</a></span></p>
+<p>Shoreham, Outrage at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page41">41</a></span></p>
+<p>Silks, Smuggling of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page19">19</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page232">232</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page243">243</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page245">245</a></span></p>
+<p>Smith, Adam, on smuggling, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page153">153</a></span></p>
+<p>Smith, George, of Glenlivet, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page209">209</a></span>&ndash;212&nbsp; <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page215">215</a></span></p>
+<p>Smith, Sydney, on taxation, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page5">5</a></span></p>
+<p>Smugglers, Distinction between landsmen and seamen, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page112">112</a></span></p>
+<p>Smugglers&rsquo; labourers, Pay of, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page10">10</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page14">14</a></span></p>
+<p>Smuggling, Growth of in eighteenth century, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page24">24</a></span></p>
+<p>&mdash; Pamphlet denouncing, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page154">154</a></span>-157</p>
+<p>&mdash; Profits of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page9">9</a></span></p>
+<p>Snargate church as smugglers&rsquo; store, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page96">96</a></span></p>
+<p>Southampton Water, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page109">109</a></span></p>
+<p>Spirits, Smuggling of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page9">9</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page28">28</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page80">80</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page83">83</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page88">88</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page95">95</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page96">96</a></span>&ndash;105&nbsp; <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page115">115</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page121">121</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page127">127</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page132">132</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page138">138</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page139">139</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page143">143</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page162">162</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page171">171</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page181">181</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page187">187</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page195">195</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page198">198</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page201">201</a></span>&ndash;227&nbsp; <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page243">243</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page244">244</a></span>&ndash;7</p>
+<p>Spittal of Glenshee, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page213">213</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Stinkibus,&rdquo; a term for spoiled spirits, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page128">128</a></span></p>
+<p>Swain, Joseph, Epitaph on, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page87">87</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Talland</span>, <span
+class="smcap">Epitaph at</span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page147">147</a></span></p>
+<p>&mdash; Smuggling pranks at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page143">143</a></span>&ndash;46</p>
+<p>Tandridge, Epitaph at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page85">85</a></span></p>
+<p>Tea, Smuggling of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page24">24</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page28">28</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page31">31</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page33">33</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page47">47-9</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page63">63</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page88">88</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page113">113</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page119">119</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page152">152</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page243">243</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page244">244</a></span></p>
+<p>Tobacco, Smuggling of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page23">23</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page83">83</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page88">88</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page110">110</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page230">230</a></span>-232&nbsp; <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page243">243</a></span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page247">247</a></span></p>
+<p><a name="page252"></a><span class="pagenum">p.
+252</span>Todman, Thomas, Epitaph on, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page85">85</a></span></p>
+<p>Trotman, Robert, Epitaph on, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page119">119</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Warehorne</span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page96">96</a></span></p>
+<p>Warren, The, near Dawlish, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page126">126</a></span>&ndash;128</p>
+<p>Watches, Smuggling of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page230">230</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page237">237</a></span></p>
+<p>Webb, Wm., Epitaph on, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page117">117</a></span></p>
+<p>Welcombe Mouth, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page130">130</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page134">134</a></span></p>
+<p>Wendron, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page148">148</a></span></p>
+<p>Westfield, Epitaph at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page86">86</a></span></p>
+<p>Whisky smuggling, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page201">201</a></span>&ndash;227&nbsp; <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page243">243</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;White Hart,&rdquo; Rowlands Castle, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page50">50</a></span>&ndash;54</p>
+<p>Whitesand Bay, near Plymouth, Fatal conflict at, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page140">140</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Wiltshire Moonrakers,&rdquo; <span
+class="indexpageno"><a href="#page120">120</a></span></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Windmill,&rdquo; Ewhurst, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page103">103</a></span></p>
+<p>Wool, Exportation of forbidden, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page3">3</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page12">12</a></span>&ndash;14</p>
+<p>&mdash; Duties on, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page12">12</a></span>&ndash;14</p>
+<p>&mdash; Smuggling of, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page3">3</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page12">12</a></span>&ndash;23</p>
+<p>Wreckers, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page133">133</a></span>, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page167">167</a></span></p>
+<p>Wyke (near Weymouth), Epitaph at, <span class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page124">124</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+<p><span class="smcap">Yawkins</span>, <span
+class="indexpageno"><a
+href="#page205">205</a></span>&ndash;207</p>
+
+<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
+
+<div class="gapmediumline">&nbsp;</div>
+<p style="text-align: center"><i>Printed and bound by Hazell</i>,
+<i>Watson &amp; Viney</i>, <i>Ltd.</i>, <i>London and
+Aylesbury</i>.</p>
+<h2>NOTES.</h2>
+<p><a name="footnote66"></a><a href="#citation66"
+class="footnote">[66]</a>&nbsp; &ldquo;Gregory&rsquo;s
+Gang&rdquo; was a noted band of thieves and housebreakers, active
+about 1730&ndash;35.&nbsp; Dick Turpin was at times associated
+with them.&nbsp; See &ldquo;Half Hours with the
+Highwaymen,&rdquo; vol. ii., p. 177.</p>
+<p><a name="footnote173"></a><a href="#citation173"
+class="footnote">[173]</a>&nbsp; &ldquo;Autobiography of a
+Cornish Smuggler.&rdquo;&nbsp; (Gibbings &amp; Co., Ltd.,
+1900.)</p>
+<p><a name="footnote194"></a><a href="#citation194"
+class="footnote">[194]</a>&nbsp; By smuggling, presumably.</p>
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SMUGGLERS***</p>
+<pre>
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+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
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+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #45856 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45856)