SMUGGLING

Evening Star, Issue 21130, 16 June 1932, Page 11

SMUGGLING

* IN BYGONE DAYS [By Flinders Barr.] The king bo is a proud man in his grand red coat, But I do love a smuggler in a little fishing boat; For he runs the Mallins lace, and ho spends his money free, And 1 would I were a seaman to go along with he. In his dictionary Johnson defines a smuggler as “ one who defrauds the revenue,” a very concise definition of a very exciting occupation, which came into existence immediately after the first duties were imposed' ou the import or export of merchandise from one country to another, a very long time ago (writes Flinders Barr, in the Sydney ‘ Morning Herald '). The staple export of England in early days was, of course, wool, and the main revenue of the Crown was derived from the export duty on this article, very stringent regulations being put in force against those who tried to smuggle it out of the country. Some of the regulations about wool are very curious; the owner of a vessel knowingly allowing wool to bo smuggled out of England in his ship “ shall forfeit all his interest and furniture in the ship,” whilst any of the mariners assisting in the act “shall forfeit all their goods and chattels, and be imprisoned for three mouths.” If, however, any member of the crew who had been convicted likes to “ give the show away ” so that the actual smugglers are brought to justice, “ he shall be indemnified and have threefourths of the penalties.” Strangely enough, the word “smuggle” is not to be found in Shakespeare’s vocabulary, possibly it is of later date, but a dictionary of Charles ll.’s time gives it as “ to smuckle or smuggle goods.” It was not till the eighteenth century that smuggling became really popular on a large scale, but by that time English commerce had thriven so greatly, especially with tho Continent, and the protective duties were so increased on European goods that the “contraband trade” became worth while following. In certain ureas on tho south coast practically the whole population would be more or loss band in glove with the “ freetraders,” who themselves often included persons of social position and influence, consequently tho poor “ preventive men ” were often quite helpless. TIMH-HONOUKED THICKS. Ladies of the highest fashion smuggled large quantities of French and Flemish lace into the country, and amongst the correspondence of the period wo find letters from young men of the highest rank either describing successful smugglings made by themselves, particularly of silk stockings, or asking their friends to _ smuggle for them. The same old tricks seem to have been in use then that are tried even to-day, for in 1707 wc find a note of a Customs officer finding Flanders lace to tho value of £-100 which had been concealed within tho anchor buoy of a small vessel. Large quantities ol laced shirts and ruffles wore packed carefully into coffins and sent across as dead bodies from Calais to Dover; the High Sheriff of Westminster himself ran in this manner £6.000 worth of French lace in the coffin of Dr Francis Aterbnry, the exiled Bishop of Rochester, who died in Baris in I7;’£. Towards the close ~i' tlu- eighteenth century huge bodies of smugglers had

their headquarters in London itself, and constantly came into conflict with the military, even in the streets of the city. One such collision took place on Blaekfriars Bridge in May, 1778, when a sergeant and twenty-two grenadiers attacked thirty-two smugglers passing over the bridge with a number of horses laden with contraband. The smugglers, nothing daunted, charged the soldiers, who had fixed their bayonets, broke through, and got clear away, except one man who was seized. Many of the men engaged in this illegal traffic seem to have been of a brutal type, and would hesitate at nothing, for we are told that after a smugglers’ crew, had landed their cargo near Shorcham, in Sussex, in January, 1782, they strolled up to two large farmhouses in the neighbourhood, looted them of all articles of value, which, with twenty fat sheep, they carried to their vessel and sailed over to France, When a body of well-mounted and armed preventive officers came upon a gang of smugglers landing a cargo on some lonely beach on a dark night heavy fighting generally took place, and sometimes a mounted smuggler would be chased by an cxcise-man in a most dramatic manner, reminding one of the fatal adventure of Exciseman Gill in ‘ The Smuggler’s Leaps’ by R. H. Barham, in the ‘ Ingoldsby Legends.’

Many a Custom house bullet goes slap Through many a three-gallon tub like

a tap, And the gin spirts out. And squirts

all about. And many a heart grew sad that dav That so much good liquor was so thrown away. “ Smuggler Bill,” the leader of tho freetraders, is singled out by Exciseman Gill, tho leading revenue officer, and tho chase begins, both being well mounted, though presently tho exciseman lags behind, has a bad fall, and in an outburst of passion declares he will give his soul “ for a nag that would catch that Smuggler Bill.” Then a strange Customhouse officer comes along —bids him mount on his own horse:— He’s a rum one to look at—a devil to go! Exciseman Gill Dash’d up tho hill, And mark’d not, so eager was he in pursuit, The queer Custom-house officer’s queer-looking boot. Ho soon overtakes Smuggler Bill, who fires at tho demon horse, The shot told true on the dun—but, thoro came From tho hole where it entered—not blood—but flame. Then, just as the exciseman leaned forward to grasp the smuggler’s collar, they plunged into tho chalk pit 50ft deep—and wore smashed to pieces. A SMUGGLER’S EPITAPH. In the churchyard at Patcham, in Sussex, there was formerly a gravestone with an inscription “ The memory of Daniel Scales, who was unfortunately shot on Tuesday evening, November 7, 1796.” He was a noted smuggler, and when landing a cargo was met by a preventive officer, who called upon him to surrender his goods. This he refused to do, whereupon tho officer immediately shot him through the head, “ for he was too good a man for him, for they had tried it out before.” Alas! swift flew the fatal lead, Which pierced through the young man’s head. Ho instant fell, resigned his breath, And closed his languid eyes in death! Many lives wore lost on both sides in these encounters, and many were the occasions at sea when a freetrader was chased by a revenue cutter and had to throw her cargo of spirits overboard in the hope of escaping. On such occasions a large number of the kegs of gin or brandy fell into the hands of the local fishermen. Tea was a bulky article to smuggle, but when one remembers that up to 1784 the duty upon it was 119 per cent, one realises that a man who could run a few tons of tea across the Channel from the Continent on a convenient occasion and land it duty free was bound to make a very good thing of it. In 1810, towards the close of the French war, gold in Great Britain was at a premium. Enormous masses of paper money were in circulation, but tho demand for British gold on the Continent was continuous, and to counteract the flow of bullion from the country its export was forbidden. Hero was another chance for tho smugglers, who appear to have been very busy. Thus, in tho 1 Morning Post ’ for July 28 we read that 4,500 gs in gold was seized by the Customs officers at Deal on its way to France, ami “ a deposit of 9,000 gs was, on Thursday, discovered in a snug recess at the topmast head of a small vessel in the Thames, which had just discharged a cargo of French wheat,” A hundred years ago, although “ still going strong,” smuggling had seen its palmiest days, though by bribing the preventive officers the freetraders operations were frequently winked tit. An amusing cartoon of 1832 shows us a smuggling gang arranging matters with tho Customs, whilst in the distance the Chancellor of the Exchequer is looking through a telescope and becoming aware of the situation. Whether it were gold, silks, lace, tea, eau-de-vie, or gin, someone was always ready to buy the smugglers’ cargo, for: 0 Hollands is a good drink when the . nights are cold, And brandy is a good drink for them as grows old. There is lights in the cliff-lop when I lit' boats are home bound, And we run the tubs at Slapton when the word goes round.