Chapter XXVIII

Smuggling--Its prevalence--Cases--Great smuggling of silks,
etc.--More Cases.

Another thing, which has almost died out, but then was in full force, was smuggling; but then almost every import paid some duty, and that on spirits, tea, and tobacco was excessively heavy, and, consequently, the temptation was very great. Kent and the south-east coast generally, were the favourite resorts for smugglers, owing to their proximity to France, and smuggling was a regularly organized business in which much capital was embarked. Every one on the coast knew something about contraband trade, and, if they did not openly aid in it, they certainly did nothing to aid in capturing smugglers. This rendered the duties of the Excise more laborious than they otherwise might be; and, as the smugglers were generally in force, owing to the magnitude of their ventures, the dangers involved in their capture increased proportionately. Being caught, meant fine or imprisonment to the smugglers, besides loss of goods; so that if the parties ever came in collision it was no child's play. We may judge of the magnitude of the contraband trade by the frequency of newspaper reports of it, and it must be remembered that the instances chronicled would represent a very small percentage of runs which were successful and unheard of. To show their frequency, I will quote three notices in the _Times_ of January 10, January 22, and February 22, 1831. The first is taken from the _Hastings Iris_, and begins--

"We regret to have to state that a desperate affray took place on
Wednesday morning, between three and four o'clock, on the beach
in front of Gover's Cottage, about two miles to the eastward of
Hastings, when two men were killed on the part of the smugglers,
and one of the blockade so severely beaten that his life is
despaired of, having his arm broken in two places and five or six
cuts in his head. Another man stationed near to him was very much
knocked about, but was able to give evidence at the inquest....
William Rixon, ex-seaman, belonging to the _Hyperion_, was on
duty on the beach about three o'clock in the morning of Wednesday
last, near Gover's Cottage. A sloop showed a light about two
miles from the shore, and about ten minutes after a boat left
her, which was making for the shore. As soon as she came near he
could see three men pulling, and one man in the stern steering.
He went up under the cliff, and saw thirty or forty men with
sticks nine or ten feet long; they looked like soldiers with
muskets. So soon as he hailed them, another party, which he had
not seen before, ran to attack the two men who were on duty near
him. The first party which he had seen threatened his life, and
said if he would not fire they would not hurt him; but if he
fired they would cut his throat. He immediately fired his musket
for assistance; did not recollect which way he fired; he might
have fired in the direction in which the men stood. They sprang
on him; about a dozen handled him, struck him on the side of the
head with sticks, which forced him to the ground and stunned
him, after which he was senseless for some time; and, as he was
recovering, they struck him again. Some of his comrades came to
his assistance. After the men left him, he found he had been
dragged a considerable way up the cliff. They had torn his
clothes in trying to disarm him. He then went down to the boat
and stood by her until his officer came down and seized her. The
smugglers took his pistols and musket from him. The musket had
since been found, the pistols had not; they were all loaded with
ball cartridge. The duty imposed upon him, in case of the attempt
to land contraband goods, was to resist to the utmost of his
power. He fired as a signal for assistance. The men were on the
cliff rather above him. He fired once before he was knocked down;
but afterwards discharged four or five pieces as signals for
assistance. The men went down to the boat to take the goods out.
He could hear them run up and down the beach as the people laid
on him. There were ninety-three tubs in the boat."

The verdict was _justifiable homicide_.

The next is quoted from the _Kent Herald_--

"On Wednesday sen'night, about nine o'clock, a desperate attack
was made by a party of smugglers on the person of Lieutenant
Ross, the officer in command of the Dover Station Blockade
Service. The object of the smugglers was to prevent any
interference in the landing of a large quantity of contraband
goods, which was taking place not far off, and successfully
accomplished, with the loss of only one bale of silk left in the
boat, which was afterwards captured. Lieutenant Ross was savagely
beaten by five or six of the smugglers, under the very windows of
the magistrates, on the Marine Parade, some of whose servants, we
understand, looked on the affray without offering the least
assistance. At length, the servant of Sir Hussey Vivian coming
up, the fellows made off, and Lieutenant Ross discharged his
pistol after them, the ball from which passed through the window
of a house opposite, but fortunately without injury to any of the
inmates. It is quite time that an ample reduction of duty on
foreign articles should put an end to the 'giant evil' of
smuggling--nothing else can stop it; and, until it is done, the
demoralization and irregular habits of the lower class will
necessarily increase."

The third case is taken from the _Western Times_, and has rather a comic side to it--

"HOAX ON LORD ROLLE.

"A few days since notices were sent to Lord Rolle that Mr. Swing
was in his neighbourhood; that on a given night there would be
farmhouses pulled down, ricks of corn burnt, and
threshing-machines destroyed; that the labourers would assemble
in organized masses; in fact, the neighbourhood of Bicton would
be subject to Swing law. Lord Rolle very wisely received this
advice with proper caution. All the Preventive Service men from
Salterton and Exmouth, and all the crew of the cutter in the
harbour were summoned to Bicton, where a large quantity of beef
and good cheer was provided. The Preventive men ate the Baron's
beef, and all seemed to enjoy the good cheer of the evening,
which was kept up with great hilarity. On that very night a large
quantity of brandy was landed on the coast. It is suspected that
one or two of the smugglers got themselves sworn in as special
constables, and enjoyed the baronial munificence, as spies, for
the purpose of keeping the Preventive men quiet, while their
companions were running, undisturbed, their cargo on the beach."

But this was peddling work compared with that reported in the _Times_ of August 15, 1831--

"GREAT SEIZURE OF SILKS.

"Information was a short time ago received by His Majesty's Board
of Customs that it was contemplated to smuggle a very large
quantity of silks, and the necessary steps were taken to
counteract the efforts of the adventurers, who were, we
understand, men of high repute for extensive dealings in the
trade. The movements of certain parties were watched both by land
and by water, in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, and in
several seaport towns. At length Mr. Donne, an officer of the
Customs, who was for some time occupied in the search, received
information in the early part of last week that a lodgment of the
expected property had been effected in the city of London, at
the houses of some of the first people in the trade. It was not,
however, stated that the leading men in the establishments were
aware that the goods were contraband.

"Mr. Donne despatched, after having ascertained beyond a doubt
that the silks had been warehoused without the payment of the
duty, three officers of the Excise to three houses, one of which
is in Newgate Street, another in a lane near Cheapside, and the
third in a court in Fleet Street. At three o'clock each of these
officers contrived to lay his hands upon silks of a very valuable
description, upon which the duty had never been paid. The value
of the seizure is estimated at not less than £10,000. It had been
thought proper by the purchasers in the first house to take in a
little brandy, without going through the usual ceremony of paying
the duty, and two kegs of very fine Cognac were found on the
premises and carried off by the officers, along with the more
valuable goods.

"The silks were, it has been ascertained, smuggled from France;
but no clue has as yet been found as to the manner in which they
had been landed. They were packed up with great care in
twenty-four large cases, which were evidently made in this
country, and are such as Manchester goods are usually packed in.
Upon being taken to the King's warehouses they were unpacked and
examined. The gauzes are of a most beautiful kind. The officers
will have the whole of the profits arising from this enormous
seizure, the King having some time ago, as appears from the Order
of the Lords of the Treasury issued at the commencement of his
reign, given up all claim to any advantages arising from seizures
of this description."

We are afterwards told in the _Times_ of December 16, 1831, that the culprits were Messrs. Leaf, Cole and Co., in Old Change, and

"According to the information laid before the Commissioners of
the Customs, the mode of proceeding seems to have been this:--the
steam vessel from Calais which brought the goods, arriving
generally after night had set in, and the navigation of the Pool
hazardous, was moored at some spot lower down than its place of
destination, thus deferring the making the entries at the Custom
House until the following morning. A waterman, who was regularly
employed with a barge on the river, was engaged by the parties to
lie off the steam vessel, which he was only to approach on a
signal previously concerted. He then received on board his barge
various packages, which he secured by locking up in the cabin.
Consultations were held at the time when the first of these
transactions took place, upon the mode of taking these packages
ashore least likely to excite suspicion. After various plans were
proposed, the expedient was resorted to of using wine hampers,
which were landed at one of the stairs in Thames Street, and
carried by porters to the warehouses for which they were
intended. Another waterman, in addition to the first, was
associated in these transactions, and both of them, if the case
had proceeded, were to have been witnesses on the part of the
Crown. It is not a little remarkable that these men were led to
tell all they knew in the business through some advantage taken
of them, as they conceived, in paying them for a smaller number
of parcels than they had delivered.

"After two or three of these transactions had been completed, it
began to be considered no longer safe to land the parcels within
the precincts of the City; but a place higher up the river, near
Battersea, was resorted to; and, as in this case the distance was
much more considerable, the goods were carried home in carts. At
length, when the number of transactions had amounted to ten or
twelve, the bargemen seemed to have thought the affair ripe for
exposure, and determined on making it. They gave information of
the most precise kind respecting a landing intended to take
place, in the beginning of August last, at the Battersea station.
Persons were employed in different places for the purpose, and a
cart was watched from and to a warehouse in the City belonging to
Leaf and Co., at the door of which the goods were seized by a
proper officer, and notice of it was given to Mr. Leaf, who
happened to be at home at the time. They were afterwards taken to
the Custom House. The total valuation of the goods taken on this
occasion was something under £700.

"A few days afterwards information was given to the same officer
that great bustle existed in the warehouse above-mentioned, and
that persons were engaged there in packing up and removing a
quantity of goods in a great hurry. These goods were traced to
three different places, and seized as foreign, and not having
paid the duty. On examining the packages, they were found to be
filled up in a most slovenly manner, through haste, and so as to
damage some of the goods--gauze ribands, for example. The whole
were returned into the Exchequer, appraised at £5460, exclusive
of the duty, and were claimed by the parties whose property they
were, on the ground, either that they were British, or that they
had actually paid the duty as foreign. They also brought actions
for damages against all the officers concerned in the seizure of
the goods."

There seems to be some grounds in believing this to be the fact, for Messrs. Leaf and Co. complained loudly that they were not allowed to prove that they had actually paid duty on the three sets of packages which had been removed to the shops of their friends after the seizure of August 5th; but seeing the danger of contending farther with a public board, they compounded for the whole transaction for a fine of £20,000.

Here is another case from the _Times_ of January 19, 1832, coming originally from the _Kentish Herald_--

"MARGATE SMUGGLING.

"An extraordinary discovery has been made here, in the last week,
by the officers of the Custom House, which shows the persevering
and enterprising spirit of the smugglers. The officers went to
search a house in the occupation of a man named Cook, at the back
of Lion Place, near the Fort in Margate, and discovered in a room
below a secret entrance, just large enough to admit a man
crawling upon his knees. The officers proceeded downwards upon an
inclined plane towards the seashore, to the distance of about two
hundred yards, passing under several houses at the depth of many
feet below the surface of the ground, until they reached the
lower entrance, which opens on the north-west side of the Clifton
Baths. The mouth of this entrance was boarded over and covered
with chalk and earth, rammed down in such a manner as to conceal
it completely. There were found, in the interior of the cliff,
several trucks on wheels and implements for the conveyance of
smuggled goods through the tunnel to Cook's house. The work,
which it is calculated must have engaged two men at least
eighteen months in cutting it, and must have cost, in labour,
from £100 to £200, was just finished, and is reported to have
been paid for by a great silk mercer and riband merchant in
London.

"It is fortunate for the Revenue, as well as for the silk trade,
that such a discovery has been made, as the whole plan of
operation was so well projected that, whilst the hide remained
only known to the smugglers, they might at any time, on dark
nights, in the short space of an hour, have smuggled many
thousand pounds' worth of property and carried it off in safety.
It is whispered among the sailors on the pier that, if the
officers had not been a little too eager in the pursuit, they
might, within a week, when the dark nights came on again, have
made an immense seizure; but that now they have entirely defeated
their own object, because not a vestige of any contraband article
was yet to be found upon the premises. This is the second
subterraneous tunnel which has been dug under the same property
within two years, and the second time of the officers being
defeated by their eagerness to grasp so large a prize. It is but
justice to the lessee of this singularly constructed property to
say that not the least suspicion is entertained by the Revenue
Officers of any connivance on his part, he having given them
duplicate keys of the subterraneous excavations and baths, during
the winter months when the property lies unoccupied, and
cautioned them that, unless some of the Revenue Officers were
stationed on the premises throughout the night, it was impossible
to prevent smuggling."

At Hastings, on February 21, 1832, a party of smugglers attempted to run a cargo near St. Leonards. The Excise heard of it, and a desperate affray was the consequence; the Revenue men secured the boat and one hundred and sixty tubs of spirits, but at the expense of their lives; one was killed and two mortally wounded.

A good idea of the extensive smuggling which was carried on at this time may be gained from the following paragraphs, which appear in one column of the _Times_ of February 13, 1832.

"SMUGGLING.

"The examination of the eight smugglers that were captured by the
_Vigilant_ Revenue cutter on the 1st and 4th inst., took place
before the magistrates at Chatham, on Wednesday last; and, being
found guilty of a breach of the revenue laws, were convicted,
and, being disposed of, the cutter sailed for her station on
Thursday. On the following day she made another seizure of 142
half ankers of foreign spirits, which were delivered to the
Customs at Rochester, on Saturday. This seizure is the fourth
that has been brought by the _Vigilant_ into this port within
twelve days, each seizure being the work of a separate cruise;
that is, the cutter sailed to sea, made the capture, and returned
to the port--the time including the cutter's detention for the
trial of the smugglers.

"Smuggling has recently become much more prevalent on the coasts
of Hampshire and Sussex than it has been for some months. This is
to be ascribed, we are told, to the almost total absence of
cruisers in the Channel. If so, where are our Revenue cruisers,
or, what are they doing? If the country can afford to employ but
few vessels, these few should be well-disposed and kept actively
at work.

"The _Mary_ smack, of twenty tons, with two men belonging to this
port, was seized in this harbour on Friday, by Mr. Morgan of the
coastguard, having a false bottom containing sixty-three half
ankers, fifty quarter ankers, and fourteen jars of spirits, with
four canisters of tea, regularly built outside her original
bottom, and executed in such a complete manner that it would have
been impossible to have discovered it but by information, which
we understood was received from the Board."

From the _Brighton Herald_, June 16, 1832--

"A large and most valuable seizure was made at the port of
Shoreham, by the officers of the coastguard, on the morning of
the 13th inst. This great prize to the captors consisted of a
ketch-rigged vessel of about sixty tons burden, called the _New
Speedwell_, of Portsmouth, the boat belonging to her, a large
barge or lighter, which was brought alongside the vessel, and
into which a portion of the goods were unshipped, three men,
being the master and crew; together with 238 bales of tobacco
stalks for the purpose of being manufactured into snuff, weighing
about 1300 lbs.; 27 bales of leaf tobacco weighing about 1100
lbs.; 35 bales of tobacco stalk flour weighing about 1000 lbs.,
and 1 box containing 23 lbs. of cigars, the value of which, it is
said, is estimated at upwards of £3000."

The _Chelmsford Chronicle_, quoted in the _Times_ of May 4, 1833, is responsible for the following:--

"CAPTURE OF A SMUGGLER.

"A seizure, more valuable than has been made in this and the
adjacent counties for many years, was effected in the Crouch
river in the course of last week. Captain Dodd, master of the
coal brig _Nancy_, of Newcastle, sold his pretended cargo of coal
to a merchant with whom he had frequently traded, and was
proceeding up the river to his destination, when the brig was
boarded by Mr. Read, chief boatman of the Crouch guard station,
who, observing something unusual in the conduct of the master,
and that he left the vessel in an abrupt manner, his suspicions
were excited, and he immediately set about an inspection, which
led to a most important discovery. The coals at the top were
found to be but a thin covering to a cargo of contraband goods,
which, with the brig and crew, were immediately taken possession
of and brought round to Collier's reach, where the cargo is now
unloading; but, the coals being so mixed with the smuggled goods,
present considerable difficulties, as it is calculated that there
are five hundred packages of spirits and dried goods. Those
already landed and safely deposited at the Custom House at
Maldon, some of which were found secreted even in the fore and
maintops, and consisting of spirits and tobacco, are estimated to
be worth £1500; and it is expected that the whole cargo, with the
brig itself, will bring from £3000 to £5000."