THE SMUGGLER. 7 



without the payment of Custom-house dues. But besides the 

 inducements to smuggling, which the high price that those 

 dues imposed upon certain articles, held out, it must be 

 remembered that various other commodities were totally pro- 

 hibited, and as an inevitable consequence, were desired and 

 sought for more than any others. The nature of both man 

 and woman, from the time of Adam and Eve down to the 

 present day, has always been fond of forbidden fruit; and it 

 mattered not a pin whether the goods were really better or 

 worse, so that they were prohibited, men would risk their 

 necks to get them. The system of prevention also was very 

 inefficient, and a few scattered Custom-house officers, aided 

 by a cruiser here or there upon the coast, had an excellent 

 opportunity of getting their throats cut or their heads broken, 

 or of making a decent livelihood by conniving at the transac- 

 tions they were sent down to stop, as the peculiar temperament 

 of each individual might render such operations pleasant to 

 him. Thus, to use one of the smugglers' own expressions, 

 a roaring trade in contraband goods was going on along the 

 whole British coast, with very little let or hindrance. 



As there are land-sharks and water-sharks, so were there 

 then (and so are there now) land-smugglers and water-smug- 

 glers. 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 hun- 

 dreds, generally well mounted and armed, conveyed the com- 

 modities 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. 



We have not yet done, however, with all the ramifications 

 of this vast and magnificent league, for it extended itself, in 

 the districts where it existed, 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 commodi- 

 ties. Scarcely a house but had its place of concealment, which 

 would accommodate either kegs or bales, or human beings, ns 



