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 | |
CHAPTER I | |
The “Owlers” of RomneyMarsh, and the Ancient ExportSmuggling of Wool | |
CHAPTER II | |
Growth of Tea and Tobacco Smuggling inthe Eighteenth Century—Repressive Laws a Failure | |
CHAPTER III | |
Terrorising Bands ofSmugglers—The HawkhurstGang—Organised Attack onGoudhurst—“TheSmugglers’ Song” | |
CHAPTER IV | |
The “Murders by Smugglers”in Hampshire | |
The “Murders bySmugglers” continued—Trial and Execution of theMurderers—Further Crimes by theHawkhurst Gang | |
CHAPTER VI | |
Outrage at Hastings by the RuxleyGang—Battle on theWhitstable-Canterbury Road—Church-Towers as Smugglers’Cellars—The Drummer ofHerstmonceux—Epitaph atTandridge—Deplorable Affair atHastings—The Incident of“The Four Brothers” | |
CHAPTER VII | |
Fatal Affrays and Daring Encounters atRye, Dymchurch, Eastbourne, Bo-Peep, andFairlight—The Smugglers’Route from Shoreham and Worthing into Surrey—The Miller’s Tomb—Langston Harbour—Bedhampton Mill | |
CHAPTER VIII | |
East CoastSmuggling—Outrage atBeccles—a ColchesterRaid—CanveyIsland—BradwellQuay—The East Anglian“Cart Gaps”—ABlakeney Story—Tragical Epitaphat Hustanton—The Peddar’sWay | |
The Dorset and DevonCoasts—Epitaphs at Kinson andWyke—The “WiltshireMoon-Rakers”—Epitaph atBranscombe—The Warren and“Mount Pleasant” Inn | |
CHAPTER X | |
Cornwall in SmugglingStory—CruelCoppinger—Hawker’sSketch—The FoweySmugglers—Tom Potter,of Polperro—The Devils of Talland—Smugglers’ Epitaphs—Cave at Wendron—St. Ives | |
CHAPTER XI | |
Testimony to the Qualities of theSeafaring Smugglers—Adam Smithon Smuggling—A ClericalCounterblast—BiographicalSketches of Smugglers—RobertJohnson, HarryPaulet—William Gibson,A Converted Smuggler | |
CHAPTER XII | |
The Carter Family, of Prussia Cove | |
CHAPTER XIII | |
Jack Rattenbury | |
The Whisky Smugglers | |
CHAPTER XV | |
Some Smugglers’ Tricks andEvasions—ModernTobacco-Smuggling—Silks andLace—A DogDetective—LeghornHats—Foreign Watches | |
CHAPTER XVI | |
Coast Blockade—The Preventive Water-Guard and theCoastguard—Official Return ofSeizures—Estimated Loss to theRevenue in 1831—The ShamSmuggler of the Seaside—TheModern Coastguard | |
Index | |
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 Freetraders passed” | [46] |
| Breaking open the Custom-house at Poole. From an old Print | [48] |
| The “Red Lion,” Rake | [54] |
| Sufferings of Daniel Chater. From an old Print | [56] |
| Murder of Hawkins at the “Dog and Partridge.” From an old Print | [64] |
| 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 Francis Bourgeois | [228] |
| Smugglers defeated. From a mezzotint after Sir Francis Bourgeois | [234] |