"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.