SMUGGLERS AND SMUGGLING
PART I.
INTRODUCTION.
THE practice of smuggling, as it existed along the southern coast of England during the latter half of the last century, and during some years of the present, presents a curious field of study to the political and social economist, and also to the historian. Such high protective import duties as were then levied upon some articles of general consumption, rendered the smuggling of those articles , even when moderately successful, a lucrative practice. To such an extent was it carried on, notwithstanding its unlawfulness, that its success at length interfered so much with legalized traffic, that the respective governments of the time endeavoured to stop smuggling with a strong hand. Hair-breadth escapes by flood and field, loss of liberty, and not unfrequently of life, were the lamentable results, so that distress and mourning were brought into the bosom of many an English home. -
