King's Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855 - E. Keble Chatterton

Скачать книгу

the thirteenth century, it was with the wool. As a check to this a tax was levied on that wool which was exported out of the country, and during the reign of Edward III. attempts were made by the threat of heavy penalties to prevent the Continent from becoming the receptacle of our chief product. But the temptation was too great, the rewards were too alluring for the practice to be stopped. The fleece was carried across from England, made into cloth, and in this state sent back to us. Even in those days the town of Middleburgh, which we shall see later to have been the source of much of the goods smuggled into our country in the grand period, was in the fourteenth century the headquarters abroad of this clandestine trade. We need not weary the reader with the details of the means which were periodically taken to stop this trade by the English kings. It is enough to state that practically all the ports of Sussex and Kent were busily engaged in the illegal business. Neither the penalties of death, nor the fixing of the price of wool, nor the regulating of the rate of duty availed in the long-run. Licences to export this article were continually evaded, creeks and quiet bays were the scenes where the fleece was shipped for France and the Low Countries. Sometimes the price of wool fell, sometimes it rose; sometimes the Crown received a greater amount of duty, at other times the royal purse suffered very severely. In the time of Elizabeth the encouragement of foreign weavers to make their homes in England was likely to do much to keep the wool in the country, especially as there began to be increased wealth in our land, and families began to spend more money on personal comforts.

      But it is from the time of King Charles II. that the first serious steps were taken to cope with the smuggling evil, and from here we really take our starting-point in our present inquiry. Prior to his time the Customs, as a subsidy of the king, were prone to much variability. In the time of James I., for instance, they had been granted to the sovereign for life, and he claimed to alter the rates as he chose when pressed for money. When Charles I. came to the throne the Commons, instead of voting them for the extent of the sovereign's life, granted them for one year only. At a later date in the reign of that unhappy king the grant was made only for a couple of months. These dues were known as tonnage and poundage, the former being a duty of 1s. 6d. to 3s. levied on every ton of wine and liquor exported and imported. Poundage was a similar tax of 6d. to 1s. on every pound of dry goods.

      It was not till after the Restoration that the customs were settled and more firmly established, a subsidy being "granted to the king of tonnage and poundage and other sums of money payable upon merchandise exported and imported." Nominally the customs were employed for defraying the cost of "guarding and defending the seas against all persons intending the disturbance of his subjects in the intercourse of trade, and the invading of this realm." And so, also, there was inaugurated a more systematic and efficient method of preventing this export smuggling. So far as one can find any records from the existing manuscripts of this early Preventive system, the chronological order would seem to be as follows: The first mention of any kind of marine service that I can trace is found in a manuscript of 1674, which shows the establishment of the Custom House organisation in that year for England and Wales. From this it is clear that there had been made a beginning of that system which was later to develop into that of the Revenue cutters. And when we recollect how extremely interested was Charles II. in everything pertaining to the sea and to sloop-rigged craft especially, it seems very natural to believe that this monarch inspired, or at any rate very considerably encouraged, the formation of a small fleet of Custom House sailing craft. Elsewhere I have discussed this matter at length, therefore it may suffice if attention is called to the fact that to Charles was due the first yacht into England, presented to him by the Dutch; while from his encouragement were born the sport of yachting and the building of English yachts. He was very much concerned in the rig of sloops, and loved to sail in such craft, and his yacht was also most probably the first vessel of that rig which had ever been employed by English sailors. Further still, he was something of a naval architect, the founder of the Greenwich Royal Observatory and the Nautical Almanac, and under his rule a fresh impulse was given to navigation and shipbuilding generally.

      At any rate by the year 1674 there were among the smaller sailing craft of England a number of sloops and smacks employed doubtless for fishing and coasting work. As a kind of marine police, the Custom House authorities determined to hire some of these to keep a watch on the "owlers," as the wool-smugglers were termed, so called, no doubt, because they had to pursue their calling always by night. Whatever efforts had been adopted prior to his reign probably had consisted for the most part, if not entirely, of a land police. But under this second Charles the very sensible and obvious idea of utilising a number of sailing craft was started. In the above MS. volume the first reference is to "Peter Knight, Master of ye smack for ye wages of him self and five men and boy, and to bear all charges except wear and tear … £59." "For extraordinary wear and tear," he was to be paid £59. His vessel was the Margate smack. In the same volume there is also a reference to the "Graves End smack," and to "Thomas Symonds for wages and dyett [diet] for himself, master and six men … £56, 5s. 0d." And for the "wear and tear to be disposed as ye Commrs. direct … £14, 15s. 0d." There was yet a third vessel stationed a few miles away, the "Quinborrough smack," and a reference to "Nicholas Badcock for hire of ye smack, two men, and to bear all charges … £23." These vessels were not known as Revenue cutters at this time, but as Custom House smacks. They were hired by the Commissioners of the Customs from private individuals to prevent the owlers from smuggling the wool from Kent, Essex, and Sussex. But it would seem that these smacks, even if they modified a little the activities of the owlers, did not succeed in bringing about many convictions. Romney Marsh still sent its contribution across to France and Holland, much as it had done for generations.

      But in 1698 the attack on the men of Kent and Sussex was strengthened by legislation, for by 7 & 8 William III. cap. 28, it was enacted that "for the better preventing the exportation of wool and correspondence with France … the Lord High Admiral of England, or Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral for the time being, shall from time to time direct and appoint one ship of the Fifth Rate, and two ships of the Sixth Rate, and four armed sloops constantly to cruise off the North Foreland to the Isle of Wight, with orders for taking and seizing all ships, vessels, or boats which shall export any wool or carry or bring any prohibited goods or any suspected persons." It was due to William III.'s Government also that no person living within fifteen miles of the sea in those counties should buy any wool before he entered into a bond, with sureties, that all the wool he might buy should be sold by him to no persons within fifteen miles of the sea, and all growers of wool within ten miles of the sea in those counties were obliged within three days of shearing to account for the number of fleeces, and where they were lodged.

      Instructions were duly issued to captains of sloops, and a scheme drafted for surrounding the whole of the coast with sloops, the crews consisting of master, mate, and mariners. But from an entry in the Excise and Treasury Reports of 1685, it is clear that a careful regard even at that date was being had for the import smuggling as well. The reference belongs to September 24, and shows that a "boarding" boat was desired for going alongside vessels in the Downs, and preventing the running in of brandies along the coast in that vicinity. The charge for building such a boat is to be £25. In another MS. touching the Customs, there is under date of June 1695 an interesting reference to "a Deale yoghall to be built," and that "such a boat will be here of very good use." She is to be "fitt to go into ye roads for boarding men or other ocations when ye sloops may be at sea."

      So much, then, for the present as to the guarding by sea against the smugglers. Let us now turn to look into the means adopted by land. The wool-owners of Romney Marsh were still hard at their game, and the horses still came down to the beach ladened with the packs ready to be shipped. If any one were sent with warrants to arrest the delinquents, they were attacked, beaten, and forced to flee, followed by armed gangs on horseback. But it was evident that the Crown was determined not to let the matter rest,

Скачать книгу