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The Smugglers' Trade: A Neglected Aspect of English Commercial Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Extract

Some share—fluctuating and uncertain, but assuredly significant—of English foreign trade in modern times is to be credited to smugglers, who were ever busy in evading customs regulations and prohibitions. Mere administrative watchfulness and thoroughness could never do more than damp their activities; it was only the triumph of free trade in the early Victorian age that deprived them of their livelihood, and until then they were able to match by increase of cunning and of organization the ever more elaborate network of the customs system—its spies, its coastguards and its cutters as well as its routine officials at the ports. The smuggler flourished right down to the end of the period of protection, despite sporadic seizures by the revenue officers. In the first half of the nineteenth century, French wines, brandies and luxury textiles were being punctually shipped across the Channel in the teeth of prohibitions. In the other direction, we know, for instance, of the existence in the same period of so remarkable á phenomenon as the muslin manufacture of Tarare, near Lyons, which relied for its raw material upon the assured supply of English yarn owled abroad. But it was probably the eighteenth century, when customs regulations were at their most burdensome and complicated, that marked the classic epoch of illicit trade, the period in which the technical skill of both breakers and defenders of the law might earn the highest rewards.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1952

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References

page 131 note 1 The text of this paper has benefited from the criticisms and suggestions of Professor R. B. Wernham, who was kind enough to read it in typescript. Responsibility for shortcomings remains, however, with the writer.

page 131 note 2 Various books have been written about English smugglers, the largest work being the two volumes of Lord Teignmouth (H. N. Shore) and Harper, C. G., The Smugglers. Picturesque Chapters in the History of Contraband (1923)Google Scholar, but for present purposes these are of little value. Far more helpful are accounts of the customs and financial administration, and much use has been made, without further acknowledgement, of the following: Dietz, F. C., English public finance, 1558–1641 (New York, 1932)Google Scholar, Gras, N. S. B., The early English customs system (Cambridge, Mass., 1918)Google Scholar, Hoon, E. E., The organisation of the English customs system, 1696–1786 (New York, 1938)Google Scholar, and Newton, A. P., ‘The establishment of the great farm of the English customs’ trans. , R.H.S., 4th Ser., i (1918)Google Scholar.

page 132 note 1 Clapham, J. H., An economic history of modern Britain (Cambridge, 1930), i. 247–8Google Scholar; The economic development of France and Germany. 1815–1914 (Cambridge, 1928), pp. 75, 115Google Scholar. Smuggled Swiss yarn was also used at Tarare.

page 132 note 2 Cf. the revealing incidents narrated by Hickey, W., who travelled home on the Plassey in 1770: Memoirs of William Hickey, ed. Spencer, A. (1914), i. 248–50Google Scholar.

page 132 note 3 Atton, H. and Holland, H. H., The King's customs (London, 1908), i. 220–1Google Scholar; Report of the committee appointed to inquire into the frauds and abuses in the Customs (1773) in Reports from committees of the House of Commons which have been printed by order of the House, and are not inserted in the Journals (1803), i. 604.

page 133 note 1 A list is printed by Cross, A. L., Eighteenth century documents relating to the royal forests, the sheriffs and smuggling (New York, 1928), pp. 284–5Google Scholar. Cf. also Harper, L. A., The English navigation laws (New York, 1939), ch. viiiGoogle Scholar.

page 133 note 2 Cross, , op. cit., p. 250Google Scholar.

page 134 note 1 Report of the committee appointed to inquire into the frauds and abuses in the Customs, Appendix XXVIII, pp. 651–4.

page 134 note 2 Arnold-Foster, D., At war with the smugglers (1936), p. 26Google Scholar.

page 134 note 3 Cross, , op. cit., p. 239Google Scholar.

page 134 note 4 Ibid, p. 312.

page 134 note 5 Ibid, p. 243.

page 134 note 6 Ibid, p. 313.

page 135 note 1 Furber, H., John Company at work (Cambridge, Mass., 1948), ch. ivGoogle Scholar; Scott, W. R., The constitution and finance of English, Scottish and Irish joint-stock companies to 1720, ii (Cambridge, 1910), pp. 202–4Google Scholar.

page 135 note 2 Pembroke Papers (1780–94), ed. Herbert, Lord (1950), p. 179Google Scholar.

page 135 note 3 Arnold-Foster, , op. cit., pp. 34–5Google Scholar.

page 135 note 4 Clark, G. N., Guide to English commercial statistics, 1696–1782 (1938), p. 114Google Scholar.

page 135 note 5 A. Smith, The wealth of nations, bk. IV, ch. iii.

page 135 note 6 Hertz, G. B., The old colonial system (Manchester, 1905), p. 57Google Scholar.

page 135 note 7 Smith, Wealth of nations, bk. IV, ch. i.

page 135 note 8 Cross, , Eighteenth century documents, p. 295Google Scholar.

page 136 note 1 Cross, , Eighteenth century documents, pp. 289–90Google Scholar.

page 136 note 2 Ibid., p. 290.

page 136 note 3 Third report of the committee appointed to inquire into the Illicit Practices in Defrauding the Revenue (1784) in Reports from the committees of the, House of Commons… not inserted in the Journals (1803), xi. 286Google Scholar.

page 136 note 4 Furber, , John Company at work, p. 264Google Scholar.

page 136 note 5 Information on this point is supplied by Mills, M. H. in The English government at work, 1323–1336, ed. Morris, W. A. and Strayer, J. R., ii (Cambridge, Mass. 1947), pp. 179–87Google Scholar. An actual case of smuggling is mentioned on pp. 181–2.

page 137 note 1 te Lintum, C., De merchant adventurers in de Nederland (The Hague, 1905), PP. 42–3, 72, 78Google Scholar.

page 138 note 1 Cf. Gras, N. S. B., ‘Tudor “books of rates”: a chapter in the history of the English customs’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, xxvi (19111912)Google Scholar.

page 138 note 2 Cf. the observations of Sir Robert Naunton, quoted by Scott, , Joint-stock companies, iii. 498Google Scholar.

page 139 note 1 P.R.O., Early Chancery Proceedings, 1137/23.

page 139 note 2 Letters and Papers of the reign of Henry VIII, xvi, no. 169.

page 139 note 3 The official papers of Sir Nathanial Bacon of Stiffkey, Norfolk, ed. Saunders, H. W., Camden 3rd Ser., xxvi, (1915), p. 42Google Scholar.

page 139 note 4 P.R.O., State Papers Domestic, Elizabeth, 247/24.

page 139 note 5 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 245/9.

page 140 note 1 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 151/6, f. 11d. A list of Elizabethan customs officials, with their fees, &c, is printed by Peck, F., Desiderata Curiosa (1779), i. 54Google Scholar,

page 140 note 2 As far as the general development of commerce is concerned, the valuable article of Fisher, F. J., ‘Commercial trends and–policy in sixteenth-century England’, Econ. Hist. Rev., x (19391940)Google Scholar, has been followed.

page 140 note 3 Cf. e.g. S.P. Dom., Eliz., 13/49 and 50.

page 141 note 1 L.P. Hen. VIII, vi, no. 299, x; vii, no. 923, xviii and xl; ix, no. 1073.

page 141 note 2 Ibid., xi, no. 239; xiii, pt. ii, no. 429; xiv, pt. i. no. 573.

page 141 note 3 Ibid., xi, no. 1433; cf. Gras, ‘Tudor “books of rates”’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, xxvi. 767–8.

page 141 note 4 L.P. Hen. VIII, xi, no. 519/7.

page 141 note 5 Ibid., xvi, no. 147; Proceedings and ordinances of the privy council of England, 1386–1542, ed. Nicholas, N. H. (1837), vii. 60–1, 78Google Scholar.

page 142 note 1 1 Eliz., cap. 11. Cf. Dowell, S., History of taxation and taxes in England, 2nd ed. (1888), i. 165–7Google Scholar.

page 142 note 2 1 & 2 P. & M., cap. 5.

page 142 note 3 8 Eliz., cap. 3.

page 142 note 4 L.P. Hen. VIII, xiv, pt. i, no. 175.

page 142 note 5 Leland, J., Itinerary, ed. Smith, L. Toulmin (1910), v. 41Google Scholar.

page 142 note 6 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 19/9; Dawson, J. W., Commerce and customs. A history of the ports of Newport and Caerleon (Newport (Mon.), 1932), pp. 2638Google Scholar.

page 143 note 1 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 33/35; evidence from the Exchequer K.R. Memoranda Rolls is printed by Smit, H. J., Bronnen tot de geschiedenis van de neder landsche handel met Engeland, Schotland en Ierland (The Hague, 1950), ii, pt. II, nos. 1012, 1020, 103*, 1033, 1056, &cGoogle Scholar.

page 143 note 2 S.P. Dom., Mary, 9/72.

page 143 note 3 P. Dom., Eliz., 1/40, &c.

page 143 note 4 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 35/1,91/3 r, &c.

page 143 note 5 There is much information about the malpractices at the port of London in S.P. Dom., Eliz., 151/6, ff. 7–00. The quotation is from another anonymous paper of the same type, Brit. Mus., MS. Lansd. 41/19.

page 143 note 6 MS. Lansd. 41/21.

page 144 note 1 MS. Lansd. 41/20.

page 144 note 2 MS. Lansd. 41/54.

page 144 note 3 Ibid.

page 144 note 4 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 37/31, printed by Smit, , Bronnen tot de geschiedenis van de nederlandsche handel met Engeland, ii, pt. II, 914–15Google Scholar. The surmise was soon verified; cf. Williams, N. J., ‘Francis”Shaxton and the Elizabethan Port Books’, Eng. Hist. Rev., lxvi (1951), pp. 387–95Google Scholar.

page 144 note 5 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 40/48. Instances of prosecution are to be found among the Exchequer Special Commissions and Depositions by Commission calendared in the Thirty–eighth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (1877), passim.

page 145 note 1 H.M.C. Lord Salisbury, i. 148.

page 145 note 2 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 1/21.

page 145 note 3 A list of the chief customs officers of the kingdom at this time is to be found in MS. Lansd. 41/44.

page 145 note 4 Cf. the references to Byrde in Watney, J., Some account of the hospital of St. Thomas of Aeon, in the Cheap, London, and of the plate of the Mercers’ Company (London, 1892), pp. 191–2Google Scholar.

page 145 note 5 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1560–3, 266, 273.

page 146 note 1 MS. Lansd. 41/41.

page 146 note 2 The appointment of Dawbenye is to be found on Patent Roll no. 1062, mm. 29–31, and is dated 21 August, 12 Eliz. I owe this reference to Mr. N. J. Williams.

page 146 note 3 1 am further indebted to the kindness of Mr. N. J. Williams for information of entries in the Exchequer K.R. Memoranda Rolls bearing on this.

page 146 note 4 MS. Lansd. 14/40. Perhaps this sort of thing may help to explain some of the fluctuations in customs revenue; cf. Scott, , Joint-stock companies, iii. 494Google Scholar.

page 147 note 1 A formal version of the proceedings against Byrde is printed by Watney, J., Some account of the hospital of St. John, pp. 302–7Google Scholar. Numerous letters of Carmarden and others in connection with the case are scattered. among the State Papers Domestic and also among the Lansdowne MSS.

page 147 note 2 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 40/48.

page 148 note 1 Some telling evidence is set forth, in S.P. Dom., Eliz., 239/67. It is perhaps not wholly irrelevant to point out that in contemporary France the customs farmer might expect to keep for himself at least as much as he handed over to the crown: Collier, R. and Billioud, J., Histoire du commerce de Marseille de 1480 à 1599 (1951), pp. 541–3Google Scholar.

page 149 note 1 This sumptuous little volume is now in a private library in America. The text of the treatise has been printed by Nef, J. U., ‘Richard Carmarden's “A caveat for the Quene” (1570)‘, Journal of Political Economy, xli (1933)Google Scholar. I am indebted to Mr. F. E. Leese for bringing this document to my attention. Cf. also S.P, Ppm,, Eliz., Addenda, 21/118.

page 150 note 1 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 173/31 and 69, and 175/56.

page 150 note 2 Ibid., 249/5.

page 150 note 3 Ibid., 239/81; MS. Lansd. 44/41 and 110/56.

page 150 note 4 Cf. MS. Lansd. 63/7.

page 150 note 5 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 239/92.

page 150 note 6 Ibid., 246/6 and 16, 248/79 and 80.

page 150 note 7 Ibid., 243/114, 250/47 and,79.

page 150 note 8 Ibid., 247/14.

page 151 note 1 H.M.C. Lord Salisbury, v. 49.

page 151 note 2 Ibid., iv. 570.

page 151 note 3 There is a competent account of the tin mines of Devon and Cornwall by Lewis, G. R., The Stannaries: a study of the English tin miner (Cambridge, Mass., 1908)Google Scholar. The trade in tin still awaits its historian, though for the sixteenth century valuable information is given by Braudel, F., La Mdditerranée et le monde méditerranéen à l'époque de Philippe II (1949)Google Scholar.

page 151 note 4 H.M.C. Lord Salisbury, v. 137.

page 151 note 5 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 243/113.

page 151 note 6 Collier, and Billioud, , Histoire du commerce de Marseille de 1480 à 1599 pp. 518–19, 539Google Scholar.

page 151 note 7 Cf. e.g. Exchequer K.R. Port Book, 10/11, passim.

page 152 note 1 MS. Lansd. 86/67.

page 152 note 2 Their names are listed in MS. Lansd. 86/69.

page 152 note 3 Collier, and Billioud, , op. cit., p. 518Google Scholar.

page 152 note 4 H.M.C. Lord Salisbury, iv. 379; v. 137.

page 153 note 1 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 243/113.

page 153 note 2 MS. Lansd. 86/71.

page 153 note 3 Cf. MS. Lansd. 86/69.

page 153 note 4 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 240/57. It was still valid in 1598: Cal. S.P. Dom. 1598–1601, p. 65.

page 154 note 1 H.M.C. Lord Salisbury, v. 137–8.

page 154 note 2 Ibid., v. 162.

page 154 note 3 Ibid., v. 157.

page 154 note 4 Ibid., v. 166.

page 154 note 5 S.P. Dom., Eliz., 252/49 and 57.

page 155 note 1 The correspondence of Smythe and his partners and agents in Cornwall is scattered among the State Papers Domestic of the eighties. The name of ‘Mr. Burd’ crops up in S.P.D. Eliz., 163/46.

page 155 note 2 Some charges against Buckhurst that included deceits in the tin trade were made by ‘certain bold fellows’ in 1602: S.P. Dom., Eliz., 283/6 and 7.

page 155 note 3 Ingram was one of the signatories to a letter from the waiters at the port of London to Burghley: MS. Lansd. 66/18.

page 156 note 1 Cf. the skeleton budget figures for 1611 listed in MS. Lansd. 165/30. As late as 1589, customs and impositions accounted for a litde over a third of die ordinary revenue: Scott, , Joint–stock companies, iii. 516Google Scholar.

page 156 note 2 Cf. the remarks of Scott, , op. cit., i. 93–5Google Scholar. Statistics of yields are printed in iii. 526.

page 157 note 1 For the historian of foreign trade, the essential point to grasp is that official customs statistics relate only to revenue and are never to be equated with levels of trade. Or, to put it in a different way, that for the centuries before the nineteenth, there exist copious fiscal but virtually no commercial statistics. To treat the figures listed in the many financial memoranda of Burghley and other lord treasurers, and in the records of exchequer and custom house, as at all equivalent to trade returns and as offering direct stepping-stones for a ‘statistical approach’ can lead only to grave difficulties.

This in no way implies, of course, that fiscal records are valueless for the historian of commerce. Cf. the valuable case-history discussed by Williams, N. J., ‘Francis Shaxton and the Elizabethan Port Books’, Eng. Hist. Rev., lxvi (1951)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, cited above.