Highways and Byways in SussexLucas, E. V. (Edward Verrall)
History
Highways and Byways in Sussex
Lucas, E. V. (Edward Verrall)
Sussex (England) -- Description and travel
"That's he, sir, yonder, with the lanthorn." And sure enough there
he stood, on a rock, and poured, with pastoral diligence, 'the
light of other days' on a busy congregation.
The clergy, however, did not always know how useful they were. The Rev.
Webster Whistler, of Hastings, records that he was awakened one night to
receive a votive cask of brandy as his share of the spoil which, to his
surprise, his church tower had been harbouring. A commoner method was to
leave the gift--the tithe--silently on the doorstep. Revenue officers
have perhaps been placated in the same way.
Smuggling, in the old use of the word, is no more. The surreptitious
introduction into this country of German cigars, eau de Cologne, and
Tauchnitz novels, does not merit the term. A revised tariff having
removed the necessity for smuggling, the game is over; for that is the
reason of the disappearance of the smuggler rather than any increased
vigilance on the part of the coastguard. The records of smuggling show
that the difficulties offered to the profession by the Government were
difficulties that existed merely to be overcome. Perhaps fiscal reform
may restore the old pastime.
[Sidenote: THE LAND SMUGGLER]
The word smuggler arouses in the mind the figure of a bold and desperate
mariner searching the coast for a signal that all is safe to land his
cargo. But as a matter of fact the men who ran the greatest risks were
not the marine smugglers at all, but the land smugglers who received the
tubs on the shore and conveyed them to a hiding place preparatory to the
journey to London, whither the major part was perilously taken. Such
were the Alfriston smugglers. These were the men who fought the revenue
officers and had the hair's-breadth escapes. These were the men whose
houses were watched, whose every movement was suspected, who needed to
be wily as the serpent and to know the country inch by inch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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