But, if we felt the pinch, our adversaries, or, rather, one of them, the French, felt it as well. There was a great deal of illicit trading done with France, especially in our Colonial goods; and, to facilitate matters, and make them legal, Napoleon would issue licenses to import such a quantity of such goods. As is pointed out in the following quotation, the poor French had to pay very dearly for these commodities. "Bonaparte has lately granted 250 more licenses for the importation of Colonial produce; and these licenses are a source of considerable profit to himself and his favourites. Instead of granting to one of these a pension or a sinecure, he gives him a few licenses, which the latter sells at exorbitant prices--so high, for example, as 75 livres (£3 2s. 6d. sterl.), for every hundredweight of Sugar imported; from which sugar Bonaparte himself, afterwards derives a high duty, as he does from every other article so imported:--a pound of Coffee, for instance, purchased here for _eightpence_, pays him a duty of _four shillings_. In addition to these burdens, besides exorbitant charges for freight, there is another imposition, which renders the Colonial produce enormously expensive to the Continental consumer, viz., that the persons importing it under those licenses are bound previously to export from France, a stated proportion, in value, of wrought silks and other articles utterly prohibited in England, which, therefore, they are obliged to throw overboard on the passage, and afterwards indemnify themselves for this loss by an additional charge on the articles imported. Notwithstanding all these disadvantages, near twenty millions of pounds' weight of Sugar have gone from England to France during the last year." During the latter part of the past year the Luddites were again troublesome, and it was found necessary to make a severe example, which had the desired effect. On the 16th of January fourteen of these rioters were hanged, at York, in two batches of seven each, and these outrages ceased. I have already said that Smuggling was considered a very venial sin, and sometimes smuggling adventures had something amusing in them--_vide_ the following:--A party of Smugglers had landed a valuable cargo near Dungeness, and, having been informed that a party of Dragoons from Hastings were to be on the look-out for them, they sent word that they would resign half their goods, if they might carry away the other half unmolested. At the same time they gave notice that they had left 180 tubs of gin in a chalk pit, well known to the officer of the troop. The soldiers rode off immediately to act on the smugglers' information, and the latter, of course, were equally prompt in getting their newly-run Cargo out of harm's way. The troops duly found the tubs at the place indicated, and, with triumph, escorted them to the Custom House, where, when they came to be examined, they were found to contain nothing stronger than _water_.