to the country
to a very considerable extent. And the Government well knew that "in
some of the towns on the coast of Kent and Sussex, amongst which are
Hastings, Folkestone, Hythe, and Deal, but more especially the latter,
the practice of smuggling is carried on so generally by such large
gangs of men, that there can exist no hope of checking it but by the
constant and most active vigilance of strong military patrols, with
parties in readiness to come to their assistance." So wrote Mr. W.
Huskisson, Secretary of the Treasury, to Colonel Gordon in August
1807.

The Deal smugglers went to what Mr. Huskisson called "daring lengths,"
and for this reason the Treasury suggested that patrols should be
established within the town of Deal, and for two or three miles east
and west of the same. And the Treasury also very earnestly requested
the Commander-in-chief for every possible assistance from the Army. It
was observed, also, that so desperate were these smugglers, that even
when they had been captured and impressed, they frequently escaped
from the men-of-war and returned to their previous life of smuggling.
To put a stop to this the Treasury made the suggestion that such men
when captured should be sent to ships cruising at distant foreign
stations. Some idea of the violence which was always ready to be used
by the smugglers may be gathered by the incident which occurred on the
25th of February 1805. On this day the cutter _Tartar_, in the service
of the Customs, and the Excise cutter _Lively_ were at 10 P.M.
cruising close to Dungeness on the look-out for smuggling craft. At
the time mentioned they saw a large decked lugger which seemed to them
indeed to be a smuggler. It stood on its course and eventually must
run its nose ashore. Thereupon a boat's crew, consisting of men from
the _Tartar_ and the _Lively_, got out their oars and rowed to the
spot where the lugger was evidently about to land her cargo. They
brought their boat right alongside the lugger just as the latter took
the ground. But the lugger's crew, as soon as they saw the Revenue
boat come up to her, promptly forsook her and scrambled on to the
beach hurriedly. It was noticed that her name was _Diana_, and the
Revenue officers had from the first been pretty sure that she was no
innocent fishing-vessel, for they had espied flashes from the shore
immediately before the _Diana_ grazed her keel on to the beach.

Led by one of the two captains out of the cutters