ds in a certain locality and had even
received information as to the road along which they would be brought,
he had been compelled to travel by night and carefully to avoid all
the beaten paths. Indeed, if people whom they might meet on the road
noticed a Custom House officer and any soldiers together, their design
would immediately be suspected and warning would promptly be sent to
the smugglers, who would hide their goods. He added, also, that he
remembered on one occasion that a couple of vessels landed in the
Isle of Thanet as much tea as could be loaded on the backs of two
hundred horses.

But it was when the ex-smugglers came to give their evidence that the
real secrets of the trade were unfolded. Robert Hanning, who for years
had been one of the most distinguished members of the industry,
informed the Commission that formerly he was the principal dealer with
the smugglers when he resided at Dunkirk. Some idea of the colossal
business which he had carried on may be gathered from his admission
that he had sold teas, brandies, and wines to be run into England _to
the extent of_ L40,000 _per annum_. And let us not forget to bear in
mind that of course this probably represented the value of the goods
when they were put on board. What they actually realised after they
were smuggled into the English market must have been something
considerable.

Hanning was followed by a certain Captain Joseph Cockburn, who had a
very instructive story to tell, which must have amazed even the
Commissioners. This gallant skipper was now commanding one of his
Majesty's sloops, but prior to that he had been engaged in
privateering, and before that had commanded several vessels employed
in smuggling. From his very infancy he had been concerned in the
practice of running goods, and his apprenticeship had been served to
a smuggler at Rochester, who was nominally a fisherman. Consequently,
with an accumulated knowledge obtained first as a smuggler and
subsequently as a pursuer of smugglers, there was not much, if
anything at all, in connection with the work which could have missed
his attention. He proved himself a veritable encyclopaedia of smuggling
information, and even the following brief summary will show that his
experience was something exceptional.

First of all, he instanced the case of five cutters which he knew were
constantly employed in running tea and brandy from Boulogne into Kent
and Sussex. They imported at least six tons