SMUGGLING is the clandestine in troduction of prohibited goods ; or the illicit introduction of goods by the eva sion of the legal duties. Excessive duties present a temptation to men to evade them; and the law loses a great part of its moral influence when it first tempts to violation of it and then punishes the offence. In parts of a country where a "free trade" is extensively carried on, the smuggler is rather a popular person than otherwise ; in some countries, as in Spain, still more than in England. His neighbours do not usually regard his mode of acquiring a livelihood disgrace ful, but rather look upon him as a bene factor who supplies them with necessa ries and luxuries at a cheap rate. "To pretend," says Adam Smith, " to have any scruple about buying smuggled goods would in most countries be regarded as one of those pedantic pieces of hypocrisy which, instead of gaining credit with anybody, serve only to expose the person who pretends to practise them to the sus picion of being a greater knave than the rest of his neighbours." This is probably rather too strongly expressed; hut many persons even attach a fictitious value to goods which have been smuggled, on ac count of their cheapness and supposed excellence; and indeed articles which have duly passed through the custom house are frequently offered for sale as contraband. It is the crimes and the moral evils which are the offspring of smuggling that are to be dreaded rather than smuggling itself. The true remedy is a wise tariff. It annihilates a traffic which no ingenuity can ever put down ; for all experience proves that so long as a profit can be made by smuggling suffi ciently high to counterbalance the neces sary risk, it will not fail to flourish. The decrees of Berlin and Milan, instead of annihilating commerce, only forced it into extraordinary channels. Silk from Italy, for example, instead of being re ceived in England by the most direct means, often arrived by way of Archangel and Smyrna; in the former instance being two years, and in the latter twelve months on its passage. The slave-trade is an other instance of the impossibility of putting a stop to any traffic which is a source of great profit. The slave-traders of the Havanna gave from 35 to 40 per cent. as a premium of insurance or their African risks ; but at this rate the as surance companies did not realise a profit, though they sustained no serious loss. This proves that nearly two out of every three adventurers are successful ; and as one out of. three would at least have covered all' loss, the difference makes a profit of at least cent. per cent. to the Slave-dealer. Until this profit be re duced, the slave-trade cannot be effec tually suppressed. (Turnbull's Cuba, 1840.) Whenever duties exceed 30 cent, ad valorem, it is impossible to pre vent a contraband trade.
We have only to examine the tariff of any country to know if smuggling is practised ; and if a bad system of com mercial policy has been long pursued, there the smuggler will be found. The
contrabandista of Spain figures in novels and tales of adventure. In no country is the illicit trade so general and exten sive. The exports to Gibraltar from England considerably exceed a million sterling per annum, and a very large proportion of British goods is introduced by smugglers into the interior. Mr. Porter states (Progress of the Nation, ii. 111) that nearly the whole of the tobacco imported into Gibraltar, amounting to from 6 to 8 million lbs. per annum, is subsequently smuggled into Spain, where the article is one of the royal monopolies. On the French frontier the illicit trade is equally active.
The vicinity of France and England, and the injudicious character of their re spective tariffs, have encouraged smug gling to a large extent on both sides of the Channel. Spirits, tea, tobacco, and silk goods, and more particularly brandy, from the high duties imposed on it in this voliotry, have constituted the most im portant articles of smuggling from Prates to England. The total amount of duties evaded in 1831 by the smuggling of French goods into the United Kingdom was estimated to exceed 800.0001., ex clusive of tobacco, " whole cargoes of which are sometimes introduced from the French bonding warehouses into Ire land." (Report on tile Commercial Re lotions between France and England, by Mr. Fouler Thomson (late Lord Syden ham) and Dr. Bowring.) English goods are also largely smuggled into. France. The extensive land frontier of France, and the offices for collecting the octroi duties in inland towns, give rise to some 1,, ( , les in the smuggling-trade in I 1.N1, , It is not sufficient to land mer on the coast, as in England, but it has to pass the local custom-houses at the barriers of the large towns. This adds greatly to the difficulty and expenses of smuggling. It is stated that in 1891 the premium on landing English woollens on the French coast was 55 per cent.; at the barriers of Paris 63 per cent.; and within the walls 10 per cent. additional ; making in all 73 per cent.; the premium on cotton goods being 65 per cent. Eng lish goods are chiefly introduced by the Belgian frontier, and the smugglersliawe their depots at Cambray, St. Quentin, Ypres, Tourney, Mons, and other townd in the adjacent departments. In the Report of 1831, already quoted, it is stated that in that year the amount of British goods smuggled into France by this frontier exceeded 2,000,0001. in value ; but if the ports on the Channel were in cluded (of which no estimate is given), this amount would be greatly incras. Cotton-twist is the most important article in the illicit trade. Cotton-yarns, when once lodged in the manufacturer's ware house, cannot be seized, and in conse quence of the article being essential to the progress of manufacturing industry in France, the government, instead of reducing the duty, in some degree con nives at its illicit introduction.