“The generality of the people on the coasts are better friends to the smugglers than they are to the

Custom House Officers.”Source A, Samuel Wilson, a Sussex grocer who

had received smuggled tea, speaking to a committee of Parliament in the 1740s.

“it is extremely dangerous for a Custom House Officers to attempt to seize [smuggled] goods in the

coast counties because smugglers are very numerous and can assemble a great number

whenever they need. Nine persons in ten in the area would give them assistance and do lend the

smugglers their horses and teams to convey their goods.”

Source G, Abraham Walter, a tea dealer who had been a smuggler, speaking to a committee

of Parliament in the 1740s.

“The common people of England in general fancy there is nothing in the crime of smuggling... The poor feel they have a right to shun paying any duty [tax]

on their goods.”Source C, John Taylor, the keeper of Newgate

prison, 1747“I have often heard you say and with great truth, that

the common people of this country have no notion that smuggling is a crime. What then can the

government do to show them their error but to punish the guilty? Accessories are to be punished as well as [the smugglers themselves] for you know very well

that the common notion in the country is that a man may stand by and see crimes committed and even

assist in them and be unpunished if he does not commit the crime with his own hands.”

Source D, from a letter from the Duke of Richmond to Sir Cecil Bishop, 1749

“as to the charge of smuggling, he owned that he had been concerned in smuggling, he owned that he had been concerned in smuggling for a great many years

and did not think there was any harm in it.”Source F, a churchman reporting the words of Richard Mills who was hanged for smuggling

and murder.

“About 24 smugglers well-armed and laden with smuggled goods rode through Rye, Sussex and

stopping at the Red Lion to refresh, fired several times to intimidate the inhabitants and observing one, James Marshall, a young man too curious of

their behaviour, carried him off.”Source E, The Gentleman’s Magazine, 1747

During the seventeenth century, governments increased taxes on imported goods to make extra

money. These import duties were unpopular because they raised the price of many desirable goods. They

were also very hard to enforce. With several thousand miles of coastline around Britain it was

fairly easy to smuggle in goods.Source A, from a GCSE history textbook

Source What can it tell us about attitudes towards smuggling?

How useful is this source to a historian

investigating attitudes towards smuggling?

Source A

Source B

Source C

Source D

Source E

Source F

Source G