Smugglers' Britain

Fare clic per modificare lo stile del sottotitolo dello schema 5/9/11 INTRODUCTION Ask anyone to describe an 18th-century smuggler, and they will probably tell you about a Cornishman called Tom dressed in long boots and a striped jersey. He rolls a couple... More

Fare clic per modificare lo stile del sottotitolo dello schema 5/9/11 INTRODUCTION Ask anyone to describe an 18th-century smuggler, and they will probably tell you about a Cornishman called Tom dressed in long boots and a striped jersey. He rolls a couple of kegs up a moonlit beach, hides them in a cave, then hawks the brandy round the village. Everybody knows him as Tom the S muggler, and his neighbours take it in turns to distract the revenue man at the front door while Tom rolls his barrels out the back. How accurate is this traditional picture of the smuggler? On the one hand it is a romantic impression that doesn t accurately reflect the historical facts about smuggling at any one place or time. However, it might be argued that the substance (though not the letter) of this popular image represents correctly the extraordinary circumstances which supported a vast expansion of illegal imports in the 18th and early 19th centuries. S mugglers ’ Britain Less