Note 44 — SMUGGLING IN SUSSEX. BY WILLIAM DURRANT COOPER, ESQ., F.S.A. Reprinted from Vol. X. of the “Sussex Archæological Collections.”

Joseph Trevers, in 1675, says (p. 40):—“It is well known that smugglers are not of meanest persons in the places where they dwell, but have oftentimes great interest with the magistrates; and, being purse-proud, do not value what they spend to ingratiate themselves with persons of authority, to distrust all such as discover their fraudulent dealings, or else by bribes to stop their mouths.... The smugglers are not only well acquainted with some attorneys and clerks, but they make good interest with the under sheriffs in the counties where they drive their trade; and these have strange tricks and delays in their returns, in which some of them will take part with the offenders, instead of executing the law against them.”