heels. With equal frequency had the Preventive men on land been
outwitted, bribed, or overpowered. And inasmuch as the duties on the
smuggled articles were high, had they passed through the Customs, so,
when smuggled, they could always fetch a big price, and the share for
the smugglers themselves was by no means inconsiderable. But it is
always the case that, when large profits are made by lawless, reckless
people, these proceeds are as quickly dissipated in extravagance of
living. It is sad to think that these seafaring men, who possessed so
much grit and pluck, had such only been applied in a right direction,
actually died paupers. As one reads through the pitiful petitions,
written on odd scraps of paper in the most illiterate of hands begging
for clemency on behalf of a convicted smuggler, one can see all too
clearly that on the whole it was not the actual workers but the
middle-men who, as is usually the case, made the profits. A life of
such uncertainty and excitement, an existence full of so many
hairbreadth escapes did not fit them for the peaceful life either of
the fisherman or the farmer. With them money went as easily as it had
come, and taking into account the hardness of the life, the risks that
were undertaken, the possibility of losing their lives, or of being
transported after conviction, it cannot be said that these men were
any too well paid. Carelessness of danger led to recklessness;
recklessness led on to a life that was dissolute and thriftless. And
in spite of the fact that these tear-stained appeals were usually
signed by all the respectable inhabitants of the seaside village--the
rector, the local shipbuilder, Lloyds' shipping agent, the chief
landowners and so forth--many a wife and family had to starve or
become chargeable to the Union, while the breadwinner was spending his
time in prison, serving as an impressed sailor on board one of his
Majesty's ships against the enemy; or, if he had been found physically
unfit for such service, condemned to seven or more years of