The Sun.
London, England, 1802-11-15 00:00:00

TO THE

•
PRINTER OF THE CALEDONAAN MERCURY.
llfit,

' •Tnyour-Paper.of 2 tst curt. I observe a letter from
a Berwickshire Freeholder, upon the prevalence of
Snitiggling, and the baneful effeas resulting from it.
The introduEtion of Foreign Spirits i$ what he prin.:
cipally complains of; but I would beg leave to in-
form hint, that there exists, in the very bosom of
the Country, another species of Smugglers, as hos-
tile to its interests as any Foreigner can be. • These
'are the ,people who have erettied small Stills in the
Highlands;' and, without paying a penny of Duties
to Government, exercise their trade with so. much
success, that they put the fair 'Trader fully at de-
fiance. Were I to moralize upon the subject, I
might hold it as the bane of every virtue, and the-
mother of every vice, circulated to eradicate every
good principle from the mind,' and to engender what-
ever is' vicious and hostile to civilized Society.—
The recluse hauntS of these illicit Traders, 'and the
secrecy of their operations, render them trite counter.
parts of that prowling • banditti recorded in the an_
pals of Scotland, who, setting the law at defiance,
became the scourge and terror o 1 the peaceful inha.
bitants.

_ But, independent of these considerations; I loOk
upon their illicit traffic aS'a national evil,, taken in
a commercial point of view. The Freeholder Dien-
dons a strong. faa, that the Licensed Distillers re-
tained their Licenses only. seven months this: year.
He imputes it- to the introduaion Of smuggled ,Ft)...
reign -Spirits. That, no doubt, must have •its el-
fats ; but, - let me: /ell him, that the illicit Distil-
lation-carried on -in the Highlands, operates more.
powerfully than twenty times all the Dutch Gin run
into the Country. •
It is not froM conjure that I speak, it is from
the knowledge: of tans. „In the whole range of
country frorri St. Andrews to Peterhead, and I have
travelled the most of it lately, 'there is not probably
ten:puncheons of Whiskey to be fond' that haS not
come from the Highlands„—l am pretty confident,
thatwere the question put to any of the Licenied
Distillers, they would acknowledge that they do
not send to that country one puncheon for fifty which
they were wont to do.
It may be asked, why do not the Excisenien do,
their duty, when it is so notorious that illicit Stills
are so numerous in the Highland's ? But this enigMa
is easily solved : In the first place, these Siills are
frequently ereled in wild and remote parts of the
country, and what Exciseman' can be supposed ca-•
gable of traversing the 'vast extent br hills, glens,
rocks, and woods, which he bel'ov'ed' to do, were'
he i.exiously to set about this work.

In. the second-place, the • hazard of making a
seizure, under all the. circumstances, is such, that,
without detraaing from the_, courage olExcisemen,
I may venture to say, that few of them artsa hold
as to encounter the risk.

In the third place, supposing the Exciseman does
make a seizure,_ what reward does he get „for his
labour ? The stock of, these illicit Distillers is ne-
ver allowed to accumulate; the Still,and Implements
are a mere bagatelle„; so that after- paying his neces-
sary expences, lietpost frequently finds he must place
the balance of the accompt to the wrong side of pro-
fit and loss. The only other item to be looked after
is ,the Penalties which the law
.imposes. Alas ! Pe-
nalties! When the principal is so insignific.Ant, pr,
if otherwise, he' carries, on his. business, under the
cover of, another man, what can be expeded from
this source ? „When Penalties are
_sougliii for, all
that is fad is only the truth of the adage, that
is impossible to, take the Breeks frpm a. Highland-

-•. . .
Thus, Sir, taking a, view of the subjeft in what
way you will, one conclusion only follows, viz.
that unless some means are .devised for suppressing
this illicit Traffic, the Freeholder's assertion must
hold good, that the fair Trader may shut his shop.
-As to the losl that the Revenue must sustain, let the
Lords of the Treasury attend to that. I have just
-hinted at it. If they chose to..take the hint they
may. .

I am, Sir; yours, &c..

OBSERVFIt,

PerlL, 03. 26, iBoz.

SHIP • E

POOLE, 140 V, 12

,
Arrived—the Fordenskiold, Botitker, from Christiana-I.i.
Sailerr—the,Blatidfortlt. jalfbrd, for London ;.Adivet-I"‘„..r,
liams, William and 'Mary, Boynes,_• Sw•anage, -Ro6etll
Friend GOodwill, Ahrritige, and George, Andrews)
Portsmouth ;llove, Thompson, for Sr. Übes.

'GRAVESEND, NOV.. IZ

Passed by—the Union, • ritinter, from Dantzic • Ma...11'
Wills,. from Stocltholitt;, V row Margarerta, —7 ro'r AP•ll'
angel ; and the Young 'rave, from Rbuen. ,
Sailed—the Albion, Davis; for Venice ; Nancy, Crew, JP;
Grenada; Augusta, Wood, for Antigua; Ceres,
Leghorn Cumberland; Humble for Trinidad ; Harnionft
, •
—, for Oporto;" Sywmetry, Liddle, Chalmers, French;
and Jamaica, Marshal, for Jamaica. • • - • •