Smuggling
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Smuggling. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
originally and strictly a crime of commerce, a violation of customs laws, to be distinguished from such a crime of manufacture as illicit distillation, which violates excise laws. But the term is commonly applied also to the evasive manufacture and disposal of commodities liable to excise as well as to the clandestine importation of articles on which customs duties have been imposed. Defrauding the government of revenue by the evasion of customs duties or excise taxes may therefore serve as a definition. Smuggling, in the sense of evading customs duties by dealing in contraband goods, has ceased to deserve the name of a trade in the United Kingdom. From about the close of the 17th century to nearly the middle of the 19th century the suppression of that kind of free trade by vigorous methods of prevention engaged the close attention of the inland revenue department. Free trade as a national policy has put down the smuggling trade. Only a very small number of persons comparatively deal in contraband goods now. But when the duties on spirits were higher in England than in Scotland, Northumberland and Cumberland were Solway were long demoralized by unwise tariffs on articles of import from abroad. The contrabandista used to be one of the most popular characters in Spain. The exports from England to Gibraltar, to refer only to one of his lines of activity, used to be large, and were introduced by smugglers to the interior of Spain. The injudicious tariffs which used to be imposed by both England and France en couraged smuggling to an enormous extent on both sides of the English Channel; spirits, especially brandy, tea, tobacco, silk goods from France; from England the most important article of illicit trade was cotton twist. English goods were introduced into France chiefly by the Belgian frontier, and dogs were trained to convey them; a dog would convey goods worth from $100 to $250. A great historical outburst of smuggling was the answer which commercial enterprise gave to Napoleon's Berlin and Milan decrees. Silk from Italy reached England by Smyrna after being a year on passage, by Archangel after being two years. Cotton twist, coffee, sugar, tobacco, were shipped from England to Salonica, conveyed thence by mules and horses through Servia and Hungary to Vienna, and distributed over the Continent from that capital. Coffee from London would reach Calais by Vienna.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the offense of importing or exporting goods without paying the duty imposed by law. A person caught smuggling is liable to imprisonment. The higher the tariff, the greater the temptation to smuggle. The officers of the United States custom house are required to be on the alert constantly to prevent the importation of articles that should pay duty. Diamonds are subject to a high duty. So much value can be concealed in small bulk that the temptation to smuggle them is great. Importers not infrequently descend to the petty deceit of concealing valuable goods, as silks and laces, within cheaper goods. Smuggling is left usually to unprincipled parties without sense of responsibility or character. Occasionally importing houses of supposed standing are detected in extensive frauds. The laws of most countries require that smuggled goods be confiscated and imprisonment or fines to several times the amount of the value of the goods be imposed upon the offender. Smuggling has always had its attractions for daring spirits. The coasts of Great Britain were from the earliest times the haunts of smugglers who imported Holland liquors and wines from the continent. They were not without defenders who maintained that the practice of smuggling bred skillful commanders for the British navy. Scott introduces smugglers into several of his novels, as Redgauntlet, and Guy Mannering. While directly contrary to law, smuggling has been looked upon at no time with as harsh an eye as stealing. Peter Faneuil, the Boston merchant for whom Faneuil Hall was named, laid the foundation for his fortune by smuggling rum from the West Indies . The fact that he evaded the navigation and revenue laws of Great Britain did not degrade him in the eyes of his fellow townsmen. See Customs ; Tariff