The Alien Invasion

held in April last (1891), Count Deym, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador, stated that "the charit

ef of poor and destitute foreigners-other than those which are exclusively Jewish. Such Societies are the Société Fran?aise de Bienfaisance à Londres, Société Belge de Bienfaisance à Londres, the German Society of Benevolence, which relieves Germans, Austrians, and even Russians; and the Italian Benevolent Socie

n, I do not of course include those Italians who upon arriving in England take up some definite trade or employment, and who are skilled labourers, and industrious, law-abiding citizens. Unfortunately the great bulk of Italian immigrants differ widely from such as these; they are, for the most part, the idle, the vicious,

nowledge of their real influence and numbers. I am informed by an Italian gentleman, whose name I am not at liberty to give, but who has exceptional opportunities of proving the truth of his statements, that the increase of foreign and secret revolutionary societies in the Metropolis has recently been very great. The same authority writes to me in a recent letter:-"There is a large influx of destitute Italians going on: there is no work for them to do here, and they will not return home.... I believe there is a real danger in allowing aliens of all nationalities to arrive so freely in such conditions, while not socia

of her Empire. Juvenal in the second of his Satires complained that Rome had become a sink for the v

eedy villain's

ewer of Pari

fortune and r

regs of each c

r were driven away to the colonies. The yeomanry of Italy disappeared; they took service in the Legions, and were sent away to distant settlements, their place in Rome being taken by large bodies of imported slaves, who brought with them all the habits and vices generated by long centuries of oppression and wrong. "The salvation of a country lies in its middle class." Such was the wise dictum of Aristotle; but in the latter days of the Roman Empire the middle class was wanting. How fatal was this, is clearly seen by the different powers of resistance that Rome exhibited

o ministered to her profligacy and luxury, it was a sign of the canker which in time ate away the heart of the Empire. So too, England in the Victorian era-an era of prosperity unequalled even by Imperial Rome-throws open wide her arms

which have been made to check it. "Child-slavery in England" it has been called; and certainly the condition of these poor children is in many respects little better than that of slaves. I have spoken and written so much about this matter

iving in Calabria, and the south of Italy. Sometimes the parents will bring the children to England themselves, and sometimes they are confided to relations; but often it is a traffic, and they sell their children into what is a veritable slavery without troubling about their future, and glad to be relieved of the responsibility and expe

tina, or other instrument, and told to sing or play before houses, and then to wait for money. As a rule they do not openly beg for alms, as this would bring them within the reach of law; but they just stand and wait, and benevo

ngry to bed. Very often these poor children do not get home from their weary rounds until past midnight, and they are often found utterly worn out, and fast asleep under an archway or upon a doorstep. They

10s. or more a day; and as often one padrone has as many as fifty children under his care, spread about in companies in London and in the country under the supervision of his confederates, it will be seen that the total amount of a number of small sums accumulatin

desirable influence among the surrounding population. The girls especially all go to the bad, because they are sent into low drinking-shops, public-houses, and similar places. When they grow up, they all become beggars and vagrants by profession, and always remain so, for th

ecided to compel these children to go to school in the same way as if they had been English children. But the padrone was equal to the occasion. He removed his troupe from Saffron Hill, to the outlying districts of Deptford, Greenwich, and Hammersmith. There the School Board takes no action, and there the children dwell in lar

ctual remedy would be to adopt the plan followed in America, namely, to stop these children at the port of arrival, and the padroni, and send them all back at once to their own country. In all European countries they are expelled, or refused admission. Such a course, however, would require a special law, and that necessarily will be some time in coming. The question is:-what is to be done in the meantime? That the evil still continues to flourish there can be no manner of doubt. The padroni do not confine their attentions only to children, but frequently bring over whole families as well. A case came to light in Birmingham this year,[15] of a padrone named Delicato, who had brought over an Italian family-a father, a mother, and two daughters. At the end of two years the record of that unfortunate family was as follows:-The father was paid ￡2 for two y

boots were saturated with water, and her clothes literally drenched. She was only nine years of age. Another instance of the rapacity of the padroni is illustrated by the following case, of even more recent date.[17] A young ice-cream vendor named Romano brought an action against his master, Auguste Pampa, at the Brompton County Court, for the recovery of four months' wages. It appeared that Romano had arrived in this country in a state of absolute destitution. Pampa, a compatriot, agreed to give him work, and an agreement was draw

le public could be made to understand that the money they give to those little ones benefits them personally not at all, but goes to swell the gains of the rapacious padrone, who laughs and grows

s 9000, 2000 are employed as Italian cooks and waiters in London. These of course can in no sense be objected to, because they are skilled labourers. Of the remaining 7000, the vast majority are either organ-grinders or ice-cream vendors. The head-quarters of the organ-grinders is-or was-at Eyre Street Hill, a steep and narrow thoroughfare formin

up for the purpose required. Also the vendor of lemons does a brisk business in the same locality, and likewise the milkman-or rather, I should say, the man who sells what passes for milk. The ingredients of the ice-cream may possibly be found harmless enough; but the way in which the compound is prepared is in the last degree objectionable. The manufacture is often carried on in the living-room of the family, the condition of which is filthy and disgusti

ogether for this purpose, the women arrayed in the picturesque attire of their native country, and the men in their holiday garments likewise. As I have never been to one, I cannot say how these gatherings are conducted. They are not carried on in licensed premises, but in the cellars and kitchens of private houses, where admission to strangers is denied. Probably they are harmless enough. One thing is tolerably certain, refreshments are not supplied on the premises. There are plenty of public-houses hard by; and an observant person standing in the

cordions sadly belie the reputation of their country. When once asked in the House of Commons if he could do anything to put down this nuisance, Mr. Goschen replied that it was a difficult matter, inasmuch as many deri

emingly careless existence of these Italian street musicians, and see the cruelty, hardships, and injustice which is undoubtedly bound up with the s

lerate in its midst an inhuman traffic like this, is something worse than a