"There are three powerful reasons why the very great number of arrivals here from France should excite the immediate attention of Government. One, that it may occasion a rapid rise in the price of provisions, already at a height that occasions much complaint among the lower orders of people. Second, lest under the appellation of fugitives, a multitude of insidious and evil-designing persons should intrude themselves, with the intention of raising similar disturbances in this kingdom. Third, lest it should be the means of introducing a great number of rascals, thieves, and villains, who are always cowards, and cannot have principle enough to take any side; these, therefore, are the first to run. An inundation of them, added to the bad among our own people, might not only render private property very precarious, but even prove dangerous to the state." The Government was fully alive to this great influx of Frenchmen, and the possible effect it might have on the people of England; so they introduced, and passed, the "Act for establishing Regulations respecting Aliens arriving in this kingdom, or resident therein, in certain cases," 33 Geo. III. cap. 4. After the preamble, the gist of which has been given, this Act enacts that all masters of vessels are to give to the officer of the Custom, at the port of arrival, a written declaration specifying the names, &c., of foreigners on board. All aliens arriving after 10th January 1793 were to give to the port officer of the Customs a written declaration of their names, rank, &c. If they failed in so doing, they were to depart out of the realm, or be transported for life. The officer of Customs had to furnish them with a certificate, and, if they wished to change their abode, they were to have a passport, which they were to show, or be committed for trial. They must also depart from the realm when ordered by His Majesty's proclamation, &c. &c. &c. [Illustration: Edmund Burke.]