An outbreak of this nature would be a disgrace and a reproach to our vaunted civilization, and it would be almost certain to be followed by that most dangerous phase of popular excitement--panic legislation. Surely it would be wiser statesmanship to do something now, while the matter can be considered reasonably and dispassionately, than to wait until the smouldering embers of discontent burst into a blaze, the flames of which it may be difficult to check. CHAPTER IV. ITALIAN IMMIGRATION. Presiding at the annual meeting of the "Society of Friends of Foreigners in Distress," which was held in April last (1891), Count Deym, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador, stated that "the charity was founded as far back as 1806, and that the necessity for it had now increased a hundredfold. During the past year the Society paid £2151 to 285 poor foreigners, in regular instalments of from two and sixpence per week to five shillings per month, and £1357 in casual relief to 4264 persons of almost all nationalities." This is only one of the many similar societies existing in London for the aid and relief of poor and destitute foreigners--other than those which are exclusively Jewish. Such Societies are the Société Française 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 Society. It is unnecessary to enter into detailed statistics as to the amount of money expended yearly by the different Societies, or the number of members relieved; but some idea of the extent of their operation may be gathered by the fact that over £1100 was expended last year by the Italian Benevolent Society alone. Of late years the immigration of Italians has increased to an alarming extent. London and our large provincial cities are crowded with a class of Italians who are for the most part non-producers. The Italians were amongst the earliest immigrants here, and in many respects they are the most undesirable. In this condemnation, 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, and the destitute, who come here simply to pursue that nefarious course of vagrancy and begging which is now so rigidly forbidden in their native land. They bring with them slothful and degraded habits, and where they congregate to any extent, their influence upon our own people cannot fail to be otherwise than injurious.