During the past week the London County Council have been
the guests of the Municipal Council of Paris. The visitors, including twenty-one Members of Parliament, have not only been lavishly entertained by their hosts, but received on all hands with the utmost cordiality; the Journal printed in English an address of welcome in its columns, while the climate rose to the occasion by providing on Wednesday an excellent imitation of a London fog. At the opening banquet in the Hotel de Ville on Monday, Dr. Brousse, in the course of an eloquent speech of welcome, cordially supported Sir Edwin Cornwall's scheme of an international Municipal Congress as a means of furthering international municipal friendship, and thus leading on to international peace,—a theme developed by the Chairman of the London County Council in his reply. "Nations," as he put it, "may, unhappily, at times have their differences, but the rivalry of cities need never be anything more than an amicable competition in efficiency." In the intervals between banquets and complimentary luncheons the London County Councillors visited markets, schools, factories, and indulged in a round of sight-seeing which took them to Sevres, St. Cloud, and Versailles.
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