In estimating the importance to be attached to these dis-
turbances, it is necessary to remember that they have not been confined to Paris. On Tuesday, a serious riot took place at Amiens, occasioned by a strike among the velvet-weavers, in the course of which a warehouse was sacked and set on fire. Order was not restored till a body of soldiers had made a desperate charge, in which a considerable number of people were wounded. At Lille, the weavers are also on strike, and it is reported from Lyons that the glass-workers have decided to begin a general strike to-day. Should this strike take place, it is probable that it will extend to Paris and other places. The way in which the French strikes are conducted shows clearly how useful not only to the men, but to society at large, are the English Trade-Unions. No doubt the strikers have behaved badly, but we suspect that the con- ditions under which the artisans work in:France are very severe. The hours are long, and the tariff has either raised the price of food and of the smallest comforts terribly high, or else, what is worse, has forced the shop-keepers to lower the quality of everything they sell to the point which means utter misery to purchasers.
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