The French are still under the impression that France is
too much liked. No less than five Bills have been laid before the Chamber for checking immigration, there being, it is declared, already 480,000 Belgians, 280,000 Italians, 100,000 Germans, and. 40,000 British and Swiss settled or employed in France. These 900,000 persons tend, moreover, rapidly to increase not only by immigration, but by superior fecundity, the birth-rate among foreigners being far higher than among Frenchmen. The foreigners are exempt from the Conscription, which gives them a preference az labourers, and they send away quantities of money, £7,000,000 from Paris alone in a single year. The Com- mittee which has considered the Bill proposes therefore to compel every immigrant to take out a permit of residence—vvhich, it seems to be understood, will be refused when the French labourers complain of competition— and to pay 1 fr. a year to the funds of the commune he in- habits. The grievance about the Conscription is genuine, and would justify a tax ; but the French seem to forget that if working immigrants are prosperous, they must give their work in return. It is curious, too, to see Frenchmen underrating their Own attractive power. Italians or Belgians, or even English- men, become in the second generation Frenchmen. The niquettis, Napoleons, Ga,mbettas, and MacMahons were surely French enough.
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