Alien Immigrants to England. By W. Cunningham, D.D- (Swan Sonnenschein
and Co.)—This is the first volume of a new• series of volumes to be known as "The Social England Series," the publication of which, we are assured, " rests upon the conviction that it is possible to make a successful attempt to
an account not merely of politics and wars, but also of religion, commerce, art, literature, law, science, agriculture, and all that follows from their inclusion, and that without a due knowledge of the last we have no real explanation of any of the number." Dr. Cunningham's volume, giving a history of alien immigration to England, leads off the series. It is admirably written, is well arranged, and is based on wide and comprehensive reading. After an introduction in which he deals with such subjects as "The Grouping of Fads" and "The Travelled
Native," Dr. Cunningham treats in consecutive chapters of '‘‘ The Norman Invasion," " The Later Middle Ages," " The Reformation and Religious Refugees," " Intercourse with the Dutch," and " Later Immigrations," including those of the Huguenots, the Emigres, and the Destitute Alien. The bulk of the facts here collected were of course known to historical students before this book was written or contemplated ; but they were never arranged in such a manner as to show the social, religious, economical, and political effects of immigration as they have been by Dr. Cunningham. As he gives his authorities in footnotes, and supplies a full index, whoever wishes to prosecute further inquiry into the subjects investigated by Dr. Cunningham has all the materials at his hand. Dr. Cunningham appears here in the character not of a partisan, but of an impartial historian. He says that the question of the immigration of any particular aliens in the present day must be dealt with on its merits and on these alone. While he says that " there ought to be hesitation on the part of a nation with a history like ours in changing from welcoming aliens to refusing to admit them," he also says, "In former times it could be generally stated what precise gift the Flemings, or Walloons, or Huguenots brought with them ; and we may fairly ask of any newcomers in the present day what it is that they are able to do better than we can ourselves ? Unless this question can be clearly answered, there is not the same in- dustrial justification for the admission of aliens as there was." Dr. Cunningham's book will be found eminently valuable as a thesaurus of arguments on both sides of this question,—or at all events, of this question as put by him. But as the text-book of the subject, its supreme importance lies in the delightfully lucid narrative which it gives.
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