On Saturday, the House of Commons, by 234 votes to
119,
• rejected Mr. James Lowther's amendment in favour of legis- lation to restrict " the immigration of destitute aliens into the United Kingdom." Mr. Lowther stated that, owing to the influx of foreigners, from 80 to 90 per cent, of the persons engaged in the tailoring trade in the East End were foreigners, and in the shoemaking trade, 2.5 per cent. On sanitary grounds, also, be declared the alien immigration to be a great danger. Mr, Wilson, "the sailors' Member," supported the amendment, and drew attention to the fact that our mercantile marine is largely manned by foreigners, and that this was a danger in ease of war. Mr. Gladstone, though he promised a Committee, 'wisely refused to countenance the outcry for legislation. The eal argument was, however, supplied by Mr. Mundella's figures, which are conclusive :—" On the night of the census the 'number of foreign-born persons in England and Wales, rich and poor, whether remaining here or passing through, vas under 200,000; the number of European foreigners -was 168,719; of these, 87,448 were in London. Within the last ten years we had sent 1,100,000 British and Irish emigrants to the United States." This shows that the agitation is baseless, and that it is utterly absurd to talk of our being overrun by foreigners.
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