ITALIAN IMMIGRATION.
Presiding at the annual meeting of the "Society of Friends of
Foreigners in Distress," which was held in April last (1891), Count
Deym, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador, stated that "the charity was
founded as far back as 1806, and that the necessity for it had now
increased a hundredfold. During the past year the Society paid £2151 to
285 poor foreigners, in regular instalments of from two and sixpence
per week to five shillings per month, and £1357 in casual relief to
4264 persons of almost all nationalities." This is only one of the
many similar societies existing in London for the aid and relief of
poor and destitute foreigners--other than those which are exclusively
Jewish. Such Societies are the Société Française de Bienfaisance à
Londres, Société Belge de Bienfaisance à Londres, the German Society
of Benevolence, which relieves Germans, Austrians, and even Russians;
and the Italian Benevolent Society. It is unnecessary to enter into
detailed statistics as to the amount of money expended yearly by the
different Societies, or the number of members relieved; but some idea
of the extent of their operation may be gathered by the fact that over
£1100 was expended last year by the Italian Benevolent Society alone.
Of late years the immigration of Italians has increased to an alarming
extent. London and our large provincial cities are crowded with a class
of Italians who are for the most part non-producers. The Italians
were amongst the earliest immigrants here, and in many respects they
are the most undesirable. In this condemnation, I do not of course
include those Italians who upon arriving in England take up some
definite trade or employment, and who are skilled labourers, and
industrious, law-abiding citizens. Unfortunately the great bulk of
Italian immigrants differ widely from such as these; they are, for the
most part, the idle, the vicious, and the destitute, who come here
simply to pursue that nefarious course of vagrancy and begging which
is now so rigidly forbidden in their native land. They bring with them
slothful and degraded habits, and where they congregate to any extent,
their influence upon our own people cannot fail to be otherwise than
injurious.
Many of them arrive here absolutely destitute, and go at once to the
Italian Consulate and beg for alms, or ask how to be put in the way of
begging. The Consulate does everything in its power to discourage these
people from coming to England, but they come all the same. Some of
them are trained professional beggars, versed in every trick and dodge
of the trade of mendicancy. Others are socialists and revolutionists
of the worst type, who endeavour to use the liberty enjoyed by them
here, in forming secret revolutionary societies, and in preaching the
most dangerous doctrines. They work so secretly that few have any
knowledge of their real influence and numbers. I am informed by an
Italian gentleman, whose name I am not at liberty to give, but who
has exceptional opportunities of proving the truth of his statements,
that the increase of foreign and secret revolutionary societies in
the Metropolis has recently been very great. The same authority writes
to me in a recent letter:--"There is a large influx of destitute
Italians going on: there is no work for them to do here, and they
will not return home.... I believe there is a real danger in allowing
aliens of all nationalities to arrive so freely in such conditions,
while not socialism but anarchy is now preached in the open streets of
the quarters especially resorted to by them. The result will be some
serious trouble very soon, especially in winter."[12] These are not
the careless words of a superficial observer, but the deliberately
expressed opinion of one who holds an official position, and has
intimate knowledge of the facts. With the object lesson which the
recent Italian riots in the United States has presented to us, there
can be little doubt that in the rapid increase of these revolutionary
societies of indigent foreigners lurk the elements of a very grave
political and social danger.
Thus we seem to have drifted into a position somewhat analogous to
that of Rome in the closing days of her Empire. Juvenal in the second
of his _Satires_ complained that Rome had become a sink for the vices
and iniquity of the known world. Johnson imitated this _Satire_ in the
following vigorous lines:--
"London, the needy villain's general home,
The common sewer of Paris and of Rome;
Condemned by fortune and resistless fate,
Sucks in the dregs of each corrupted state."
Juvenal was not alone in his complaint. Horace had said somewhat the
same thing before. The Satirists had certainly ample opportunities of
observing the facts. When Rome was newly founded it was desirable
and even necessary to encourage immigration, because citizens and
soldiers were sorely needed to defend the infant State. But when Rome
had advanced to the height of her Imperial power, the immense influx
of foreigners attracted to the Eternal City by her wealth and by
her luxury, was most calamitous. The native population of Rome were
reduced to permanent pauperism, or were driven away to the colonies.
The yeomanry of Italy disappeared; they took service in the Legions,
and were sent away to distant settlements, their place in Rome being
taken by large bodies of imported slaves, who brought with them all the
habits and vices generated by long centuries of oppression and wrong.
"The salvation of a country lies in its middle class." Such was the
wise _dictum_ of Aristotle; but in the latter days of the Roman Empire
the middle class was wanting. How fatal was this, is clearly seen by
the different powers of resistance that Rome exhibited at different
periods of her history. Under the Republic, when the middle class was
dominant, though Italy was several times invaded, the native population
always proved too strong for the invaders. When under the latter days
of the Empire the middle class was wanting, and there was nothing but
fabulous wealth and prodigal luxury on the one hand, and abject poverty
and consequent misery on the other, the heart of the State became
corrupt; and as soon as the Barbarians had broken through the cordon of
Legions at the frontier, the mighty Roman Empire sank to rise no more.
Historical parallels are often misleading, and this analogy, like other
analogies, may of course be carried too far; but it is in some respects
a close one. When Rome in the height of her Imperial splendour welcomed
all nationalities who ministered to her profligacy and luxury, it was
a sign of the canker which in time ate away the heart of the Empire. So
too, England in the Victorian era--an era of prosperity unequalled even
by Imperial Rome--throws open wide her arms to receive the destitute,
the criminal, and the worthless of other lands, heedless of the injury
which the influx of such a class must work upon her own community, and
forgetful that the first duty of the State is towards its own people.
The saddest aspect of this question of Italian immigration is the
traffic in Italian children, which has been for so long carried on in
this country under the auspices of the _padroni_, and which continues
to flourish despite all the efforts which have been made to check
it. "Child-slavery in England" it has been called; and certainly the
condition of these poor children is in many respects little better
than that of slaves. I have spoken and written so much about this
matter,[13] that there is little now left to be said; still, in spite
of laying myself open to the charge of repeating an oft-told tale,
I must needs allude to it once more, since no treatise upon Italian
immigration would be otherwise complete.
The traffic is carried on in this wise:--The children are brought over
from Italy by men who obtain them from their parents upon payment of a
very small sum; for a few ducats annually (a ducat equals 3_s._ 6_d._),
and upon undertaking to clothe and feed them. The parents who thus
dispose of their children are for the most part poor peasants living
in Calabria, and the south of Italy. Sometimes the parents will bring
the children to England themselves, and sometimes they are confided to
relations; but often it is a traffic, and they sell their children
into what is a veritable slavery without troubling about their future,
and glad to be relieved of the responsibility and expense of their
maintenance and education. The _padroni_--that is the masters--having
thus gained possession of the children, they bring them to England.
Some travel by railway, but many of them actually journey on foot,
walking from town to town, village to village, all the way up to Dieppe
or Calais, and from thence crossing over to our shores.
The children are imported here simply for the purpose of following one
or the other of the vagrant professions in the streets of London and
throughout the country. They are sent out early in the morning with
an accordion, concertina, or other instrument, and told to sing or
play before houses, and then to wait for money. As a rule they do not
openly beg for alms, as this would bring them within the reach of law;
but they just stand and wait, and benevolent persons, attracted by
their picturesque appearance, are moved to compassion, and give them
money, ignorant or forgetful of the fact that this money benefits them
personally not at all, but the _padrone_ whose property they are.
The _padroni_ are often very severe, and treat the children just like
slaves. If they do not bring home a sufficient sum they are cruelly
beaten and ill-treated, kept without food or nourishment, and sent
hungry to bed. Very often these poor children do not get home from
their weary rounds until past midnight, and they are often found
utterly worn out, and fast asleep under an archway or upon a doorstep.
They are wretchedly lodged, huddled together, four or five sleeping in
a bed when they have one to sleep in at all; and being private houses,
their lodgings are not in any way open to inspection or improvement.
The traffic is most lucrative, and the gains the _padroni_ make out
of these children are very large--so much so indeed, that after a few
years they are able to retire to Italy and to live as country gentlemen
afterwards. Sometimes a child will bring home as much as 10_s._ or more
a day; and as often one _padrone_ has as many as fifty children under
his care, spread about in companies in London and in the country under
the supervision of his confederates, it will be seen that the total
amount of a number of small sums accumulating daily must be very large.
Of course sometimes the children bring home very little, and sometimes
nothing at all; but the penalty in this case is to be beaten and kept
without food, so fear stimulates their efforts, and they do not often
return quite empty-handed.
The effects of this evil system upon its victims is necessarily very
bad. They do not go to school, they become very idle, and begin
early to drink, smoke, and take all kinds of vices. They grow up
immoral, illiterate, vicious, and low; a degraded class, exercising
a most undesirable influence among the surrounding population. The
girls especially all go to the bad, because they are sent into low
drinking-shops, public-houses, and similar places. When they grow up,
they all become beggars and vagrants by profession, and always remain
so, for they have learned no other trade, and many can neither read
nor write. Some remain in England, but many go over to Italy, and
bring over children themselves. Sometimes, when they are seventeen or
eighteen years old, they run away from the _padrone_ and set up on
their own account.
Many efforts have been made to put a stop to this disgraceful traffic;
but hitherto everything seems to have fallen short of the mark. The
Italian Benevolent Society has been untiring in its efforts to stop
the trade. So long ago as 1876 the Society went on a deputation to the
London School Board, with the result that it was decided to compel
these children to go to school in the same way as if they had been
English children. But the _padrone_ was equal to the occasion. He
removed his _troupe_ from Saffron Hill, to the outlying districts of
Deptford, Greenwich, and Hammersmith. There the School Board takes no
action, and there the children dwell in large numbers, free to ply
their trade, and secure from compulsory education. The Children's
Protection Act was also another step in the right direction, and it has
certainly ameliorated the state of affairs; but for various reasons,
chiefly because the limit of age is rather too low, it does not seem to
go to the root of the evil.
Several suggestions to remedy this state of affairs have been made, all
worthy of consideration. One is that there should be a tightening of
the compulsory action of the School Boards all over the country. It is
illogical that these children should be compelled to go to school in
London, and in the country allowed to roam where they please. Doubtless
this would have a very good effect, and the gains of the _padroni_
would be sensibly diminished. Another suggestion is, to increase the
limit of age laid down in the Children's Protection Act to eighteen
years of age in the case of persons of both sexes, thus bringing
the Act into accord with a drastic law which was passed in Italy in
1873,[14] and which has been found very effectual there. This course,
however, is obviously open to objection, since it might press hardly
upon individual cases. The most effectual remedy would be to adopt the
plan followed in America, namely, to stop these children at the port
of arrival, and the _padroni_, and send them all back at once to their
own country. In all European countries they are expelled, or refused
admission. Such a course, however, would require a special law, and
that necessarily will be some time in coming. The question is:--what is
to be done in the meantime? That the evil still continues to flourish
there can be no manner of doubt. The _padroni_ do not confine their
attentions only to children, but frequently bring over whole families
as well. A case came to light in Birmingham this year,[15] of a
_padrone_ named Delicato, who had brought over an Italian family--a
father, a mother, and two daughters. At the end of two years the record
of that unfortunate family was as follows:--The father was paid £2
for two years' work and discharged; the mother had previously been
sent back to Italy, because from ill-health she had become practically
useless to her master. One of the daughters Delicato had seduced,
and she is still living with him; the other daughter ran away and
married, and her husband brought an action to recover her earnings.
When the case came before the Court, the whole transaction was exposed.
Inquiries were also instituted as to the antecedents of Delicato, and
it was found that he had been carrying on this nefarious trade for
years, and had three separate establishments in different parts of the
country. It was found that this man had seduced no less than three
young girls who had been committed to his care, and then abandoned
them. This is no uncommon occurrence, for the _padroni_ are men utterly
without principle, and thoroughly bad in every way.
The parents are almost as bad as the _padroni_, as the following
instance will show:--An Italian named Mancini was recently[16] charged
before the Bow Street Police Court for causing a child to solicit alms.
It was a case of heartless cruelty. The little girl, his daughter,
was engaged in dragging a heavy barrel-organ about the streets. At
intervals she stopped and turned the handle, her father meanwhile
standing a little way off to see what coppers she obtained. It was
raining at the time the man was taken in charge, and the child's boots
were saturated with water, and her clothes literally drenched. She
was only nine years of age. Another instance of the rapacity of the
_padroni_ is illustrated by the following case, of even more recent
date.[17] A young ice-cream vendor named Romano brought an action
against his master, Auguste Pampa, at the Brompton County Court,
for the recovery of four months' wages. It appeared that Romano had
arrived in this country in a state of absolute destitution. Pampa, a
compatriot, agreed to give him work, and an agreement was drawn up
between them. It set forth that Pampa engaged Romano for one year to
sell ice-cream in the streets of London; that he should be paid £1
2_s._ a month, and that Pampa should board and lodge him, and provide
him with clothes. The plaintiff said that the defendant used to send
him out in rags in all sorts of weather, and that he literally had
no clothes to cover him. The judge gave a verdict for the plaintiff.
The case throws a strong light upon the fate of Italian immigrants in
London, and upon the class of Italians who come here.
The best way to put down this infamous traffic, in default of
restrictive legislation, is undoubtedly to lose no opportunities of
bringing the painful facts before the public. If once the charitable
public could be made to understand that the money they give to those
little ones benefits them personally not at all, but goes to swell
the gains of the rapacious _padrone_, who laughs and grows rich upon
the sufferings of his victims, the supplies would be cut off at their
source, and the dream of the _padrone_ to return to sunny Italy and
live there as a country gentleman, vanish for ever.
Few have any conception of the extent or nature of Italian immigration.
Signor Righetti, the Secretary of the Italian Benevolent Society,
estimates the number of Italians in London alone at upwards of 9000.
In this estimate his opinion is corroborated by Signor Roncoroni,
Secretary of the _Societá dei Cuochi e Camerieri_, who states that
out of this 9000, 2000 are employed as Italian cooks and waiters in
London. These of course can in no sense be objected to, because they
are skilled labourers. Of the remaining 7000, the vast majority are
either organ-grinders or ice-cream vendors. The head-quarters of the
organ-grinders is--or was--at Eyre Street Hill, a steep and narrow
thoroughfare forming a connecting link between Leather Lane and Coppice
Row in Clerkenwell. There are a few minor settlements in Kensington,
another in Notting Hill, a third in Somers Town; but the principal
foreign colony is situated at Eyre Street Hill. Eyre Street Hill has
tortuous ins and outs, and numerous blind alleys, in each and all of
which Italians swarm.
The Italian ice-cream barrow has become as familiar a picture in
London street-trading as the apple-stall, baked chestnuts, or baked
potato stove. The profits derived from the sale of this unwholesome
compound are said to be very satisfactory; and certainly the quantity
manufactured must be enormous. There is a depôt for ice on Eyre
Street Hill. All day long, during the summer months, may be seen
there waggon-loads of ice-cubes, which are afterwards broken up for
the purpose required. Also the vendor of lemons does a brisk business
in the same locality, and likewise the milkman--or rather, I should
say, the man who sells what passes for milk. The ingredients of the
ice-cream may possibly be found harmless enough; but the way in which
the compound is prepared is in the last degree objectionable. The
manufacture is often carried on in the living-room of the family,
the condition of which is filthy and disgusting in the extreme. Near
Leather Lane there is one short street of high black houses, the
windows of which are patched and plugged with paper and rags. The
passages and stairs are dilapidated and filthy, and the sanitary
conditions simply abominable. In almost every room of each of these
houses, resides at least one ice-cream maker, and vendor. Such a room
will serve as a living and sleeping room for a whole family--the man,
his wife, and a numerous progeny.
The inhabitants of this foreign colony work all the week with their
ice-barrows or their barrel-organs, but Saturday evening is, with
them, a time of relaxation and pastime. With the natives of the sunny
South, not to enjoy is not to live; and though I do not include in the
numbers of those who amuse themselves, the miserable little victims of
the _padroni_, the comparatively well-to-do Italians always go in for
amusing themselves as soon as they can afford it. Dancing is the chief
pastime of these people. On Saturday nights they regularly assemble
together for this purpose, the women arrayed in the picturesque
attire of their native country, and the men in their holiday garments
likewise. As I have never been to one, I cannot say how these
gatherings are conducted. They are not carried on in licensed premises,
but in the cellars and kitchens of private houses, where admission to
strangers is denied. Probably they are harmless enough. One thing is
tolerably certain, refreshments are not supplied on the premises. There
are plenty of public-houses hard by; and an observant person standing
in the bar of one of them while the dancing is going on in an adjoining
house, will note from time to time a sudden inrush of several couples
still flushed and panting from the Terpsichorean exercise in which
they have been indulging; who after a hearty draught of something in
a pewter pot will rush off, and dance away again. On Saturday night
the tap-rooms of the taverns in the vicinity of Saffron Hill are well
filled; and brisk business is done in drinkables. The company, however,
is not exclusively Italian; there being a goodly number of Irish
besides.
The Italians are credited as a race with having a sensitive ear for
music. One can only say that those of their countrymen who come
over here and inflict upon us the ear-torturing melodies of their
barrel-organs and accordions sadly belie the reputation of their
country. When once asked in the House of Commons if he could do
anything to put down this nuisance, Mr. Goschen replied that it was
a difficult matter, inasmuch as many derived great pleasure from the
music of the barrel-organ. Such an answer leads one to suppose that Mr.
Goschen has not such a keen ear for music as he has an eye to finance,
and also that he is ignorant of the true facts.
Even on a superficial aspect the nuisance is intolerable; but that is
the least part of the evil. When we come to look beneath the surface
of the seemingly careless existence of these Italian street musicians,
and see the cruelty, hardships, and injustice which is undoubtedly
bound up with the system, we shall recognize that it is high time
that something was done to put down what is not only an intolerable
nuisance, but also an evil trade.
For a nation which was foremost in abolishing the slave-trade, to
tamely tolerate in its midst an inhuman traffic like this, is something
worse than an anachronism--it is a disgrace, and a reproach upon our
vaunted civilization.