ANARCHISTS IN LONDON.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1018, 6 January 1911, Page 4

ANARCHISTS IN LONDON.

$ — The sensational fight with "Anarchists" recorded in our cable news of yesterday will naturally set people thinking concerning tho policy of the British Government in permitting theso undesirable aliens to find sanctuary in Ensland. The

question has frequently been discussed, and opinions have differed very materially on the wisdom of that policy. On the one hand, it is contended that the liberty given to political exiles from other countries lias dons no real harm to Britain itself. It is true that the element actiycly_ engaged in movements antagonistic to law and order in different countries of Europe may take advantage of the freedom aiiorded them in England to gather there and to plot and plan fresh deeds of violence. But those deeds are not perpetrated in England. There has been a sort of understanding that so long as these aliens behave themselves in England Ulicy will bo unmolested, and the sanctuary thus afforded , them is of far too great a value to be imperilled by any breach of that understanding. But this understanding relates only to. the political conspirator—the criminal alien receives no such consideration. Even the Anarchist efforts arc directed at some foreign Power is kept under observation, and on more than one occasion plans have been upset and plots frustrated through the information gathered by Secret Service agents in London and dispatched to the Continent. _ The_ advantage ,which England enjoys in its freedom from Anarchistic troubles, which ... is partly due to the liberty accorded these people as described above, is, however, by many considered to be outweighed by the harmful influence of the increasing alien population in. London, and tlio menace which lies behind it. It will be noted from our cable messages to-day that the London press, commenting on the means adopted by the police to secure the arrest of two .men, remarked on the great body of policc and soldiers called out and the shooting that was indulged in. The opinion is expressed that some explanation is needed. We should think the explanation was not far to seek. The locality where the arrest was to be made is simply swarming with Anarchists. It is a veritable hotbed of aliens of all nationalities. The thousand police and the soldiers, wo should imagine, were not required to arrest the two men so much as to overawe the residents of the neighbourhood and prevent an outbreak of mob violence, which might have had very serious consequences. Possibly the daugcr in this | respect was over-estimated, and certainly the spectacle of so tremendous a force hold at bay for so long by three or four men requires some explanation. Either the besieged were very lucky to escape such a fusillade as was depicted, or the marksmanship of the policc and military was astonishingly poor. No doubt there will be romc uneasiness felt as to the possible effects of the outbreak on the Coronation ceremonials. So far as our information goes, it would seem that the "Anarchists" concerncd were merely a gang of foreign crim--inals—'thiovos and burglars, rather than political conspirators, or men banded together in what they would style the causo of humanity. It is probable tliat there will be no developments in the way of retaliatory Anarchistic activity: rather the reverse. Tho_ activity is more likely to be on tbesido of the police, and most people will think it about time.