Let Them Eat Cake--at Home : In Europe as in the United States, economic recession has caused many to call for stricter controls on immigration.

There’s a grande dame representing us here. British-born and former daughter-in-law of Winston Churchill, Pamela Harriman has spent half a century charming influential men as wife, friend and lover. Now, after a decade of raising vast sums of money for the political party out of power, Harriman resides in one of the grandest homes in Paris, the residence of the U.S. ambassador to France.

Recently, the new ambassador opened the doors to that home, rolled out the red carpet and invited 1,000 French and American citizens to celebrate the 217th birthday of the United States. An Army Reserve band from Idaho played the Star Spangled Banner and Lauren Bacall mingled. Guests saw a stunning new collection of paintings by Matisse, Renoir, Van Gogh and Picasso that the ambassador borrowed from the Harriman collection at the National Gallery in Washington.

Despite the celebratory nature of the party and the affluence of the surroundings, the conversations in all corners were of deep concern about France. “This is the worst recession since the Great Depression.” “We can’t afford to keep up the social benefits programs for our population.” Immigration from the east and the south must be stopped before it overruns us.” “Unemployment is getting worse every day. People are worried about losing their jobs.”

It was as though conversation had been duplicated exactly from summer picnics in Los Angeles. Like the United States, France recently voted in a new government to do something about it all. But here and throughout Europe, there is a sense that the rosy optimism and the good times of the 1980s are long gone.

Last week, France hit a nationwide unemployment rate of 11.5%. Europe-wide, unemployment is approaching 12% and in some areas of England and Ireland it is almost 25%. People are not spending money--French car sales are down by 18%--and in France and Germany, much of the political pressure is focused on immigration and how to stop it.

The new French government proposes a zero-immigration policy, and has just reaffirmed its support for an existing law that allows the police to stop anyone at any time and ask to see their papers. French citizens have national identity cards that they carry with them. In France, the anti-immigrant anxiety is directed south, against the Muslim North Africans from across the Mediterranean who come to France but, many feel, do not adopt French lifestyles and social mores.

A few years ago, the Figaro magazine ran a cover photo showing Marianne, the symbol of France, wearing a Muslim-type face veil, with the question: “In 50 years, will France still be French?” That expresses the anxiety of many French people.

Germans, meanwhile, identify pressure from immigrants and those seeking refugee status as one of their biggest political problems. Last week, Germany voted to change its 45-year-old refugee-asylum law. Germans feel besieged from the east: People from the former Soviet republics and Eastern European countries who want to escape the economic deprivation and ethnic conflicts of their homes. These immigrants want to be received in the German land of plenty. Since the end of World War II, if they could make it to the border, they stood a good chance of being allowed to stay. Not any more. Most will be deported back to surrounding countries. Germany, struggling to absorb East Germany and all its failed industries, no longer feels that it can provide the largess to help all its neighbors.

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity was the cry of the French Revolution. Today, France celebrates Bastille Day, the remembrance of that revolution. For France and the United States, in a world of porous borders and an exploding population of poor people from poorer countries--the feeling for many has become, enough is enough. They are saying we must absorb and help our own before hundreds of thousands more can be invited to our house to join our democratic parties.

What President Clinton undoubtedly heard in Asia last week, and what Harriman will hear in her beautiful new home on loan to her by us the American owners, is that the United States cannot persuade others to do our bidding unless they see it as good for them. And right now, the richest democracies in the world do not feel affluent enough to be their brothers’ keepers.