21 FEBRUARY 1846, Page 2

- The only measure of social importance-discussed by the French

Chambers has been a pr(#et de loi to continue and extend the practice of keeping " livrets" for workmen in various manufac- tures and trades. The livret is a kind of register of the journey- man's or factory-hand's work and payments, showing how he has fulfilled his duties. Such a law has obtained in some trades of France for about a century ; it is now to be extended and en- forced under penalties. The advocates of the law say that it is a • protection to the honest and industrious workman. It is evi- dently an engine for keeping a tight hold on every individual of the whole working classes, whether for the sake of the master of the police. It is an absurdity to talk of freedom in a country where every workman is as it were ticketed ; and where he must show his ticket, or be debarred from work and subjected to penalty. When masters- also are ticketed—when all other classes are ticketed under pain of fine and destitution, then will the law be equally just,--and then will France be a nation of slaves with badges.