The Sun.
London, England, 1848-04-01 00:00:00

(there are some such amongst us) to consideration and
consequent action, it will not have been made in vain.—
Fraser's Magazine.

ON THE SOCIAL POSITION OF
GOVERNtSSES.
BY THE ♦UTHOR OF " WOMAN'S MISSION."

The following remarks on a subject of some public
importance, were originally called forth by an applica-
tion from a distinguished friend of the writer, who re-
quested assistance for the bazaar about to be held in aid
of the " Governesses' Benevolent Institution." Some
friends to whom they were communicated urged their
Publication, as placing the claims of governesses on
grounds more consistent with their truth and value, than
public opinion, or even public benevolence, has yet at-
tained to respecting that important body. It is hoped
that they may have some interest from the novelty, and
some weight from the fact, of their coming from one
within, and not without the " pale."
However difficult, if not impossible it may be, to put
the public in possession of the real motives of an author,
it is highly desirable to prevent the imputation of such
as are false. This is especially the case with respect to all
statements of abuses : it is of importance to know that
public censures are not provoked by private grievances.
The writer, then, has no wrongs of any kind to resent.
A long professional career has, by a rare felicity, shown
her her profession only under its brightest aspect ; and
her professional relations with individuals have been
marked by a liberality, a courtesy, a high consideration,
worthy of all gratitude, and which have left nothing to
bo desired by the most jealous or personal self-respect.
In treating, therefore, of the wrongs, or what she
conceives to be the wrongs, of governesses, she is
actuated by none of the asperity of adversity, and none
of the bitterness of wounded self-love. But a personal
exemption from great "class evils," ought not to blind
the understanding to their existence, or shut the heart
to the misery which they produce. Even the perception
of these evils, however, would not have sufficed to urge
her to a public declaration of her sentiments, but that
she feels some of the highest interests of society to be
thereby compromised, and that society is even more
unjust to itself than to her profession in suffering their
existence.

The frequent appeals to public compassion made in
behalf of governesses—the "fancy fairs," "shilling sub-
scription cards," got up with a view to their benefit,
are calculated to fill a thinking mind with painful re-
flections, and a cynical mind with bitter ones. There
must be some great wrong—something very " rotten in
the state of Dnmark," before society would venture to
offer, or respectable individuals could be induced to
in acce
injustice
It is difficult to speak of benevolent intentions, even
when one thinks them ill-directed, with any thing ap-
proaching to harshness; but it remains a matter of grave
consideration whether the tendency of the above-men-
tioned charities be not, like many of the efforts of
merely impulsive benevolence, to relieve individual dis-
tress cso ad.”, -e Qpnoral good.
It is too true that governesses can rarely provide for
old ago or contingencies. But why ? Because the
emolument received by governessess (however superior)
is not sufficient to enable a person, required to keep up
the appearance of a gentlewoman, to do so—because the
general notions on this subject aro notoriously such, as
to have been made the subject of more than one popular
e
burlesque ! The salary of a first-rate governess is
scarcely more than the interest of money which
n herd
r
education ought to have cost ; and those of all u
"first-rate" are not more than is given to the upper ser-
vants of good families. The profession of a private
governess is the only profession which offers no premium
to distinguished abilities, and we see the results, un-
happily, every day. Would it not be better to pay
governesses a little more, and to pity them a little less ?
The prejudices which would degrade, and the injustice
which inadequately remunerates, the members of an
honourable and useful profession, are ill compensated by
a tardy and patronising compassion. The writer knows
not how the members of her profession feel generally,
but, for her own part, she would prefer having recourse
to that legal provision which the laws of her country
allow all to claim,—to receiving in the form of alms that
which had been denied in the form of wages. Nor can
it be wondered at if the high-minded amongst the body
should reject, rather than be grateful for, that form of
compensation which arises from public charity, and is to
be sued for in forma pauperis.
But this is not the only, nor, in the writer's opinion,
the gravest aspect of the subject. That individuals
should suffer humiliation is a light thing in comparison
of a great cause suffering injury.
Education is a great cause. The public think it so ;
they talk of it, at least, as such ! The progress of
society permits no one now to say, whatever ho may
think, that ours is a degrading occupation. We have
essays on education, essays on educators ; how the tone
of the one and the character of the other may be raised.
Can the tone of education, or the character of educators,
be raised, while society continues to offer to the mem-
bers of this profession for their services—the wages and
social position of a domestic, and for their distresses and
old age—the provision of a pauper ?
Their knowledge of human nature must be very small
who do not perceive that a class, the distresses and
necessities of which are thus constantly made the theme
of public cemmisseration and the object of public
charity, can never attain (as a class) to that position
of social respectability which the members of so in-
fluential a profession ought to occupy ; and education
can never be what it ought to be, till educators do fill
such a place in public estimation. how is society to
learn to look up with respect to those on whom it has
been first taught to look down with pity ? It is im-
possible !
But there are two sides to every question ; and where
there is blame it is never altogether on one; nor is it
here. Candour compels the acknowledgment, that while
the respectable and meritorious are often grievously un-
derpaid, there are but too many in our profession who
would be overpaid at any price. And the same candour
compels also the humiliating confession, that the invle-
quate remuneration and low social position of gover-
nesses may be greatly attributed to the assumption of
the office by those whose necessities are their only title
to employment. Is it not monstrous that while a lady
will not give her dress to be made to any one but a first-
rate dressmaker, she will give her children to be educated
by a second or third rate governess ? That shC will
commit their training for this world and the next to a
woman whose only qualification for the task is, that she
has had a twelvemonths apprenticeship in an inferior
boarding-school, or—that her father failed last week ?
One has really very little right to complain of the want
of respect shown by society to a profession which respects
itself so little as to have allowed this state of things
to continue without a grand simultaneous effort to re-
medy it. But such an effort being, it is to be feared,
hopeless, some other remedy must be found. This
remedy appears to lie, not in public charity but in public
institutions. That governesses may bs more respected,
they must be better qualified ; that they may be better
qualified, they must be better paid ; that they may be
both, they must be better chosen ; that they may be
better chosen, there must be somebody to choose them.
That somebody should be the Government ; for the
Church, which ought to be the curator of public educa-
tion, does not sufficiently represent the people to take
up its office. The Government then, in our own, as in
other countries, ought to take upon itself the office of
securing the public interests, by excluding the half-edu-
cated or simply necessitous from the rank of public in-
structors, thus giving respectability to the office and se-
curity to the public.
The public feeling on this subject has already found
representatives in two bodies—the " Queen's College,"
and the " College of Preceptors." To both—and especi-
ally to the latter, as organised by the Educational body
itself—much gratitude is due for their endeavours after
a great moral and national good. But the writer (with
diffidence) suggests that they are both deficient in a most
important respect, viz., they are nos armed with a com-
petent and efficient weight of authority. The power
needed is a power of exclusion—a power which can
say, " You shall not take up this vocation unless 'you
show testimonials of ability." No privately organised
body would, or could assume to itself the power of such
exclusion ; and the assumption, that the diploma granted
to the capable would amount to a virtual exclusion of the
incapable, seems to be based on an insufficient considera-
tion of the peculiar difficulties of the case.
Some of these difficulties the writer (also with diffi-
dence) ventures to suggest. It appears to her, that
while the ignorant and incapable might (by accepting
low salaries) evade the requisite examination, the very
superior—those of acknowledged merit and talent—
might, neglect it, not from contempt, but because nothing
but a Government diploma, absolutely indispensable, and
giving to the educator the dignity of a recognised public
functionary, could be to such persons a sufficient desider-
atum to induce them to submit to the ordeal of a public
examin tion. Now, these are the very persons whom it
would be desirable to tempt into that profession to which
society entrusts its dearest interests. It appears also to
her, that no amount of fairness or impartiality could se-
cure the members of those bodies from the suspicion of
partisanship in the exercise of their self-constituted
functions ; and that the clamour of injustice, first raised
perhaps, by disappointed incapacity, would soon find an
echo in the public mind, and nullify the benefits ex-
pected. tj. Government sanction, then, appears to be
the principal means by which the object so laudably
attempted by the bodies can be attained ; and the only
means by which full security can be given either to the
profession or to the public, that the highest of all tasks
may not often be assigned to the lowest of all minds !
But waiting these better times, there is much misery
waiting also for relief. And that charity should stay
her hand till justice has done her work is not to be ex-
pected—not even to be wished. It is, however, to be
desired, that this relief could be afforded in a manner
which would maintain the dignity of the profession,
while it solaces the distress of the individual that
some regard (as to ways and means) be had to the feel.
ings of those, who are many of them in reality, and all
of them by courtesy, gentlewomen; that still more regard
be had to the public interests, which are deeply compro-
mised by any further degradation of a body so important
to the moral interests of the community.
If these remarks prove suggestive of any useful
thoughts to the public in general, the writer will be well
content; but her chief object is to rouse the attention of
those of her own sex and profession, who may not yet
have considered the subject in its full bearings, on their
own position and interests, as well as on the public
good. To them she looks for sympathy, from them
must come the efforts (whether pecuniary or otherwise)
that are to overcome the evils which all must deplore.
Why should not the heads of prosperous and respectable
ladies' schools come to the rescue of their less fortunate
sisters ? An annual subscription of comparatively mo-
dente amount from all such would effect much good in
this cause. To be the pensioners of a fund having (at
least for its basis) a professional combination is one
thing ; to be the pauperised claimants of eleemosynary
public charity is another. To rescue the less fortunateo
members of our noble common professionfro
de-
grading a necessity would seem to be an objectrts.
And if
needing
no other recommendation than its own
this appeal rouse a few thinking beads 'tinned noble hearts

COURT CIRCULAR.

His Royal Highness Prince Albert rode out on horse-
back yesterday, attended by Colonel Seymour, Equerry
in Waiting.
Their Royal Highnesses the Princess de Joinville and
the Duchesse d'Aumale, paid her Majesty a private visit
yesterday.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, Prince
Alfred, and the Princess Alice, accompanied by the
Dowager Lady Lyttelton, took an airing in an open car-
riage and four yesterday.
Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal walked yes-
terday in the gardens of Buckingham Palace; and her
Royal Highness the Princess Helena was taken an airing.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent visited the
Queen yesterday evening at Buckingham-palace.
her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge and
suite visited the exhibition of the Incorporated Society of
British Artists in Suffolk- street yesterday, previously to
the private view.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge and his
Serene Highness Prince Frederick of Hesse, visited her
Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester yesterday at
Gloucester-house.
The Marquis of Breadalbane and Mr. Dennistoun had
an interview with the Commissioners of Railways yes-
terday at their office in the Board of Trade.
General Sir Alexander Duff had an interview with Sir
George Grey yesterday at the Home Office.
A deputation from the British and Foreign School
Society, consisting of the Rev. George Clayton, Mr.
Robert Forster, Mr. James Nisbet, Mr. John Corderoy,
the Rev. S. B. Bergue, Mr. James Grant, Mr. William
Harvey, and Mr. Richard S. Smith, had an interview
with Earl Grey yesterday at the Colonial Office.
The Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord President, had a
dinner party yesterday at Lansdowne House, Berkeley-
square.
Dispatches were received yesterday at the Colonial
Office, from the Governors of Ceylon, South Australia,
New Zealand, and the Mauritius, and also from the Lord
High Commissioner of the lonian Islands.
Dispatches were sent off last evening from the Colo-
nial Office for the Governor of New South Wales.

FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE
OF FRIDAY.
DOWNING-STREET, MARCIE, 29, 1848.

The Queen has been pleased to appoint Anthony
Schrack, Esq., to be Registrar of Demerara and Esse-
quibo, in the colony of British Guiana.
CROWN-OFFICE, MARCH 30.
MEMBER RETURNED TO SERVE IN THIS PRESENT
Borough of Aylesbury—s,-,-- the last
election for the said borough having been curet'ae
void.

CROWN OFFICE, MARCH 31.

MEMBER RETURNED TO SERVE IN THIS PRESENT PAR-

LIAMENT.

County of Monmouth--Edward Arthur Somerset,
Esq., in the room of the Right Hon. Granville Charles
Henry Somerset, commonly called Lord Granville
Charles Henry Somerset, deceased.
WAR-OFFICE, Mmacil 31.
Ist Dragoon Guards—To be Captains, by purchase—
Lieutenant Lockhart Little, vice Power, who retires ;
Lieutenant William Tuthill, vice Newland, who retires,
March 31.
To be Lieutenants, by purchase—Cornet Mordaunt
Fenwick, vice Little ; Cornet James Robert Steadman
Sayer, vice Tuthill, March 31.
To be Cornets, by purchase—George Henry Warring-
ton Carew, Gent., vice Fenwick, March 31 ; Robert
ard
Thomas Thomson, Gent., vice Sayer, April 1.
s
Lieutenant,L i uv ti.e
eßholbeeart Robert ehkoe re axtca
exchanges,
nf from
March 31.
64t 6th
Dragoon Foot, to be e G
12th Light Dragoons--Cornet Charles Goring to be
Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Fullerton, who retires';
Constable Curtis, Gent., to be Cornet, by purchase, vice
Goring, March 31.
14th Light Dragoons—Lieutenant Richard Herbert
Gall to be Captain, by purchase, vice Bromwich, who
retires; Charles Ambrose Lloyd to be Lieutenant, by
purchase, vice Gall; John Dudgeon, Gent., to be Cor-
net, by purchase, vice Lloyd, March 31.
Ist or Grenadier Regiment
of Foot Guards—Brevet
Colonel 'William Fraser, from half-pay Unattached, to
be Captain and Lieutenant-Colonel, vice Henry Pen-
leaze, who exchanges; Lieutenant and Captain Hugh
Andrew Robert Mitchell to be Captain and Lieutenant-
Colonel, by purchase, vice Fraser, who retires ; En-
sign and Lieutenant Lord Frederick John Fitzroy
to be Lieutenant and Captain, by purchase, vice
Oswald, who retires; Ensign and Lieutenant John George
Cavendish Disbrowe to be Lieutenant and Captain, by
purchase, vice Mitchell; Frederick Charles Keppel,
Gent., to be Ensign and Lieutenant, by purchase, vice
Lord F. J. Fitzroy, March 31; William John Christie,
Gent., to be Ensign and Lieutenant, by purchase, vice
Disbrowe, April 1.
Scots Fusilier Guards—Lieutenant and Captain
James Hunter Blair to be Captain and Lieutenant-
Colonel, by purchase, vice Brandreth, who retires ; En-
sign and Lieutenant the Hon. John Strange Jocelyn to
be Lieutenant and Captain, by purchase, vice Blair;
John Dugdale Astley, Gent., to be Ensign and Lieu-
tenant, by purchase, vice Jocelyn, March 31.
15th Regiment Foot—James Walmsley, Gent.. to
be Ensign, by purchase, vice George John Walmsley,
who retires, March 31.

22d Foot—Captain Frederick Browne Russell, from
28th Foot, to be Captain, vice Coote, who exchanges,
Jan. 5.

28th Foot—Captain Henry J. Coote, from 22d Foot,
to be Captain, vice Russell, who exchanges, Jan. 5.
44th Foot—Sergeant-Major James Pope, from 3d
Foot, to be Adjutant, with the rank of Ensign; Quarter-
master Daniel Doherty, from 68th Foot, to be Quarter•
master, March 31; Surgeon Daniel Armstrong, from
half-pay, 84th Foot, to be Surgeon, March 17.
53d Foot—Ensign George John Ashton to be Lieu-
tenant, without purchase, March 31.
64th Foot—Lieutenant Francis Henry Kilvington to
be Captain, without purchase, vice Smith, deceased,
March 12; Captain Charles Pattison, from
the Royal Newfoundland Companies, to be Cap-
tain, vice Lyttleton, who exchanges, March 31;
Ensign Alfred Picton Bowlby, to be Lieutenant, vice
Kilving ton, March 12 ; Lieutenant Josiah Marshall
Heath, from 6th Dragoon Guards, to be Lieutenant,
vice Bickerstaff, who exchanges ; Ensign William
Davies Shipley, from the 95th Foot, to be Ensign, vice
Bowlby, March 3 t.

68th Foot—Lieutenant Francis Coutts Paul Amedee
Stuart to be captain, by purchase, vice Kennedy, who
retires ; Ensign William George Stephenson to be Lieu-
tenant, by pnrchase, vice Stuart ; Joseph Henry Vis-
count Russburough to be Ensign, by purchase, vice Ste-
venson, March 31.

75th Foot—Lieutenant John Selwyn Payne, from
half-pay 39 thyoot, to be Lieutenant, vice Cox, promoted,
March 31.

79th Foot—Ensign Edward William Cuming to be
Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Leader, who retires; Ro-
bert Tod Boothby, Gent., to be Ensign, by purchase,
vice Cuming, March 31.
84th Foot—Sergeant-Major Archibald Elliott to be
Ensign, without purchase, vice Macbean, deceased,
March 31.

89th Foot—Lieutenant Alexander M'Geachy Alleyne
to be Captain, by purchase, vice D'Arcy, who retires ;
Ensign George Pinckney Atkinson, to be Lieutenant,
by purchase, vice Alleyne ; Charles lleycock, Gent., to
be Ensign, by purchase, vice Atkinson, March 31.
93d Foot—Captain James White, from half-pay
Unattached, to be Captain, vice John Ambrose
Russell, who exchanges ; Lieutenant Alex.
ander Sebastian Leith hay to be Cap-
tain, by purchase, vice White, who retires; Ensign John
Alexander Fraser to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice
Hay; Frederick William Burroughs, Gent., to be En-
sign, by purchase, vice Fraser, March 31.
95th Foot—George Wightman, Gent., to be Ensign,
without purchase, vice Shipley, appointed to the 64th
Foot, March 31.
Cape Mounted Riflemen—Ensign Richard Jennings
Bramly to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice William
Harvey, who retires; James Charles William Kippen,
Gent., to be Ensign, by purchase, vice Bramly, March 31.
Royal Newfoundland Companies—Captain Westcote
Witchurch Lyttleton, from 64th Foot, to be Captain,
vice Pattison, who exchanges, March 31.
BREVET. - Major William Fenwick Williams, of
Royal Artillery, to be Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army,
March 3L

UNATTACHED.—Lieutenant John Hamilton Cox,
from 75th Foot, to be Captain, without purchase,
March 31.

Commissions by the Lord-Lieutenant of Warwickshire.
Warwickshire Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry—
Captain the Honourable George Guy Greville, com-
monly called Lord Brooke, to be Lieutenant. Colonel
Commandant, vice the Right Honourable the Earl
of Aylesford, resigned March 6, 1848 ; Cornet the Hon.
Heneage Finch, commonly called Lord Guernsey,: to be
Major, vice King,: promoted; Lieutenant Robert John
Barnard, to be Captain, vice Lord Brooke, promoted,
March 23.

Commission by the Lord-Lieutenant of Yorkshire.
2d Regiment of West York Militia—Strafford Chandos
St. Leger (and not William St. Leger, as inserted in the
Gazette of the 10th instant), Gent., to be Ensign, Feb. 28.
ADMIRALTY, MARCH 21.
Corps of Royal Marines—Second Lieutenant Benjamin
Bousfield Ilerrick to be First Lieutenant, vice J. A.
Fynmore, resigned; Second Lieutenant Wynder Belby
Ireland to be First Lieutenant.
WHITEHALL, AfAßcu 11, 1848.
The Right Honourable Sir Thomas Wilde, Ifni ht
Lord Chief Justice of her Majesty's Court of Cepmon
Pleas at Westminster, has appointed Anthony norrex
Roger Micklefield, of Stoke Ferry, in the country of Nor-
folk, Gent. to be one of the Perpetual Commissioners for
taking the acknowledgments of deeds to be executed
by married women, under the Act passed for the aboli-
tion of fines, and recoveries and for the substitution of
more simple modes of assurance, in and for the county
of Norfolk.
BANKRUPTCIES SUPERSEDED.
Norley, cattle dealer, Paradise-street, Fins
Samuel Prentice, licensed victualler, Boxford, Suffolk.
bury.sam

BANKRUPTS.
Alfred Octavius Tanner, fruiterer, Edmonton, to sur-
render April 7, at half-past one, and May 12, at half-
past eleven„ at the Court of Bankruptcy. Cannan,
official assignee, Birchin-lane ; Towns, Devonshire-street,
Bisbopsgate.
William Beach, cutler, Salisbury, April 13, at half-
past one, and May 12, at half-past twelve, at the Court
of Bankruptcy. Cannan, official assignee, Birchin-lane;
Jones, Quality-court.
John Bates, watch maker, Kettering, Northampton-
shire, April 13, and May 12, at one, at
_the Court of