The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-02 00:00:00

DOMESTIC SERVITUDE IN NEW

YORK.

There are between ten and twelve thousand girls and
women in New York, living in the various degrees of

domestic servitude, from nurse and lady's maid —to scul-
lion and women of all work. As near as it is possible
to estimate, from the means of information within our
reach; from seven to eight thousand of these are Irish,
two thousand German, and the others American, French,

&c. Of the Irish about four-fifths are Catholics ; of the
Germans about one-half. _

There is a kind of tacit understanding, very nearly
approaching a regularly organized combination, among
the servant girls in regard to prices, conditions, and pri-
vileges to be exacted from employers, limitation of duties
to a particular branch, &c. &c., which is kept up by the
intelligence offices, and they in turn are supported by
the fees exacted from the girls. Whatever is paid to
these offices by employers is out of the regular way, and
is regarded as clear profit. The keeper, generally
speaking, does not feel that any obligation to treat you
with candour and sincerity in recommending girls to you
is implied by your paying him a fee. He also receives
pay from the servants themselves, and that regularly—
so it is to his interest to be of their party. The
servants also have a system by which they are en-
abled to act in some degree independently in leaving
their situations. Whenever one thinks she is imposed
upon, the invariable plan is to threaten to leave the
situation at once, instead, as in other kinds of employ-
ment, of being fearful of losing it. A girl leaving her
place under these circumstances has her board paid until
she obtains another. This independence is often exer-
cised very injudiciously, and is perpetually creating dif-
ficulties, quarrels, and disruptions between parlour and
kitchen, in which the mistress of the establishment
usually suffers most. It is very easy to understand, how-
ever, that the general want of sympathy between em-
ployed and employer consequent upon our present
system of domestic servitude, and the total absence of
real interest felt by the one for the other, should have
resulted in this combination on the part of the weaker
party. Indeed, the immorality and barbarous absurdity
of the whole system of slavery is nowhere more pain-
fully apparent than in our domestic servitude, where
those delicate, tender, and sacred offices which nothing
but true love and affection can render agreeable or
scarcely endurable from one to another, are farmed out
to be done for the lowest and most exclusively mercenary
considerations—considerations which imply, from very
necessity, that the servant should get off with the smallest
possible amount of labour, while the employer insists on
getting as much work as practicable fdr his money. Thus
originates and is kept alive that mean, harrassing, and
revolting strife—that cold-victual and old-frock struggle
—which too often renders the private dwelling, which
should be the very temple of peace and shrine of love,
what we need not attempt to describe.
Instances, however, are to be met where the real
goodness of human nature shows itself under all disad-
vantages. Many families have old and faithful domes-
tics who share the love and respect of husband, wife,
and children—who are tenderly nursed in sickness, com-
fortably provided for in health, and never driven or
treated with harshness. Such instances we might de-
tail at length ; but beautiful and refreshing as they are,
they are too few to change the general aspect of the sys•
tem we are considering. They are not created by, but
flourish in despite of it.
The wages received by servant girls vary from 4 dolls.
to 8 dolls., and even 10 dolls. per month, exclusive of
board and lodging, and time to do their own washing
and mending. Few, however, have either time or
ability to make even their commonest dresses, and these
are put out to poor seamstresses and paid for, neces-
sarily, at the most miserable prices. The girls gene-
rally imbibe from their mistresses the worst and most
pernicious of all domestic follies—a love for finery; and
with her hard-earned monthly wages in her hand the
servant steals away to Chatham-street to bedizen herself
in the cast-off and vulgar imitations of the only a little
less vulgar finery which her mistress sports in Broad-
way. About a fair average of the wages received by
servant girls would be 6 dolls. per month. Mere drudgers
and slop-women, just arrived in the country and com-
pletely ignorant of everything pertaining to life above
the mud hovel and its simple accessories, receive about
4 dolls. a month. Good chambermaids and general
houseworkers get from 5 dolls. to 6 dolls.; cooks, ladies'
maids, nurses, table waiters, &c., &c., are better paid—
the highest prices being paid to tose who can take
charge of children (these are what may be denominated
a " real blessing to fashionable mothers "), and who
understand mending and getting up laces and fine linen.
Good laundresses generally, when they go out to ser-
vice, unite the duties of cook or chambermaid, and thus
become in great demand. Some wealthy families em-
ploy a laundress exclusively, who receives 10 dolls., or
sometimes 12 dolls. per month, and is allowed many pri-
vileges because she is indispensable in getting up the
ladies' finery. Nurses in such families are also well
paid, and, besides, receive a great many " veils " in the
shape of cast-off but scarcely soiled clothing, &c., &c.
The physical wants of the servant are generally better
supplied than those of any other class of working women.
They always manage to secure enough, and of the best,
to eat, and their sleeping accommodations are generally
pretty decent, although in the latter particular they
sometimes suffer severely—being thrust into noxious
dark bed-rooms or unventilated garrets and lofts. The
worst instances of this occur in boarding-houses, espe-
cially the cheap ones.
But of the intellectual and moral advantages of the
servant girls we have nothing to say. Their condition
in these respects is disgraceful to civilisation, which not
only permits and sanctions, but positively seems to en-
force it. If the servant herself is a Catholic, she gene-
rally stipulates for an opportunity of attending to
her religious duties every other Sunday afternoon or
evening—changing off with the cook, chambermaid, &c.,
so that the house shall never be " left alone." But be-
yond this there is no vestige of humanity or enlighten.
ment in the American kitchen, any more than in the
negro-hut of the Southern planter. The family circle,
the school, the library, the fire-side talk—often even the
altar of family prayer—are forbidden to the inmates of
the kitchen; they rarely think of obtruding themselves
there, nor is their presence dreamed of by the mis-
tresses. They are of the family, yet apart from it;
they have no friends to care for them save those as de-
graded and unfortunate as themselves, therefore they
are left to live in ignorance and complete isolation from
those whose happiness and peace are so intimately inter-
woven with theirs as to seem to render such a disunion
most fatal if not utterly impossible. This separation of
interests among members of the same family is the great
curse of private life. Suspicion, treachery, meanness,
fraud, oppres,ion, hatred, malice, and revenge, are its in-
evitable consequences; and under these malign influences
what wonder is it that servants grow to be what they are
so generally and unhesitatingly denounced, even in their
very presence—pests and curses —New York Tribune.

MADAGASCAR, MAURITIUS, SEPT. 17, 1845.—The
following intelligence, which is extracted from a Bourbon
paper, was received by the last arrival, and has been trans-
mitted by Captain 15innid, commanding the French brig
Sans Souci :—The brig Sans Souci sailed from Bourbon the
24th July, for Fort Dauphin (Madagascar), and anchored on
the 6th August, after having met with very bad weather.
On their arrival, the captain and supercargo went on shore,
where they were met by one of the Hova chiefs,
who told them that, having received from the que, n
a formal order, under pain of death, not to allow the
exportation any merchandise of any kind, they were only
wasting their time if they expected they could get a cargo.
Water and fresh provisions were equally refused. The next
day Captain Pinnid was getting ready to weigh, when a
signal was made that a vessel was in sight. This induced
him to stay. In the evening a Dutch ship, of about 1,200
tons, the Prince Henry, Captain Feyfer, came to anchor.
The Dutch captain, and the supercargo of the ship, M. Le-
guevel de Lacombe, who at first called himself by another
name, appeared annoyed at finding the San Souci in the
harbour. They stated that they came in for provisions; but
it was evident that some mystery was lurking under their voy-
age, as the arrangements on board indicated a longer stay than
that of a vessel merely calling in for provisions. The next
day the boat of the Sans Souci, manned by six men, disap-
peared. It has been asserted that she was sunk by tl e
Novas; but all attempts to find the men, or hear of their
fate, have been fruitless. Shortly after the supercargo of the
Sans Souci received a letter from Captain Pinnid, informing
him that he was detained a prisoner, and forty dollars de-
manded for his ransom. All protest was vain ; the
money was, therefore, paid, and the captain released.
In the meantime, a certain quantity of gunpowder
was landed from the Dutch ship, and guns fired
by the Hovas as a token of rejoicing. While
this was going on, an officer from the Dutch ship came on
board, and told us that his vessel was loaded with powder
and ammunitions of war—that they had on board guts,
engineers, smiths, &c.—that they were bound to Fort
Dauphin, Manouron, and Tamatave, and were to be full med
by two other vessels, consigned to and under the immediate
and sole control of M. de Lacombe, the supercargo of the
Prince Henry. He stated further that they came from the
Mauritius. Henry.
the 12th the Sans Souci weighed anchor.
Shortly after twe vessels hove in sight, probably those ex-
pected at Fort Duaphin."—Nanchester Guardian.