The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-09 00:00:00

TESTIMONIAL TO THE BRAZI

LIAN CONSUL AT LIVERPOOL.
Liverpool, Aug. 10, 1846.
Dear Sir,—The merchants and shipowners of this
port connected with the Brazil trade, whose names we
beg to hand you herewith, being desirous, on the occa-
sion of your leaving Liverpool for the metropolis, to
mark their appreciation of the kindness and attention
you have uniformly exercised towards them, and also
their approbation of the efficient and courteous manner
with which you have fulfilled your official duties during
tea years' residence in this important commercial town,
wad having deputed the undersigned to constitute a com-
mittee for the purpose of carrying their views into effect,
we have much pleasure in presenting for your accept-
ance th© accompanying service of -plate, as a token of
esteem, which we trust you will receive with feelings of
gratification equal to those with Which it is offered.
With best wishes for your future welfare and happi-
ness, we have the honour to remain, dear Sir,
Your most obedient servants,
_BENJAMIN DARBYSHIRE.
J. M. BRAGA.
WILLIAM HADFIELD.
JOSEPH PATER. _
JAMES RYDER.
ROBERT AKED.
The Chevalier da Silva, Brazilian Consul-General,
Liverpool.
Names of the Subscribers to the Testimonial presented
to the Chevalier da Silva, Brazilian Consul-General at
Liverpool:—J. Bramley Moore, Esq. ; Messrs. Samuel
Johnston and Co. ; M‘Calmont, Brothers, and Co. ;
William and James Tyrer; Crabtree, Aked, and Co.;
Cotesworth, Wynne, and Lyne ; Ashly, Brothers ;
James Rider, Esq.; Braga and Co.; M'Tear and Had-
field ; Charles Ironside and Co.; Stewart, Ker, and Co.;
Imrie and Tomlinson ; Harrisons and Latham ; Higgin
and Lane ; James Dalglish and Co. ; Benjamin Darby-
shire, Esq.; Todd, Naylor, and Co.; Edward Jones and
Co. ; William Moon, Esq. ; Lyon and Fynney ; Robert
Singlehurst and Co. ; C. and F. L. Schwind.—Liver-
pool, 101 h. August, 1846.

Liverpool, Aug. 12, 1846.
Dear Sir,—l beg to acknowledge the receipt of the
letter which you did me the honour to address to me on
the 10th instant, accompanying the service of plate
which the merchants and shipowners of this important
commercial town, connected with the Brazil trade, have
deigned, through you, to present to me, as well as a
token of their esteem, as a mark of their satisfaction of
the manner in which I have, during a residence of ten
years, fulfilled my official duties as Consul-General for
the empire of Brazil in the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland.

I have received with unfeigned pleesure and feelings
of the greatest gratification these tokens of their esteem,
which I shall cherish as long as I live, and regard as a
proof of the approbation of so distinguished and inde-
pendent a body of the English nation. I only fear that
the fulfilment of such duties, on my part, may have
fallen short of the value which they so flatteringly have
been pleased to bestow upon them.
Before concluding, I beg to assure you that I shall
always bear a lively remembrance of the courtesy and
many acts of kindness which I have invariably received
from you, and the gentlemen whom you represent, and
that I shall deem it a pleasing duty to endeavour to
merit their continuance.

With these sincere feelings, and my warmest thanks,
which I beg ypu to accept, and to convey to the sub-
scribers, with the assurance of my distinguished consi-
deration, as well as best wishes tor your and their wel-
fare, I have the honour to remain, dear Sirs,
Your most obedient servant,
ANTONIO DA SILVA, junior.
To Joseph Pater, Esq., James Ryder, Esq., Robert
Aked, Esq., Benjamin Darbyshire, Esq., 3, Marques
Braga, Esq., William Hadfield, Esq., &c., &c.

BARON PLATT A BUTLER.—The worthy Baron
travelled nearly all night, in order to be in Wells as
early as possible on the following morning. On reach-
ing one-of the inns on the road, finding that Boniface'
had retired to the arms of Morpheus or his better half,
his Lordship attacked the door with such vehemence that
locks, bolts, and bars flew back, and admittance was
gained in a trice. lla.vihg fortified the inner man, his
Lordship was proceeding from the room be occupied to
his carriage, when he met " mine host." " What have
Ito pay?" he asked. "Oh, nothing, nothing," was the
answer, "we don't charge butlers when they bring their
masters here." The worthy justice shook his sides with
laughter at the idea of her Majesty's representative being
taken for a butler, and the sides of the generous host
shook under very different emotions when he discovered
that he had made so great a mistake.—Somerset County
Gazette.
How OLD IS OUit PLANET ?—Some years ago,
some person or other (in fact I believe it was myself)
published in this magazine a paper from the German of
Kant, on a very interesting question, viz„ the age of our
own little earth. Those who have never seen that paper,
a class of unfortunate people whom I suspect to form
rather the majority in our present perverse generation,
will be likely to misconceive its object. Kant's purpose
was, not to ascertain how many years the earth had lived:
a million of years, more or less, made very little differ-
ence to him. What he wished to settle was no such
barren conundrum. For, had there even been any means
of coercing the earth into an honest answer, on such a
delicate point, which the Sicilian canon, Recupero, fan-
cied there was, but which, in my own opinion, there
neither is, nor ought to be (since a man deserves to be
cudgelled who could put such improper questions to a
lady planet)—still what would it amount to ? Wha t
good would it do us to have a certificate of our dear little
mother's birth and baptism ? Other people—people in
Jupiter, or the Uranians—may amuse themselves with
her pretended foibles or infirmities: it is quite safe to do
so at their distance; and in a female planet like Venus,
it might be natural (though, strictly speaking, not quite
correct) to scatter abroad malicious insinuations, as
though our excellent little mamma had begun to wear
false hair, or had lost some of her front teeth. But all
this we men of sense know to be gammon. Our mother
Tellus, beyond all doubt, is a lovely little thing.
I am satisfied that she is very much admired throughout
the solar system, and, in clear seasons, when she is seen
to advantage, with her .bonny wee pet of a moon trip-
ping round /ter like a lamb, I should be thankful to any
gentleman who will mention where he has happened-to
observe, either he or his telescope, will he only have the
goodness to say, in what part of the heavens he has dis
- covered a more elegant turn out. I wish to make no
personal reflections. I name no names. Only this I
say, that though some people have the gift of seeing
things that other people never could see, and though
some other people are born with a silver spoon in their
mouths, so that, generally, their geese count far swans,
yet, after all, swans or geese, it would be a pleasure to
me, and really a curiosity, to see the planet that could
fancy herself entitled to sneeze at our earth. And
then, if she (viz., our earth) keeps but ono moon, even
that (you know) is an advantage as regards some people
that keep none. There are people, pretty well known
to you and me, that can't make it convenient to keep
even one moon. And so I come to my moral; which is
this, that, to all appearance,i
it is mere justice; but, sup-
posing it were not, still it s our duty (as children of
the earth), right or wrong, to stand up for our bonny
young
mamma, if she is young; or for our dear old
mother, if she is old; whether young or old, to take her
part against all comers; and, to argue through thick and
which (sober or not) I always attempt to do, that
she is the most respectable member of the Copernican
system,. -Ds Quincey, us rain MailMne!