The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-28 00:00:00

We have received by the Overland Mail from India,
which has arrived this morning via Marseilles, intelli-
gence from India, which will be found in another
place. The preparations for the opening of the cam-
paign were going on, but some change in its direction
is indicated. An intended interview which the
GOVERNOR-GENERAL was to have had with RIJN-
JEET SINGII is said to have been given up, and the
troops are not to pass through his country. Many
doubts are expressed whether he may be relied on,
and whether it rill not be necessary to direct the
troops against him. A writer in the English-
man and Military Chronicle, published at Cal-
cutta on the 18th of September, implies that R urr-
JEET is prepared to try conclusions with us in
the field, and that he is at the head of a great com-
bination into which Persia, Russia, Nepaul. and Bur-
-rnah have entered to overthrow the power of England.
RUNJEET is at length distrusted, it is said, by the
GOVERNOR-GENERAL; and it is certain that the
troops are not to march through his territory. Whether
he is more afraid of our taking possession of it, or our
people are afraid of his treacherously attacking them,
we are not prepared to say ; but the doubts of his infi-
delity, which have before been expressed, and ~Which are
now strengthened, complicate very much the state of
affairs in India. It is stated, we have heard, by the
highest living authorities, that it would be little less
than madness to march the flower of our Indian army
to Caboul, and leave India exposed to tfle,iptrigues and
machinations of the native Princes, most-of -whom natu-
rally indisposed to our superiority, have been of late ex-
cited against us by the promises and intrigues of Rus-
sia. On the whole, we are induced to think that the news
by this mail is such as will not recommend the pro-
posed military movements in India to the approbation
of the public.
We must add, that all the letters, as we are in-
formed by a Correspondent, superscribed via Mar-
seilles, whether registered to the care of Mr. WAG-
HORN or not, reached London at one and the same
time, so that the public is not exclusively indebted to
Mr. WAGHORN'S agency for the transmission o
them, but to the care of the Post-office authorities.

'he barbarous proceedings of the Ecclesiastical
authorities in the case of Mr. CHILDS, by which that
gentleman was torn from the bosom of his family, and,
though labouring under a dangerous disorder, thrown
into a dungeon to expiate the enormous crime of re-
fusing to pay 17s. 6d. in support of a system of wor-
ship which he deems contrary to Scripture, are still
fresh in the recollection of the public. A similar
display of the tender mercies of the Church to those
who do not submit themselves implicitly to the
demands of their " spiritual pastors and masters" in
this matter of Church-ratesis, it is said, about to be
afforded at Leicester. It appears from a statement in
the Leicestershire Mercury, of Saturday last, that a
Mr. BAINEs of that town has been cited to appear in
the Eccles,astical Court in consequence of his non-
payment of Church-rates. If he do not appear in the
Common Hall, Doctors' Commons, within six days of
the service of the citation, he is guilty of " contu-
macy," arid to prison he must go. We wish the per-
secutors may not falter in their course. We sin-
cerely hope they may have pluck enough to carry on
the proceedings in the same spirit in which they have
commenced them. Mr. CHILDS' cruel imprisonment
was of in finite service to the opponents of Church-
rates. Before that event the cause languished ;it
then revived with new vigour, and a well organized
plan of agitation was formed which has been acted
upon ever since, with such success that the abolition
of the " nefarious exaction," as the Times justly de-
scribed it, is no longer a matter of doubt.
If Mr. BAINES have sufficient nerve to imitate the
excellent example of Mr. CHILDS, and to set the sur-
pliced exactors at defiance, a new stimulus will be
given to the agitation, and new converts will flock to
the standard of abolition, inscribed as it is with peace,
justice, and liberty.
It gives us great pleasure to find that the Dissenters
of Leicester have warmly espoused Mr. BAINES'
Cause, and are determined to support him to the ut-
most. This is only what it is their duty to do, and
Dot their duty alone, but that of every man in Leicester
who duly values the rights of conscience, and who
hates injustice and oppression, things detestable at
all times, but never so much so as when exemplified
in the conduct of those who pretend to be holier and
better than others.

We had hardly committed the foregoing remarks
to paper when we received from a respected Corres-
pondent a letter detailing as atrocious a case of cleri-
cal persecution, as has ever come to our knowledge-,
even in these days, when the Clergy seem to have
thrown off all the restraints of decency. From this
letter—which we have inserted in another column
—it appears that a Dissenter has been dragged
into the Spiritual Court by the Vicar of his parish,
and fined twenty pounds for—what do our readers sup-
pose ?—for not attending church ! Yes, incredible
as it may seem, a Clergyman of the Church of Eng-
'and has dared, in defiance of every law divine
and human, except the iniquitous law of a con-
science-coercing Establishment, to send to prison,
where he now lies without hope of release, a
fellow-creature, a fellow-Christian —if the perpe-
trator of such an act can be said to have any fellow-
ship in Christianity—because he could not, without