The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-16 00:00:00

ASIATIC MISSIONS.

Peels, ,OcT. 27.—Tne foreign missions here have
twice received from the East news important, if con-
firmed, not merely with regard to the missions them-
selves, but also in a political point of view. The ac-
counts are as yet vague and confused, but the next post
from India or the Levant must contradict or con-
firm them. The first intelligence was that all the
Chaldean Christians of Koordistan had been converted
to Protestantism. The Episcopal church of America
has for five years had an active mission at Urumea, on
the Persian frontier, in order to convert the Nestorian&
and Chaldean!. The English missions have also bad a
few missionaries among them, one of whom, Mr. Ras-
sam, is a man of mach talent. The American missions
follow a very sensible plan. They admit all who wish
for instruction into the schools and mission houses, and
content themselves with explaining the Bible and giving
instruction in different branches of useful knowledge,
without in the smallest degree opposing the religious
creeds and habits of their scholars and guests. Many
Nestorian Bishops have from time to time visited the
mission-houses, attended the schools, eaten at the tables
of the missionaries, and lived on the best terms with
them, for they saw that the Americans did not attempt
to destroy the Nestorian church, but only aimed at im-
proving the clergy, in order that the latter might them-
selves be enabled to improve their doctrine and liturgy.
They wished to reform the Church through the Church
itself; and if the tidings we have received are authentic,
they seem to have succeeded. The consequences will
be, that the foreign missions here will send a reinforce-
went of Catholic missionaries to Koordistan and Persia,
in order to oppose this unexpected movement. This
intelligence is of political interest, inasmuch as the Ca-
tholic party necessarily inclines to France, and the Pro-
testant to England, to whatever country the missionaries
themselves be'ong. The second intelligence, on the
contrary, is favourable to Catholicism and the French
interest, being a report of the death of the King of
Cochin China, Minh Menh, who had persecuted the
Christians, in the bitterest manner, ever since his ac-
cession in 1823, and particularly since the death of the
Vice-King of Camboja, who was favourable to them,
and who died in 1827. The whole history of the Ca-
tholic church in Cochin China is a history of martyrs,
filled with accounts of the banishment and execution of
the priests, the burning of Christian villages, and of a
system of cruel fanaticism, very foreign to the general
character of the Cochin Chinese. The letters of the
French missionaries are full of romantic histories of
flights and dangers in caves and morasses—of exile
among the barbarous tribes of the mountains, and par-
ticularly of the execution of European and native priests.
Minis Menh appears to have always looked with great
displeasure on the influence possessed by.the Bishop of
Adran and other priests over Ws father, and he ascribed
the subsequent insurrection in Camboja, which put his
government in so much danger, to the Catholics. Ten
years ago he drew up et"decalogue, founded on the poli-
tical morality of the Chinese, which he made the State
religion. The missionaries describe him as half insane,
but the testimony of persecuted enemies is hardly to be
but he had not talent enough to train his
prises, and he relied chiefly on
dana
vsoeartaela.
tforruesitgend. He passed a great part of his life in civil and
He
of 'navy, which consisted
croberioeepiill
yea' :8047 af
few
wHt al prises,
American
erdirec
and of two steam-
' boats which 1 e obtained from Calcutta, and which he
hoped to use against his enemies the Siamesehis land
; b
army lie strengthened by Malays from
he disciplined to a certain degree. r His Celebes,wars, however.wa whom
were always unsuccessful, and ruined his people. Whe-
ther the Catholic party will now obtain the upper hand
remains to be seen, but it is not impossible, for it is the
only element of concord in the miserable country ; and
it is certain that the nation was in a much better state
under the influence of the Bishop of Adran than it was
during the so-called national government of Minh
Menh. This intelligence is as yet very uncertain, and
requires confirmation.—illlgenteine Zeitung.

SEIZURE FOR EASTER DUES.—On Saturday
last the houses of Mr. David Weatherhead, grocer. and
Mr. W. Rhodes, milk vender, Keighley, were entered by
three men appointed by the Rev. W. Busfield, the Rector
of Keighley, for the purpose of making a seizure for
Easter Dues. They took a table and a mahogany
desk from Mr. Weatherhead's, and an eight day clock
from Rhodes'. This being the first event
kind which ever took place in the town, (the late
Rector only collecting the dues of Church people)
it created a great sensation, and on Tuesday the
walls were covered with placards of the most
scurrillous description. Notice of the sale of the siezed
goods was given for Thursday, at one o'clock, and at
that hour an immense assemblage had congregated in
the Market Place. When the goods were brought out
they were all broken to pieces before they could be got
through the crowd and had to beput up for sale in frag-
ments, amid the hootings of the assembled multitude.
They were ultimately sold for a few shillings, a sum
not sufficient to pay expenses. The mob then proceeded
to. the Rectory, to groan their disapprobation, and when
our correspondent's letter left, had again assembled in
the }Market-place.--Leeds Times.