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CHAP. that their labours in behalf of India had not been in vain. The missionaries and teachers of the natives at the various stations had been preserved and prospered. He particularly notices the diligence and success of the pious catechist, Sattianaden, at Palamcotta, and speaks with much pleasure of the soldiers in the garrison at Tanjore, who attended divine service both on Sundays and at the weekly evening lectures, which were frequented by great numbers. "To this," he says, "they are encouraged by the officers, who all confess that corporal punishments had ceased from the time that the regiment began to relish religious instruction."

In a subsequent letter, he informs the Society of some recent events, which he apprehended would tend to promote the diffusion of Christian knowledge in that part of India; and which certainly afforded fresh proofs of the high respect which was entertained for his character, both by the English government and the native princes, and the beneficial influence of his practical wisdom, integrity, and benevolence.

Peace had been restored to India; but the territory of Tanjore was still in a deplorable condition. The calamities consequent upon the unjust assumption of that province by the nabob, in the year 1773, and the subsequent devastation and ruin occasioned by the invasion of Hyder Ali, had

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reduced the rajah to great pecuniary distresses, CHAP. and rendered the closing years of his reign a painful contrast to the gaiety and splendour of his youth. Debilitated by an incurable disease, and overwhelmed with affliction by the premature loss of his son, his daughter, and his grandson, his only legitimate descendants, the unhappy Tuljajee, regardless of the consolations of that divine religion which had been repeatedly displayed before him by his friend and adviser, Swartz, retired in hopeless despondency to the recesses of his palace, from which he never afterwards emerged. Here, brooding over his public embarrassments and his private sorrows, his former mild and benevolent disposition appears to have been exchanged for harshness, and indifference to the sufferings of his people. Avarice became his ruling passion; and the collections from a country desolated by war and famine were barely adequate to supply his demands. At this period, the rajah lost his upright sirkeel, or prime minister, Buchenah, who was succeeded by Baba, a man of notoriously oppressive and rapacious character. Instead of relieving the distresses which the people had long suffered, this unprincipled minister augmented them to an intolerable degree, partly for the purpose of replenishing the rajah's treasury, and partly for his own individual advantage, by a system of the most atrocious injustice, cruelty,

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CHAP. and oppression. The people groaning under this barbarous misgovernment, and appealing to the rajah for redress in vain, at length abandoned their country, and fled in crowds to the neighbouring districts of Karical, Nagore, and Trichinopoly, in the former of which, then possessed by the French, they not only found a secure asylum, but were received with the utmost hospitality and kindness. Several populous towns and villages were deserted, and whole districts, for want of labourers, lay waste and uncultivated. The number of useful inhabitants who thus emigrated was estimated at sixty-five thousand.

Such was the melancholy state of Tanjore when Sir Archibald Campbell succeeded Lord Macartney as governor of Madras, one of the earliest measures of whose administration was to open a communication with the rajah, informing him of the representation which had been made to the English government, and entreating him to dismiss his oppressive Duan, and to appoint able and virtuous men to manage his affairs.

The rajah was offended at this interference, and endeavoured to excuse his own and his minister's conduct; but the attempt was unavailing. The inhabitants of the southern and western districts declared their determination not to cultivate their lands until a change should take place in the administration of Tanjore. In consequence of

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this declaration, the government of Fort St. CHAP. George resolved to take the temporary superintendence of Tanjore into their own hands; and for this purpose, in July 1786, appointed a committee of inspection, consisting of the resident, Mr. Hudleston, the commandant of the garrison, Colonel Stuart, and the paymaster, Mr. Hippisley, with very large powers, to watch over the affairs and interests of Tanjore.

With this committee Sir Archibald Campbell proposed to unite Mr. Swartz; observing, "There are abundant proofs on record of the zeal, ability, and services of the Rev. Mr. Swartz, whose accurate local knowledge, and facility in the country languages, and, above all, whose high estimation with the rajah, from an intercourse of thirty years, must render his assistance of essential consequence on such occasions.

"His presence, if possible, should always be requested in the committee, in which he should have an honorary seat, and he should also be desired to interpret and translate whatever may be necessary, and to subjoin his signature to all such examinations and translations,"

Shortly after this important appointment, Mr. Hudleston, proposed to the governor that Mr. Swartz should not only have a seat, but a voice in the committee; stating that he had exerted the political authority of his situation, “in con

1786.

CHAP. junction only with that excellent man," and adding, "It is, and will be as long as I live, my greatest pride, and most pleasing recollection, that from the moment of my entering on this responsible station, I have consulted with Mr. Swartz on every occasion, and taken no step of the least. importance without his previous concurrence and approbation; nor has there been a difference of sentiment between us in any one instance. Adverting only to the peculiar circumstances under which the committee begins its administration, and the prospect they present, you will, I am persuaded, sir, readily conceive of how serious a consideration it must be to me to have both the advice and effectual support of Mr. Swartz in the adoption of that conduct which our concurrent. judgment may approve. Happy, indeed," continued the resident, himself no mean judge of moral and political merit, "happy would it be for this country, for the Company, and for the rajah himself, when his eyes should be opened, if he possessed the whole authority, and were invested with power to execute all the measures that his wisdom and benevolence would suggest."

In reply to this communication, the governor expressed his entire acquiescence in the resident's suggestion, and added, "Such is my opinion of Mr. Swartz's abilities and integrity, that I have recommended to the board that he should be ad