1700.] THE MADURA MISSION. 263 successor obtained considerable influence at the court of the Emperor Akbar. In the eastern provinces of India, the French missionaries of Pondicherry succeeded in making their way through the district of Tanjore to the ancient Hindoo kingdom of Madura. During the reign of Louis XIV., their missions, then chiefly conducted by the Jesuits, excited considerable attention. The reports of the missionaries, published in the collection termed "Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses," were referred to triumphantly by the adherents of Rome, as evidences of their Church's zeal and pious activity, while they pointed disdainfully to the apathy and indolence of the reformed communions. Very soon, however, it was rumoured that the Jesuits of Madura had but little cause to glory in their successful proselytism. The other missionary orders complained that their astute colleagues used artifices unworthy of Christian integrity, and adulterated the doctrines of the Gospel to suit the taste of their Hindoo converts. An envoy from Rome examined these allegations on the spot, and censured severely the practices and teaching of the missionaries. A large number of these so-called converts subsequently apostatized to Mohammedanism, under the iron rule of Tippoo Sultan; and since that period Roman Catholic missions have been sensibly on the decline. At present a furious schism prevails between the Portuguese ecclesiastics and the Irish missionaries of the Propaganda, the latter of whom have attempted to supersede the former, in those stations where the Company's political authority is recognised. Anathemas and angry denunciations are mutually exchanged by the contending parties, whose quarrels scandalize their adherents, and add strength to the Protestant cause. The Portuguese Church in India is governed by two archbishops, occupying respectively the sees of Goa and Cranganore. Under these are the bishops of St. Thomé, (the ancient Meliapore,) near Madras, and of Cochin, on the Malabar coast. The settlements of the Dutch and Danes in Ceylon, and on the Indian Continent, witnessed the first exertions of Protestant missionaries. The Dutch converted to a nominal Christianity, of somewhat questionable. character, 340,000 Cingalese; but in Hindoostan they have left no traces whatever of their ecclesiastical polity. Like the Jesuit converts of Madura, the Dutch Christians mingled many, if not the whole, of their heathen rites with the ceremonies of evangelical worship, while they displayed a marked ignorance of the doctrines and practices enjoined by the Gospel. The external profession of Christianity, however, being required as an indispensable qualification for office, it can scarcely be a matter of surprise that many should embrace it, uninfluenced by genuine convictions, and solely from interested motives. The The efforts of the Danish mission were more deserving of commendation. At the commencement of the eighteenth century, Frederick IV. of Denmark despatched Ziegenbalg and Plutscho to the ancient Danish settlement of Tranquebar, on the Coromandel coast. former pursued his zealous and self-denying labours for twelve years before he revisited Europe. Within that period he translated the Scriptures into Tamul, for the benefit of his converts, who, though not numerous, seem to have been carefully trained and diligently instructed in the truths of Christianity. While on a visit to England, Ziegenbalg was presented to George I., and also to Archbishop Wake, by whom he was warmly recommended to the Christian Knowledge Society. The successors of this indefatigable missionary showed themselves not inferior to him in zeal, and their pious labours gradually augmented the number of the converts. In 1787, they reckoned these latter at about 17,700, inclusive of East Indians. Subsequently, the 1737.] . PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 265 exertions of the missionaries being crippled for want of funds, they agreed to transfer some of their congregations and schools to the care of the Christian Knowledge Society. That Society had made grants to the Indian missions as early as the year 1710; and an English Chaplain some time afterwards established a school at Madras, which he placed under the charge of the Danish missionary, Schultze, who soon collected around him a respectable native congregation of about 150 souls. Up to this period it does not appear that the English settled in India used any direct means for the conversion of the natives, although the earlier documents of the Company seem to contemplate such exertions as not only laudable, but absolutely imperative. The Charter of 1698 made provision, that a minister and schoolmaster should be appointed to every factory, specifying also that they were to learn the "Portuguese and Hindu languages, to enable them to instruct the Gentoos and others in the Christian religion." In February 1659, a despatch records the earnest desire of the Company "for the propagation and spread of the Gospel in those parts." Again, in 1677, "one hundred Bibles and two hundred Catechisms" are sent out, for the use of the factories, with a schoolmaster, part of whose duties is the instruction of " Portuguese and Gentoo children in the principles of the Protestant religion." In 1737, the missionaries, Sartorius and Geisler, founded the Protestant mission at Cuddalore. Fifteen years afterwards, the Court of Directors empower their representatives at Madras to present the missionaries with " any sum of money not exceeding five hundred pagodas," as "a further encouragement to them to exert themselves in propagating the Protestant religion." It is directed at the same time, that the "use of a church in Cuddalore and in Madras" be accorded to the missionaries. At that period, also, the government presented the Cuddalore mission with a donation of some tracts of land. These facts sufficiently prove, that up to a comparatively recent time, the Court of Directors, and their servants in India, were not imbued with the antichristian dread of missions and missionaries which characterised some of them at a later date. They also show that, during the rise of the English power, a period when the conciliation of native prejudices had become imperative, no one ever imagined for an instant, that the Hindoos would feel alarmed at any efforts made, even with the sanction of government, for the propagation of the Christian religion. The labours of Gerickè established the mission of Negapatam, while Christian Frederick Swartz preached the Gospel in Trichinopoly and Tanjore. The rajah of the lastmentioned province confided his son to the care of the Christian teacher, and made many munificent donations to the mission. The virtues of Swartz impressed with admiration and respect even the stern and sanguinary Hyder Ali, who designated him as "the only European whom he could trust." A flat stone near the pulpit of the church at Tanjore marks the last resting-place of the great missionary. Upon its surface is graven an epitaph in English verse, composed by the royal pupil of the deceased, who loved him with the tenderness of a son while living, and was the first to honour his memory after his departure.* Near this humble tomb * The inscription is as follows: "Firm wast thou, humble and wise; 1813.] OPPOSITION TO MISSIONS. 267 even the heathen sometimes kneel in prayer, deeming that the relics of its occupant invest the locality with special sanctity, while the native Christian rarely pronounces the venerated name of the departed without an epithet of reverence, called forth by grateful recollections of the holiness and zeal which distinguished the saintly character of "Father Swartz." During the year 1813, the discussions incident upon the renewal of the Company's charter elicited from many eminent persons in England earnest representations with regard to the spiritual wants of India. It was felt very generally, that the political advantages so rapidly acquired in that country, demanded imperatively some expression of gratitude to the Great Giver of all these national blessings, and that the most obvious manifestation of this feeling would be honour and support rendered to the cause of Christianity in the east. The Christian Knowledge Society forwarded an address on this occasion to the government, through the medium of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in which they respectfully solicited the attention of the legislature to the defective character of the Church in India, as well as to the increasing religious wants of that country. No sooner, however, were these and similar sentiments publicly expressed, than a storm of opposition encountered the benevolent efforts of the friends of Christianity. Foremost in the ranks of these opponents appeared the greater part of the men who had resided in India, and their opinion naturally tended to influence large numbers at home. The causes of this not very creditable feeling on the part of the Indian ex-officials, may perhaps be traced in some measure to the infidel sentiments so generally diffused during the last century by the French sceptical writers; to the indifference and ignorance generated by the want of Christian ordinances in India; as well as to the cold |