“But notwithstanding this severity of punishment there are numbers who eagerly seek these lucrative employments and even out-bid each other. The Brahmins are the worst in this traffic. When one of them has obtained a district he fleeces the inhabitants without remorse. At length when called upon by Hyder for his arrears he pleads poverty and having undergone a flagellation returns to renew his exactions. Can we be surprised if the people under such a Government lose all sense of shame?
“Hyder’s army is under the management of four chief officers (called baschi). They may be considered as paymasters but their office is not confined to paying the troops, as they have to provide for the recruiting service and to regulate other military matters, being likewise judges for the decision of private quarrels. With these people I often conversed. Some of them speak Persian, others only Hindustani, and all are Mohammedans. They once asked me what was the most acceptable prayer and to whom it ought to be addressed? I explained to them that as sinful creatures and therefore deserving eternal death, we could only approach the Almighty in the name of the Mediator, Jesus Christ, and then expounded the Lord’s Prayer. They next inquired whether the Lord Jesus in His Gospel had fixed the period of His coming and of the day of judgment. In reply to this I explained to them the doctrines of the Gospel, to some in Tamil, to others in Hindustani. As the household of Hyder consisted chiefly of Brahmins, I had very frequent conversations with them. Some of them gave me very modest answers, whilst others avoided the discussion and gave me to understand that they did not consider their temples to have been built in vain. ‘The building,’ I replied, ‘may be useful, but the idols you worship are worthless.’
“Without the fort several hundred Europeans were encamped, some of them were French, others German. I also met with a few Malabar Christians, whom I had instructed at Trichinopoly. To find them in that country, far from all Christian ordinances, was painful, but to renew the instruction which they had formerly received was very comfortable. Captain Buden, the commander of the German troops, lent me his tent, in which I performed Divine Service every Sunday, without asking permission, acting in this as one bound in conscience to do his duty. We sang, preached and prayed, no one presuming to hinder us. The whole I considered as a kind providence of God.
“To Hyder’s palace high and low came, inquiring of me the nature of the Christian doctrine, so that I could speak as long as my strength allowed. Hyder’s younger son (not Tippoo), seeing me in the Durbar or hall of audience, saluted me in a friendly manner and invited me to pay him a visit in his own apartments. I told him I would come most cheerfully, provided his father would give permission, since to do so, without his consent, might prove injurious both to himself and to me. Of this he was perfectly aware. Even the most intimate friends do not venture to speak their mind freely. Hyder has everywhere his spies, but I knew very well that on the subject of religion I might discourse day and night without fear of giving him the least offence.
“When I was admitted to an audience Hyder bade me sit next to him on the floor, which was covered with the richest carpets, and I was not required to take off my shoes. He listened to all I had to say, expressed himself in a very frank and open manner, and told me that notwithstanding the Europeans had violated their public engagements, he was willing to live in peace with them. A letter was then read to me which had been prepared by his order. ‘In this letter,’ said he, ‘I have stated the substance of our conversation but you will be able to give further explanations personally.’ Hyder seemed by this expression to consider my visit as the preliminary to a treaty of peace, but the Nabob at Madras defeated all these intentions. While sitting near Hyder I was struck with the expeditious manner in which the public business was dispatched. When he had ceased conversing with me some letters were read to him and he dictated an immediate answer. The secretaries hastened away, wrote the letter, read it before him and he affixed his seal to it. In this way many letters were written in the course of the evening. Hyder himself can neither read nor write, but he has an excellent memory. Few have the courage to impose upon him. He orders one to write a letter and then has it read to him, after which he calls another and hears it read a second time, and if the secretary has not strictly conveyed his meaning, or has in the least deviated from his orders, his head pays for it.
“I frequently sat with him in a room adorned with marble pillars, opening into the garden, which though not large, as it could not be in the fort, was neatly laid out with trees which were grafted and bore two kinds of fruit, rows of cypresses, fountains, etc. Observing a number of youths carrying earth in the garden, I inquired respecting them and was told that Hyder had established a battalion of boys, all of whom were orphans and whom he had taken under his protection, boarding and clothing them and furnishing them with wooden guns for the purpose of their exercise. This care of poor orphans really pleased me and I wish our Government would in this particular imitate the example and improve upon it, particularly as to religious instruction, so as it becomes Britons and as God will certainly require it at our hands, who hath armed us with power, that we should use it chiefly for His service and glory and not merely for our own. On the last evening, when I took my leave of Hyder, he requested me to speak Persian before him, as I had done with some of his attendants. Of this language he understood a little, but he does not speak it. I did so and explained the motives of my journey to him. ‘You may perhaps wonder,’ said I, ‘what could have induced me, a priest, who has nothing to do with political concerns, to come to you, and that on an errand which does not properly belong to my sacerdotal functions. But as I was plainly told that the sole object of my journey was the preservation and confirmation of peace, and having witnessed more than once the misery and horrors attending on war, I thought within my own mind how happy I should esteem myself if I could be of service in cementing a durable friendship between the two Governments, and thus securing the blessings of peace to this devoted country and its inhabitants. This I considered as a commission in no wise inconsistent with my office as a missionary of religion of peace.’ He said with great cordiality, ‘Very well, very well! I am of the same opinion with you, and my only wish is that the English would live in peace with me. If they offer me the hand of peace and concord I shall not withdraw mine provided ——.’”
What those provisions were was never known. The interview was over, and apparently the tyrant must have showed to Schwartz his better side, for there was nothing in his actions to indicate any desire for peace or the good of humanity. A despot who pitilessly slew his enemies without mercy, whose officials high and low lived in a reign of abject terror, who had depopulated entire districts with the sword and whose ferocity had not even the limitations of any religious consideration, was hardly the man to appreciate any proposals for peace and goodwill. On the other hand, it speaks well for the influence of a pure and fearless personality like that of Schwartz that he could have instantly inspired respect and attention. When he left Hyder he found a handsome present in his palaquin, which he would have returned forthwith but the officials assured him it would imperil their lives for him to act so contrary to the etiquette of Hyder’s court.
Although in his journal no further particulars are given of this interview, amongst the papers of the late Mr. Huddleston was found a note of what Schwartz had told him respecting the attitude of Hyder.
“In his very first interview Hyder told him that he was made an instrument to cover intentions and views very different from the purity of his own mind, that the English had adopted the designs of his enemy (the Nabob) and that it was now too late to convince him that they had altered their policy or that they entertained any views really friendly towards him. He then requested Mr. Schwartz not to renew the subject, but assured him that for any other purpose he was welcome to stay in Seringapatam and should receive every attention and might come to his Durbar as often as he pleased, and thus remarkably concluded ‘that he had also his free permission to try to convert any of his people to his religion, if he thought he could succeed, for he was sure he would say nothing improper to them, or that would tend to injure his authority.’”
Doubtless the character of the English, as represented by the policy of the East India Company, fully justified the suspicions of Hyder; indeed, in the letter which Schwartz brought back, there was a haughty recital of the misdeeds of the Company, military and civil, and concluding with these terrible words, bespeaking the vindictive spirit of the writer: “I have not yet taken my revenge and it is no matter. When such conduct is pursued what engagements will remain inviolate? I leave you to judge on whose part treaties and promises have been broken. You are acquainted with all things, it is right to act with prudence and foresight.”