Schwarz, CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH

Schwarz, CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH, a German missionary in India, was born at Sonnenburg, in Brandenburg, 8th October 1726. He studied at Halle, and, having resolved to become a missionary, obtained ordination at Copenhagen, with the view of joining the Danish mission at Tranquebar, where he arrived in 1750. His career is a beautiful example of what may be accomplished when piety, integrity, good sense, and a charity that knows how to prevent the virtue of zeal from lapsing into fanaticism are united harmoniously in a man. After labouring sixteen years at Tranquebar he went to Trichinopoly, where he founded a church and school, and also acted as chaplain to the garrison. In 1769 he gained the friendship of the Rajah of Tanjore, and removed to his capital in 1778; there he died on 13th February 1798. He was highly successful in making converts to Christianity, and gained the esteem and confidence of the native rulers, including Hyder Ali, of Mysore, who, when he was arranging terms of peace with the Madras government, demanded that Schwarz should act as their agent—'him, and no other one,' said the sultan, 'will I receive and trust.' The Rajah of Tanjore, before he died, appointed Schwarz tutor and guardian of his young son, who turned out one of the most accomplished sovereigns of India. See the Life of Schwarz by H. N. Pearson (1855).