in Court that the advance of Christianity is impeded by the irreligious conduct of many Europeans, I think such an expression of opinion on your part, when called upon to receive the sentence of this Court for libelling many of your countrymen, is rather out of place. And perhaps the great majority of the Europeans may think that your conduct has not done much to promote real practical Christianity. You of all men ought to have inculcated and stood forth as the teacher of that inestimable precept: "Do unto all men as you would they should do unto you." My duty is a distressing one, but I must not shrink from the performance of it. The sentence of the Court is that you pay a fine of Rs. 1000 to our Sovereign Lady the Queen, and that you be imprisoned in the Common Jail for the period of one calendar month, and that you be further imprisoned until the fine is paid.
ADDRESS OF THE REVEREND J. LONG TO THE COURT (BEFORE SENTENCE WAS PASSED).
My Lord,—As the result of this trial involves consequence extending far beyond the sphere of Calcutta, or even of India, I beg to submit, for your Lordship's consideration, the following points referring mainly to the motives which actuated me in publishing the Nil Durpan:—
Tried by the mode of a criminal prosecution in Court, I had no opportunity to make a personal statement to the Jury. I can only, previous to your passing sentence, mention what is personal to myself as to the motives which actuated me to publish the Nil Durpan, on the grounds of my being a Missionary, an expounder of Native feeling as expressed in the Native press, a friend to securing peace for Europeans in the country—and a friend to the social elevation of the Natives.
My Lord, it is now more than twenty years since I came to India. During that period I have never appeared in a Court of Justice as plaintiff or defendant; my occupations have been of a very different character, and my time has been spent chiefly among Natives, engaged in Vernacular teaching, in the charge of a body of Native Christians, and in the promotion of Christian Vernacular literature. These pursuits, along with my interest in the rural population, called my attention to the Vernacular press of India, its uses and defects, as well as its being
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