First Quarter Session
On November 15, 1853, the first court of the quarter sessions of the County of Elgin opened at St. Thomas in the Town Hall, with David John Hughes presiding. Judge Hughes delivered the following address:
GENTLEMEN OF THE GRAND JURY, -
“It is usual for the presiding Justice at our criminal courts to address to grand inquests, remarks upon the duties which have met together in our relative capacities, I think the occasion a becoming one for congratulating you and the inhabitants of this fine county in general, in being now separated from the senior county for the transaction of all the judicial, municipal and other business of our inhabitants.
Any one who has lived in what was the London district for twenty years; and who will look back upon the time when, with little better than a mere track to guide or assist them, most of the settlers were obliged to travel the primeval forest to distances of fifty or sixty miles to attend courts, and for other purposes in the ways of business, and who now have public offices almost brought within reach of their own doors, cannot but feel thankful that a gracious Providence has favored the county and its inhabitants with such prosperity – a prosperity which is still on the increase, at a rate surpassing the expectations of the most sanguine.
If we look beyond the limits of our own county and view the Province at large, we see progress and prosperity, peace, contentment, and general happiness surrounding us. We find the minds of the people progressing too, for with a bountiful provision for schools and a well ordered system, the rising generations are enabled, and doubtless will keep pace with their monetary prosperity.
The encouragement that agriculture has met with in an increased demand for the staple produce of the county, and remunerative prices will call for an improved system of tilling the fields. The encouragement given to manufacturers by the increased consumption, justifies enterprise in an increase of fabrics: and all these call forth the necessary supply of improved and cultivated minds – so that enquiry is awakened, and the benefit of our schools and colleges is every year becoming more and more appreciated and will be so much better attended and encouraged that they will themselves improve in their standard and tone, so that Canada in one or two generations will be equal, if not successfully rival, parts of the world which are now considered amongst the freest and most contented.
We enjoy a liberty in our civil and religious affairs which admits not only to a freedom of thought, but action. We can watch our very rulers, and have the means in our hands of curbing usurpation of power or infringements of rights by the privileges we can exercise of approving or disapproving of the advisers of the crown. We can worship the Almighty in our own way: no one venturing to disturb or make us afraid. We can educate our children almost entirely at the public expense, and place them within reach of the highest honors that their talents entitle them to, or that the country can bestow. The time has gone by for those honors to belong only to a class: or when promising aspirants can be successfully frowned upon by those who fancy that they hold a prescriptive right to them: and the time has arrived for men not to be judged by the occupations they are day by day employed in, but by the integrity of their purposes, the cultivation of their minds, the uprightness of their characters, and their successfulness in accomplishing some good for themselves and their fellow men.
In entering upon the duties of the office I fill, I must confess my misgivings as to the ability to discharge them aright. They are onerous, responsible, and will be at times arduous and disagreeable. I depend upon the forbearance of those with whom I shall be brought in contact, and claim their assistance and advice when necessity shall suggest it. I desire to see the great body of the people, whose business or affairs shall be brought under my judicial notice, satisfied that justice and right are aimed at, however, I may fall short in administering them and in my magisterial capacity I rely upon the aid of my brother magistrates to further these motives; for I doubt not that by mutually according to one another, integrity of purpose, (as I shall at times desire to attribute to them) we shall be able to accomplish much good in the way of checking vice and setting a good example to the several neighborhoods we respectively inhabit.
The County Buildings are not yet quite completed, but I am informed that before the next sessions, the Court may be held in them: and when finished I am satisfied they will not be surpassed in beauty, convenience and comfort by any in the Province.”