From the Kentish Gazette, 24 October 1837.

EAST KENT QUARTER SESSIONS.

On Friday the Michaelmas Session was held at St. Augustine's, before William Deedes, Esq., (Chairman), and the following magistrates:—J. P. Plumptre, Esq., J. B. Wildman, Esq., the Rev. Dr. Poore, R. Halford, Esq., Dr. Carter, G. Gipps, Esq., W. O. Hammond, Esq., Viscount Strangford, Archdeacon Croft, W. C. Fairman, Esq., &c.

The Chairman, in delivering his charge to the Grand Jury, expressed the pleasure he felt in bearing testimony to the readiness and alacrity which distinguished this part of the county, in there always being a good attendance of persons to serve on the Grand Jury. However inconvenient (said the hon. gentleman) it may he to many of us to leave our business, yet we cannot but recollect that we owe a duty to the country, which we are bound to perform at any personal inconvenience to the best of our judgment. In allusion to the Proclamation which had been read for the suppression of vice, &c., the Chairman observed, that it reminded them of another important duty which all of them, collectively and individually, had to perform out of court, but which he feared too many of them were not so careful of as they might be. He could not but think that if more attention were paid by them in their several parishes to the moral state of the people, much crime would be prevented. They would, as in most cases, be able to trace some of the offences presented in the calendar then before them, to the want of attendance in public places of worship, and to the frequenting, at all times, public-houses and beer-shops, where schemes were concocted which subsequently led the parties into the commission of crime, which even they themselves did not originally contemplate. It was highly important that they should do their utmost to suppress vice wherever it was engendered, and their bounden duty as masters to prevent their servants keeping irregular hours in attending such places at a time when the law required them to be closed; and he was sure it would advance the general good if they endeavoured to preserve good order and regularity, and to promote morality among the lower classes. The Hon. gentleman in conclusion said, he was not aware that there were any cases in the calendar demanding particular observations from him; though there were several for their consideration, still they were not of a very serious nature. With these few remarks he dismissed the jury to their duties, being convinced they would give them that attention which they severally required.