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<p n="2123"> <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50809_geo1882">MIDDLESEX</rs>
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.</p>
<p n="2124">At the General Quarter Session of the Peace of Our<lb></lb>
Sovereign Lord the King, holden for the <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50809_geo1883">County of<lb></lb>
Middlesex</rs>
<interp inst="LMSMPS50809_geo1883" type="placeName" value="County ofMiddlesex"></interp>
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, at <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50809_geo1884">Hicks-Hall</rs>
<interp inst="LMSMPS50809_geo1884" type="placeName" value="Hicks-Hall"></interp>
<interp inst="LMSMPS50809_geo1884" type="type" value="undefined"></interp>
in <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50809_geo1885">Saint John Street</rs>
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, in the<lb></lb>
County aforesaid, by Adjournment, on Thursday the<lb></lb>
Fourteenth Day of July, in the Thirty-first Year of<lb></lb>
the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord GEORGE the Second,<lb></lb>
King of Great Britain, Etc. 1751.</p>
<p n="2125">WHEREAS Complaint having been made to this Court, of the growing Expence<lb></lb>
arising to this County from the Apprehending and Passing Vagrants, in of the <lb></lb>
Frauds committed by the Officers conveying such Vagrants, Etc, A Committee was<lb></lb>
appointed to consider from what Causes such Expence arose, and Frauds were com-<lb></lb>
mitteed; and also to consider of some Method to ease the County, and to prevent<lb></lb>
such Impositions for the Future; which Committee, on the 21st of April<obscured></obscured>
ft, did<lb></lb>
make their Report, touching the Premisses, to this Court as follows, viz.</p>
<p n="2126"> <note type="authorial" place="margin">Report<lb></lb>
at April,<lb></lb>
1757.</note>
<lb></lb>
Your Committee are of Opinion, That the great Expence complained of, and the Fraud com-<lb></lb>
mitted, have their Rise form the following Causes:</p>
<p n="2127">1st, That one Cause of this Expence is the great Relaxation in the Executing the Statute of the 17th<lb></lb>
of His present Majesty, called The Vagrant Act; which is evidently proved from the Swarms of Beg-<lb></lb>
gars insesting the Streets, some produced by real Distress, and others, who, by artful Disguises of<lb></lb>
Wretchedness, contrive to support themselves and Families in Idleness, and intail a Race of Rogues<lb></lb>
and Vagabonds upon Posterity.</p>
<p n="2128">2d, That when Vagabonds are apprehended and brought before the Magistrates, the Punishment pre-<lb></lb>
scribed by the said Act has been in too many Instances dispensed with: And this We apprehend is not<lb></lb>
only a great Incouragement to Beggars, but also renders the Passes in themselves illegal, and such Ma-<lb></lb>
gistrates private Fortunes liable to all the Charge incurred from such Passes.</p>
<p n="2129">3d, That the Magistrates in general not returning the Duplicates of the Vagrant Passes and Examinations<lb></lb>
to the next Sessions, as directed by the said Act, there to be kept as Records, renders the Clause of the<lb></lb>
said Act, for the Punishment of incorrigible Rogues, of no Force, for it seems doubtful how incor-<lb></lb>
rigible Rogues can be convicted without such Records.</p>
<p n="2130">4th, The too liberal Distribution of the Ten Shillings, with which the Magistrates are impowered<lb></lb>
to reward Persons apprehending Vagrants, and the<obscured></obscured>
rts made use of by Officers in the Conveying of<lb></lb>
Vagrants, by obtaining Passage for them at one That of the Expence allowed by Sessions, by Means<lb></lb>
of Carriers and other easy Methods, have proved fe<obscured></obscured>
lucrative, that a Kind of Trade has been made of<lb></lb>
it at the Expence of th County: Your Committee, by inspecting the Orders for paying the Reward<lb></lb>
of Ten Shillings, find upwards of Fifty Pounds directed to be paid, in the Compass of about a Year,<lb></lb>
by one Magistrate; a Sum, We belive, greater than directed, in the like Cases, by all the rest of the<lb></lb>
Magistrates of the County in the same Time: And when the Sums, paid for passing the Vagrants,<lb></lb>
are added to the said Fifty Pounds, it amounts to near a Twelfth Part of the whole county Rate, and<lb></lb>
near a Fourth of the whole Expence charged upon the County upon this Account: And your Com-<lb></lb>
mittee think, That no Magistrate's Clerk ought to make any Deduction upon Pretence of having<lb></lb>
made out the Pass and Order out of the Ten Shillings, which is the Reward given by the Law to the<lb></lb>
Apprehender: But your Committed found the contrary has been done, and that Four Shillings has<lb></lb>
been deducted by the Clerk of that Magistrate out of such Reward; which induces your Committee<lb></lb>
to be of Opinion, that this extraordinary Method of sharing the Reward between the Constable and<lb></lb>
the Justice's Clerk, may have produced an Imposition upo the Justice, and been the Cause of this<lb></lb>
extraordinary Charge upon the County. Nor can your Committee help observing, that many of the<lb></lb>
Orders, for the Paying the above Fifty Pounds, are made out in large Sums in one Order, and coached<lb></lb>
in Terms not expressive of the Cause for which they were made or given, under Hand and Seal: Nor<lb></lb>
does it appear that such Vagrants were either whipped or committed to <rs type="placeName" id="LMSMPS50809_geo1886">Bridewell</rs>
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, or that any Dypli-<lb></lb>
cates of the Passes or Examinations were returned to the Sessions as the Law directs.</p>
<p n="2131">5th, Another Cause of this great Expence has arisen from a wrong Use made of Vagrant Passes,<lb></lb>
by the Officers in some Parishes, who, to save the great Expence of Settlement-Passes, or the Main-<lb></lb>
tenance of casual Poor not belonging to them, and whose Settlements were at a great Distance, have<lb></lb>
passed such Poor a Rogues and Vagabonds, although no Act of Vagrancy had been co<obscured></obscured>
d and<lb></lb>
more especially the Scotch and Irish Vagabonds.</p>
<p n="2132">6th, Your Committee are also of Opinion, That the Putting the Vagrant Act into Execution par-<lb></lb>
ticular Parishes and Places, (howsoever laudable the Intention of the Magistrates may be) brings a<lb></lb>
large Expence upon the County, without producing the designed Effect to the Publick; for as he De-<lb></lb>
sign of putting the said Act in this manner into Execution, relates only to one Species of Vagabonds,<lb></lb>
namely, Beggar; Those of them, who are more the Objects of Compassion than Punishment, till the<lb></lb>
<rs type="occupation" id="LMSMPS50809_occ916">Lash of the Law</rs>
<interp inst="LMSMPS50809_occ916" type="occupation" value="Lash of the Law"></interp>
, while the artificial Objects of Distress, who have reduced Begging into a Trade,<lb></lb>
well know how far the Whip of Justice extends, and carefully avoid coming within its Reach: And <lb></lb>
this is a strong Reason for the general Inforcement of the Law through the County.</p>
<p n="2133">Another Cause of the Grievance complained of, arise from the ready Harbour Beggars find in the<lb></lb>
Out-skirts of the Town, from the Keepers of Houses who lett them out to Vagrants at Two-piece a<lb></lb>
Night; though by the Statute before-mentioned, Chap. 5. Sec. 22. "If any Person knowing per-<lb></lb>
mit any Rogue or Vagabond, or incorrigible Rogue, to lodge or take Shelter in his House, Ban<obscured></obscured>
or<lb></lb>
other Out-house of Building, and shall not apprehend and carry him before a Justice, or give Justice<lb></lb>
to</p>
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