The first Act dealing with this question was passed in the reign of Elizabeth in 1572, and was followed by other enactments which were consolidated in the Act of 1601. By this Act rogues and vagabonds were severely dealt with, but workhouses were provided for the relief of the deserving poor, and parish officers, known as Overseers, appointed to superintend the working of the Act. This Act of Elizabeth continued in force till the Poor Law Act of 1832. By that time numerous abuses had crept into the administration of the Poor Law, resulting in the complete pauperisation of many parishes, owing largely to the stringency of the regulations against vagabondage having been relaxed. By the new Act, the separation between the two classes was rendered definite, relief was only to be granted to the able-bodied in return for labour, and children were separated from adult paupers. The machinery was in the main left unchanged, but small parishes were formed into Unions, and a central Board of Control was established. Pope, Election of. The present system of election to the Papal chair was established by Nicholas II at the Synod of Rome in 1059, and amended by Gregory X at the Council of Lyons in 1275. Pope of Geneva. A nickname of Calvin. Popish Plot. A pretended plot in the reign of Charles II, having for its object the assassination of the King and the forcible establishment of the Roman Catholic religion. The arch-informer, Titus Oates, was a renegade English clergyman, who had been admitted into the Jesuit order. It is possible that there may have been some such scheme on foot, but the so-called revelations of Oates and his fellow-informers were nothing but a tissue of absurdities. Unfortunately, the murder by some person unknown of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, before whom Oates made his first deposition, so inflamed the popular mind that no justice could be expected, and five Catholic peers denounced by Oates were sent to the Tower, while many innocent priests and others were condemned and executed. Popular Sovereignty. The political doctrine in the United States that the question of negro slavery was one for each Territory or State to decide for itself. It was perhaps better known as Squatter Sovereignty. Populists. A party formed at Cincinnati in 1891, under the style of the People’s Party of the United States. Their “platform,” drawn up by Ignatius Donnelly, consists of the following “planks” among others: Abolition of National Banks, Free Coinage of Silver, Laws against Alien Landowners, Graduated Income-tax, and National Control of Railways. Porcari, Conspiracy of. An attempt, under the leadership of Stefano Porcari in 1453, to restore republican institutions in Rome. It was the final struggle of the Romans against the temporal domination of the Popes. Port Philip Association.