350 Fundamental Principles of 



such an undertaking, are the civil magistrates ; and, 

 however a committee for the government and direction 

 of an establishment for the poor may in other respects 

 be composed, I am clearly of opinion that the chief 

 magistrate of the town or city where such an establish- 

 ment is formed ought always to be one of its members. 

 The clergyman of the place who is highest in rank or 

 dignity ought likewise to be another; and, if he be a 

 bishop or archbishop, his assistance is the more indis- 

 pensable. 



But as persons who hold offices of great trust and 

 importance in the church, as well as under the civil gov- 

 ernment, may be so much engaged in the duties of their 

 stations as not to have sufficient leisure to attend to 

 other matters, it may be necessary, when such distin- 

 guished persons lend their assistance in the manage- 

 ment of an establishment for the relief of the poor, 

 that each of them be permitted to bring with him 

 a person of his own choice into the committee, to 

 assist him in the business. The bishop, for instance, 

 may bring his chaplain ; the magistrate, his clerk ; the 

 nobleman or private gentleman, his son or friend, etc. 

 But in small towns of two or three parishes, and par- 

 ticularly in country towns and villages, which do not 

 consist of more than one or two parishes, as the details 

 in the management of the affairs of the poor in such 

 communities cannot be extensive, the members of the 

 committee may manage the business without assist- 

 ants. And indeed in all cases, even in great cities, 

 when a general establishment for the poor is formed 

 upon a good plan, the details of the executive and more 

 laborious parts of the management of it will be so 

 divided among the commissaries of the districts that 



