PAMPHLET. 271 



what under nine hundred. I undertook, however, on its 

 being made over to me by Mr Johnstone, the whole of 

 the original debt ; and of course the money -interest of 

 the Witness Committee in the Paper ceased immediately 

 on my becoming bound to pay them the sum invested in 

 it by the subscribers. It was suggested, however, that a 

 certain yearly sum should be put at the disposal of the 

 Committee, for securing occasional contributions to the 

 Paper, in addition to the editorial ones ; and, regarding 

 the gentlemen that composed it as thoroughly identified 

 with Free Church interests and feelings, I at once did 

 what the mere man of business would have declined to 

 do, acquiesced in the proposal. I, however, did not at 

 all like the form which it took in Mr Wood's document ; 

 and, in consequence, submitted to him, in the letter 

 already referred to in my note, the following statement 

 respecting it : 



4 With regard to the second article in your minute, Mr Fairly and 

 myself feel that we cannot treat with it until it takes a more definite 

 form. It would be desirable, we think, that a sum for occasional con- 

 tributions should be specified, which the Committee could in no case 

 exceed, and that the said sum should be subject to a sort of sliding- 

 scale reduction, proportioned to any fall that might take place in the 

 profits of the Paper. There are Papers in Edinburgh -which, though 

 they have existed for many years, and were at one time highly re- 

 munerative, yield no profits now, and can scarce pay an Editor. The 



, for instance And yet, at one time the was a 



piece of more valuable property than the Witness is now, and could 

 have afforded more for occasional contributions. But what would be 

 its present condition, were there an outlay nearly equal to the Editor's 

 salary rendered imperative on the Proprietors, without reference to 

 existing circumstances ? I have suggested to Mr Fairly a scheme of 

 arrangement in this matter which satisfies him, and which, I trust, you 

 will deem reasonable. He tells me that the profits of the Witness for 

 the present year promise to amount to six hundred pounds. Let us 

 assume six hundred as the average profits, and fix the sum to be set 

 apart for occasional contributions as equal to the one-sixth of these, i.e. 

 one hundred. Should the profits sink, let the sum set apart sink in an 

 equal ratio. Let a profit of three hundred pounds per annum yield, for 

 instance, only fifty pounds for contributions ; but should the profits 



