280 EDITOR. 



other Edinburgh Papers, possessed of an equal breadth 

 of surface, had, of course, instead, their nineteen columns, 

 filled with the staple news of the day. But though in 

 this sense the Witness very much requires Supplements, 

 the public, it seems, does not require them at all ; a 

 single half-sheet Supplement costs 16, and 16 worth 

 of speaking, given often away, for which we, the Pro- 

 prietors, would not receive the thanks of those who 

 got it gratis, and which those who did not would not 

 buy, though it might be sport to the speakers, would be 

 death to us. Free Churchmen, in Edinburgh and else- 

 where, must not fall into the mistake of reckoning on 

 what is by what has been. The series of events which 

 terminated in the Disruption formed a great and 

 intensely exciting drama, and the whole empire looked 

 on with an interest much more than commensurate with 

 the ability of the men who spoke or the men who wrote. 

 The speeches and motions were pregnant with a trans- 

 action of vast historic importance. But we are now 

 thrown more on our own resources, and are simply 

 speakers and writers of a certain definite calibre. The 

 curtain has fallen on the master drama, and the after- 

 piece resembles, in comparison, that unfinished play of 

 Bayes in the " Rehearsal," which was complete, said the 

 poet, in all the dialogues, and wanted only the plot. 



' There is obviously some grave difficulty in the way 

 of rendering the Witness a good general newspaper. It 

 has now had in succession no fewer than six Sub- 

 Editors, and all of them have failed to satisfy. And for 

 eight months it had the incessant attention of Mr Eyfe, a 

 gentleman for many years connected with the Scotsman, 

 one of the best sub-edited newspapers in Scotland, and 

 who, thoroughly a master of his profession, had found no 

 difficulty in giving order, interest, and an air of lightness 



