292 EDITOR. 



POSTSCRIPT. 



* ' The above was forwarded from Cromarty in MS. to 

 Mr Fairly, who, with his own hands, assisted by my 

 brother, a printer in the. Witness Office, set it into type. 

 On my arrival here I found it awaiting me in proof, and, 

 with the proof, a note from Dr Candlish, in which the 

 Doctor states that, having come to learn from a letter he 

 had received from Mr Stewart of Cromarty, that his 

 " well-meant interference in the affairs of the Witness " 

 had been wholly misunderstood both by Mr Stewart and 

 me, he now wished, in consequence, all his communica- 

 tions on the subject to be " superseded, set aside, burned, 

 and held as non-existent." The request comes too late ; 

 / take the present step ; it will of course be the Doc- 

 tor's turn to take the next. If my views regarding the 

 danger to be apprehended from a system of Free Church 

 centralization, and the influence of secular politics on our 

 Edinburgh leadership, possess any measure of sound- 

 ness, it would be well, surely, that they should be soberly 

 discussed by our wiser and cooler heads, so long as Chal- 

 mers is still with us. Dr Candlish' s written communica- 

 tions have, I may here state, been marked " private ; " 

 but neither Mr Fairly nor I were the proper depositories 

 of the secret which they embody. The man who has let 

 his neighbour understand in strict secrecy that he intends 

 bleeding him for his benefit, by sending a bullet through 

 him in the evening, has no reason to complain that his 

 neighbour betrays his confidence by blabbing to the 

 police. I understand from various quarters, that there 

 is to be forthwith another Free Church paper started in 

 Edinburgh. Assuredly one special class of Edinburgh 

 Free Churchmen shall by-and-by greatly need such an 

 organ ; for so long at least as I edit the Witness, it shall 



