ded opposed to that of the community. It must be
agreed that the nature of our government makes a diffusion of knowledge
of public affairs necessary and proper, and that the people have no mode
of obtaining it but through the press. The necessity for their having
this information results from its being their duty to elect all the
parts of the Government, and, in this way, to sit in judgment over the
conduct of those who have been heretofore employed. The most important
and necessary information for the people to receive is that of the
misconduct of the Government, because their good deeds, although they
will produce affection and gratitude to public officers, will only
confirm the existing confidence, and will, therefore, make no change in
the conduct of the people. The question, then, whether the Government
ought to have control over the persons who alone can give information
throughout a country is nothing more than this, whether men, interested
in suppressing information necessary for the people to have, ought to be
entrusted with the power, or whether they ought to have a power which
their personal interest leads to the abuse of. I am sure no candid man
will hesitate about the answer; and it may also safely be left with
ingenuous men to say whether the misconduct which we sometimes see in
the press had not better be borne with, than to run the risk of
confiding the power of correction to men who will be constantly urged by
their own feelings to destroy its usefulness. How long can it be
desirable to have periodical elections for the purpose of judging of the
conduct of our rulers, when the channels of information may be choked at
their will?

But, sir, I have ever believed this question as settled by an amendment
to the Constitution, proposed with others for declaring and restricting
its powers, as the preamble declares, at the request of several of the
States, made at the adoption of the Constitution, in order to prevent
their misconstruction and abuse. This amendment is in the following
words: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the
freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
There can be no doubt about the effect of this amendment, unless the
"freedom of the press" means something very different from what it
seems; or unless there