After leaving politics, Paranhos quit writing for liberal newspapers and became the editor of the politically neutral "Jornal do Comércio" ("Commerce News"). He wrote a series of weekly articles from 1850 until the end of 1851 which were entitled "Letters to an absent friend". The column dealt with subjects that included politics, Brazilian society and day-to-day life in the Brazilian capital. Paranhos's articles soon began to focus on Brazil's foreign policy, especially Argentina and Uruguay's civil war.