The remark applies with equal force to the Federal papers of America. We have in this state an evidence of the truth of this remark. Whoever has made observation on the characters of nations will find it generally true that the manners of a nation, or of a party, can be better ascertained from the character of its press than from any other public circumstance. If its press is licentious, its manners are not good.
Nobody believes a common liar, or a common defamer.
Nothing is more common with printers, especially of newspapers, than the continual cry of the Liberty of the Press. As if because they are printers they are to have more privileges than other people. As the term Liberty of the Press is adopted in this country without being understood, I will state the origin of it, and show what it means. Prior to what is in England called the Revolution, which was in 1685, no work could be published in that country without first obtaining the permission of an officer appointed by the government for inspecting works intended for publication. The same was the case in France, except that in France there were forty who were called Censors, and in England there was but one, called Imprimateur.