The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-06-05


Piles or of his patronage of F'reneau;
he betrayed no confidence; he counte-
nanced no doctrines IN that paper
which he did not MAINTAIN every
where else. 1t does not appear thaI
he ever wrote for the paper for that
did not accord with his notions elther
of prudence or propriety; but had he
done so, he might have defended MN
self by the example of his political
antagonist. 1t must also be recol-
lected that the political principles and
measures of Hamilton and his adher-
ents were the chief objects of attack
in the National Gazette, while lne
President, who was never confoundeu
with them was always treated WITH
decorum and respect In every re-
spect, then the charge appears 10 pe
frivolous or unfounded.
Mr.. jefferson had yet a further
ground of vindication, had he needed
it. though he never deigned to make
use of it; and this was the fact, that
the National Gazette was not set up
by him, but by Mr. Madison and Gen
eral Henry Lee, then Governor OF VIZ
ginia, and afterwards so warm Fed
eral partizan, for the double purpose
of assisting Freneau, who had Deen
their fellow collegian at Princeton
and of affording the public an oppor-
both the parties that then divided the
country
Though he did not personally
write for the press he had we'll ma
tured opinions as to the duty or po-
litical editor. He gave expression 10
his opinion in the following letter,
written i'm 1911 from Monticello to
William Duane: 81 think an editor
should be Independent, that is, OF per-
a OF hn1
his opinions on the mere authority of
an individual. But, with respect to
the general opinion of the political
section with which he habitually &C
cords, his duty seems very like that
of "a member of Congress- Some of
these indeed think that independence
requires them to follow always their
own opinion, without respect for that
of others. This has never been my
opinion, nor my practice, when l have
been of that or any other body, differ
ing on a political question from those
whom / knew to be of the same polit-
zeal principles with myself, and with
whom / generally thought and acted.
consciousness of the fallibility of
the human mind and of my own in
particular, with a respect for the ac-
cumulated judgment OF my TRENDS,
has induced me to suspect erroneous
own opinion wrong, and to act with
them on theirs. The want of this
spirit of compromise, or of self dis
trust proudly, but falsely, called in
dependence, is what gives the Fed
eralist victories which they could
never obtain if these brethren could
learn to respect the opinion of their
friends more than their enemies, ana
prevent many able and learned men
Il thn
wise might do" OF Duane he wrote
to Mr.. Writ: 81 believe Duane to be
a very honorable man and sincerely
republican: but his passions are Scron-
ger than his prudence, and his per-
sonal as we'll as general antipathies
render him very intolerant. These
traits lead him astray and require his
readers, even those who value him FOR
his steady support of the republican
cause, to be on their guard against ms
occasional observations
The critics of Mr.. Jefferson have
been wont to attribute what, in his
life time, they termed his over-trust
in the capacity of the people for sell
government, to the views he lmblbed
in France. No doubt the spectacle
of a people in a country where every
man must be a hammer or an anvil
at a time when the love or llDerty
and the rights of man inspired the
best portion of the people of that
country to demand a larger voice in
governing themselves, had perman-
ent influence upon his life and views.
But he secured the repeal o. the law
of primogeniture and church cstab-
Eshment and drafted provisions Tor
future constitutions, inSuring the free
dom to write and speak without re-
straint, before he ever walked the
streets of Paris. 1t was Jefferson IN
structing Frenchmen in the necessity
for a free press as the mudsill of ma
tional liberty rather than learning
from them the love of a free press
that was a ruling passion of his life.
While in Paris, Jefferson prepared
a charter of rights for the French
people, the ninth section being as fol-
lows: Printers shall be liable to legal
prosecution for printing and puDhsh-
ing false facts, injurious to the party
prosecuting; but they shall be under
no other restraint.
They were in far too liberal a spirit
of concession for the government par
ty and nothing came of his wise re-
commentator. In 1902, writing to
Thomas Cowper, he declared: 1.-THE
Press. the only tocsin of a nation, is
completely silenced." Among the
abuses in France that brought on the
Revolution he named "the shackles on
the freedom of conscience, of thought
and speech; on the freedom of the
press by censure."
In NJ Neckers report to the King,
it was suggested by Mr.. Jefferson
advice: How far the press might be
free" He noted that the restraints on
the freedom of the press was one OF
the chief complaints of the govern
ment in the French Revolution In
his Autobiography, he says: Nor
should we wonder at (the) pres
sure (for a fixed constitution in 1855
'S9) when we consider the monstrous
abuses of power under which
(the French) people were ground to
powder; when we pass in review the
shackles on the freedom of the
press by the Censure."
In spite of Mr.. Jefferson's strong
prediction for popular government,
his belief in it's practicability, he still
doubted, as he doubted when he was
in Europe, as he says in letter to his
friend Lafayette, in November 1923,
whether the state of society in Europe
could bear a republican government.
He remarks: "An hereditary chief,
strictly limited the right of war vested