open history into a tissue of falsehood, find their way even into the
American press, I am proud and happy that the immense majority of you,
conscious of your noble vocation and instinct with the generosity of
freedom, protect our sacred rights against the dark plots of tyranny.
Your Independent Press has likewise proved that its freedom is the most
efficient protection even against calumny; a far better one than
restrictive prevention, which condemns the human intellect to eternal
minority.

I address you, gentlemen, with the greater joy, because through you I
have the invaluable benefit of reaching the whole of your great,
glorious, and free people.

Eighty years ago the immortal Franklin's own press was almost the only
one in the colonies: now you have above three thousand newspapers, with
a circulation of five millions of copies. I am told that the journals of
New York State alone exceed in number those of all the rest of the world
outside of your great Union, and that the circulation of the newspapers
of this city alone nearly reaches that of the whole empire of Great
Britain! But, what is more,--I boldly declare that, except in the United
States, there is scarcely anywhere a practical freedom of the press.
Indeed, concerning Norway I am not quite aware. But throughout the
European continent you know how the press is fettered. In France, under
nominally republican government, all the fruits of victorious
revolutions are nipt by the blasting grip of _centralized_
power,--legislative and administrative omnipotence. The independence of
the French press is crushed; the government cannot bear the free word of
public opinion; and in a republic, the shout "Vive la république" is
become almost a crime. This is a mournful sight, but is an efficient
warning against centralization. It is chiefly Great Britain which boasts