PRESS (LIBERTY OF THE.) 



681 



with the consent ol the senate, to make treaties, 

 provided two thirds of the senators present concur ; 

 and he shall nominate, and, by and with the advice 

 and consent of the senate, shall appoint ambas- 

 sadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges 

 of the supreme court, and all other officers of the 

 United States, whose appointments are not herein 

 otherwise provided for, and which shall be estab- 

 lished by law ) but the congress may by law vest 

 the appointment of such inferior officers, as they 

 think proper, in the president alone, in the courts 

 of law, or in the heads of departments. The presi- 

 dent shall have power to fill up all vacancies that 

 may happen during the recess of the senate, by 

 granting commissions, which shall expire at the 

 end of their next session." Section 7 of Article I. 

 requires that " every bill, which shall have passed 

 the house of representatives and the senate, shall, 

 before it become a law, be presented to the presi- 

 dent of the United States ; if he approve, he shall 

 sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his ob- 

 jections, to that house, in which it shall have ori- 

 ginated, who shall enter the objections at large on 

 the journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after 

 such reconsideration, two thirds of that house shall 

 agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with 

 the objections, to the other house, by which it shall 

 likewise be reconsidered, and, if approved by two 

 thirds of that house, it shall become a law. If any 

 bill shall not be returned by the president within 

 ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have 

 been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in 

 like manner as if he had signed it, unless the con- 

 gress by their adjournment prevent its return, in 

 which case it shall not be a law." The same pro- 

 vision is extended to every order, resolution, or 

 vote, to which the concurrence of the senate and 

 house of representatives may be necessary (except 

 on question of adjournment). The duties of the 

 president are determined by Article II., section 3. 

 " He shall, from time to time, give to the congress, 

 information of the state of the Union, and recom- 

 mend to their consideration such measures as he 

 shall judge necessary and expedient ; he may, on 

 extraordinary occasions, convene both houses, or 

 either of them, and in case of disagreement between 

 them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he 

 may adjourn them to such time as he shall think 

 proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other 

 public ministers ; he shall take care that the laws 

 be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the 

 officers of the United States." Art. II., section 4, 

 provides that " the president, vice-president, and 

 all civil officers of the United States, shall be 

 removed from office on impeachment for, and con- 

 viction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes 

 and misdemeanours." The senate has the sole 

 power to try impeachments ; but it is required by 

 section 3 of Article I., that when the president of 

 the United States is tried, the chief justice shall 

 preside. (See United States, and Congress of the 

 United States.) By the apportionment of repre- 

 sentatives under the census of 1820, the number of 

 presidential electors was 261 in twenty-four electoral 

 colleges. 



PRESS, CORRECTION OF THE. See Correction of 

 the Press. 



PRESS, LAWS OF. See next article. 

 . PRESS, LIBERTY- OF THE ; the liberty of every 

 citizen to print whatever he chooses, which at the 

 same time does not prevent his being amenable to 

 justice for the abuse of this liberty. To make the 

 liberty of the press real, two things are essential ; 

 1. that the laws against its licentiousness should 

 be precise and clear ; 2. that they shouW only 



punish what is really injurious to the public wel- 

 fare. The laws against treason under Tiberius, 

 against heresy under the inquisition, against irre- 

 verence under Catharine II., against conspiracy 

 under the convention, against infringements of the 

 royal dignity, and contempt of government in 

 various states, are very indefinite, and allow the 

 greatest tyranny. The laws for punishing abuses 

 of the press are generally directed against attacks 

 upon the government or its officers, upon the repu- 

 tation of individuals, and upon good morals and 

 religion. The latitude allowed to the press of 

 course will vary with circumstances. A discussion 

 will be permitted in Prussia which would be pun- 

 ished in Austria. Discussions of certain religious 

 topics are considered in one age blasphemous, while 

 another age esteems them innocent. As to charges 

 affecting the character of governments and indi- 

 viduals, we may observe that the freer a govern- 

 ment is, the less sensitive it is, and the less sensitive 

 are the people who live under it. No people are 

 so indifferent to being publicly spoken of as the 

 British, whilst the Prussian code contains many 

 laws against verbal offences. (See Infuria.) As 

 the liberty of speech is unquestioned, and printing 

 only gives permanence and circulation to what 

 might be freely spoken (newspapers, for instance, 

 take the place of speeches and conversations in the 

 forums of the petty states of antiquity), the right ot 

 printing rests on the same abstract grounds as the 

 right of speech ; and it might seem strange to a 

 man unacquainted with history, that printing should 

 be subjected to a previous censorship, as it is in 

 most states, any more than speaking, and that the 

 liberty of the press should be expressly provided 

 for in the constitutions of most free states. But 

 when we look to history, we find the origin of this, 

 as of many other legislative anomalies, in periods 

 when politics, religion, and individual rights were 

 confusedly intermingled. It is only since men's 

 views of the just limits of government have become 

 clearer, that the liberty of the press has been recog- 

 nised as a right ; and to England we are particu- 

 larly indebted for the establishment of this prin- 

 ciple, as of so many other bulwarks of freedom, 

 though the Netherlands preceded her in the actual 

 enjoyment of the liberty of the press. When we 

 consider the practical effect of the censorship, it is 

 no more defensible on that ground than on the 

 ground of abstract right. In what times and 

 countries have morals and religion, and the reputa- 

 tion of individuals, been more outrageously attacked 

 through the press, than in those in which the cen- 

 sorship was established ? We are far from consid- 

 ering the liberty of the press as without evil conse- 

 quences ; but the censorship does not prevent these 

 consequences, while it destroys the numberless 

 benefits of an unshackled press. But the liberty 

 of the press, properly considered, is not to be 

 treated as a mere question of political expediency. 

 Liberty of conscience and liberty of thought are 

 rights superior in importance to any objects which 

 fall under the head of expediency. Representa- 

 tive governments are empty forms without the 

 liberty of the press. The free discussion of all 

 political measures, and of the character of public 

 officers, is of much more consequence than the free- 

 dom of debate in legislative assemblies. A parlia- 

 ment would be a comparatively small check upon a 

 government were it not for the liberty of the press. 

 In fact, it might easily be made an instniment for 

 enforcing oppressive measures; since a government 

 would find little difficulty in graining over a majority 

 of such a body by the motives of ambition and ava- 

 rice, were it not for the control exercised over legis- 



