from Paris, September 25, 1785, when he states that he had asked for the newspapers to be sent to him "notwithstanding the expense." He discovered, however, that the plan by which they were sent was costing him guineas, and he evolved the plan of having them sent in a box to the Foreign Affairs Office.[1]
Jefiferson's belief in journalism as a means of establishing the rule of public opinion is clearly expressed in a letter to Colonel Carrington, January 16, 1787, when he said:
" I am persuaded myself that the good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army. They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct themselves. The people are the only censors of their governors; and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs through the channel of the public papers, and to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers, and be capable of reading them."[2]
In a letter written to Madison from Paris, July 31, 1788, Jefferson said that he thought the new constitution needed only a few more retouches to make it right—and
