officer of the people， compensated for his services out of their pockets， become the pliant instrument of executive will.
there is no part of the means placed in the hands of the executive which might be used with greater effect for unhallowed purposes than the control of the public press. the maxim which our ancestors derived from the mother country that “the freedom of the press is the great bulwark of civil and religious liberty” is one of the most precious legacies which they have left us. we have learned， too， from our own as well as the experience of other countries， that golden shackles， by whomsoever or by whatever pretense imposed， are as fatal to it as the iron bonds of despotism. the presses in the necessary employment of the government should never be used “to clear the guilty or to varnish crime.” a decent and manly examination of the acts of the government should be not only tolerated， but encouraged.
upon another occasion i have given my opinion at some length upon the impropriety of executive interference in the legislation of congress——that the article in the constitution making it the duty of the president to communicate information and authorizing him to recommend measures was not intended to make him the source in legislation， and， in particular， that he should never be looked to for schemes of finance. it would be very strange， indeed， that the constitution should have strictly forbidden one branch of the legislature from interfering
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