1943. CRITICISM, Freedom of.—
In mentioning
me in your Essays, and canvassing
my opinions, you have done what every man
has a right to do, and it is for the good of
society that that right should be freely exercised.
No republic is more real than that of
letters, and I am the last in principles, as I
am the least in pretensions, to any dictatorship
in it. Had I other dispositions, the
philosophical and dispassionate spirit with
which you have expressed your own opinions
in opposition to mine, would still have commanded
my approbation.—
To Noah Webster. Washington ed. iii, 201.
Ford ed., v, 254.
(P.
1790)
