Our modern concept of political free speech as an individual political right was first elaborated in detail three hundred years ago by two London journalists, Thomas Gordon and John Trenchard, in their best-selling, endlessly reprinted, anonymous newspaper column, known as ‘Cato’s Letters’ (1720–23). As is well known, Cato’s novel ideas about speech and press freedom proved hugely influential, especially in the American colonies. Because they underpin the peculiar formulation of the First Amendment of the United States’ constitution, their impact is still with us today. But Trenchard and Gordon’s own lives and motives are remarkably obscure, and how they managed to formulate a completely new way of thinking about politics and public debate has remained an unexplored puzzle. Nor has it previously been appreciated that their arguments, as well as refocusing existing discussions of press liberty, directly engaged long-standing concerns about false news and public deception. Drawing on newly discovered printed and manuscript evidence, this essay reveals the deliberately misleading character of their ideology, and the reasons for its hidden partiality. It shows both how political freedom of speech first came to be systematically conceived of as a mechanism for truth, an antidote to falsehood, and the foundation of all liberty — and that, ironically, this new and powerful theory was itself but a partial, biased fiction about the world. That is a paradox whose consequences we are still living with.

中文翻译：

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发明言论自由：十八世纪英格兰的政治、自由和印刷

三百年前，两位伦敦记者托马斯·戈登（Thomas Gordon）和约翰·特伦查德（John Trenchard）在他们最畅销、不断重印的匿名报纸专栏《卡托的信》中首次详细阐述了我们作为个人政治权利的现代政治言论自由概念’（1720–23）。众所周知，卡托关于言论和新闻自由的新颖思想被证明具有巨大的影响力，尤其是在美国殖民地。因为它们支撑着美国宪法第一修正案的特殊表述，它们的影响至今仍在我们身边。但是特伦查德和戈登自己的生活和动机非常模糊，他们如何设法形成一种全新的政治和公共辩论思维方式，仍然是一个未解之谜。以前也没有人意识到他们的论点，除了重新聚焦现有的新闻自由讨论之外，还直接引发了长期以来对虚假新闻和公众欺骗的担忧。本文利用新发现的印刷和手稿证据，揭示了他们意识形态的故意误导特征，以及其隐藏的偏袒的原因。它既显示了政治言论自由最初是如何被系统地视为真理的机制、谎言的解毒剂和所有自由的基础——具有讽刺意味的是，这种新的和强大的理论本身只是一种片面的、有偏见的关于世界的小说。这是一个悖论，我们仍然忍受着它的后果。这篇文章揭示了他们意识形态的故意误导特征，以及其隐藏的偏袒的原因。它既显示了政治言论自由最初是如何被系统地视为真理的机制、谎言的解毒剂和所有自由的基础——具有讽刺意味的是，这种新的和强大的理论本身只是一种片面的、有偏见的关于世界的小说。这是一个悖论，我们仍然忍受着它的后果。这篇文章揭示了他们意识形态的故意误导特征，以及其隐藏的偏袒的原因。它既显示了政治言论自由最初是如何被系统地视为真理的机制、谎言的解毒剂和所有自由的基础——具有讽刺意味的是，这种新的和强大的理论本身只是一种片面的、有偏见的关于世界的小说。这是一个悖论，我们仍然忍受着它的后果。关于世界的偏见小说。这是一个悖论，我们仍然忍受着它的后果。关于世界的偏见小说。这是一个悖论，我们仍然忍受着它的后果。