《论美国的民主·卷一·第十一章·合众国的出版自由》第7节
Neither of these kinds of centralization exists in America. The United States have no metropolis; the intelligence as well as the power of the country are dispersed abroad, and instead of radiating from a point, they cross each other in every direction; the Americans have established no central control over the expression of opinion, any more than over the conduct of business. These are circumstances which do not depend on human foresight; but it is owing to the laws of the Union that there are no licenses to be granted to printers, no securities demanded from editors as in France, and no stamp duty as in France and formerly in England. The consequence of this is that nothing is easier than to set up a newspaper, and a small number of readers suffices to defray the expenses of the editor. The number of periodical and occasional publications which appears in the United States actually surpasses belief. The most enlightened Americans attribute the subordinate influence of the press to this excessive dissemination; and it is adopted as an axiom of political science in that country that the only way to neutralize the effect of public journals is to multiply them indefinitely. I cannot conceive that a truth which is so self-evident should not already have been more generally admitted in Europe; it is comprehensible that the persons who hope to bring about revolutions by means of the press should be desirous of confining its action to a few powerful organs, but it is perfectly incredible that the partisans of the existing state of things, and the natural supporters of the law, should attempt to diminish the influence of the press by concentrating its authority. The Governments of Europe seem to treat the press with the courtesy of the knights of old; they are anxious to furnish it with the same central power which they have found to be so trusty a weapon, in order to enhance the glory of their resistance to its attacks.
注释摘要
托克维尔在这一段里切入的是一个极其实在的制度比较问题：为什么法国报刊威力巨大，而美国报刊看似铺天盖地，单份却没什么权威。他把原因归结为两种集中化的缺失。法国的双重集中化是地理的，也是组织的——报刊几乎全挤在巴黎，而且数量有限，控制在少数人手里。这种结构本身就赋予报纸一种近乎垄断的舆论动员能力，政府想要压制它，反而等于承认它的对手地位，两者在同一个中心点上反…