176 ROSENGARTEN— MOREAU de SAINT MERY. [April 20. 



In tlie report of M. E. Richard on the ]\Ioreau de St. Alery collec- 

 tion, printed in the supplement to Dr. Brymner's Report on Cana- 

 dian Archives for 1899 (Ottawa, 1901 ), he says it was stored in the 

 archives of the Marine at Versailles up to 1887, then removed to the 

 Ministere des Colonies, and stored in the attic of the Louvre. They 

 were then fearful of the great risk of fire, but were considering the 

 removal to other quarters. 



In the reports of 1883-85 and 1887, mention is made of 287 

 volumes in the collection of Moreau de St. Mery, some forty of which 

 relate to Canada, others to Louisiana and the French islands of 

 America. These belonged formerly to the Colonial Archives of the 

 Marine ; of the collection headed Moreau de St. Mery seventeen 

 volumes contain description, etc., of the colonies, including a series of 

 memorials on Canada, 3 volumes are on the religious missions of 

 Canada, 12 volumes on Newfoundland, 12 volumes containing royal 

 instructions to governors, and decrees relating to Canada, 119 

 registers on Canada, Acadia, etc., 6 volumes on civil status of 



o 



Canada. 34 volumes on Louisbourg ; an analysis was made of 17 

 volumes of the Moreau de St. Mery collection for the Canadian 

 Archives. 



It is open to the objection that " there is no strict order followed 

 in the compilation ; it contains but a limited number of documents, 

 or even extracts from documents. It is difiicult to understand the 

 dominant idea of this collection." 



This collection is. nevertheless, most valuable, for it contains a 

 consiclerable number of important papers, both transcripts and origi- 

 nals, not to be found elsewhere. 



On p. 5 of Richard's Report, in a footnote, it is said Moreau de St. 

 Mery, born in Martinique in 1750, studied law in Paris and practiced 

 in St. Domingo, where he became a member of the Superior Council 

 of the Island. Entrusted by Louis X\T. with the compiling of a 

 colonial code, he published in Paris " Les Lois et Constitutions des 

 Colonies Frangaises de TAmerique sous le Vent." Representing 

 Martinique in the Constituent Assembly, he drafted the report of the 

 Committee on the Colonies. Forced by political events to leave 

 France, he fled to Philadelphia, where he remained from 1793 to 



