[mlachlan] FLEURY MESPLET, FIRST PRINTER AT MONTREAL 209 



cause/' 1 implying thereby that he was in open sympathy with the cause 

 of the thirteen colonies with which the country was then at war. 



It was at this time that the title of the paper was changed to 

 La Gazetta Littéraire, and the name of Berger dropped, from the 

 imprint.- Hereafter that of Fleury Mesplet appears alone. It would 

 also appear that there was some attempt on his part to propitiate the 

 religious authorities, for in October he advertises a number of religious 

 works which, no doubt, the Seminary authorities had obtained leave to 

 import from France, and which were placed in his hands for sale, as 

 the only bookseller in Montreal. The purpose of the Seminary in thus 

 putting them before the people was to combat the materialistic tendencies 

 of the paper as the titles of the works would seem to indicate. They 

 are: 



1. " Dictionnaire Anti-Philosophique," 2 vols., Paris, 1775. 



2. " Dialogue tiré du Dictionnaire Anti-Philosophique." 



3. " Lettres de quelques Juifs." 



4. " L'Autorité des livres du Nouveau Testament." 



5. " Réponse critique à plusieurs difficultés." 



6. " Dictionnaire de la Religion." 



Possibly one or two of these may have been printed by Mesplet, as a 

 number of copies of '" Dialogues " are mentioned in the inventory. 



What caused the religious authorities most concern at that time 

 was a discussion, carried on in the Gazette, on the merits and demerits 

 of Voltaire, whose death had just been chronicled. This led to a 

 strong protest on the part of M, Montgolfier, superior of the Seminary 

 of St. Sulpice, who, on the 2nd of January, 1779, wrote to Haldimand 

 to the effect that the reflections of the Gazette against religious things 

 should be interdicted. In his capacity as superior he acted as supervisor 

 of the religious affairs of the district, 



Haldimand, in his reply,^ states that he had already warned Mesplet 

 to moderate the tone of his " sheet," and that should he continue to 

 pursue the same course, steps would be taken to stop its further issue. 

 He further suggested to the superior to keep a look-out on its pages 

 and advise as to any further indiscretions. 



The issue from Mesplet's press in 1779, apart from the numbers 

 of the Gazette, was his third almanac,* with severa)l new features. Be- 



' See appendix C No. 11. 



^ It had never filled the role of catering for the commercial interests of 

 the community or become a medium for merchants to advertise their goods. 

 It was purely literary written mainly by the editor Jautard. 

 ° See appendix C No. 13. 

 * See appendix A No. 22. 



