210 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



sides this there was advertised in the Gazette of the 14th of August 

 "Mémoire de P. Mézière comme avocat des Dames Religieuses des 

 Tnois Rivières & La réponse de François LeMaitre Duême, ces ouvrages 

 serviront' à faire distinguer le bon du ma.uvais,"^ No copies of these 

 are known. 



Jautard, who also practised as a lawyer, often discussed his cases 

 in the Gazette under different noms de plume, and his criticisms were 

 sometimes unscathing. He was a ready writer and usually filled the 

 paper with his own effusions, to the exclusion of all news, even the 

 town gossip. He even went so far as to criticize adverse Judgments of 

 the court. One of these he handled so severely that the judges passed 

 an order interdicting him from appearing before it. They, at the same 

 time wrote to Plaldimand complaining of the attitude of the paper. 

 The next day Jautard appeared as usual when, before the opening of 

 the court, Judge Southouse informed him that he was no longer 

 entitled to occupy a seat among those reserved for attorneys. Jautard 

 objected to this decision on the ground, among others, that his accuser's 

 name had not been given, and that he had had no opportunity to 

 appear in his own defence. He aii.so affirmed that he had not criti- 

 cized the court under his own name. To this the judge replied that 

 it was not necessary to give the name of the accuser, that Jautard 

 was under suspicion of the government and that the style of his writ- 

 ings showed him to l^e the author of the criticism in question, although 

 it did not bear his name. 



The next number of the Gazette contained four different articles 

 criticizing this act of the judges. One over Jautard's own name, 

 giving his version of the affair, a second over the nom de plume of 

 ''Le Spectateur tranquille" (which was really Jautard's own writing), 

 complimented him on his dignified attitude under such trying circum- 

 stances. The third was addressed to Jautard by Ducalvet, also com- 

 plimenting him on his stand in court, and the fourth was addressed to 

 Judges Rouville and Southouse, by Ducalvet, charging their acts and 

 judgments with partizanship. 



On the appearance of this number, which is dated the 26th May, 

 1779, Judge Hertel de Rouville wrote to Haldimand enclosing a copy 

 of the paper ^ and asked that the court and judges be protected from 



^ This memoir refers to a suit taken out by the Ursulines of Three Rivers 

 against Francois Le Maître Duême or Duhaime for some sort of trespass 

 on their Seigniory. Judgment had been given against them in favour of 



Duéme. This judgment was afterwards confirmed in an appeal to the Privy 

 Council. Jautard no doubt had something to do with the case. See "Les 

 Ursulines des Trois Rivieres," 1888, Vol L, page 415. 



- See appendix C No. 14. 



