Canadian Confederation

Towards Confederation

The Quebec Mercury

Source

The first issue of The Quebec Mercury (Saturday, January 5, 1805).

On November 19, 1804, the editor of the future The Quebec Mercury, Thomas Cary, published a prospectus announcing a new English-language weekly paper. He explained that the paper would be published every Saturday evening beginning in January 1805.

Subscription information, advertising rates and the paper's content were indicated in the prospectus. It also explained the general principles that were to guide the new paper: veneration of the British Constitution, respect for and submission to the local laws and colonial governments, respect for social order, and respect for the individual.

The Quebec Mercury was to become a key political tool for the Tories, vigorously denouncing the initiatives of the Canadian Party.