The paper was dedicated to French-Canadian nationalism, particularly in the first half of the century, during the struggles of the Canadiens with the British colonial government.

The newspaper was founded in Quebec City on November 22, 1806 and published until shut down by the colonial government on March 14, 1810.

Its masthead motto at this time was Fiat justitia ruat caelum (Latin for "Let justice be done though the heavens fall").

The publishers were Pierre-Stanislas Bédard and associates François Blanchet, Jean-Antoine Panet, Jean-Thomas Taschereau and Joseph Le Vasseur Borgia.

The paper continued to support the Parti canadien, now coming under the leadership of Louis-Joseph Papineau and John Neilson.

When Morin left Quebec to study law in Montreal, his place was taken by Étienne Parent as editor and main writer, from 1822 to 1825.

A rival paper, La Gazette de Québec, became more partisan and attracted the supporters of the Parti canadien.