Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/156

132 his cabinet in October, 1878. He represented West Middlesex in the Ontario assembly rrom 1871 till October, 1872, when he resigned, and was a member of the executive council and treasurer of the prov- ince from 21 Dec, 1871, till the date of his retire- ment. His administration was productive of the most important legislation, and as premier he moulded and directed to a great extent all the principal measures that were enacted by the Do- minion government. Among these were a strin- gent election law, with the trial of election peti- tions by judges and vote by ballot ; the abolition of the real-estate qualification for members of parliament ; the enactment of the marine telegraph law, which virtually abolished the monopoly of the cable company ; the establishment of a Dominion military college; the improvement of the militia system; the permanent organization of the civil service ; the establishment of a supreme court for the Dominion ; the reduction of postage to and from the United States ; the opening of direct mail communication with the West Indies; the con- struction of a trans-continental telegraph-line ; the adoption of a final route for the Pacific railway ; the opening of negotiations for a reciprocity treaty between the United States and Canada ; the estab- lishment of a territorial government for the North- west ; and the satisfactory adjustment of the Mani- toba amnesty and the New Brunswick school ques- tions, which at one time threatened the gravest complications. Mr. Mackenzie, though possessed of no gifts of oratory, was an effective speaker, and his plain, honest, and earnest statements of opinion proved often more convincing than the elaborate and eloquent speeches of Edward Blake, his suc- cessor in the leadership of the Liberals. In June, 1872, Mr. Mackenzie visited Scotland, and while there was presented with the freedom of Irvine, Dundee, and Perth, and also visited the Queen at Windsor Castle. In 1881, during a second visit to his native land, he was granted the freedom of the city of Inverness. Mr. Mackenzie was president of several important financial associations. He was thrice offered the honor of knighthood by the Queen, but declined it. He was the author of " Life and Speeches of Hon. George Brown "' (To- ronto. 1882).

MACKENZIE, Alexander Slidell, naval officer, b. in New York city, 6 April, 1803 ; d. in Tarrytown, N. Y., 13 Sept., 1848. He was the son of John Slidell, and the brother of the U. S. sena- tor of that name. The name of Mackenzie, that of his mother, was added to his own in 1837, at the request of a maternal uncle. He entered the navy as midshipman in 1815, and in 1822 he took com- mand of a merchant-vessel to improve himself in seamanship. He was made lieutenant in 1825, and commander in 1841, and in both grades was in ac- tive duty in the Mediterranean, the West Indies, the Brazilian waters, and the Pacific. He was at Bahia in command of the " Dolphin " during the siege of that place, and at its surrender, and was an eye- witness of many of the political events on the Rio de la Plata at that period, an account of some of which he published in a pamphlet at the time. He also enjoyed the intimacy of Gen. Rosas, with whom he subsequently corresponded for many years. In 1842 he had' charge of the brig " Som- ers," manned chiefly by naval apprentices ; and on his passage from the coast of Africa, in the autumn of that year, the existence of a mutinous plot on board was discovered, the principals of which were immediately placed in close confinement. A coun- cil of officers was called, which, after a careful in- vestigation, recommended the immediate execu- tion of the three persons that were principally implicated. This recommendation was carried into effect at sea, 1 Dec, 1842. The " Somers " soon afterward arrived in New York, when a court of inquiry was immediately ordered to investigate the affair. The result was a full approval of the conduct of Mackenzie. Subsequently a court- martial was held upon him at his own request, and the trial again resulted in his acquittal. As the young .men that had been executed were all of good social standing, one of them being a son of the secretary of war, John C. Spencer, of New York, the event created a great sensation, and Mackenzie's conduct w^-e as severely criticised by some as it was warmly defended by others. The decisions of the courts-martial did not succeed in quieting these differences «Pf opinion, and the affair more or less embittered th? remainder of Macken- zie's life. In May, 1846, he' was sent by President Polk on a private mission '^^o Cuba, and thence sailed to Mexico. He was ord*"iance-officer at the siege of Vera Cruz, and comrL*anded a detached division of artillery at the stormi ig of Tabasco in 1847. Mackenzie also attained note as an author. His first book was " A Year in Spain, by a Young American " (2 vols., Boston, 1829 ; London, 1831 ; enlarged ed., 3 vols.. New York, 1836), which gained immediate popularity both in this country and in England. " Here,'' wrote Washington Irving from London on its appearance, " it is qiite the fashion- able book of the day, and spoken of in the highest terms in the highest circles." It has also been translated into Swedish. His other works are " Popular Essays on Naval Subjects " (2 vols., 1833) ; " The American in England " (2 vols., 1835) ; " Spain Revisited " (2 vols., 1836) ; " Life of John Paul Jones " (2 vols., Boston, 1841) ; " Life of Commodore Oliver H. Perry " (2 vols.. New York, 1841) ; and " Life of Commodore Stephen De- catur," being vol. xxi. in Jared Sparks's " Library of American Biography " (Boston, 1846). He also left in manuscript " A' Journal of a Tour in Ire- land." See '• The Case of the ' Somers ' ; Defence of A. S. Mackenzie " (New York, 1843).— His son, Ranald Slidell, soldier, b. in Westchester county, N. Y., 27 July, 1840 ; d. on Staten Island, N. Y., 19 Jan., 1889, and was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1862. In August he was brevetted 1st lieutenant for " gallant and meritorious services " at the battle of Manassas, where he was wounded. He was commissioned 1st lieutenant, 3 March, 1863, brevet captain for gallantry at Chancellorsville, and brevet major for the same cause at the battle of Gettysburg. He was promoted captain, 6 Nov., 1863 brevetted lieutenant-colonel for his services before Petersburg, Va., 18 June, 1864, and became colonel of the 2d Connecticut heavy artillery, 10 June. 1864, being brevetted colonel in the regular army in the following October for gallantry at Cedar Creek, and brigadier-general of volunteers for meritorious services at the battles of Opequan, Fisher's Hill, and Middletown, Va. He was brev- etted brigadier-general in the regular army for bravery and also major-general of volunteers in Marchj 1865. Besides' taking part in other engage- ments. Gen. Mackenzie was engaged in build- ing bridges, constructing rifle-trenches, repairing roads, erecting forts, and other engineering work throughout the war. He was promoted colonel, 6 March, 1867, and brigadier-general, 26 Oct., 1882. On 24 March, 1884, he was placed on the retired list, having been disabled '' in the line of duty." — Another son, Alexander Slidell, naval officer, b. in New York city, 24 Jan., 1842 ; d. in the island of Formosa, China, 13 June, 1867, was appointed