Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/141

Mackenzie narrative of his explorations in the northwest, entitled 'Voyages on the River St. Lawrence and through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in the years 1780 and 1793. With a Preliminary Account of the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Fur Trade of that Country,' London, 4to. The work, which contains some excellent maps, was dedicated to George III. On 10 Feb. 1802 Mackenzie was knighted. Although retaining a partnership in the North-west Company, he set up a rival fur company, under the style of 'Sir Alexander Mackenzie & Co.,' which in 1804 was amalgamated with the older North-west Company. The latter (long after Mackenzie's death) was absorbed into the original Hudson's Bay Company. Mackenzie appears to have afterwards resided some time in Canada. He represented Huntingdon County in the provincial parliament, and was involved in litigation with Lord Selkirk, arising out of that nobleman's unfortunate attempts at colonisation. In 1812 he married a Miss Mackenzie, and appears to have bought an estate at Avoch, Ross-shire. When journeying to Edinburgh with his wife and young children he was taken suddenly ill at Mulnain, near Dunkeld, and there died on 11 March 1820.

A portrait was painted by Lawrence and engraved by Westermayer.  MACKENZIE, ALEXANDER (1822–1892), first liberal premier of the Canadian Dominion, born on 28 Jan. 1822 at Logierait, near Dunkeld in Perthshire, was third son of Alexander Mackenzie (d. 1836), a builder and contractor, by a daughter of Donald Fleming. After attending schools at Perth, Moulin, and Dunkeld he was set at fourteen to learn the trade of a stonemason. In 1842 he emigrated to Canada, and settled at Kingston, Ontario, where he worked for a time as a journeyman builder. In the following year his brother, Hope F. Mackenzie, and about 1848 the rest of the family, joined him. At the latter date Alexander removed to Sarnia, and set up there as a builder and contractor. Mackenzie from an early period interested himself in politics, inheriting strong whig traditions. In 1852 he became editor of the newly founded 'Lambton Shield' at Sarnia, and sought, with the aid of his brother Hope, to educate the Canadians in liberalism. The brother for some time sat in the provincial parliament, but his health failed, and in 1861 Alexander took his place as member for Lambton. For this constituency he sat till the formation of the Dominion. He at once came to the front in the assembly ; his knowledge of history and statistics was wide, his memory almost infallible, and his habit of speech terse and sarcastic. In 1865, on the resignation of George Brown, the liberal premier, he was offered but declined a place in the coalition cabinet of the Canadas, which was committed to carry out the policy of Canadian federation. As a private member he paid special attention to the acts relating to the assessment of property (1863 and 1866), framed the greater portion of the Municipal Corporation Act of 1866 for Upper Canada, and promoted the act for providing means of egress from public buildings. To the first Dominion House of Commons Mackenzie was elected for Lambton (August 1867). His friend George Brown lost his seat, whereupon Mackenzie was chosen by the liberal members from Ontario to fill his place, and soon became the leader of the whole opposition. In this capacity he confined himself to his parliamentary duties, and took no pror minent part in outside agitation or party organisation. In 1871 he was elected member for West Middlesex in the Ontario provincial assembly, and for a few months sat both in the provincial and the federal houses. On 20 Dec. 1871 Mr. Edward Blake formed a liberal ministry in the province, and Mackenzie joined him as secretary and registrar, afterwards becoming treasurer as well. But on the passage of the act preventing any person from sitting at once in the federal and in any provincial house, both Mackenzie and his chief resigned (25 Oct. 1872). About the same date he had again been elected to represent Lambton in the second parliament of the Dominion.

The Pacific railway scandal gave Mackenzie his opportunity. The government met parliament in 1873 with apparently undiminished strength. On 27 Oct. Mackenzie moved an amendment to the speech from the throne to the effect that the conduct of Sir John Macdonald's ministry towards the Pacific railway charter had deprived it of the confidence of the country [see ]. The debate was continued for seven days, and before a vote was taken the ministry resigned. Mackenzie formed a new ministry (7 Nov.), becoming himself minister of public works. A general election at the 