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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: LUP-MAL |
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MACKENZIE, WILLIAM LYON (1795-1861) , Canadian politician, was born near Dundee, Scotland, on the 12th of March 1795 His father died before he was a month old, and the family were left in poverty. After some six years' work in a shop at Alyth, in April 1820 he emigrated with his mother to Canada. There he became a general merchant, first at York
York
incipient softening of the brain, of which he died on the 29th of August 186r. Turbulent, ungovernable, vain, often the dupe of schemers, Mackenzie united with much that was laughable not a little that was heroic. He could neither be bribed, bullied, nor cajoled. Perhaps the best instance of this is that in 1832 he refused from Lord Goderich an offer of a position which would have given him great influence in Canada and an income of 1,500. He was a born agitator, and as such tended to exaggeration and misrepresentation. But the evils against which he struggled were real and grave; the milder measures of the Constitutional Reformers might have taken long to achieve the results which were due to his hot-headed advocacy. The Life and Times by his son-in-law, Charles Lindsey (Toronto, 2 vols., 1862), is moderate and fair, though tending to smooth over his anti-British gasconnade while in the United States. An abridgment of this work was edited by G. G. S. Lindsey for the " Makers of Canada " series (1909). In The Story of the Upper Canadian Rebellion by J. C. Dent (2 vols., Toronto, 1885), a bitter attack is made on him, which drew a savage reply from another son-in-law, John King, K.C., called The Other Side of the Story. The best short account of his career is given by J. C. Dent in The Canadian Portrait Gallery, vol. ii. (Toronto, 1881). (W. L. G.)1824 Mackenzie removed to Toronto, but he had little capital ; his paper appeared irregularly, and was on the point of suspending publication when his office was attacked and his type thrown into the bay by a number of the supporters of his opponents. In an action against the chief
In 1828 he was elected member of parliament for York, but was expelled on the technical ground that he had published in his newspaper the proceedings of the house without authorization. Five times he was expelled and five times re-elected by his constituents, till at last the government refused to issue a writ, and for three years York was without one of its representatives. In May 1832 he visited England, where he was well received by the colonial office. Largely as the result of his representations, many important reforms were ordered by Lord Goderich, after-wards earl
Strachan
In the general election of June 1836 the Tory party won a complete victory, Mackenzie and almost all the prominent Reformers being defeated at the polls. This totally unexpected defeat greatly embittered him. On the 4th of July 1836, the anniversary of the adoption of the American Declaration of Independence, he began the publication of the Constitution, which openly advocated a republican form of government. Later in the year he was appointed " agent and corresponding secretary " of the extreme wing of the Reform party, and more and more openly, in his speeches throughout the province, advocated armed revolt. He was also in correspondence with Papineau and the other leaders of the Reformers in Lower Canada, who were already planning a rising. Early in December 1837 Mackenzie gathered a mob of his followers, to the number of several hundred, at Gallows Hill, some miles to the north of Toronto, with the intention of seizing the lieutenant-governor and setting up a provisional government. Misunderstandings among the leaders led to the total failure of the revolt, and Mackenzie was forced to fly to the United States with a price on his head. In the town of Buffalo he collected a disorderly rabble, who seized and fortified Navy Island, in the river between the two countries, and for some weeks troubled the Canadian frontier. After the failure of this attempt he was put to the most pitiful shifts to make a living. In June 1839 he was tried in the United States for a breach of the neutrality laws, and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment, of which he served over eleven. While in gaol at Rochester he published the Caroline Almanac, the tone of which may be judged from its references to " Victoria Guelph
In 1851 he was elected to parliament for Haldimand, defeating George Brown. He at once allied himself with the Radicals (the " Clear Grits") ,and, on the leadership of that party being assumed by Brown, became one of his lieutenants. He was still miserably poor, but refused all offers to accept a government position. In 1858 he resigned his seat in the house, owing to End of Article: MACKENZIE, WILLIAM LYON (1795-1861) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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