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WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE (1795-1861)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 254 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILLIAM See also:LYON See also:MACKENZIE (1795-1861)  , See also:Canadian politician, was See also:born near See also:Dundee, See also:Scotland, on the 12th of See also:March 1795• His See also:father died before he was a See also:month old, and the See also:family were See also:left in poverty . After some six years' See also:work in a See also:shop at Alyth, in See also:April 1820 he emigrated with his See also:mother to See also:Canada . There he became a See also:general See also:merchant, first at See also:York, then at Dundas, and later at Queenston . The discontented See also:condition of Upper Canada See also:drew him into politics., and on the 18th of May 1824 he published at Queenston the first number of the Colonial See also:Advocate, in which the ruling See also:oligarchy was attacked with See also:great asperity . Most of the changes which he advocated were See also:wise and have since been adopted ; but the violence of See also:Mackenzie's attacks roused great anger among the social and See also:political set at York (See also:Toronto), which was headed by See also:John See also:Beverley See also:Robinson . In See also:November incipient softening of the See also:brain, of which he died on the 29th of See also:August 186r . Turbulent, ungovernable, vain, often the dupe of schemers, Mackenzie See also: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 See also:Lord Goderich an offer of a position which would have given him great See also: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 See also:grave; the milder See also:measures of the Constitutional Reformers might have taken See also:long to achieve the results which were due to his hot-headed advocacy . The See also:Life and Times by his son-in-See also:law, See also:Charles See also:Lindsey (Toronto, 2 vols., 1862), is moderate and See also:fair, though tending to smooth over his See also:anti-See also:British gasconnade while in the United States .

An abridgment of this work was edited by G . G . S . Lindsey for the " Makers of Canada " See also:

series (1909) . In The See also:Story of the Upper Canadian See also:Rebellion by J . C . Dent (2 vols., Toronto, 1885), a See also:bitter attack is made on him, which drew a See also:savage reply from another son-in-law, John See also:King, K.C., called The Other See also:Side of the Story . The best See also:short See also:account of his career is given by J . C . Dent in The Canadian Portrait See also:Gallery, vol. ii . (Toronto, 1881) . (W .

L . G.) 1824 Mackenzie removed to Toronto, but he had little See also:

capital; his See also:paper appeared irregularly, and was on the point of suspending publication when his See also:office was attacked and his type thrown into the See also:bay by a number of the supporters of his opponents . In an See also:action against the See also:chief rioters he was awarded £625 and See also:costs, was thus enabled to set up a much larger and more efficient plant, and the Colonial Advocate ran till the 4th of November 1834 . In 1828 he was elected member of See also:parliament for York, but was expelled on the technical ground that he had published in his newspaper the proceedings of the See also:house without authorization . Five times he was expelled and five times re-elected by his constituents, till at last the See also:government refused to issue a See also:writ, and for three years York was without one of its representatives . In May 1832 he visited See also: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 See also:earl of See also:Ripon, the colonial secretary . While in England, he published Sketches of Canada and the United States, in which, with some exaggeration, many of the Canadian grievances were exposed . On his return in March 1834 he was elected See also:mayor of Toronto . During his See also:year of office, the heroism with which he worked See also:hand in hand with his old enemy, See also:Bishop See also:Strachan, in fighting an attack of See also:cholera, did not prevent him from winning much unpopularity by his officiousness, and in 1835 he was not re-elected either as mayor or See also:alderman . In See also:October 1834 he was elected member of parliament for York, and took his seat in See also:January 1835, the Reformers being now in the See also:majority . A See also:committee on grievances was appointed, as chairman of which Mackenzie presented the admirable Seventh See also:Report on Grievances, largely written by himself, in which the See also:case for the Reformers was presented with force and moderation, and the See also:adoption of responsible government advocated as the remedy .

In the general See also:

election of See also:June 1836 the Tory party won a See also: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 See also:July 1836, the anniversary of the adoption of the See also:American See also:Declaration of See also:Independence, he began the publication of the Constitution, which openly advocated a republican See also:form of government . Later in the year he was appointed " See also:agent and corresponding secretary " of the extreme wing of the Reform party, and more and more openly, in his speeches throughout the See also:province, advocated armed revolt . He was also in See also:correspondence with See also:Papineau and the other leaders of the Reformers in See also:Lower Canada, who were already planning a rising . See also:Early in See also:December 1837 Mackenzie gathered a See also:mob of his followers, to the number of several See also:hundred, at Gallows See also:Hill, some See also:miles to the See also:north of Toronto, with the intention of seizing the See also:lieutenant-See also:governor and setting up a provisional government . Misunderstandings among the leaders led to the See also:total failure of the revolt, and Mackenzie was forced to See also:fly to the United States with a See also:price on his See also:head . In the See also:town of See also:Buffalo he collected a disorderly See also:rabble, who seized and fortified See also:Navy See also:Island, in the See also:river between the two countries, and for some See also:weeks troubled the Canadian frontier . After the failure of this See also: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 See also:breach of the See also:neutrality See also:laws, and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment, of which he served over eleven . While in See also:gaol at See also:Rochester he published the See also:Caroline See also:Almanac, the See also:tone of which may be judged from its references to " See also:Victoria See also:Guelph, the bloody See also:queen of England," and by the See also:title given to the British See also:cabinet of " Victoria See also:Melbourne's bloody See also:divan." He returned to Canada in consequence of the See also:Amnesty See also:Act 1849_ A closer inspection had cured him of his love for republican institutions . In 1851 he was elected to parliament for See also:Haldimand, defeating See also:George See also: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 .

End of Article: WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE (1795-1861)
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