Alexander Mackenzie

“ They assumed that Alexander Mackenzie, now so old, would not have gone to Kintail, but would stay in Ross, judging that the Macdonalds, so recently come under obligations to the King to keep the peace would not venture to collect their forces and invade the low country. But Kenneth, foreseeing the danger from the rebellious temper of Macdonald, went to Kintail at the commencement of his enemy's preparations, and placed a strong garrison, with sufficient provisions, in Ellandonnan Castle ”

“ Kenneth was at the time on a visit to Mackenzie of Gairloch, at his house on Island Rory in Loch-Maree, and hearing of Glengarry's approach and the object of his visit, he ordered all his coasts to be placed in readiness, and sent Alexander Mackenzie of Achilty with sixteen men and eight oarsmen, in an eight oared galley belonging to John Tolmach Macleod, son of Rory, son of Allan Macleod, who still possessed a small portion of Gairloch, to watch the enemy and examine the coast as far as Kylerhea. ”

“ Mackenzie was born on the 28th January, 1822, and is two years younger than his friend, the Hon. Oliver Mowat, and seven years younger than his rival, Sir John A. Macdonald. He was born in the parish of Logierait, Perthshire, Scotland. His parents had neither poverty nor riches, but they and their connections had what was better than either: they had brain-power, intelligence, untiring industry, sterling integrity, and an honorable ambition to rise in the world. Along with these good qualities they had a strong liking for Whig politics. Alexander was the third son in a large family. ”

“ Alexander Mackenzie of Fairburn was to command. There was, the President said, a report that Barrisdale had gone to Assynt to raise the men of that country, to be joined to those of Coigeach, who were said to have orders to be in readiness to join Macdonald, and with instructions to march through Mackenzie's territories in order to find out how many of his Lordship's vassals could be persuaded, by fair means or foul, to join the standard of the Prince. "I hope this is not true," writes the President; "if it is, it is of the greatest consequence to prevent it. ”

“ All this may be so; but those who know Alexander Mackenzie know him to be a warm-hearted man, as kindly as he is firm and true—a man ready at any moment to help the needy, or make sacrifices for his friend. He hates humbug, and scorns shams, and can unmask a hypocrite with rare skill; but no more kindly man stands in the Dominion to-day. May a kind heaven send Canada more Mackenzies.
Clarke, Edward Frederick, M.P.P., Mayor of the City of Toronto, Ontario, was born in the county of Cavan, Ireland, on the 24th April, 1850. ”

“ In 1875 Mackenzie paid a visit to Great Britain, and was received at Windsor by Queen Victoria; he was offered a knighthood, but declined it. After his defeat he suffered from failing health, gradually resulting in almost total paralysis, but though in 1880 he resigned the leadership of the opposition, he retained a seat in parliament till his death at Toronto on the 17th of April 1892. While perhaps too cautious to be the ideal leader of a young and vigorous community, his grasp of detail, indefatigable industry, and unbending integrity won him the respect even of his political opponents. ”

“ Murdoch married the eldest daughter of John Mackenzie, III. of Fairburn, by whom he had, in addition to the daughter who became the wife of Alexander Mackenzie of Sand, an only lawful son, John, killed in 1645 at the battle of Auldearn in command of the Lewis Mackenzie Regiment, whereupon the lineal and sole representation of the Kernsary family reverted to the descendants of Alexander Mackenzie of Sand, through Mary, his wife, by whom he had issue - two sons and two daughters. He was succeeded, in 1656, by the eldest son, Hector, who also succeeded his uncle John in Ardnagrask. ”

“ Mackenzie tried to do the same thing for the people of Canada and failed. A few years will show, if the revelation has not already been made, whether the electors of Canada did a wise thing when they dismissed a faithful public servant for not taxing five millions of people to enrich a few. Never did British or Colonial statesman display more moral heroism than was displayed by Alexander Mackenzie in ’78 when he stood by his principles while the pistol was pointed at his head—held at times, with shame be it said, by some who pose as moral reformers. ”

“ The second son, ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, was born in 1772, and married in 1795. Helen, daughter of John Donaldson, Dunfermline, factor for the Earl of Dundonald, with issue - (1) William, who was born in 1797 and died in infancy; (2) JOHN DONALDSON MACKENZIE, surgeon, who was born in 1803, and practised his profession in Jersey. He married, in 1840, Emma Caroline, daughter of John Landseer, and sister of the eminent painter, Sir Edwin Landseer, with issue - Edwin John Landseer Mackenzie, of Kensington Park Gardens, London, who was born in 1843 ”

“ In a country where there was so much to be built, almost anything was possible to a man of his patient industry, economical habits, sterling integrity, sound judgment, and all but invincible energy. But Alexander Mackenzie was not to be a millionaire contractor. Like many Scotchmen, he had a keen relish for politics. Five years’ residence in Sir John’s favorite city probably increased his eagerness to join in the fray. In Scotland he had been a Whig, and in Canada he joined the Liberal party as a matter of course. ”

“ It's hard the Government gives nobody in the North power to keep people in order. I don't choose to send a company to Inverness until I hear what they are determined to do at Lord Lovat's."
The Earl of Loudon writes to Marshal Wade, then Commander-in-Chief in the North, under date of 16th November, saying that 150 or 160 Mackenzies, seduced by the Earl of Cromarty, marched in the beginning of that week up the north side of Loch-Ness, expecting to be followed by 500 or 600 Frasers, under command of the Master of Lovat, but the Mackenzies had not on that date passed the mountains. ”

“ He had a tack from Sir Alexander Mackenzie, second Baronet and IX. of Gairloch, of the half of North Erradale, in 1760, for twenty years, to begin at Whit-sunday, 1765, and he is described in the lease as then in possession (see pp. 483-84) . ”

“ THE MACKENZIES OF FAWLEY COURT AND FARR. I. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, the first of this remarkable family prominently known in the engineering world, was born at Wester Fairburn, in the county of Ross, on the 5th of June, 1769, and educated at the Grammar School, Inverness. He joined an old school-fellow, David Mackintosh, a native of Cawdor, Nairnshire, as a firm of contractors and engineers. They constructed several canals in England, and were very successful. He married Mary, daughter of William Austin, from her great beauty known as one of the "Lancashire Witches," with issue -
1. ”

“ Alexander Mackenzie was appointed minister at Gairloch - the first after the Reformation - and in 1583 he obtained a decree from the Lords of the Privy Council and Session ordaining the teind revenue to be paid to him. At the Reformation Sir John Broik was rector of the parish; after which it was vacant until, in 1583, James VI. presented this Alexander Mackenzie to "the parsonage and vicarage of Garloch vacand in our Souerane Lordis handis contenuallie sen the reformatioun of the religioun within this realme by the decease of Sir John Broik." [Reg. Sec. Sig., vol xlix, fol. 62.] ”

“ She would gladly have married Alexander of Kintail, he being a proper handsome young man, and she signified no less to himself. He refused the offer, perhaps, because he plighted his faith to Macdougall's daughter, but though he had not had done so, he had all the reason imaginable to reject the Countess's offer, for besides that she was not able to add to his estate, being but a life-rentrix, she was a turbulent woman, and therefore, in the year 1426, the King committed her to prison in St. Colin's Isle (Dingwall) , because she had instigated her son, Alexander Earl of Ross, to rebellion. ”

“ At a meeting of the Council held at Edinburgh on the 9th of February, 1615, Neil Macleod's two sons, Norman and Roderick, are set at liberty on condition that they transport themselves out of the King's dominions and never return. They appeared personally "and acted and obliged them that within the space of forty days after their relief furth of their ward, where they remain within the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, they shall depart and pass furth of his Majesty's dominions and never return again within the same during their lifetimes, under the pain of death ”

“ He took all the remaining able-bodied men along with him, and on his way back to Kinellan he was joined by his dependants in Strathconan, Strathgarve, and other glens in the Braes of Ross, all fully determined to defend Kenneth and his aged father at the expense, if need be, of their lives, small as their united forces were in comparison with that against which they knew they would soon have to contend. ”

“ Like many a distinguished man who has made his mark in the new world, and notably our great Lord Strathcona, who came as a mere lad to Canada, Alexander Mackenzie, a stripling of sixteen, arrived in Montreal to make his fortune. He40 was born as the Scottish people say of "kenn't" of "well-to-do" folk in Stornoway, in the Hebrides. He received a fair education and as a boy had a liking for the sea. Two partners, Gregory and McLeod, were fighting at Montreal in opposition to the dominant firm of McTavish and Frobisher. Young Alexander Mackenzie joined this opposition. ”

“ Macdonald was naturally very much exasperated by Kenneth's defiant answer to himself and the repeated insults heaped upon his relative, and through her upon her family. He therefore dispatched his great steward, Maclean, to collect his followers in the Isles, as also to advise and request the aid of his nearest relations on the mainland - the Macdonalds of Moidart and Clan Jan of Ardnamurchan. In a short time they mustered a force between them of about fifteen hundred men - some say three thousand - and arranged with Macdonald to meet him at Contin. ”

“ Excessive heat prevailed throughout the day.
Monday, 17.—Having sat up till twelve last night, which had been my constant practice since we had taken our present guide, I awoke Mr. Mackay to watch him in turn. I then laid down to rest, and at three I was awakened to be informed that he had deserted. Mr. Mackay, with whom I was displeased on this occasion, and the Cancre, accompanied by the dog, went in search of him, but he had made his escape: a design which he had for some time meditated, though I had done every thing in my power to induce him to remain with me. ”

“ VIII. THOMAS MACKENZIE, would have succeeded as head of his house, and failing him and his descendants, if any, the representation of the old Mackenzies of Dundonnel would have fallen to JOHN HOPE MACKENZIE, third son of Thomas, VI. of Dundonnel and last proprietor of the family estates. He married Louisa, daughter of Captain Stewart of the Ceylon Rifles, widow of his deceased brother, George Alexander, without issue, and died in London in 1892. ”

“ General Wade made a report to the Government, from which we take the following extract: "The Laird of the Mackenzies, and other chiefs of the clans and tribes, tenants to the late Earl of Seaforth, came to me in a body, to the number of about fifty, and assured me that both they and their followers were ready to pay a dutiful obedience to your Majesty's commands, by a peaceable surrender of their arms ”

“ At Tarragona he was so mortified with Sir John Murray's conduct, that he almost forgot that he himself was only second in command, and charged Sir John with incapacity and cowardice, for which the latter was tried by Court Martial - General Mackenzie being one of the principal witnesses against him. Full of vigour of mind and body, he took a lively interest in everything in which he engaged, from fishing and shooting to farming, gardening, politics, and fighting. He never forgot his Gaelic, which he spoke with fluency and read with ease. Though a severe disciplinarian, his men adored him. ”

“ Almost every statesman of his time was as changeable as he was, but he possessed a capacity for business which distinguished few if any of his rivals. He is admitted on all hands to have been in private life a gentleman of the most refined habits. He wrote well on various subjects, his chief productions being Essays on the Union of the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland ”

“ Mackenzie of Kintail, then between sixty and seventy years of age, when he might fairly consider himself exempt from further military service, duly appeared with all the followers he could muster, prudently leaving Kenneth, his only son, at home and when remonstrated with for taking part in such a perilous journey at his time of life, especially as he was far past the stipulated age for active service, the old chief patriotically remarked that one of his age could not possibly die more decorously than in the defence of his country. ”

“ Alexander married a daughter of John Mor na Tuaighe MacGillechallum, a brother of Macleod of Raasay, by whom she had a son, Hector, who lived at Kinellan, and was nicknamed the Bishop. This Hector married a daughter of Macleod of Raasay, and left a large family, one of the daughters being afterwards married to Murdo Mackenzie, V. of Achilty, without issue. ”