Blair Collection > Celtic magazine > Volume 5

THE EDITOR IN CAI^ADA, 233
nuch esteemed lady, like himself a native of the county of Perth. As
already stated in a previous article, Mr Mackenzie is a native of Logie-
."■ait, where he was born on the 22d of January 1822, so that he is now in
■,he 58th year of his age. I have not been able to find out what parti-
:;ular family of the clan the ex-Premier is descended from, but his ances-
,,ors lived in Strathtummel for several generations. The whole family
emigrated to Canada, where the sons, seven in number, were aU successful
•nen, and remarkable for their natural abUity and great force of character.
One of them, the late Hope F, Mackenzie, was successively and for several
years M.P. for Lambton and for Xorth Oxford, and was well known as a
(nan of marked ability, of earnestness, and honesty of purpose.
' The Hon. Alexander was educated at the public schools of Moulin,
■Dunkeld, and Perth, and his father having died when the future Premier
iwas very young, he had at the age of fourteen to push his own way in the
iworld. He was apprenticed to a stone mason, and became a thorough
master of his trade. He had early evinced a taste for literature, and con-
tinued a persevering student through life. He now possesses not only a
very extensive acquaintance with general literature, but has few equals in
his accurate and wide knowledge of political, constitutional, and social
history, as well as the present condition and general history of the leading
nations of the earth. He has thus a great advantage over most of the
pohticians of Canada, his ready command of the facts thus acquired
enabling him to illustrate his eloquent public orations with telling eftect.
In 18-42, when only 20 years of age, he emigrated and settled down in
:Sarnia, then a thriving and rising village, where he commenced business
las a contractor. He took a keen interest in all public questions, and be-
icame a contributor to the press. He was soon acknowledged as a very
usefid, and ultimately as a most prominent member of the Liberal party.
In aU the most exciting political events of the period, from 1850 to 1864,
|he was a most active and earnest participator. His excellent and power-
ful speeches, as well as his able contributions to the press during that
■eventful period of Canadian history, strongly aided in bringing about the
.great results achieved by the party of which he Avas now fast becoming
the natural leader. He continued earnestly to advocate with great power,
firmness, and fearlessness, the introduction of popular reform. He be-
came the editor of a Liberal newspaper, which, by the force and ability
of his contributions, and the sound common sense and patriotism which
pervaded its columns, soon became a power in the State, and commanded
general attention. He naturally became associated with the leading con-
stitutional and administrative reformers in Parliament. In 1861 he was
returned to the Legislature for the county of Lambton, in which Sarnia is
situated, and of which it is now the capital town, and from that day to
this he held one of the most prominent and influential positions, both as
a speaker and as a legislator, in the Dominion Parliament. When the
Hon. George Brown left the Coalition Cabinet of 1864-5, Mr Mackenzie
was oftered the Presidency of the Councd, but declined it on the ground
that the concessions offered to the United States for a renewal of the Ee-
ciprocity Treaty were unwise ; and that he could not become a member
of a Government who would be held responsible for such concessions.
In 1871 he was prevailed upon to contest West Middlesex for the local
Parliament of Ontario. In this he succeeded agaiast a strong opponent.