the journals of the house. A committee of grievances, of which Mackenzie was chairman, was then established; and its investigations led to the recall of the governor, Sir John Colborne [q. v.] His successor, Sir Francis Head [q. v.], however, was strongly in favour of the old autocratic system, and hostility to the government revived. In November 1836 Mackenzie was sent by the liberals of Upper Canada to pay a formal visit to Louis J. Papineau [q. v.], the leader of the Lower Canada reformers. Papineau was already thinking of armed insurrection, and to his influence much of Mackenzie's subsequent conduct must be attributed. At the general election of 1836 strenuous efforts were, in defiance of the law, made by the government to hinder the return of liberal candidates, and Mackenzie, with his more intimate partisans, failed to secure a seat. Chagrined at his defeat, and believing that constitutional agitation was now useless, Mackenzie resolved on an appeal to arms. His paper, the 'Colonial Advocate,' had been discontinued in 1834; it was now revived under the name of 'The Constitution,' and employed to preach disaffection to the inhabitants of the upper province. In July 1837 a vigilance committee was appointed to establish insurrectionary centres in different parts of the country. On 2 Aug. appeared an extraordinary appeal of the Toronto reformers to their brothers in Lower Canada, demanding the assembly of a national congress of delegates from each province, and on 25 Nov. Mackenzie publicly proclaimed the establishment of a provisional government. By the aid of an ex-Bonapartist officer, named Van Egmond, Mackenzie had got together eight hundred men. He appeared at their head near Toronto on 4 Dec. and sent a message to the governor to demand the settlement of all grievances by a national convention. The proposal was rejected, and a delay on Mackenzie's part gave the government time to collect troops. The rebels were attacked on 7 Dec. at Montgomery's Tavern and utterly defeated. Mackenzie managed to escape to Navy Island on the Niagara River. He tried to prolong the insurrection from American soil, but in 1839 was arrested by the United States government and condemned to twelve months' imprisonment for breaking the neutrality laws. Mackenzie's movement thus ended in failure. It, however, effectively called the attention of the home government to colonial abuses. To Mackenzie, therefore, the establishment of responsible government in Canada is largely due.
After his release from prison Mackenzie remained for some years in America, and contributed regularly to the 'New York Tribune.' On the proclamation of the amnesty in 1849 he returned to Canada. In 1850 he was elected to the legislature of the then united provinces, and sat there till 1858. He started a journal, 'Mackenzie's Message,' which was not a success. His name had lost its attraction, and during his latter years he depended on pecuniary assistance from his friends. He died at Toronto on 28 Aug. 1861.
[Lindsey's Life of W. L. Mackenzie; H. J. Morgan's Sketches of Celebrated Canadians; Histories of Canada by Dent, Withrow, and Bryce; Canadian Parliamentary Reports; English Parliamentary Reports.]
MACKERELL, BENJAMIN (d. 1738), Norfolk antiquary, was second son of John Mackerell alderman, of Norwich (Norfolk Archæology, ii. 382), by Anne, daughter of Elias Browne of the same city (Addit. MS. 23011, f. 28). From 1716 to 1732 he was librarian of the Norwich public library, and in the latter year printed a 'New Catalogue of the Books,' 4to, Norwich, together with am 'Account of Mr. John Kirkpatrick's Roman and other Coins.' He died in March 1738 (London Mag. vii. 104), and was buried on April following in the chancel of St. Stephen's Church, Norwich (parish register). He married in 1723, and had several children.
Mackerell was an accurate, painstaking antiquary, and left work of permanent value. Just before or after his death appeared his 'History and Antiquities of … King's-Lynn,' 8vo, London, 1738, which is chiefly an abridgment of John Green's manuscript collections (Richards, Hist. of Lynn, pp. i, iv). The manuscript is now in the possession of Mr. E. M. Beloe of Lynn. He also left ready for press a history of Norwich in two quarto volumes, which was afterwards acquired by Hudson Gurney of Keswick Hall, Norfolk. Two copies of his manuscript 'Brief Historical Account of the Church of Saint Peter of Mancroft, in the City of Norwich … with Draughts of all the Monuments,' &c, compiled in 1735-6, which he intended to be deposited in that church, are in the British Museum, Additional MSS. 9370 and 23011, where are also two duodecimo volumes of notes on Norfolk and Norwich churches, with inscriptions collected by him, Additional MSS. 12525-6. He copied likewise the inscriptions and coats of arms in St. Stephen's Church, Norwich (1729-37), with exact measurements of each stone and brass, adding some observations on the parish. This carefully executed manuscript is preserved, according to his wish, in the vestry of the church.
