a coal company.
In the spring of 1820 he sailed for Canada, where he was destined to
gain great notoriety, and to become an important factor in the moulding
of public opinion.

In a new country like Canada a young man of Mackenzie's energy was soon
able to make his presence felt. After being employed for a short time on
the survey of the Lachine Canal, he opened a store at York, whence he
removed to Dundas, and entered on a more extensive mercantile business
in partnership with Mr. John Lesslie, the style of the firm being
"Mackenzie & Lesslie." His mercantile venture in Dundas was fairly
successful. During his residence there he married Miss Isabel Baxter, a
native of Dundee, after a brief courtship of three weeks. In the spring
of 1823 the firm of Mackenzie & Lesslie was dissolved, and for a few
months thereafter the senior partner carried on business by himself. In
the autumn of the same year he removed to Queenston, where he embarked
in business by opening a general store. The store had not been many
months in operation before its proprietor abandoned commercial pursuits
and embraced the life of a journalist. This change seems to have been
the result of some deliberation, and it must be admitted that Mr.
Mackenzie possessed considerable aptitude for the new field of labour
which he had chosen. His writing, though very unequal, and sometimes
exceedingly verbose and amateurish in point of style, was almost always
direct and easy to understand. His observation was keen, and he had
taken a warm interest in politics ever since his arrival in the country.
Though many of his views were what would now be considered Toryish and
out of date, they were then classed by the Compact and their adherents
as ultra-Radical and revolutionary. He had formed the acquaintance of
Rolph, Perry, the Bidwells, and other prominent Reformers, by all of
whom the sincerity of his political professions were regarded as being
beyond question. The first number of his newspaper, which was christened
_The Colonial Advocate_, made its appearance on the 18th of May, 1824.
It consisted of thirty-two pages, and, although its owner had neither
received nor sought a single subscriber, he issued an edition of twelve
hundred copies. Whether he embarked in newspaper life at this particular
time with a view to influencing votes during the impending general
election cannot now be known with certainty. Probably enough this may
have been one of his motives, whic