Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mackay, Alexander (1808-1852)
MACKAY, ALEXANDER (1808–1852), journalist, born in Scotland in 1808, was in early life conductor of a newspaper in Toronto, Canada. After residing in Canada for several years and travelling over a great portion of the provinces and the States, he returned home, and accepted an engagement on the staff of the London 'Morning Chronicle.' In the interest of that journal he revisited the United States in 1846 to report the debates in Congress on the Oregon question, and to ascertain public opinion on the subject. His letters were admirably written. Mackay was called to the bar from the Middle Temple on 7 May 1847. He severed his connection with the 'Morning Chronicle' in 1849, on account of its opposition to the Rebellion Losses Bill of Canada. In 1851 the chambers of commerce of Manchester, Liverpool, Blackburn, and Glasgow sent him to inquire into the cultivation of cotton in India and the condition of the cultivators of the soil, more especially within the presidencies of Bombay and Madras. After a sojourn of about a year in India, ill-health obliged Mackay to embark for home. He died at sea on 15 April 1852.
Mackay wrote: 1. 'Electoral Districts; ... an Inquiry into the working of the Reform Bill,' 8vo, London, 1848. 2. 'The Western World, or Travels in the United States in 1846-7/ 3 vols. 8vo, London, 1849, dedicated to Richard Cobden. This was for long the most complete work published on the United States. 3. 'The Crisis in Canada, or Vindication of Lord Elgin and his Cabinet ... in reference to the Rebellion Losses Bill,' 8vo, London, 1849. 4. 'Analysis of the Australian Colonies' Government Bill,' 8vo, London, 1850. 5. 'Western India: Reports addressed to the Chambers of Commerce of Manchester, Liverpool, Blackburn, and Glasgow,' 8vo, London, 1853, a posthumous work edited by James Robertson, with a preface by Sir Thomas Bazley.
[Gent Mag. 1852 pt. i. p. 634; Appleton's Cyclop, of Amer. Biog.; Mackay's Works; Law List for 1852.]