Chapter 22

Withal, there are certain principles, or rather details of principle, that find general acceptance. One of these is the employment of machine-guns with the advanced guard. In this case the value of the weapon lies in its enabling the advanced guard both to seize favourable ground and points of support without undue effort and to hold the positions gained against the enemy’s counter-attack. This applies, further, to the preliminary stages of an action.14Another point is that as a rule the most favourable range for the machine-gun is “effective infantry,”i.e.600-1400 yards (which is,mutatis mutandis, the principle of Reffye’s mitrailleuse). Its employment at close infantry range depends entirely on conditions of ground and circumstances—even supposing that the handiest and most inconspicuous type of weapon is employed. Thirdly—and this has a considerable bearing on the other points—the machine-gun both concentrates many rifles on a narrow front, and concentrates the bullets of many rifles on a narrow front. The first clause implies that it can be used where there is no room (physically or tactically) for the fifty or eighty riflemen it represents (as, for instance, in some slight patch of cover whence the gun can give effective cross-fire in support of the infantry attack, or in front of an advanced post, or can watch an exposed flank), and, further, that it can be swung round laterally on to a fresh target far more easily than a line of excited and extended infantry can be made to change front. The second means that the exit of a defile, an exposed turn in a lane or on a bridge, can be beaten by closely grouped fire at greater distances and with greater accuracy than is attainable with riflemen.

Further, the waste of ammunition and the strain on the weapon caused by unnecessarily prolonged firing at the rate for which its mechanism is set—varying between 350 and 700 rounds a minute—have caused it to be laid down as an axiom in all armies that machine-guns shall deliver their fire by “bursts” and only on favourable targets.

Lastly, the reports, both of observers and combatants, are unanimous as to the immense moral effect produced on the combatants by the unmistakable drumming sound of the machine-guns, an effect comparable even at certain stages of the fight to the boom of the artillery itself.

Equipments in Use.—Practically all nations have abandoned the simple wheeled carriage for machine-guns, or rather have adopted the tripod or table mounting, reserving the wheeled vehicle for the mere transport of the equipment. Since the Russo-Japanese War the tendency has been to sacrifice the slight protection afforded by the shield in order to reduce visibility. The Japanese, who had unprotected field guns and protected machine-guns in the war, found it advisable to reverse this procedure, for reasons that can easily be guessed in the cases of both weapons.Great Britain.—The service machine-gun is the Maxim .303 in., adjusted to a rate of 450 rounds per minute and sighted (except in a few weapons) to 2900 yards. The original patterns weighed 60 ℔, and were mounted on wheeled carriages. In the latest pattern, however, the weight of the gun has been reduced to 36 ℔. The old Mark I. cavalry Maxim carriage, complete with gun, ammunition, &c., weighed 13 cwt. behind the traces, and the gun was 5 ft. above the ground. It had no limber. The Mark III. cavalry carriage is much lower (3′ 6″ from the ground to the gun), and the gun carriage and limber together only weigh 13 cwt. Of infantry carriages there were various marks, one of which is shown in fig. 6. Now, however, all mountings for infantry are of the tripod type, transported on wheels or on pack animals, but entirely detachable from the travelling mounting, and in action practically never used except on the tripod. The Mark IV. tripod mounting, of which a sketch is given in fig. 21, weighs 48 ℔. The total weight of the fighting equipment is thus 84 ℔ only—an important consideration now that in action the gun is man-carried. The gun can be adjusted to fire at heights varying from 2′ 6″ to 1′ 2½″ only from the ground; in its lowest position, then, it is a little lower than the head of a man firing lying. All the later infantry machine-gun equipments are for pack transport and have no shields.The organization of the machine-gun arm is regimental. Each cavalry regiment and each infantry battalion has a section of 2 guns under an officer.France.—The guns in use are the Puteaux and the Hotchkiss. The unit is the regimental 2-gun section. Four-horsed carriages with limbers are used with cavalry, tripods with the infantry sections. No shields. Weight of the Hotchkiss in use, 50 ℔; of the tripod, 70 ℔. The Puteaux was lightened and improved in 1909.Germany.—As already mentioned the German machine-gun units are classed as cavalry “detachments” and infantry “companies.” The “detachment” or battery consists of 6 guns and 4 wagons, the vehicles being of a light artillery pattern and drawn by four horses. The gun (Maxim) weighs 61 ℔, and its fighting carriage 110 ℔. The “companies” have also 6 guns and 4 wagons, but the equipment is lighter (two-horse), and is not constructed on artillery principles, nor are the guns fired from their carriages as are those of the “detachments.” The weight of the gun is 38 ℔, and that of the fighting carriage 75 (some accounts give 53 for the latter), the difference between these weights and those of the mounted equipments, affording a good illustration of the difference in the tactical requirements of the cavalry and of the infantry types of gun. The fighting carriage is a sort of sledge, which is provided with four legs for fire in the highest position, but can of course be placed on the ground; the height of the gun, therefore, can be varied from 3′ 6″ to 1′ 6″. The sledges can be dragged across country or carried by men stretcher fashion, and sometimes several sledges are coupled and drawn by a horse.Japan.—The Japanese Hotchkiss, as modified since the war with Russia, is said to weigh 70 ℔, and its tripod mounting 40. Each regiment of infantry has a six-gun battery and each cavalry brigade one of eight guns. Pack transport is used.Russia.—Since the war eight-gun companies have been formed in the infantry regiments, and each cavalry regiment has been provided with two guns. The var organization is, however, unknown. Both wheel and pack transport are employed for travelling, but the guns are fought from tripods. Early and somewhat heavy patterns of Maxim (with shield) are chiefly used, but a great number of very light guns of the Madsen type have been issued.TheAustriangun is the Schwarzlose, of which some details are given above. Pack transport is used, one mule taking the whole equipment with 1000 rounds. Weight of the gun 37.9 ℔, of the tripod 41 ℔. The height of the tripod can be varied from 9¾ in. to 2 ft. above the ground. It is proposed that each cavalry regiment should have four guns, and each infantry regiment two. Switzerland adopted the Maxim in 1902. It is used principally as a substitute for horse artillery.Denmarkand other small states have adopted the Madsen or Rexer light-type guns in relatively large numbers, especially for cavalry. In theUnited Statesthe British organization was after many trials adopted, and each infantry and cavalry regiment has a two-gun section of Maxims, with tripod mounting and pack transport.See P. Azan,Les premières mitrailleuses(“Revue d’Histoire de l’Armée,” July 1907);Le Canon à balles, 1870-1871(“Revue d’Hist. de l’Armée”, 1909); Lieut-Colonel E. Rogers in “Journal R. United Service Institution” of 1905; Capt. R. V. K. Applin,Machine-gun Tactics(London, 1910) and paper in “J. R. United Service Inst.” (1910); War Office Handbook to the Maxim gun (1907); Capt. Cesbron Lavau,Mitrailleuses de cavalerie; Lieut. Buttin,L’emploi des mitrailleuses d’infanterie; Major J. Goots,Les Mitrailleuses(Brussels, 1908); and Merkatz,Unterrichtsbuch für die Masch.-Gewehrabteilungen(Berlin, 1906); Korzen & Kühn,Waffenlehre, &c.

Great Britain.—The service machine-gun is the Maxim .303 in., adjusted to a rate of 450 rounds per minute and sighted (except in a few weapons) to 2900 yards. The original patterns weighed 60 ℔, and were mounted on wheeled carriages. In the latest pattern, however, the weight of the gun has been reduced to 36 ℔. The old Mark I. cavalry Maxim carriage, complete with gun, ammunition, &c., weighed 13 cwt. behind the traces, and the gun was 5 ft. above the ground. It had no limber. The Mark III. cavalry carriage is much lower (3′ 6″ from the ground to the gun), and the gun carriage and limber together only weigh 13 cwt. Of infantry carriages there were various marks, one of which is shown in fig. 6. Now, however, all mountings for infantry are of the tripod type, transported on wheels or on pack animals, but entirely detachable from the travelling mounting, and in action practically never used except on the tripod. The Mark IV. tripod mounting, of which a sketch is given in fig. 21, weighs 48 ℔. The total weight of the fighting equipment is thus 84 ℔ only—an important consideration now that in action the gun is man-carried. The gun can be adjusted to fire at heights varying from 2′ 6″ to 1′ 2½″ only from the ground; in its lowest position, then, it is a little lower than the head of a man firing lying. All the later infantry machine-gun equipments are for pack transport and have no shields.

The organization of the machine-gun arm is regimental. Each cavalry regiment and each infantry battalion has a section of 2 guns under an officer.

France.—The guns in use are the Puteaux and the Hotchkiss. The unit is the regimental 2-gun section. Four-horsed carriages with limbers are used with cavalry, tripods with the infantry sections. No shields. Weight of the Hotchkiss in use, 50 ℔; of the tripod, 70 ℔. The Puteaux was lightened and improved in 1909.

Germany.—As already mentioned the German machine-gun units are classed as cavalry “detachments” and infantry “companies.” The “detachment” or battery consists of 6 guns and 4 wagons, the vehicles being of a light artillery pattern and drawn by four horses. The gun (Maxim) weighs 61 ℔, and its fighting carriage 110 ℔. The “companies” have also 6 guns and 4 wagons, but the equipment is lighter (two-horse), and is not constructed on artillery principles, nor are the guns fired from their carriages as are those of the “detachments.” The weight of the gun is 38 ℔, and that of the fighting carriage 75 (some accounts give 53 for the latter), the difference between these weights and those of the mounted equipments, affording a good illustration of the difference in the tactical requirements of the cavalry and of the infantry types of gun. The fighting carriage is a sort of sledge, which is provided with four legs for fire in the highest position, but can of course be placed on the ground; the height of the gun, therefore, can be varied from 3′ 6″ to 1′ 6″. The sledges can be dragged across country or carried by men stretcher fashion, and sometimes several sledges are coupled and drawn by a horse.

Japan.—The Japanese Hotchkiss, as modified since the war with Russia, is said to weigh 70 ℔, and its tripod mounting 40. Each regiment of infantry has a six-gun battery and each cavalry brigade one of eight guns. Pack transport is used.

Russia.—Since the war eight-gun companies have been formed in the infantry regiments, and each cavalry regiment has been provided with two guns. The var organization is, however, unknown. Both wheel and pack transport are employed for travelling, but the guns are fought from tripods. Early and somewhat heavy patterns of Maxim (with shield) are chiefly used, but a great number of very light guns of the Madsen type have been issued.

TheAustriangun is the Schwarzlose, of which some details are given above. Pack transport is used, one mule taking the whole equipment with 1000 rounds. Weight of the gun 37.9 ℔, of the tripod 41 ℔. The height of the tripod can be varied from 9¾ in. to 2 ft. above the ground. It is proposed that each cavalry regiment should have four guns, and each infantry regiment two. Switzerland adopted the Maxim in 1902. It is used principally as a substitute for horse artillery.Denmarkand other small states have adopted the Madsen or Rexer light-type guns in relatively large numbers, especially for cavalry. In theUnited Statesthe British organization was after many trials adopted, and each infantry and cavalry regiment has a two-gun section of Maxims, with tripod mounting and pack transport.

See P. Azan,Les premières mitrailleuses(“Revue d’Histoire de l’Armée,” July 1907);Le Canon à balles, 1870-1871(“Revue d’Hist. de l’Armée”, 1909); Lieut-Colonel E. Rogers in “Journal R. United Service Institution” of 1905; Capt. R. V. K. Applin,Machine-gun Tactics(London, 1910) and paper in “J. R. United Service Inst.” (1910); War Office Handbook to the Maxim gun (1907); Capt. Cesbron Lavau,Mitrailleuses de cavalerie; Lieut. Buttin,L’emploi des mitrailleuses d’infanterie; Major J. Goots,Les Mitrailleuses(Brussels, 1908); and Merkatz,Unterrichtsbuch für die Masch.-Gewehrabteilungen(Berlin, 1906); Korzen & Kühn,Waffenlehre, &c.

(C. F. A.)

1The French termmitrailleuse, made famous by the War of 1870, reappears in other Latin tongues (e.g.Spanishametralladora). It signifies a weapon which delivers a shower of small projectiles (mitraille—grape or case shot), and has no special reference to its mechanical (hand or automatic) action.2Meudon Château had long been used for military experiments. The peasantry credited it with mysterious and terrible secrets, asserting even that it contained a tannery of human skins, this tradition perhaps relating to the war balloon constructed there before the battle of Fleurus (1794). Reffye had also many non-military tasks, such as the reproduction of a famous set of bas-reliefs, construction of aeroplanes, and the reconstruction of triremes and balistas.3A machine-gun of the artillery or volley type, called the “Requa battery,” which had its barrels disposed fan-wise, was also used in the Civil War.4The U.S. pattern Gatling hardly differed except in details from the model, above described, of twenty years earlier. The drum had been set horizontally instead of vertically and improved in details, and a “gravity feed,” a tall vertical charger, was also used. The barrels were surrounded with a light casing. Tests made of the improved Gatling showed that the use of only one barrel at a time prevented overheating. On one trial 63,000 rounds were fired without a jam, and without stopping to clean the barrels. Smokeless powder and the modern cartridge case were of course used.5The following particulars may be given of the 2-barrelled Gardner and 3-barrelled Nordenfeldt (land service) converted to take the .303 cartridge: Weight, 92 and 110 ℔ respectively; parapet mounting in each case 168 ℔; rate of fire of Gardner about 250 rounds per minute, of the Nordenfeldt about 350. A few of these guns are still used in fortresses and coast defences.6Modern improvements in mechanical details are only slight, as may be found by reference to the official handbooks of the gun, editions of 1903 and 1907.7At San-de-pu 1905 the Japanese machine-guns (Hotchkiss) sustained damage averaging, 1 extractor broken per gun, 1 jam in every 300 rounds. It should be mentioned, however, that the machine-gun companies were only formed shortly before the battle.8In field operations only. For siege warfare seeFortification and Siegecraft.9For practical purposes in the field, the “effective” beaten zone, containing 75% of the bullets, is the basis of fire direction both for the machine-gun and the rifle. The depths of these “effective” zones are on an average:—At500 yds.1,000 yds.1,500 yds.2,000 yds.S.L.E. Rifle220 yds.120 yds.100 yds.—Maxim Gun150 yds.70 yds.60 yds.50 yds.10“Combined sights” implies firing with the sights set for two different ranges, the usual difference being 50 yds. With grouped machine guns, “progressive fire” with elevations increasing by 25 yds. is used. This artificially disperses the fire, and therefore lessens the chance of losing the target through ranging errors. One ingenious inventor has produced a two-barrelled automatic, in which the barrels are permanently set to give combined elevations. The British memorandum of August 1909 seems to regard the facility of employing combined sights as the principal advantage of the battery over the section.11The use of single guns facilitates concealment, but this is outweighed by the objection that when a jam or other breakdown occurs the fire ceases altogether. The use of guns in pairs not only obviates this, but admits of each gun in turn ceasing fire to economize ammunition, to cool down, &c. This is the old artillery principle—“one gun is no gun.”12In the instructions issued in August 1909 one of the principal advantages of grouped sections is stated to be the neutralization of ranging errors at ranges over 1000 yards. At a less range, it is laid down, grouped guns form too visible a target, unless the ground is very favourable.13The British instructions of August 1909 direct the grouping of guns in thedecisiveattack (if circumstances and ground favour this course) and their use by sections “if the brigade is deployed on a wide front,”i.e.on thenon-decisivefront; further, that it is often advisable to disperse the sections of the leading battalions and to group those of units in reserve. In any case, while the 2, 4 or 8 guns must be ready to act independently as a special “arm,” their normal work is to give the closest support to the neighbouring infantry (battalion in the holding, brigade in the decisive, attack).14In Germany, however, the tendency is not to make holding attacks but to keep the troops out of harm’s way (i.e.too far away for the enemy to counter-attack) until they can strike effectively.

2Meudon Château had long been used for military experiments. The peasantry credited it with mysterious and terrible secrets, asserting even that it contained a tannery of human skins, this tradition perhaps relating to the war balloon constructed there before the battle of Fleurus (1794). Reffye had also many non-military tasks, such as the reproduction of a famous set of bas-reliefs, construction of aeroplanes, and the reconstruction of triremes and balistas.

3A machine-gun of the artillery or volley type, called the “Requa battery,” which had its barrels disposed fan-wise, was also used in the Civil War.

4The U.S. pattern Gatling hardly differed except in details from the model, above described, of twenty years earlier. The drum had been set horizontally instead of vertically and improved in details, and a “gravity feed,” a tall vertical charger, was also used. The barrels were surrounded with a light casing. Tests made of the improved Gatling showed that the use of only one barrel at a time prevented overheating. On one trial 63,000 rounds were fired without a jam, and without stopping to clean the barrels. Smokeless powder and the modern cartridge case were of course used.

5The following particulars may be given of the 2-barrelled Gardner and 3-barrelled Nordenfeldt (land service) converted to take the .303 cartridge: Weight, 92 and 110 ℔ respectively; parapet mounting in each case 168 ℔; rate of fire of Gardner about 250 rounds per minute, of the Nordenfeldt about 350. A few of these guns are still used in fortresses and coast defences.

6Modern improvements in mechanical details are only slight, as may be found by reference to the official handbooks of the gun, editions of 1903 and 1907.

7At San-de-pu 1905 the Japanese machine-guns (Hotchkiss) sustained damage averaging, 1 extractor broken per gun, 1 jam in every 300 rounds. It should be mentioned, however, that the machine-gun companies were only formed shortly before the battle.

8In field operations only. For siege warfare seeFortification and Siegecraft.

9For practical purposes in the field, the “effective” beaten zone, containing 75% of the bullets, is the basis of fire direction both for the machine-gun and the rifle. The depths of these “effective” zones are on an average:—

10“Combined sights” implies firing with the sights set for two different ranges, the usual difference being 50 yds. With grouped machine guns, “progressive fire” with elevations increasing by 25 yds. is used. This artificially disperses the fire, and therefore lessens the chance of losing the target through ranging errors. One ingenious inventor has produced a two-barrelled automatic, in which the barrels are permanently set to give combined elevations. The British memorandum of August 1909 seems to regard the facility of employing combined sights as the principal advantage of the battery over the section.

11The use of single guns facilitates concealment, but this is outweighed by the objection that when a jam or other breakdown occurs the fire ceases altogether. The use of guns in pairs not only obviates this, but admits of each gun in turn ceasing fire to economize ammunition, to cool down, &c. This is the old artillery principle—“one gun is no gun.”

12In the instructions issued in August 1909 one of the principal advantages of grouped sections is stated to be the neutralization of ranging errors at ranges over 1000 yards. At a less range, it is laid down, grouped guns form too visible a target, unless the ground is very favourable.

13The British instructions of August 1909 direct the grouping of guns in thedecisiveattack (if circumstances and ground favour this course) and their use by sections “if the brigade is deployed on a wide front,”i.e.on thenon-decisivefront; further, that it is often advisable to disperse the sections of the leading battalions and to group those of units in reserve. In any case, while the 2, 4 or 8 guns must be ready to act independently as a special “arm,” their normal work is to give the closest support to the neighbouring infantry (battalion in the holding, brigade in the decisive, attack).

14In Germany, however, the tendency is not to make holding attacks but to keep the troops out of harm’s way (i.e.too far away for the enemy to counter-attack) until they can strike effectively.

MACÍAS[O NAMORODO] (fl.1360-1390), Galiciantrovador, held some position in the household of Enrique de Villena. He is represented by five poems in theCancianero de Baena, and is the reputed author of sixteen others. Macías lives by virtue of the romantic legends which have accumulated round his name. The most popular version of his story is related by Hernán Nuñez. According to this tradition, Macías was enamoured of a great lady, was imprisoned at Arjonilla, and was murdered by the jealous husband while singing the lady’s praises. There may be some basis of fact for this narrative, which became a favourite subject with contemporary Spanish poets and later writers. Macías is mentioned in Rocaberti’sGloria de amoras the Castillan equivalent of Cabestanh; he afforded a theme to Lope de Vega inPorfiar hasta morir; in the 19th century, at the outset of the romantic movementin Spain, he inspired Larra (q.v.) in the playMacíasand in the historical novel entitledEl doncel de Don Enrique el doliente.

See H. A. Rennert,Macias, o namorado; a Galician trobador(Philadelphia, 1900); Théodore J. de Puymaigre,Les vieux auteurs castillans(1889-1890), i. 54-74;Cancioneiro Gallego-Castelhano(New York and London, 1902), ed. H. R. Lang; Christian F. Bellermann,Die alten Liederbücher der Portugiesen(Berlin, 1840).

MACINTOSH, CHARLES(1766-1843), Scottish chemist and inventor of waterproof fabrics, was born on the 29th of December 1766 at Glasgow, where he was first employed as a clerk. He devoted all his spare time to science, particularly chemistry, and before he was twenty resigned his clerkship to take up the manufacture of chemicals. In this he was highly successful, inventing various new processes. His experiments with one of the by-products of tar, naphtha, led to his invention of waterproof fabrics, the essence of his patent being the cementing of two thicknesses of india-rubber together, the india-rubber being made soluble by the action of the naphtha. For his various chemical discoveries he was, in 1823, elected F.R.S. He died on the 25th of July 1843.

See George Macintosh,Memoir of C. Macintosh(1847).

MACKAY, CHARLES(1814-1889), Scottish writer, was born at Perth, on the 27th of March 1814, and educated at the Caledonian Asylum, London, and in Brussels. In 1830, being then private secretary to a Belgian ironmaster, he began writing verses and articles for local newspapers. Returning to London, he devoted himself to literary and journalistic work, and was attached to theMorning Chronicle(1835-1844). He publishedMemoirs of Extraordinary Public Delusions(1841), and gradually made himself known as an industrious and prolific journalist. In 1844 he was made editor of the GlasgowArgus. His literary reputation was made by the publication in 1846 of a volume of verses.Voices from the Crowd, some of which were set to music by Henry Russell and became very popular. In 1848 Mackay returned to London and worked for theIllustrated London News, of which he became editor in 1852. In it he published a number of songs, set to music by Sir Henry Bishop and Henry Russell, and in 1855 they were collected in a volume; they included the popular “Cheer, Boys! Cheer!” After his severance from theIllustrated London News, in 1859, Mackay started two unsuccessful periodicals, and acted as special correspondent forThe Timesin America during the Civil War. He editedA Thousand and One Gems of English Poetry(1867). Mackay died in London on the 24th of December 1889. Marie Corelli (q.v.) was his adopted daughter. His son, Eric Mackay (1851-1899), was known as a writer of verse, particularly by hisLove Letters of a Violinist(1886).

MACKAY, HUGH(c.1640-1692), Scottish general, was the son of Hugh Mackay of Scourie, Sutherlandshire, and was born there about 1640. He entered Douglas’s (Dumbarton’s) regiment of the English army (now the Royal Scots) in 1660, accompanied it to France when it was lent by Charles II. to Louis XIV., and though succeeding, through the death of his two elder brothers, to his father’s estates, continued to serve abroad. In 1669 he was in the Venetian service at Candia, and in 1672 he was back with his old regiment, Dumbarton’s, in the French army, taking part under Turenne in the invasion of Holland. In 1673 he married Clara de Bie of Bommel in Gelderland. Through her influence he became, as Burnet says, “the most pious man that I ever knew in a military way,” and, convinced that he was fighting in an unjust cause, resigned his commission to take a captaincy in a Scottish regiment in the Dutch service. He had risen to the rank of major-general in 1685, when the Scots brigade was called to England to assist in the suppression of the Monmouth rebellion. Returning to Holland, Mackay was one of those officers who elected to stay with their men when James II., having again demanded the services of the Scots brigade, and having been met with a refusal, was permitted to invite the officers individually into his service. As major-general commanding the brigade, and also as a privy councillor of Scotland, Mackay was an important and influential person, and James chose to attribute the decision of most of the officers to Mackay’s instigation. Soon after this event the Prince of Orange started on his expedition to England, Mackay’s division leading the invading corps, and in January 1688-89 Mackay was appointed major-general commanding in chief in Scotland. In this capacity he was called upon to deal with the formidable insurrection headed by Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee. In the battle of Killiecrankie Mackay was severely defeated, but Dundee was killed, and the English commander, displaying unexpected energy, subdued the Highlands in one summer. In 1690 he founded Fort William at Inverlochy, in 1691 he distinguished himself in the brilliant victory of Aughrim, and in 1692, with the rank of lieutenant-general, he commanded the British division of the allied army in Flanders. At the great battle of Steinkirk Mackay’s division bore the brunt of the day unsupported and the general himself was killed.

Mackay was the inventor of the ring bayonet which soon came into general use, the idea of this being suggested to him by the failure of the plug-bayonet to stop the rush of the Highlanders at Killiecrankie. Many of his despatches and papers were published by the Bannatyne Club in 1883.

SeeLifeby John Mackay of Rockville (1836); and J. W. Fortescue,History of the British Army, vol. i.

MACKAY, JOHN WILLIAM(1831-1902), American capitalist, was born in Dublin, Ireland, on the 28th of November 1831. His parents brought him in 1840 to New York City, where he worked in a ship-yard. In 1851 he went to California and worked in placer gold-mines in Sierra county. In 1852 he went to Virginia City, Nevada, and there, after losing all he had made in California, he formed with James G. Fair, James C. Flood and William S. O’Brien the firm which in 1873 discovered the great Bonanza vein, more than 1200 ft. deep, in the Comstock lode (yielding in March of that year as much as $632 per ton, and in 1877 nearly $19,000,000 altogether); and this firm established the Bank of Nevada in San Francisco. In 1884, with James Gordon Bennett, Mackay formed the Commercial Cable Company—largely to fight Jay Gould and the Western Union Telegraph Company—laid two transatlantic cables, and forced the toll-rate for transatlantic messages down to twenty-five cents a word. In connexion with the Commercial Cable Company he formed the Postal Telegraph Company. Mackay died on the 20th of July 1902 in London. He gave generously, especially to the charities of the Roman Catholic Church, and endowed the Roman Catholic orphan asylum in Virginia City, Nevada. In June 1908 a school of mines was presented to the University of Nevada, as a memorial to him, by his widow and his son, Clarence H. Mackay.

MACKAY,a seaport of Carlisle county, Queensland, Australia, on the Pioneer river, 625 m. direct N.N.W. Pop. (1901), 4091. The harbour is not good. Sugar, tobacco and coffee thrive in the district. There are several important sugar mills, one of which, the largest in Queensland, is capable of an annual output of 8000 tons. Rum is distilled, and there are a brewery and a factory for tinning butter for export. Workable coal is found in the district. This is the port of the Mt Orange and Mt Gotthart copper mines, and the Mt Britten and Eungella gold-fields. It is a calling-station for the Queensland royal mail steamers. The town is named after Captain John Mackay, who discovered the harbour in 1860.

McKEESPORT,a city of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers (both of which are navigable), 14 m. S.E. of Pittsburg. Pop. (1890), 20,741; (1900), 34,227, of whom 9349 were foreign-born and 748 were negroes; (1910 census) 42,694. It is served by the Baltimore & Ohio, the Pittsburg & Lake Erie and the Pennsylvania railways. The city has a Carnegie library, a general hospital, and two business schools. Bituminous coal and natural gas abound in the vicinity, and iron, steel, and tin and terne plate are extensively manufactured in the city, the tin-plate plant being one of the most important in the UnitedStates. The total value of the city’s factory products was $36,058,447 in 1900 and $23,054,412 in 1905. The municipality owns and operates its water-works. The first white settler was David McKee, who established a ferry here in 1769. In 1795 his son John laid out the town, which was named in his honour, but its growth was very slow until after the discovery of coal in 1830. McKeesport was incorporated as a borough in 1842 and chartered as a city in 1890.

McKEES ROCKS,a borough of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on the Ohio river, about 3 m. N.W. of Pittsburg. Pop. (1890) 1687; (1900) 6352 (1264 foreign-born); (1910) 14,702. McKees Rocks is served by the Pittsburg & Lake Erie and the Pittsburg, Chartiers & Youghiogheny railways, the latter a short line extending (13 m.) to Beechmont. Bituminous coal and natural gas are found in the vicinity, and the borough ships coal and lumber, and has various important manufactures. There is an ancient Indian mound here. The first settlement was made in 1830, and the borough incorporated in 1892.

MACKENNAL, ALEXANDER(1835-1904), English Nonconformist divine, was born at Truro in Cornwall, on the 14th of January 1835, the son of Patrick Mackennal, a Scot, who had settled in Cornwall. In 1848 the family removed to London, and at sixteen he went to Glasgow University. In 1854 he entered Hackney College to prepare for the Congregational ministry, and in 1857 he graduated B.A. at London University. After holding pastorates at Burton-on-Trent (1856-1861), Surbiton (1862-1870), Leicester (1870-1876), he finally accepted the pastorate of the Congregational Church at Bowdon, Cheshire, in 1877, in which he remained till his death. In 1886 he was chairman of the Congregational Union, which he represented in 1889 at the triannual national council of the American Congregational churches. The first international council of Congregationalists held in London in 1891 was partly cause, partly consequence, of his visit, and Mackennal acted as secretary. In 1892 he became definitely associated in the public mind with a movement for free church federation which grew out of a series of meetings held to discuss the question of home reunion. When the Lambeth articles put forward as a basis of union were discussed, it was evident that all the free churches were agreed in accepting the three articles dealing with the Bible, the Creed and the Sacraments as a basis of discussion, and were also agreed in rejecting the fourth article, which put the historic episcopate on the same level as the other three. Omitting the Anglicans, the representatives of the remaining churches resolved to develop Christian fellowship by united action and worship wherever possible. Out of this grew the Free Church Federation, which secures a measure of co-operation between the Protestant Evangelical churches throughout England. Mackennal’s public action brought him into association with many well-known political and religious leaders. He was a lifelong advocate of international peace, and made a remarkable declaration as to the Christian standard of national action when the Free Church Federation met at Leeds during the South African War in 1900.

Besides a volume of sermons under the titleChrist’s Healing Touch, Mackennal publishedThe Biblical Scheme of Nature and of Man, The Christian Testimony, the Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, The Kingdom of the Lord JesusandThe Eternal God and the Human Sonship. These are contributions to exegetical study or to theological and progressive religious thought, and have elements of permanent value. He also made some useful contributions to religious history. In 1893 he published theStory of the English Separatists, and later theHomes and Haunts of the Pilgrim Fathers; he also wrote the life of Dr J. A. Macfadyen of Manchester. In 1901 he delivered a series of lectures at Hartford Theological Seminary, Connecticut, U.S.A., published under the titleThe Evolution of Congregationalism. He died at Highgate on the 23rd of June 1904.

See D. Macfadyen,Life and Letters of Alexander Mackennal(1905).

(D. Mn.)

MACKENZIE, SIR ALEXANDER(c.1755-1820), Canadian explorer, was probably a native of Inverness, Emigrating to North America at an early age, he was for several years engaged in the fur trade at Fort Chippewyan, at the head of Lake Athabasca, and it was here that his schemes of travel were formed. His first journey, made in 1789, was from Fort Chippewyan along the Great Slave Lake, and down the river which now bears his name to the Arctic Ocean; and his second, made in 1792 and 1793, from Fort Chippewyan across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast near Cape Menzies. He wrote an account of these journeys,Voyages on the River St Lawrence and through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans(London, 1801), which is of considerable interest from the information it contains about the native tribes. It is prefaced by an historical dissertation on the Canadian fur trade. Amassing considerable wealth, Mackenzie was knighted in 1802, and later settled in Scotland. He died at Mulnain, near Dunkeld, on the 11th of March 1820.

MACKENZIE, ALEXANDER(1822-1892), Canadian statesman, was born in Perthshire, Scotland, on the 28th of January, 1822. His father was a builder, and young Mackenzie emigrated to Canada in 1842, and worked in Ontario as a stone-mason, setting up for himself later as a builder and contractor at Sarnia with his brother. In 1852 his interest in questions of reform led to his becoming the editor of theLambton Shield, a local Liberal paper. This brought him to the front, and in 1861 he became a member of the Canadian parliament, where he at once made his mark and was closely connected with the liberal leader, George Brown. He was elected for Lambton to the first Dominion house of commons in 1867, and soon became the leader of the liberal opposition; from 1871 to 1872 he also sat in the Ontario provincial assembly, and held the position of provincial treasurer. In 1873 the attack on Sir John Macdonald’s ministry with regard to the Pacific Railway charter resulted in its defeat, and Mackenzie formed a new government, taking the portfolio of public works and becoming the first liberal premier of Canada. He remained in power till 1878, when industrial depression enabled Macdonald to return to office on a protectionist programme. 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.

HisLife and Timesby William Buckingham and the Hon. George W. Ross (Toronto, 1892) contains documents of much interest. See also George Stewart,Canada under the Administration of the Earl of Dufferin(Toronto, 1878).

MACKENZIE, SIR ALEXANDER CAMPBELL(1847- ), British composer, son of an eminent Edinburgh violinist and conductor, was born on the 22nd of August 1847. On the advice of a member of Gung’l’s band who had taken up his residence in Edinburgh, Mackenzie was sent for his musical education to Sondershausen, where he entered the conservatorium under Ulrich and Stein, remaining there from 1857 to 1861, when he entered the ducal orchestra as a violinist. At this time he made Liszt’s acquaintance. On his return home he won the King’s Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, and remained the usual three years in the institution, after which he established himself as a teacher of the piano, &c., in Edinburgh. He appeared in public as a violinist, taking part in Chappell’s quartette concerts, and starting a set of classical concerts. He was appointed precentor of St George’s Church in 1870, and conductor of the Scottish vocal music association in 1873, at the same time getting through a prodigious amount of teaching. He kept in touch with his old friends by playing in the orchestra of the Birmingham Festivals from 1864 to 1873. The most important compositions of this period of Mackenzie’s life were the Quartette in E flat for piano and strings. Op. 11, and anoverture,Cervantes, which owed its first performance to the encouragement and help of von Bülow. On the advice of this great pianist, he gave up his Edinburgh appointments, which had quite worn him out, and settled in Florence in order to compose. The cantatasThe Bride(Worcester, 1881) andJason(Bristol, 1882) belong to this time, as well as his first opera. This was commissioned for the Carl Rosa Company, and was written to a version of Merimée’sColombaprepared by Franz Hueffer. It was produced with great success in 1883, and was the first of a too short series of modern English operas; Mackenzie’s second opera,The Troubadour, was produced by the same company in 1886; and his third dramatic work wasHis Majesty, an excellent comic opera (Savoy Theatre, 1897). In 1884 hisRose of Sharonwas given with very great success at the Norwich Festival; in 1885 he was appointed conductor of Novello’s oratorio concerts;The Story of Sayidcame out at the Leeds Festival of 1886; and in 1888 he succeeded Macfarren as principal of the Royal Academy of Music.The Dream of Jubalwas produced at Liverpool in 1889, and in London very soon afterwards. A fine setting of the hymn “Veni, Creator Spiritus” was given at Birmingham in 1891, and the oratorioBethlehemin 1894. From 1892 to 1899 he conducted the Philharmonic Concerts, and was knighted in 1894. Besides the works mentioned he has written incidental music to plays, as, for instance, toRavenswood,The Little Minister, andCoriolanus; concertos and other works for violin and orchestra, much orchestral music, and many songs and violin pieces. The romantic side of music appeals to Mackenzie far more strongly than any other, and the cases in which he has conformed to the classical conventions are of the rarest. In the orchestral ballad,La Belle Dame sans Merci, he touches the note of weird pathos, and in the nautical overtureBritanniahis sense of humour stands revealed. In the two “Scottish Rhapsodies” for orchestra, in the music toThe Little Minister, and in a beautiful fantasia for pianoforte and orchestra on Scottish themes, he has seized the essential, not the accidental features of his native music.

MACKENZIE, SIR GEORGE(1636-1691), of Rosehaugh, Scottish lawyer, was the grandson of Kenneth, first Lord Mackenzie of Kintail, and the nephew of Colin and George, first and second earls of Seaforth; his mother was a daughter of Andrew Bruce, principal of St Leonard’s College, St Andrews. He was born at Dundee in 1636, educated at the grammar school there and at Aberdeen, and afterwards at St Andrews, graduating at sixteen. He then engaged for three years in the study of the civil law at Bourges; on his return to Scotland he was called to the bar in 1659, and before the Restoration had risen into considerable practice. Immediately after the Restoration he was appointed a “justice-depute,” and it is recorded that he and his colleagues in that office were ordained by the parliament in 1661 “to repair, once in the week at least, to Musselburgh and Dalkeith, and to try and judge such persons as are there or thereabouts delate of witchcraft.” In the same year he acted as counsel for the marquis of Argyll; soon afterwards he was knighted, and he represented the county of Ross during the four sessions of the parliament which was called in 1669. He succeeded Sir John Nisbet as king’s advocate in August 1677, and in the discharge of this office became implicated in all the worst acts of the Scottish administration of Charles II., earning for himself an unenviable distinction as “the bloody Mackenzie.” His refusal to concur in the measures for dispensing with the penal laws against Catholics led to his removal from office in 1686, but he was reinstated in February 1688. At the Revolution, being a member of convention, he was one of the minority of five in the division on the forfeiture of the crown. King William was urged to declare him incapacitated for holding any public office, but refused to accede to the proposal. When the death of Dundee (July 1689) had finally destroyed the hopes of his party in Scotland, Mackenzie betook himself to Oxford, where, admitted a student by a grace passed in 1690, he was allowed to spend the rest of his days in the enjoyment of the ample fortune he had acquired, and in the prosecution of his literary labours. One of his last acts before leaving Edinburgh had been to pronounce (March 15, 1689), as dean of the faculty of advocates, the inaugural oration at the foundation of the Advocates’ library. He died at Westminster on the 8th of May 1691, and was buried in Greyfriars churchyard, Edinburgh.

While still a young man Sir George Mackenzie appears to have aspired to eminence in the domain of pure literature, his earliest publication having beenAretina, or a Serious Romance(anon., 1661); it was followed, also anonymously, byReligio Stoici, a Short Discourse upon Several Divine and Moral Subjects(1663);A Moral Essay, preferring Solitude to Public Employment(1665); and one or two other disquisitions of a similar nature. His most important legal works are entitledA Discourse upon the Laws and Customs of Scotland in Matters Criminal(1674);Observations upon the Laws and Customs of Nations as to Precedency, with the Science of Heraldry(1680);Institutions of the Law of Scotland(1684); andObservations upon the Acts of Parliament(1686); of these the last-named is the most important, theInstitutionsbeing completely overshadowed by the similar work of his great contemporary Stair. In hisJus Regium: or the Just and Solid Foundations of Monarchy in general, and more especially of the Monarchy of Scotland, maintained(1684), Mackenzie appears as an uncompromising advocate of the highest doctrines of prerogative. HisVindication of the Government of Scotland during the reign of Charles II.(1691) is valuable as a piece of contemporary history. The collectedWorkswere published at Edinburgh (2 vols. fol.) in 1716-1722; andMemoirs of the Affairs of Scotland from the Restoration of King Charles II., from previously unpublished MSS., in 1821.See A. Lang,Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh(1909).

See A. Lang,Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh(1909).

MACKENZIE, HENRY(1745-1831), Scottish novelist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Edinburgh in August 1745. His father, Joshua Mackenzie, was a distinguished physician, and his mother, Margaret Rose, belonged to an old Nairnshire family. Mackenzie was educated at the high school and the university of Edinburgh, and was then articled to George Inglis of Redhall, who was attorney for the crown in the management of exchequer business. In 1765 he was sent to London to prosecute his legal studies, and on his return to Edinburgh became partner with Inglis, whom he afterwards succeeded as attorney for the crown. His first and most famous work,The Man of Feeling, was published anonymously in 1771, and met with instant success. The “Man of Feeling” is a weak creature, dominated by a futile benevolence, who goes up to London and falls into the hands of people who exploit his innocence. The sentimental key in which the book is written shows the author’s acquaintance with Sterne and Richardson, but he had neither the humour of Sterne nor the subtle insight into character of Richardson. One Eccles of Bath claimed the authorship of this book, bringing in support of his pretensions a MS. with many ingenious erasures. Mackenzie’s name was then officially announced, but Eccles appears to have induced some people to believe in him. In 1773 Mackenzie published a second novel,The Man of the World, the hero of which was as consistently bad as the “Man of Feeling” had been “constantly obedient to his moral sense,” as Sir Walter Scott says.Julia de Roubigné(1777), a story in letters, was preferred to his other novels by “Christopher North,” who had a high opinion of Mackenzie (seeNoctes Ambrosianae, vol. i. p. 155, ed. 1866). The first of his dramatic pieces,The Prince of Tunis, was produced in Edinburgh in 1773 with a certain measure of success. The others were failures. At Edinburgh Mackenzie belonged to a literary club, at the meetings of which papers in the manner of theSpectatorwere read. This led to the establishment of a weekly periodical called theMirror(January 23, 1779-May 27, 1780), of which Mackenzie was editor and chief contributor. It was followed in 1785 by a similar paper, theLounger, which ran for nearly two years and had the distinction of containing one of the earliest tributes to the genius of Robert Burns. Mackenzie was an ardent Tory, and wrote many tracts intended to counteract the doctrines of the French Revolution. Most of these remained anonymous, but he acknowledged hisReview of the Principal Proceedings of the Parliament of 1784, a defence of the policy of William Pitt, written at the desire of Henry Dundas. He was rewarded (1804) by the office of comptroller of the taxes for Scotland. In 1776 Mackenzie married Penuel, daughter of Sir Ludovick Grant of Grant. He was, in his later years, a notable figure inEdinburgh society. He was nicknamed the “man of feeling,” but he was in reality a hard-headed man of affairs with a kindly heart. Some of his literary reminiscences were embodied in hisAccount of the Life and Writings of John Home, Esq.(1822). He also wrote aLife of Doctor Blacklock, prefixed to the 1793 edition of the poet’s works. He died on the 14th of January 1831.

In 1807The Works of Henry Mackenziewere published surreptitiously, and he then himself superintended the publication of hisWorks(8 vols., 1808). There is an admiring but discriminating criticism of his work in thePrefatory Memoirprefixed by Sir Walter Scott to an edition of his novels in Ballantyne’sNovelist’s Library(vol. v., 1823).

McKENZIE, SIR JOHN(1838-1901). New Zealand statesman, was born at Ard-Ross, Scotland, in 1838, the son of a crofter. He emigrated to Otago, New Zealand, in 1860. Beginning as a shepherd, he rose to be farm manager at Puketapu near Palmerston South, and then to be a farmer in a substantial way in Shag Valley. In 1865 he was clerk to the local road board and school committee; in 1871 he entered the provincial council of Otago; and on the 11th of December 1881 was elected member of the House of Representatives, in which he sat till 1900. He was also for some years a member of the education board and of the land board of Otago, and always showed interest in the national elementary school system. In the House of Representatives he soon made good his footing, becoming almost at once a recognized spokesman for the smaller sort of rural settlers and a person of influence in the lobbies. He acted as government whip for the coalition ministry of Sir Robert Stout and Sir Julius Vogel, 1884-1887, and, while still a private member, scored his first success as a land reformer by carrying the “McKenzie clause” in a land act limiting the area which a state tenant might thenceforth obtain on lease. He was still, however, comparatively unknown outside his own province when, in January 1891, his party took office and he aided John Ballance in forming a ministry, in which he himself held the portfolio of lands, immigration and agriculture. From the first he made his hand felt in every matter connected with land settlement and the administration of the vast public estate. Generally his aim was to break up and subdivide the great freehold and leasehold properties which in his time covered four-sevenths of the occupied land of the colony. In his Land Act of 1892 he consolidated, abolished or amended, fifty land acts and ordinances dealing with crown lands, and thereafter amended his own act four times. Though owning to a preference for state tenancy over freehold, he never stopped the selling of crown land, and was satisfied to give would-be settlers the option of choosing freehold or leasehold under tempting terms as their form of tenure. As a compromise he introduced the lease in perpetuity or holding for 999 years at a quit rent fixed at 4%; theoretical objections have since led to its abolition, but for fifteen years much genuine settlement took place under its conditions. Broadly, however, McKenzie’s exceptional success as lands minister was due rather to unflinching determination to stimulate the occupation of the soil by working farmers than to the solution of the problems of agrarian controversy. His best-known experiment was in land repurchase. A voluntary law (1892) was displaced by a compulsory act (1894), under which between £5,000,000 and £6,000,000 had by 1910 been spent in buying and subdividing estates for closer settlements, with excellent results. McKenzie also founded and expanded an efficient department of agriculture, in the functions of which inspection, grading, teaching and example are successfully combined. It has aided the development of dairying, fruit-growing, poultry-farming, bee-keeping and flax-milling, and done not a little to keep up the standard of New Zealand products. After 1897 McKenzie had to hold on in the face of failing health. An operation in London in 1899 only postponed the end. He died at his farm on the 6th of August 1901, soon after being called to the legislative council, and receiving a knighthood.

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