154 Sir ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

The former emigrant boy could now afford to
make his dreams come true; he went back to
Scotland with fame and wealth achieved. In
1812 he married his kinswoman, Geddes Mac-
kenzie, who brought him an estate in the
Highlands, Avoch on Moray Firth in Ross-
shire, at which he spent his last years.

At first he seems to have spent most
of his time in London. He did not live in
idleness; he was still a partner in the Com-
pany, and its most powerful representative in
Great Britain; he still had another battle to
fight. In 1808 he renewed his demand for the
establishment of a chartered company on the
coast. He had given up the idea, probably
because he realized that it was hopeless of
success, that the government should take a
direct part by founding military posts and
formally establishing British sovereignty.
Otherwise he repeated the features of his
scheme of 1802. The Montreal interests were
now united, and he asked for a charter for the
North West Company giving them the same
powers on the Pacific that the Hudson’s Bay
Company possessed on the Bay. He pointed