MAckKeEnzir’s Granp Desicn 135

attention to the ends of the world. No
assistance could be expected from them.

The conditions affecting the extension of
British influence on the Pacific coast are
stated here because Mackenzie, fresh from his
triumphant journey, first urged in a practical
form in 1794 that a British North America
should be created stretching from sea to sea.
Nothing was then done, and we hear no more
of his plan for some years. His later efforts
to realize it are narrated below. On his
arrival in Montreal, he made a report to
Lord Dorchester, the governor-general, and
during the winter he sailed for England from
a port of the United States in order to place
without delay a full account of his discoveries
before the British government. We know
nothing of his reception in London, except
that no action was taken in accordance with
his ideas.

On his return to Canada in the summer
of 1795 he was for some years engrossed by
his duties as an agent. He had become per-
haps the most prominent figure in the fur-
trade, though he was not as yet a wealthy