and prisoners, and with them was being removed over the Hindu Kúsh, whence they were to be sent to Bokhara to be sold as slaves, when, owing to the arrival of Pollock's force in the vicinity of Kábul and the flight of Akbár Khán, the Afghán in charge of the prisoners was induced by a guarantee of a large sum of money to release them. Before returning to India Mackenzie took part with Henry Havelock [see Havelock, Sir Henry ] on the assault upon the fort of Istaliff. He, like Eldred Pottinger and the others who had distinguished themselves during the insurrection and the retreat, was one of the victims of the unreasoning prejudice which led Lord Ellenborough [see Law, Edward, Earl of Ellenborough] to treat with studied neglect all who had been in any way connected with the recent disasters, except the garrison of Jellálabad. Mackenzie was refused the Kábul medal and the six months' pay which accompanied it, and it was not until 1853 that, owing to the interposition of Lord Dalhousie, it was granted to him. He was also created a C.B.
Mackenzie was subsequently employed on the north-west frontier to raise a Sikh regiment (the 4th), with which he kept the peace on the border during the last Sikh campaign. It was while thus employed that he made the acquaintance of Lord Dalhousie, who formed a high opinion of his character and of his talents. It is said to have been by his advice that Lord Dalhousie was induced to abandon an idea he had formed of making over to Afghanistán the country between the Indus and the Suleiman range. Mackenzie urged that Pesháwar was the gate of India, and therefore should not be given up. He was still a regimental captain when, in 1850, he was appointed by Lord Dalhousie brigadier-general in command of the Ellichpúr division of the Hyderabad contingent. In nominating Mackenzie for this post the governor-general remarked that 'the gallantry, ability, and endurance displayed by him at the time of the rising at Kábul are amply recorded, and in connection with the subsequent events of that period entitle him to a higher reward at the hands of the government of India than the command of a local corps in the Sutlej provinces.' Mackenzie had held his new command for some years when a mutiny occurred in one of the cavalry regiments of the contingent which nearly cost him his life. In September 1855, on the occasion of the Muharram procession at Bolarum, the great day of which happened that year to be a Sunday, Mackenzie issued orders which in the first instance prohibited any procession being held on the Sunday, but were subsequently so far modified as to permit of the processions taking place within the lines of the regiments, but not in the barracks or along the roads. This order was openly violated by the 3rd cavalry regiment of the contingent, which marched past the brigadier's house and grounds, making a hideous din when the procession reached that spot. Mackenzie sent out orderlies to stop them, and, this interference proving ineffectual, went out himself unarmed and seized two small standards which the sepoys were carrying. The result was a tumult, in the course of which Mackenzie was dangerously wounded. The government, while paying a high tribute to Mackenzie 'as a good and distinguished soldier, and as honourable, conscientious, and gallant a gentleman as the ranks of the army can show,' condemned the course taken by him on this occasion as rash and ill-judged.
Although this judgment was questioned by some very distinguished officers, there can be no doubt that it had an unfortunate influence upon Mackenzie's subsequent career. He was compelled by his wounds to return to England for a time. Afterwards he held the political appointment of agent to the governor-general with the Nawáb Názim of Bengal; but there he appears not to have received the support which ought to have been afforded to him at headquarters, and he was transferred to one of the civil departments of the army as superintendent of army clothing, a post ludicrously inappropriate to his previous services. Some years later, on his claiming a divisional command in his own presidency, it was withheld from him by the commander-in-chief on the ground of the censure which had been passed upon him in the Bolárum case. On that occasion the governor of Madras (Francis, lord Napier [q.v.Suppl.]) and one of the members of council expressed strong disapproval of the commander-in-chief's decision, and referred the question to the secretary of state, who, however, declined to interfere. Mackenzie finally left India in 1873, and died at Edinburgh on 22 Oct. 1881. A photogravure portrait of Mackenzie, aged 74, is prefixed to Mrs. Mackenzie's 'Storms and Sunshine' (Edinburgh, 1884, 2 vols.) Mackenzie married first, in May 1832, Adeline, eldest daughter of James Pattle of the Bengal civil service, who died four years afterwards. He married secondly, in 1843, Helen, eldest daughter of Admiral John Erskine Douglas, who survives him, and has published several works relating to India, besides the life of her husband.
