Chapter XVI: Part 16

Montague's association with Prior in the travesty of Dryden's _Hind and Panther_ has no doubt largely aided in preserving his literary reputation; but he is perhaps indebted for it chiefly to his subsequent influential position and to the fulsome flattery of the men of letters who enjoyed his friendship, and who, in return for his liberal donations and the splendid banqueting which they occasionally enjoyed at his villa on the Thames, "fed him," as Pope says, "all day long with dedications." Swift says he gave them nothing but "good words, and good dinners." That, however, his beneficence to needy talent, if sometimes attributable to an itching ear for adulation, was at others prompted by a sincere appreciation of intellectual merit, is sufficiently attested by the manner in which he procured from Godolphin a commissionership for Addison, and also by his life-long intimacy with Newton, for whom he obtained the mastership of the mint. The small fragments of poetry which he left behind him, and which were almost solely the composition of his early years, display a certain facility and vigour of diction, but their thought and fancy are never more than commonplace, and not unfrequently in striving to be eloquent and impressive he is only grotesquely and extravagantly absurd. In administrative talent he was the superior of all his contemporaries, and his only rival in parliamentary eloquence was Somers; but the skill with which he managed measures was superior to his tact in dealing with men, and the effect of his brilliant financial successes on his reputation was gradually almost nullified by the affected arrogance of his manner and by the eccentricities of his sensitive vanity. So eager latterly was his thirst for fame and power that perhaps Marlborough did not exaggerate when he said that "he had no other principle but his ambition, so that he would put all in distraction rather than not gain his point."

Among the numerous notices of Halifax by contemporaries may be
mentioned the eulogistic reference which concludes Addison's account
of the "greatest of English poets"; the dedications by Steel to the
second volume of the _Spectator_ and to the fourth of the _Tatler_;
Pope's laudatory mention of him in the epilogue to his _Satires_ and
in the preface to the _Iliad_, and his portrait of him as "Full-blown
Bufo" in the _Epistle to Arbuthnot_. Various allusions to him are to
be found in Swift's works and in Marlborough's _Letters_. See also
Burnet's _History of his Own Times; The Parliamentary History_;
Howell's _State Trials_; Johnson's _Lives of the Poets_; and
Macaulay's _History of England_. His _Miscellaneous Works_ were
published at London in 1704; his _Life and Miscellaneous Works_ in
1715; and his _Poetical Works_, to which also his "Life" is attached,
in 1716. His poems were reprinted in the 9th volume of Johnson's
_English Poets_.

HALIFAX, GEORGE MONTAGU DUNK, 2ND EARL OF (1716-1771), son of George Montagu, 1st earl of Halifax (of the second creation), was born on the 5th or 6th of October 1716, becoming earl of Halifax on his father's death in 1739. Educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was married in 1741 to Anne Richards (d. 1753), a lady who had inherited a great fortune from Sir Thomas Dunk, whose name was taken by Halifax. After having been an official in the household of Frederick, prince of Wales, the earl was made master of the buckhounds, and in 1748 he became president of the Board of Trade. While filling this position he helped to found Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, which was named after him, and in several ways he rendered good service to trade, especially with North America. About this time he sought to become a secretary of state, but in vain, although he was allowed to enter the cabinet in 1757. In March 1761 Halifax was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and during part of the time which he held this office he was also first lord of the admiralty. He became secretary of state for the northern department under the earl of Bute in October 1762, retaining this post under George Grenville and being one of the three ministers to whom George III. entrusted the direction of affairs. He signed the general warrant under which Wilkes was arrested in 1763, for which action he was mulcted in damages by the courts of law in 1769, and he was mainly responsible for the exclusion of the name of the king's mother, Augusta, princess of Wales, from the Regency Bill of 1765. With his colleagues the earl left office in July 1765, returning to the cabinet as lord privy seal under his nephew, Lord North, in January 1770. He had just been transferred to his former position of secretary of state when he died on the 8th of June 1771. Halifax, who was lord-lieutenant of Northamptonshire and a lieutenant-general in the army, showed some disinterestedness in money matters, but was very extravagant. He left no children, and his titles became extinct on his death. Horace Walpole speaks slightingly of the earl, and says he and his mistress, Mary Anne Faulkner, "had sold every employment in his gift."

See the _Memoirs_ of his secretary, Richard Cumberland (1807).

HALIFAX, GEORGE SAVILE, 1ST MARQUESS OF (1633-1695), English statesman and writer, great-grandson of Sir George Savile of Lupset and Thornhill in Yorkshire (created baronet in 1611), was the eldest son of Sir William Savile, 3rd baronet, who distinguished himself in the civil war in the royalist cause and who died in 1644, and of Anne, eldest daughter of Lord Keeper Coventry. He was thus nephew of Sir William Coventry, who is said to have influenced his political opinions, and of Lord Shaftesbury, afterwards his most bitter opponent, and great-nephew of the earl of Strafford; by his marriage with the Lady Dorothy Spencer, he was brother-in-law to Lord Sunderland. He entered public life with all the advantages of lineage, political connexions, great wealth and estates, and uncommon abilities. He was elected member of the Convention parliament for Pontefract in 1660, and this was his only appearance in the Lower House. A peerage was sought for him by the duke of York in 1665, but was successfully opposed by Clarendon, on the ground of his "ill-reputation amongst men of piety and religion," the real motives of the chancellor's hostile attitude being probably Savile's connexion with Buckingham and Coventry. The honours were, however, only deferred for a short time and were obtained after the fall of Clarendon on the 31st of December 1667,[1] when Savile was created Baron Savile of Eland and Viscount Halifax.

He supported zealously the anti-French policy formulated in the Triple Alliance of January 1668. He was at this time in favour at court, was created a privy councillor in 1672, and, while ignorant of the disgraceful secret clauses in the treaty of Dover, was chosen envoy to negotiate terms of peace with Louis XIV. and the Dutch at Utrecht. His mission was still further deprived of importance by Arlington and Buckingham, who were in the king's counsels, and who anticipated his arrival and took the negotiations out of his hands; and though he signed the compact, he had no share in the harsh terms imposed upon the Dutch, and henceforth became a bitter opponent of the policy of subservience to French interests and of the Roman Catholic claims.

He took an active part in passing through parliament the great Test Act of 1673[2] and forfeited in consequence his friendship with James. In 1674 he brought forward a motion for disarming "popish recusants," and supported one by Lord Carlisle for restricting the marriages in the royal family to Protestants; but he opposed the bill introduced by Lord Danby (see LEEDS, 1ST DUKE OF) in 1675, which imposed a test oath on officials and members of parliament, speaking "with that quickness, learning and elegance that are inseparable from all his discourses," and ridiculing the multiplication of oaths, since "no man would ever sleep with open doors ... should all the town be sworn not to rob." He was now on bad terms with Danby, and a witty sally at that minister's expense caused his dismissal from the council in January 1676. In 1678 he took an active part in the investigation of the "Popish Plot," to which he appears to have given excessive credence, but opposed the bill which was passed on the 30th of October 1678, to exclude Roman Catholics from the House of Lords.

In 1679, as a consequence of the fall of Danby, he became a member of the newly constituted privy council. With Charles, who had at first "kicked at his appointment," he quickly became a favourite, his lively and "libertine" (i.e. free or sceptical) conversation being named by Bishop Burnet as his chief attraction for the king. His dislike of the duke of York and of the Romanist tendencies of the court did not induce him to support the rash attempt of Lord Shaftesbury to substitute the illegitimate duke of Monmouth for James in the succession. He feared Shaftesbury's ascendancy in the national councils and foresaw nothing but civil war and confusion as a result of his scheme. He declared against the exclusion of James, was made an earl in 1679, and was one of the "Triumvirate" which now directed public affairs. He assisted in passing into law the Habeas Corpus Bill. According to Sir W. Temple he showed great severity in putting into force the laws against the Roman Catholics, but this statement is considered a misrepresentation.[3] In 1680 he voted against the execution of Lord Stafford.

Meanwhile (1679) his whole policy had been successfully directed towards uniting all parties with the object of frustrating Shaftesbury's plans. Communications were opened with the prince of Orange, and the illness of the king was made the occasion for summoning James from Brussels. Monmouth was compelled to retire to Holland, and Shaftesbury was dismissed. On the other hand, while Halifax was so far successful, James was given an opportunity of establishing a new influence at the court. It was with great difficulty that his retirement to Scotland was at last effected; the ministers lost the confidence and support of the "country party," and Halifax, fatigued and ill, at the close of this year, retired to Rufford Abbey, the country home of the Saviles since the destruction of Thornhill Hall in 1648, and for some time took little part in affairs. He returned in September 1680 on the occasion of the introduction of the Exclusion Bill in the Lords. The debate which followed, one of the most famous in the whole annals of parliament, became a duel of oratory between Halifax and his uncle Shaftesbury, the finest two speakers of the day, watched by the Lords, the Commons at the bar, and the king, who was present. It lasted seven hours. Halifax spoke sixteen times, and at last, regardless of the menaces of the more violent supporters of the bill, who closed round him, vanquished his opponent. The rejection of the bill by a majority of 33 was attributed by all parties entirely to the eloquence of Halifax. His conduct transformed the allegiance to him of the Whigs into bitter hostility, the Commons immediately petitioning the king to remove him from his councils for ever, while any favour which he might have regained with James was forfeited by his subsequent approval of the regency scheme.

He retired to Rufford again in January 1681, but was present at the Oxford parliament, and in May returned suddenly to public life and held for a year the chief control of affairs. The arrest of Shaftesbury on the 2nd of July was attributed to his influence, but in general, during the period of Tory reaction, he seems to have urged a policy of conciliation and moderation upon the king. He opposed James's return from Scotland and, about this time (Sept.), made a characteristic but futile attempt to persuade the duke to attend the services of the Church of England and thus to end all difficulties. He renewed relations with the prince of Orange, who in July paid a visit to England to seek support against the French designs upon Luxemburg. The influence of Halifax procured for the Dutch a formal assurance from Charles of his support; but the king informed the French ambassador that he had no intention of fulfilling his engagements, and made another secret treaty with Louis. Halifax opposed in 1682 James's vindictive prosecution of the earl of Argyll, arousing further hostility in the duke, while the same year he was challenged to a duel by Monmouth, who attributed to him his disgrace.

His short tenure of power ended with the return of James in May. Outwardly he still retained the king's favour and was advanced to a marquisate (Aug. 17) and to the office of lord privy seal (Oct. 25). Being still a member of the administration he must share responsibility for the attack now made upon the municipal franchises, a violation of the whole system of representative government, especially as the new charters passed his office. In January 1684 he was one of the commissioners "who supervise all things concerning the city and have turned out those persons who are whiggishly inclined" (N. Luttrell's _Diary_, i. 295). He made honourable but vain endeavours to save Algernon Sidney and Lord Russell. "My Lord Halifax," declared Tillotson in his evidence before the later inquiry, "showed a very compassionate concern for my Lord Russell and all the readiness to serve them that could be wished."[4] The Rye-House Plot, in which it was sought to implicate them, was a disastrous blow to his policy, and in order to counteract its consequences he entered into somewhat perilous negotiations with Monmouth, and endeavoured to effect his reconciliation with the king. On the 12th of February 1684, he procured the release of his old antagonist, Lord Danby. Shortly afterwards his influence at the court revived. Charles was no longer in receipt of his French pension and was beginning to tire of James and Rochester. The latter, instead of becoming lord treasurer, was, according to the epigram of Halifax which has become proverbial, "kicked upstairs," to the office of lord president of the council. Halifax now worked to establish intimate relations between Charles and the prince of Orange and opposed the abrogation of the recusancy laws. In a debate in the cabinet of November 1684, on the question of the grant of a fresh constitution to the New England colonies, he urged with great warmth "that there could be no doubt whatever but that the same laws which are in force in England should also be established in a country inhabited by Englishmen and that an absolute government is neither so happy nor so safe as that which is tempered by laws and which sets bounds to the authority of the prince," and declared that he could not "live under a king who should have it in his power to take, whenever he thought proper, the money he has in his pocket." The opinions thus expressed were opposed by all the other ministers and highly censured by Louis XIV., James and Judge Jeffreys.

At the accession of James he was immediately deprived of all power and relegated to the presidency of the council. He showed no compliance, like other Lords, with James's Roman Catholic preferences. He was opposed to the parliamentary grant to the king of a revenue for life; he promoted the treaty of alliance with the Dutch in August 1685; he expostulated with the king on the subject of the illegal commissions in the army given to Roman Catholics; and finally, on his firm refusal to support the repeal of the Test and Habeas Corpus Acts, he was dismissed, and his name was struck out of the list of the privy council (Oct. 1685). He corresponded with the prince of Orange, conferred with Dykveldt, the latter's envoy, but held aloof from plans which aimed at the prince's personal interference in English affairs. In 1687 he published the famous _Letter to a Dissenter_, in which he warns the Nonconformists against being beguiled by the "Indulgence" into joining the court party, sets in a clear light the fatal results of such a step, and reminds them that under their next sovereign their grievances would in all probability be satisfied by the law. The tract, which has received general and unqualified admiration, must be classed amongst the few known writings which have actually and immediately altered the course of history. Copies to the number of 20,000 were circulated through the kingdom, and a great party was convinced of the wisdom of remaining faithful to the national traditions and liberties. He took the popular side on the occasion of the trial of the bishops in June 1688, visited them in the Tower, and led the cheers with which the verdict of "not guilty" was received in court; but the same month he refrained from signing the invitation to William, and publicly repudiated any share in the prince's plans. On the contrary he attended the court and refused any credence to the report that the prince born to James was supposititious. After the landing of William he was present at the council called by James on the 27th of November. He urged the king to grant large concessions, but his speech, in contrast to the harsh and overbearing attitude of the Hydes, was "the most tender and obliging ... that ever was heard." He accepted the mission with Nottingham and Godolphin to treat with William at Hungerford, and succeeded in obtaining moderate terms from the prince. The negotiations, however, were abortive, for James had from the first resolved on flight. In the crisis which ensued, when the country was left without a government, Halifax took the lead. He presided over the council of Lords which assembled and took immediate measures to maintain public order. On the return of James to London on the 16th of November, after his capture at Faversham, Halifax repaired to William's camp and henceforth attached himself unremittingly to his cause. On the 17th he carried with Lords Delamere and Shrewsbury a message from William to the king advising his departure from London, and, after the king's second flight, directed the proceedings of the executive. On the meeting of the convention on the 22nd of January 1689, he was formally elected speaker of the House of Lords. He voted against the motion for a regency (Jan. 20), which was only defeated by two votes. The moderate and comprehensive character of the settlement at the revolution plainly shows his guiding hand, and it was finally through his persuasion that the Lords yielded to the Commons and agreed to the compromise whereby William and Mary were declared joint sovereigns. On the 13th of February in the Banqueting House at Whitehall, he tendered the crown to them in the name of the nation, and conducted the proclamation of their accession in the city.

At the opening of the new reign he had considerable influence, was made lord privy seal, while Danby his rival was obliged to content himself with the presidency of the council, and controlled the appointments to the new cabinet which were made on a "trimming" or comprehensive basis. His views on religious toleration were as wide as those of the new king. He championed the claims of the Nonconformists as against the high or rigid Church party, and he was bitterly disappointed at the miscarriage of the Comprehension Bill. He thoroughly approved also at first of William's foreign policy; but, having excited the hostility of both the Whig and Tory parties, he now became exposed to a series of attacks in parliament which finally drove him from power. He was severely censured, as it seems quite unjustly, for the disorder in Ireland, and an attempt was made to impeach him for his conduct with regard to the sentences on the Whig leaders. The inquiry resulted in his favour; but notwithstanding, and in spite of the king's continued support, he determined to retire. He had already resigned the speakership of the House of Lords, and he now (Feb. 8, 1690) quitted his place in the cabinet. He still nominally retained his seat in the privy council, but in parliament he became a bitter critic of the administration; and the rivalry of Halifax (the Black Marquess) with Danby, now marquess of Carmarthen (the White Marquess) threw the former at this time into determined opposition. He disapproved of William's total absorption in European politics, and his open partiality for his countrymen. In January 1691 Halifax had an interview with Henry Bulkeley, the Jacobite agent, and is said to have promised "to do everything that lay in his power to serve the king." This was probably merely a measure of precaution, for he had no serious Jacobite leanings. He entered bail for Lord Marlborough, accused wrongfully of complicity in a Jacobite plot in May 1692, and in June, during the absence of the king from England, his name was struck off the privy council.

He spoke in favour of the Triennial Bill (Jan. 12, 1693) which passed the legislature but was vetoed by William, suggested a proviso in the Licensing Act, which restricted its operation to anonymous works, approved the Place Bill (1694), but opposed, probably on account of the large sums he had engaged in the traffic of annuities, the establishment of the bank of England in 1694. Early in 1695 he delivered a strong attack on the administration in the House of Lords, and, after a short illness arising from a neglected complaint, he died on the 5th of April at the age of sixty-one. He was buried in Henry VII.'s chapel in Westminster Abbey.

The influence of Halifax, both as orator and as writer, on the public opinion of his day was probably unrivalled. His intellectual powers, his high character, his urbanity, vivacity and satirical humour made a great impression on his contemporaries, and many of his witty sayings have been recorded. But the superiority of his statesmanship could not be appreciated till later times. Maintaining throughout his career a complete detachment from party, he never acted permanently or continuously with either of the two great factions, and exasperated both in turn by deserting their cause at the moment when their hopes seemed on the point of realization. To them he appeared weak, inconstant, untrustworthy. They could not see what to us now is plain and clear, that Halifax was as consistent in his principles as the most rabid Whig or Tory. But the principle which chiefly influenced his political action, that of compromise, differed essentially from those of both parties, and his attitude with regard to the Whigs or Tories was thus by necessity continually changing. Measures, too, which in certain circumstances appeared to him advisable, when the political scene had changed became unwise or dangerous. Thus the regency scheme, which Halifax had supported while Charles still reigned, was opposed by him with perfect consistency at the revolution. He readily accepted for himself the character of a "trimmer," desiring, he said, to keep the boat steady, while others attempted to weigh it down perilously on one side or the other; and he concluded his tract with these assertions: "that our climate is a Trimmer between that part of the world where men are roasted and the other where they are frozen; that our Church is a Trimmer between the frenzy of fanatic visions and the lethargic ignorance of Popish dreams; that our laws are Trimmers between the excesses of unbounded power and the extravagance of liberty not enough restrained; that true virtue hath ever been thought a Trimmer, and to have its dwelling in the middle between two extremes; that even God Almighty Himself is divided between His two great attributes, His Mercy and His Justice. In such company, our Trimmer is not ashamed of his name...."[5]

His powerful mind enabled him to regard the various political problems of his time from a height and from a point of view similar to that from which distance from the events enables us to consider them at the present day; and the superiority of his vision appears sufficiently from the fact that his opinions and judgments on the political questions of his time are those which for the most part have ultimately triumphed and found general acceptance. His attitude of mind was curiously modern.[6] Reading, writing and arithmetic, he thinks, should be taught to all and at the expense of the state. His opinions again on the constitutional relations of the colonies to the mother country, already cited, were completely opposed to those of his own period. For that view of his character which while allowing him the merit of a brilliant political theorist denies him the qualities of a man of action and of a practical politician, there is no solid basis. The truth is that while his political ideas are founded upon great moral or philosophical generalizations, often vividly recalling and sometimes anticipating the broad conceptions of Burke, they are at the same time imbued with precisely those practical qualities which have ever been characteristic of English statesmenship, and were always capable of application to actual conditions. He was no star-gazing philosopher, with thoughts superior to the contemplation of mundane affairs. He had no taste for abstract political dogma. He seems to venture no further than to think that "men should live in some competent state of freedom," and that the limited monarchical and aristocratic government was the best adapted for his country. "Circumstances," he writes in the _Rough Draft of a New Model at Sea_, "must come in and are to be made a part of the matter of which we are to judge; positive decisions are always dangerous, more especially in politics." Nor was he the mere literary student buried in books and in contemplative ease. He had none of the "indecisiveness which commonly renders literary men of no use in the world" (Sir John Dalrymple). The incidents of his career show that there was no backwardness or hesitation in acting when occasion required. The constant tendency of his mind towards antithesis and the balancing of opinions did not lead to paralysis in time of action. He did not shrink from responsibility, nor show on any occasion lack of courage. At various times of crisis he proved himself a great leader. He returned to public life to defeat the Exclusion Bill. At the revolution it was Halifax who seized the reins of government, flung away by James, and maintained public security. His subsequent failure in collaborating with William is, it is true, disappointing. But the cause was one that has not perhaps received sufficient attention. Party government had come to the birth during the struggles over the Exclusion Bill, and there had been unconsciously introduced into politics a novel element of which the nature and importance were not understood or suspected. Halifax had consistently ignored and neglected party; and it now had its revenge. Detested by the Whigs and by the Tories alike, and defended by neither, the favour alone of the king and his own transcendent abilities proved insufficient to withstand the constant and violent attacks made upon him in parliament, and he yielded to the superior force. He seems indeed himself to have been at last convinced of the necessity in English political life of party government, for though in his Cautions to electors he warns them against men "tied to a party," yet in his last words he declares "If there are two parties a man ought to adhere to that which he disliked least though in the whole he doth not approve it; for whilst he doth not list himself in one or the other party, he is looked upon as such a straggler that he is fallen upon by both.... Happy those that are convinced so as to be of the general opinions" (_Political Thoughts and Reflections of Parties_).

The private character of Lord Halifax was in harmony with the greatness of his public career. He was by no means the "voluptuary" described by Macaulay. He was on the contrary free from self-indulgence; his manner of life was decent and frugal, and his dress proverbially simple. He was an affectionate father and husband. "His heart," says Burnet (i. 492-493, ed. 1833), "was much set on raising his family"--his last concern even while on his deathbed was the remarriage of his son Lord Eland to perpetuate his name; and this is probably the cause of his acceptance of so many titles for which he himself affected a philosophical indifference. He was estimable in his social relations and habits. He showed throughout his career an honourable independence, and was never seen to worship the rising sun. In a period when even great men stooped to accept bribes, Halifax was known to be incorruptible; at a time when animosities were especially bitter, he was too great a man to harbour resentments. "Not only from policy," says Reresby (_Mem._ p. 231), "(which teaches that we ought to let no man be our enemy when we can help it), but from his disposition I never saw any man more ready to forgive than himself." Few were insensible to his personal charm and gaiety. He excelled especially in quick repartee, in "exquisite nonsense," and in spontaneous humour. When quite a young man, just entering upon political life he is described by Evelyn as "a witty gentleman, if not a little too prompt and daring." The latter characteristic was not moderated by time but remained through life. He was incapable of controlling his spirit of raillery, from jests on Siamese missionaries to sarcasms at the expense of the heir to the throne and ridicule of hereditary monarchy, and his brilliant paradoxes, his pungent and often profane epigrams were received by graver persons as his real opinions and as evidences of atheism. This latter charge he repudiated, assuring Burnet that he was "a Christian in submission," but that he could not digest iron like an ostrich nor swallow all that the divines sought to impose upon the world.

The speeches of Halifax have not been preserved, and his political writings on this account have all the greater value. _The Character of a Trimmer_ (1684 or 1685), the authorship of which, long doubtful, is now established,[7] was his most ambitious production, written seemingly as advice to the king and as a manifesto of his own opinions. In it he discusses the political problems of the time and their solution on broad principles. He supports the Test Act and, while opposing the Indulgence, is not hostile to the repeal of the penal laws against the Roman Catholics by parliament. Turning to foreign affairs he contemplates with consternation the growing power of France and the humiliation of England, exclaiming indignantly at the sight of the "Roses blasted and discoloured while lilies triumph and grow insolent upon the comparison." The whole is a masterly and comprehensive summary of the actual political situation and its exigencies; while, when he treats such themes as liberty, or discusses the balance to be maintained between freedom and government in the constitution, he rises to the political idealism of Bolingbroke and Burke. _The Character of King Charles II._ (printed 1750), to be compared with his earlier sketch of the king in the _Character of a Trimmer_, is perhaps from the literary point of view the most admirable of his writings. The famous _Letter to a Dissenter_ (1687) was thought by Sir James Mackintosh to be unrivalled as a political pamphlet. _The Lady's New Year's Gift: or Advice to a Daughter_, refers to his daughter Elizabeth, afterwards wife of the 3rd and mother of the celebrated 4th earl of Chesterfield (1688). In _The Anatomy of an Equivalent_ (1688) he treats with keen wit and power of analysis the proposal to grant a "perpetual edict" in favour of the Established Church in return for the repeal of the test and penal laws. _Maxims of State_ appeared about 1692. _The Rough Draft of a New Model at Sea_ (c. 1694), though apparently only a fragment, is one of the most interesting and characteristic of his writings. It opens with the question: "'What shall we do to be saved in this world?' There is no other answer but this, 'Look to your moat.' The first article of an Englishman's political creed must be that he believeth in the sea." He discusses the naval establishment, not from the naval point of view alone, but from the general aspect of the constitution of which it is a detail, and is thus led on to consider the nature of the constitution itself, and to show that it is not an artificial structure but a growth and product of the natural character. We may also mention _Some Cautions_ to the electors of the parliament (1694), and _Political, Moral and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections_ (n.d.), a collection of aphorisms in the style of the maxims of La Rochefoucauld, inferior in style--but greatly excelling the French author in breadth of view and in moderation. (For other writings attributed to Halifax, see Foxcroft, _Life of Sir G. Savile_, ii. 529 sqq.).

Halifax was twice married, first in 1656 to the Lady Dorothy Spencer--daughter of the 1st earl of Sunderland and of Dorothy Sidney, "Sacharissa"--who died in 1670, leaving a family; and secondly, in 1672, to Gertrude, daughter of William Pierrepont of Thoresby, who survived him, and by whom he had one daughter, Elizabeth, Lady Chesterfield, who seems to have inherited a considerable portion of her father's intellectual abilities. On the death of his son William, 2nd marquess of Halifax, in August 1700 without male issue, the peerage became extinct, and the baronetcy passed to the Saviles of Lupset, the whole male line of the Savile family ending in the person of Sir George Savile, 8th baronet, in 1784. Henry Savile, British envoy at Versailles, who died unmarried in 1687, was a younger brother of the first marquess. Halifax has been generally supposed to have been the father of the illegitimate Henry Carey, the poet, but this is doubtful.

See _Life and Letters of Sir George Savile, 1st Marquis of Halifax_ (2
vols., 1898), by Miss H. C. Foxcroft, who has collected and made
excellent use of all the material available at that date, including
hitherto unexplored Savile MSS., at Devonshire House, in the Spencer
Archives, in the Longleat and other collections, and who has edited
the works of Halifax and printed a memorandum of conversations with
King William of 1688-1690, left in MS. by Halifax. Macaulay, in his
_History of England_, misjudged Halifax on some points, but
nevertheless understood and did justice to the greatness of his
statesmanship, and pronounced on him a well-merited and eloquent
eulogy (iv. 545). Contemporary characters of Halifax which must be
accepted with caution are Burnet's in the _History of His Own Times_
(ed. 1833, vol. i. pp. 491-493, and iv. 268), that by the author of
"Savilianal," identified as William Mompesson, and "Sacellum
Apollinare," a panegyric in verse by Elkanah Settle (1695).
(P. C. Y.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Cal. State Papers, Dom._ (Nov. 1667-Sep. 1668). p. 106.

[2] _Lords' Journals_, 12, p. 567; _Savile Correspondence_, ed. by W.
D. Cooper, p. 136; "Character of a Trimmer," in _Life of Sir G.
Savile_, by H. C. Foxcroft, ii. 316.

[3] Foxcroft i. 160, where Hallam is quoted to this effect.

[4] _Hist. MSS. Comm. House of Lords MSS._ 1689-1690, p. 287.

[5] _Character of a Trimmer_, conclusion.

[6] Saviliana quoted by Foxcroft i. 115.

[7] Foxcroft, ii. 273 et seq., and _Hist. MSS. Comm. MSS._ of F. W.
Leyborne-Popham, p. 264.

HALIFAX, a city and port of entry, capital of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated in 44 deg. 59' N. and 63 deg. 35' W., on the south-east coast of the province, on a fortified hill, 225 ft. in height, which slopes down to the waters of Chebucto Bay, now known as Halifax Harbour. The harbour, which is open all the year, is about 6 m. long by 1 m. in width, and has excellent anchorage in all parts; to the north a narrow passage connects it with Bedford Basin, 6 m. in length by 4 m., and deep enough for the largest men-of-war. At the harbour mouth lies McNab's Island, thus forming two entrances; the eastern passage is only employed by small vessels, though in 1862 the Confederate cruiser, "Tallahassee," slipped through by night, and escaped the northern vessels which were watching off the western entrance. The population in 1901 was 40,832.

The town was originally built of wood, plastered or stuccoed, but though the wooden houses largely remain, the public buildings are of stone. Inferior in natural strength to Quebec alone, the city and its approaches have been fortified till it has become the strongest position in Canada, and one of the strongest in the British Empire. Till 1906 it was garrisoned by British troops, but in that year, with Esquimalt, on the Pacific coast, it was taken over by the Canadian government, an operation necessitating a large increase in the Canadian permanent military force. At the same time, the royal dockyard, containing a dry-dock 610 ft. in length, and the residences in connexion, were also taken over for the use of the department of marine and fisheries. Till 1905 Halifax was the summer station of the British North American squadron. In that year, in consequence of a redistribution of the fleet, the permanent North American squadron was withdrawn; but Halifax is still visited periodically by powerful squadrons of cruisers.

Though, owing to the growth of Sydney and other outports, it no longer monopolizes the foreign trade of the province, Halifax is still a thriving town, and has the largest export trade of the Dominion in fish and fish products, the export of fish alone, in 1904, amounting to over three-fifths that of the entire Dominion. Lumber (chiefly spruce deals) and agricultural products (especially apples) are also exported in large quantities. The chief imports are manufactures from Great Britain and the United States, and sugar, molasses, rum and fruit from the West Indies. Its industrial establishments include foundries, sugar refineries, manufactures of furniture and other articles of wood, a skate factory and rope and cordage works, the produce of which are all exported. It is the Atlantic terminus of the Intercolonial, Canadian Pacific and several provincial railways, and the chief winter port of Canada, numerous steamship lines connecting it with Great Britain, Europe, the West Indies and the United States. The public gardens, covering 14 acres, and Point Pleasant Park, left to a great extent in its natural state, are extremely beautiful. Behind the city is an arm of the sea (known as the North-West Arm), 5 m. in length and 1 m. in breadth, with high, well-wooded shores, and covered in summer with canoes and sailing craft. The educational institutions include a ladies' college, several convents, a Presbyterian theological college and Dalhousie University, with faculties of arts, law, medicine and science. Established by charter in 1818 by the earl of Dalhousie, then lieutenant governor, and reorganized in 1863, it has since become much the most important seat of learning in the maritime provinces. Other prominent buildings are Government House, the provincial parliament and library, and the Roman Catholic cathedral. St Paul's church (Anglican) dates from 1750, and though not striking architecturally, is interesting from the memorial tablets and the graves of celebrated Nova Scotians which it contains. The city is the seat of the Anglican bishop of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and of the Roman Catholic bishop of Halifax.

Founded in 1749 by the Hon. Edward Cornwallis as a rival to the French town of Louisburg in Cape Breton, it was named after the 2nd earl of Halifax, president of the board of trade and plantations. In the following year it superseded Annapolis as capital of the province. Its privateers played a prominent part in the war of 1812-15 with the United States, and during the American Civil War it was a favourite base of operations for Confederate blockade-runners. The federation of the North American provinces in 1867 lessened its relative importance, but its merchants have gradually adapted themselves to the altered conditions.

HALIFAX, a municipal, county and parliamentary borough in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 194 m. N.N.W. from London and 7 m. S.W. from Bradford, on the Great Northern and the Lancashire & Yorkshire railways. Pop. (1891), 97,714; (1901) 104,936. It lies in a bare hilly district on and above the small river Hebble near its junction with the Calder. Its appearance is in the main modern, though a few picturesque old houses remain. The North Bridge, a fine iron structure, spans the valley, giving connexion between the opposite higher parts of the town. The principal public building is the town hall, completed in 1863 after the designs of Sir Charles Barry; it is a handsome Palladian building with a tower. Of churches the most noteworthy is that of St John the Baptist, the parish church, a Perpendicular building with lofty western tower. Two earlier churches are traceable on this side, the first perhaps pre-Norman, the second of the Early English period. The old woodwork is fine, part being Perpendicular, but the greater portion dates from 1621. All Souls' church was built in 1859 from the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott, of whose work it is a good example, at the expense of Mr Edward Akroyd. The style is early Decorated, and a rich ornamentation is carried out in Italian marble, serpentine and alabaster. A graceful tower and spire 236 ft. high rise at the north-west angle. The Square chapel, erected by the Congregationalists in 1857, is a striking cruciform building with a tower and elaborate crocketed spire. Both the central library and museum and the Akroyd museum and art gallery occupy buildings which were formerly residences, the one of Sir Francis Crossley (1817-1872) and the other of Mr Edward Akroyd. Among charitable institutions the principal is the handsome royal infirmary, a Renaissance building. The Heath grammar school was founded in 1585 under royal charter for instruction in classical languages. It possesses close scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge universities. The Waterhouse charity school occupies a handsome set of buildings forming three sides of a quadrangle, erected in 1855. The Crossley almshouses were erected and endowed by Sir Francis and Mr Joseph Crossley, who also endowed the Crossley orphan home and school. Technical schools are maintained by the corporation. Among other public buildings may be noted the Piece-Hall, erected in 1799 for the lodgment and sale of piece goods, now used as a market, a great quadrangular structure occupying more than two acres; the bonding warehouse, court-house, and mechanics' institute. There are six parks, of which the People's Park of 12-1/2 acres, presented by Sir Francis Crossley in 1858, is laid out in ornate style from designs by Sir Joseph Paxton.

Halifax ranks with Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield as a seat of the woollen and worsted manufacture. The manufacture of carpets is a large industry, one establishment employing some 5000 hands. The worsted, woollen and cotton industries, and the iron, steel and machinery manufactures are very extensive. There are collieries and freestone quarries in the neighbourhood.

The parliamentary borough returns two members. The county borough was created in 1888. The municipal borough is under a mayor, 15 aldermen and 45 councillors. Area, 13,967 acres.

At the time of the Conquest Halifax formed part of the extensive manor of Wakefield, which belonged to the king, but in the 13th century was in the hands of John, earl Warrenne (c. 1245-1305). The prosperity of the town began with the introduction of the cloth trade in the 15th century, when there are said to have been only thirteen houses, which before the end of the 16th century had increased to 520. Camden, about the end of the 17th century, wrote that "the people are very industrious, so that though the soil about it be barren and improfitable, not fit to live on, they have so flourished ... by the clothing trade that they are very rich and have gained a reputation for it above their neighbours." The trade is said to have been increased by the arrival of certain merchants driven from the Netherlands by the persecution of the duke of Alva. Among the curious customs of Halifax was the Gibbet Law, which was probably established by a prescriptive right to protect the wool trade, and gave the inhabitants the power of executing any one taken within their liberty, who, when tried by a jury of sixteen of the frith-burgesses, was found guilty of the theft of any goods of the value of more than 13d. The executions took place on market days on a hill outside the town, the gibbet somewhat resembling a guillotine. The first execution recorded under this law took place in 1541, and the right was exercised in Halifax longer than in any other town, the last execution taking place in 1650. In 1635 the king granted the inhabitants of Halifax licence to found a workhouse in a large house given to them for that purpose by Nathaniel Waterhouse, and incorporated them under the name of the master and governors. Nathaniel Waterhouse was appointed the first master, his successors being elected every year by the twelve governors from among themselves. Halifax was a borough by prescription, its privileges growing up with the increased prosperity brought by the cloth trade, but it was not incorporated until 1848. Since the Reform Act of 1832 the burgesses have returned two members to parliament. In 1607 David Waterhouse, lord of the manor of Halifax, obtained a grant of two markets there every week on Friday and Saturday and two fairs every year, each lasting three days, one beginning on the 24th of June, the other on the 11th of November. Later these fairs and markets were confirmed with the addition of an extra market on Thursday to Sir William Ayloffe, baronet, who had succeeded David Waterhouse as lord of the manor. The market rights were sold to the Markets Company in 1810 and purchased from them by the corporation in 1853.

During the Civil War Halifax was garrisoned by parliament, and a field near it is still called the Bloody Field on account of an engagement which took place there between the forces of parliament and the Royalists.

See _Victoria County History_, "Yorkshire"; T. Wright, _The
Antiquities of the Town of Halifax_ (Leeds, 1738); John Watson, _The
History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax_ (London, 1775); John
Crabtree, _A Concise History of the Parish and Vicarage of Halifax_
(Halifax and London, 1836).

HALISAH (Hebrew, [Hebrew: halitza] "untying"), the ceremony by which a Jewish widow releases her brother-in-law from the obligation to marry her in accordance with Deuteronomy xxv. 5-10, and obtains her own freedom to remarry. By the law of Moses it became obligatory upon the brother of a man dying childless to take his widow as wife. If he refused, "then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house." By Rabbinical law the ceremony was later made more complex. The parties appear before a court of three elders with two assessors. The place is usually the synagogue house, or that of the Rabbi, sometimes that of the widow. After inquiry as to the relationship of the parties and their status (for if either be a minor or deformed, halisah cannot take place), the shoe is produced. It is usually the property of the community and made entirely of leather from the skin of a "clean" animal. It is of two pieces, the upper part and the sole, sewn together with leathern threads. It has three small straps in front, and two white straps to bind it on the leg. After it is strapped on, the man must walk four cubits in the presence of the court. The widow then loosens and removes the shoe, throwing it some distance, and spits on the ground, repeating thrice the Biblical formula "So shall it be done," &c. Halisah, which is still common among orthodox Jews, must not take place on the Sabbath, a holiday, or the eve of either, or in the evening. To prevent brothers-in-law from extorting money from a widow as a price for releasing her from perpetual widowhood, Jewish law obliges all brothers at the time of a marriage to sign a document pledging themselves to submit to halisah without payment. (Compare LEVIRATE).

HALKETT, HUGH, FREIHERR VON (1783-1863), British soldier and general of infantry in the Hanoverian service, was the second son of Major-General F. G. Halkett, who had served many years in the army, and whose ancestors had for several generations distinguished themselves in foreign services. With the "Scotch Brigade" which his father had been largely instrumental in raising, Hugh Halkett served in India from 1798 to 1801. In 1803 his elder brother Colin was appointed to command a battalion of the newly formed King's German Legion, and in this he became senior captain and then major. Under his brother's command he served with Cathcart's expeditions to Hanover, Rugen and Copenhagen, where his bold initiative on outpost duty won commendation. He was in the Peninsula in 1808-1809, and at Walcheren. At Albuera, Salamanca, &c., he commanded the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion, K.G.L., in succession to his brother, and at Venta del Pozo in the Burgos retreat he greatly distinguished himself. In 1813 he left the Peninsula and was subsequently employed in the organization of the new Hanoverian army. He led a brigade of these troops in Count Wallmoden's army, and bore a marked part in the battle of Gohrde and the action of Schestedt, where he took with his own hand a Danish standard. In the Waterloo campaign he commanded two brigades of Hanoverian militia which were sent to the front with the regulars, and during the fight with the Old Guard captured General Cambronne. After the fall of Napoleon he elected to stay in the Hanoverian service, though he retained his half-pay lieutenant-colonelcy in the English army. He rose to be general and inspector-general of infantry. In his old age he led the Xth Federal Army Corps in the Danish War of 1848, and defeated the Danes at Oversee. He had the G.C.H., the C.B. and many foreign orders, including the Prussian order of the Black Eagle and _pour le Merite_ and the Russian St Anne.

See Knesebeck, _Leben des Freiherrn Hugh von Halkett_ (Stuttgart,
1865).

His brother, SIR COLIN HALKETT (1774-1856), British soldier, began his military career in the Dutch Guards and served in various "companies" for three years, leaving as a captain in 1795. From 1800 to the peace of Amiens he served with the Dutch troops in English pay in Guernsey. In August 1803 Halkett was one of the first officers assigned to the service of raising the King's German Legion, and he became major, and later lieutenant-colonel, commanding the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion. His battalion was employed in the various expeditions mentioned above, from Hanover to Walcheren, and in 1811 Colin Halkett succeeded Charles Alten in the command of the Light Brigade, K.G.L., which he held throughout the Peninsula War from Albuera to Toulouse. In 1815 Major-General Sir Colin Halkett commanded the 5th British Brigade of Alten's division, and at Waterloo he received four wounds. Unlike his brother, he remained in the British service, in which he rose to general. At the time of his death he was governor of Chelsea hospital. He had honorary general's rank in the Hanoverian service, the G.C.B. and G.C.H., as well as numerous foreign orders.

For information about both the Halketts, see Beamish, _History of the
King's German Legion_ (1832).