516 



HALIFAX 



harbour was called by the Indians Chebucto, signi- 

 fying the greatest of havens a name not in- 

 appropriate for what is one of the finest harbours in 

 the world. It is easily accessible at all seasons of 

 the year, at all times of the tide, by ships of any 

 tonnage ; and is capable of affording safe anchorage 

 to the whole British navy. The fact that it was 

 selected as the American rendezvous of the ill- 

 starred expedition of D'Anville against the British 

 colonies in America in 1746 led to a demand on the 

 part of those colonies that a place of such strategic 

 importance should no longer be unoccupied by 

 imperial troops. Their demand was ably supported 

 by Lord Halifax, and accordingly an expedition 

 was fitted out in 1749, under command of the 

 Hon. Edward Cornwallis, which founded the city 

 and gave to it the name of its English patron. It 

 at once became the capital of the province, and the 

 principal naval and military station of Great 

 Britain in America, and has remained so ever since. 

 It is garrisoned by imperial troops, and is strongly 

 fortified its supposed impregnability securing for 

 it the appellation of 'the Cronstadt of America.' 

 The dockyard, covering 14 acres, is one of the 

 finest in the British colonies. Down to the close of 

 the Napoleonic wars Halifax was little more than 

 a military and naval entrepdt ; but of late years it 

 has assumed more and more the character of a 

 commercial city. It is built on the western side of 

 the harbour, and extends along it .about two miles 

 and a half. The streets are well laid out, and are 

 lighted by electricity. The commercial portion of 

 the city is built principally of freestone. Its water- 

 supply is excellent, and statistics show it to be one 

 of the healthiest cities in America. It is the 

 residence of the Roman Catholic archbishop of 

 Halifax (whose archiepiscopal see includes Nova 

 Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, 

 and Newfoundland ) and of the Church of England 

 bishop of Nova Scotia. It is also the .seat of 

 Dalhousie University and of a large number of 

 other educational institutions, including a school 

 for the blind, and one for the deaf and dumb. In 

 common with the rest of the province, its public 

 schools are free, and attendance at them between 

 certain ages is compulsory. It is the eastern or 

 Atlantic terminus or the Intercolonial Railway of 

 Canada and of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and 

 has lines of steamers connecting it with London, 

 Liverpool, New York, Boston, Bermuda, the West 

 Indies, St Pierre, and both the east and west 

 coasts of Newfoundland. It has also the largest 

 graving-dock (580 by 102 feet) in America, con- 

 structed in 1880-89, at a cost of $1,000,000, and 

 capable of receiving the largest ship afloat. The 

 proximity of Halifax to the coalfields of Pictou 

 and Cape Breton and its extensive wharf accom- 

 modation make it a favourite coaling station for 

 steamers navigating the North Atlantic. Its popula- 

 tion in 1881 was 36,100 ; its population at the census 

 <>f 1891 was 38,556. Dartmouth, on the opposite 

 shore of the harbour practically a suburb of 

 Halifax has a population of 6200. In an average 

 year the foreign trade of the port amounts to 

 $10,000,000 or $12,000,000. The total number of 

 vessels entering and clearing the harbour is from 

 2000 to 3000, with a tonnage of 1,500,000 tons. 



Halifax, CHARLES MONTAGU, EARL OF, poet 

 and statesman, who owed his introduction to 

 political power to his facile skill in verse-making, 

 was the nephew of the famous Parliamentary 

 general, the Earl of Manchester, and was born 

 at Horton, in Northamptonshire, 16th April 1661. 

 He was educated at Westminster School and 

 Trinity College, Cambridge, where he formed a 

 life-long friendship with Newton. His most not- 

 able poetical achievement was a parody on Dry- 

 den's Hind and Panther, entitled The Toivn and 



Country Mouse ( 1687), of which he was joint author 

 with Matthew Prior ; but his poetry would hardly 

 have made his name remembered in the 19th cen- 

 tury. In the following year, through the' influence 

 of the Earl of Dorset, he became member for Maldon 

 in the Convention Parliament, and soon developed 

 a decided talent for financial business. Retaining 

 his seat in William III.'s first parliament, he was 

 appointed in 1692 a Commissioner of the Treasury. 

 On the 15th December of the following year he 

 proposed, in the House of Commons, to raise a 

 million sterling by way of loan. William required 

 money for his wars ; the moneyed classes were tired 

 of bubble companies, and knew not where to invest 

 safely ; and the landowners were weary of heavy 

 taxation : so the National Debt was established. 

 In the spring of 1694 money was again wanted, and 

 Montague supplied it by originating a national 

 bank, a scheme for which had been laid before 

 government by William Paterson, three years 

 before. The capital was to be 1,200,000, and the 

 shareholders were to be called the Governor and 

 Company of the Bank of England. As a reward 

 for this service Montague was appointed Chancellor 

 of the Exchequer in 1694. His next work was the 

 recoinage in 1695, which he carried out success- 

 fully, appointing Newton warden of the Mint, and 

 raising a tax on windows to pay the expense, instead 

 of the obnoxious impost called hearth-money. At 

 this crisis too he first introduced exchequer bills. 

 On Godolphin's resignation in 1697 he became 

 premier, but his arrogance and vanity soon made 

 him unpopular, and on the accession to power of 

 the Tories in 1699 he was obliged to accept the 

 auditorship of the exchequer, and withdraw from 

 the Commons as Baron Halifax. He was impeached 

 before the House of Lords for breach of trust in 

 1701, and again in 1703, but the proceedings fell to 

 the ground. During the whole of Anne's reign 

 Halifax remained out of office, but was active 

 in promoting the union with Scotland, and the 

 Hanoverian succession. On the queen's death he 

 was appointed a member of the council of regency, 

 and on George I.'s arrival became an earl and 

 prime-minister. His rule lasted only nine months, 

 being terminated by death on 19th May 1715. 



Halifax, GEORGE SAVILE, MARQUIS OF, states- 

 man, was born in the year 1633. For the share he 

 took in bringing about the Restoration he was 

 created a viscount in 1668. In 1675 he opposed 

 Dan by 'a Test Bill, and in 1679 by a display of 

 extraordinary oratory procured the rejection of the 

 Exclusion Bill. Three years later he was created 

 a marquis, and made Lord Privy Seal. On the 

 accession of James II. he became president of the 

 council, but was dismissed in 1685 for his opposi- 

 tion to the repeal of the Test Act and the Habeas 

 Corpus Act. He was one of the three commis- 

 sioners appointed by James II. to treat with 

 William of Orange after he landed in England. 

 After the flight of James, Halifax tendered his 

 allegiance to William III., and under him resumed 

 the office of Lord Privy Seal ; but, subsequently 

 joining the opposition, he resigned his post in 1689. 

 He died 20th April 1695. Shaftesbury was the 

 sole rival as an orator of this 



Jotham of piercing wit and pregnant thought, 



Endued by nature and by learning taught 



To move assemblies. DRYDEN'S Absalom and Achitophel. 



As a minister he was a failure, owing to his 

 frequent changes of side ; yet he was not a fickle 

 party-man, but rather a philosophic statesman, 

 who, in order to serve his country, was compelled 

 by the excesses of party to adopt this course such 

 at least is the defence he lays down in his On the 

 Character of a Trimmer. His Miscellanies were pub- 

 lished in 1700. The poet-musician Henry Carey 

 (q.v.) is believed to have been his natural son. 



