HALIFAX 



3792 



HALIFAX 



Halifax, Nova Scotia. The town and harbour seen from the citadel 



Halifax, EARL OF. English title 

 borne by the families of Savile and 

 Montague. The first holder was 

 the statesman George Savile, who 

 was made Viscount Halifax in 

 1667, and earl of Halifax in 1679. 

 In 1682 he was advanced to a mar- 

 qucssate, but when his son William 

 died, in 1700, all the titles, save an 

 old baronetcy, became extinct. At 

 once, however, the Whig states- 

 man, Charles Montague, was made 

 Baron Halifax, and in 1714 he be- 

 came an earl. On his death in 1715 

 the earldom became extinct, but 

 the barony passed to his nephew 

 George, who in the same year was 

 made earl of Halifax. He was suc- 

 ceeded in .1739 by his son George, 

 who took the additional name of 

 Dunk, and on his death in 1771 the 

 titles again became extinct. 



Halifax, GEORGE SAVILE, IST 

 MARQUESS OF (1633-95). British 

 statesman and author. The son of 

 Sir William 

 Savile, a York- 

 shire baronet, 

 he was born to 

 wealth and 

 station, his re- 

 latives includ- 

 i n g Shaf tes- 

 bury and other 

 prominent 

 men. He was 

 well educated, 

 and learnt 

 much from his 

 uncle, Sir W. Coventry. In 1660 he 

 sat in Parliament, but his political 

 career only began about 1667, when, 

 his uncommon abilities having been 

 recognized, he was made Viscount 

 Halifax. He was employed on 

 diplomatic work, and was an 

 active member of the privy council 

 and the House of Lords ; about 

 1679 he became one of the king's 

 chief advisers, and he was the 

 leader of the opposition to the 

 exclusion of James f nom the throne, 

 the rejection of the Exclusion Bill 

 being largely due to his efforts. He 



1st Marquess of 



Halifax, 

 British statesman 



From a print 



was not, however, friendly to 

 James. His policy as a leading 

 member of the executive was 

 throughout a moderating, though 

 not always a successful one. He 

 objected to the execution of Russell 

 and Sidney ; he tried to reconcile 

 the king with Monmouth after the 

 Rye House plot, and to establish 

 more friendly relations between 

 Charles and William of Orange. In 

 1679 he was made an earl, and in 

 1682 a marquess. 



On the accession of James, 

 Halifax lost his power, although for 

 a while he was lord president. He 

 spoke against nearly all the un- 

 constitutional acts of the king, and 

 his Letter to a Dissenter was 

 instrumental in defeating the 

 Declaration of Indulgence. He did 

 not, however, join William of 

 Orange on his landing ; instead, he 

 acted as a mediator, after which, 

 to the chagrin of his Tory asso- 

 ciates, he joined William and acted 

 mainly with the Whigs. For a few 

 critical days he was the acting 

 head of the government : it was he 

 who presided over the council that, 

 after the flight of James, took 

 steps to keep order, while as 

 speaker of the House of Lords he 

 had a large share in arranging the 

 settlement of 1689. As the nation's 

 spokesman he formally offered the 

 crown to William and Mary. Made 

 lord privy seal, Halifax was one of 

 the new king's chief advisers, but 

 he had many enemies, and in 1690 

 he retired from the cabinet. He 

 continued, however, active, mainly 

 as a critic, until his death, April 5, 

 1695. He is buried in Henry VII's 

 chapel, Westminster Abbey. He 

 was twice married, and left a 

 family. One grandson was the 

 great earl of Chesterfield. 



Halifax was a statesman and an 

 orator, but his fame rests more 

 upon his work as a thinker. The 

 name of the trimmer, coined by 

 himself, expresses his political ideas 

 if the word is taken without the 



'more sinister associations that have 

 grown up around it. He thought 

 too clearly, and knew too much to 

 be a mere party politician, while he 

 anticipated many of the ideas of a 

 later day. Unlike some theorists, 

 he was never afraid to cany his 

 moderating, if unpopular, precepts 

 into practice. His wit was the 

 admiration of all save those who 

 winced under his sarcasms. Hali- 

 fax's great work is The Character 

 of a Trimmer, written in 1684. 

 Maxims of State is another, while 

 he wrote The Character of Charles 

 II, Some Political, Moral, and Mis- 

 cellaneous Thoughts and Reflec- 

 tions, and the Anatomy of an 

 Equivalent. In his treatises on 

 statecraft he put forward his idea 

 of the state and its functions ; un- 

 like Hobbes, it was no appeal to 

 first principles, but a guide to 

 practical politics. See Life and 

 Letters, H. C. Foxeroft, 1898. 



Halifax, CHARLES MONTAGUE, 

 EARL OF (1661-1715). British 

 statesman. Born at Horton, 

 Northampton- 

 shire, April 16, 

 1661, he was a 

 grandson o f 

 the 1st earl of 

 Manchester. 

 Both at West- 

 minster School 

 and Trinity 

 College, Cam- 

 bridge, he 

 made his mark 

 as a scholar ; 

 he was associated with Sir Isaac 

 Newton, wrote verses, and studied 

 philosophy. In 1689 as a Whig 

 he entered Parliament as M.P. 

 for Maldon, owing this and other 

 favours to his friend the "magnifi- 

 cent" earl of Dorset. In the Com- 

 mons he won an early reputation, 

 and in 1692 was made a lord of 

 the treasury, being advanced in 

 1694 to the post of chancellor of 

 the exchequer. 



In these years Montague intro- 

 duced the important financial re- 

 forms which place him in the first 

 rank of English financiers. He 

 helped to found the Bank of 

 England, was the leading spirit in 

 reforming the coinage, and initi- 

 ated the National Debt and the 

 first issue of exchequer bills. In 

 1697 he was made first lord of the 

 treasury. In 1698 Montague was 

 accused of fraud ; the charge was 

 not proved, but his honesty was 

 not equal to his talents, while his 

 vanity brought him further ene- 

 mies. In 1699 he resigned, taking 

 the rich sinecure office of auditor of 

 the exchequer which he had care- 

 fully provided for himself. In 1701 

 he was made a peer, taking the 

 title of Baron Halifax. 



Earl of Halifax, 

 British statesman 



From aprint 



