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1ST MARQUESS OF GEORGE SAVILE HALIFAX...

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 843 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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1ST See also:

MARQUESS OF See also:GEORGE See also:SAVILE See also:HALIFAX (1633-1695)  , See also:English statesman and writer, See also:great-See also:grandson of See also:Sir See also:George See also:Savile of Lupset and See also:Thornhill in See also:Yorkshire (created See also:baronet in 1611), was the eldest son of Sir See also:William Savile, 3rd baronet, who distinguished himself in the See also:civil See also:war in the royalist cause and who died in 1644, and of See also:Anne, eldest daughter of See also:Lord Keeper See also:Coventry . He was thus See also:nephew of Sir William Coventry, who is said to have influenced his See also:political opinions, and of Lord See also:Shaftesbury, afterwards his most See also:bitter opponent, and great-nephew of the See also:earl of See also:Strafford; by his See also:marriage with the See also:Lady Dorothy See also:Spencer, he was See also:brother-in-See also:law to Lord See also:Sunderland . He entered public See also:life with all the advantages of lineage, political connexions, great See also:wealth and estates, and uncommon abilities . He was elected member of the See also:Convention See also:parliament for See also:Pontefract in 166o, and this was his only See also:appearance in the See also:Lower See also:House . A See also:peerage was sought for him by the See also:duke of See also:York in 1665, but was successfully opposed by See also:Clarendon, on the ground of his " See also:ill-reputation amongst men of piety and See also:religion," the real motives of the See also:chancellor's hostile attitude being probably Savile's connexion with See also:Buckingham and Coventry . The honours were, however, only deferred for a See also:short See also:time and were obtained after the fall of Clarendon on the 31st of See also:December 1667,1 when Savile was created See also:Baron Savile of See also:Eland and See also:Viscount See also:Halifax . He supported zealously the See also:anti-See also:French policy formulated in the Triple See also:Alliance of See also:January 1668 . He was at this time in favour at See also:court, was created a privy councillor in 1672, and, while ignorant of the disgraceful See also:secret clauses in the treaty of See also:Dover, was chosen See also:envoy to negotiate terms of See also:peace with See also:Louis XIV. and the Dutch at See also:Utrecht . His See also:mission was still further deprived of importance by See also:Arlington and Buckingham, who were in the See also: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 See also: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 See also:Roman See also:Catholic claims . He took an active See also:part in passing through parliament the great Test See also:Act of 16732 and forfeited in consequence his friend-See also:ship with See also:James . In .1674 he brought forward a See also:motion for 1 Cal . See also:State Papers, Dom .

(Nov . 1667-Sep . 1668), p. io6 . 2 Lords' See also:

Journals, 12, p . 567 ; Savile See also:Correspondence, ed. by W . D . See also:Cooper, p . 136; " See also:Character of a See also:Trimmer,'" in Life of Sir G . Savile, by H . C . Foxcroft, ii . 316 .

disarming " popish recusants," and supported one by Lord See also:

Carlisle for restricting the marriages in the royal See also:family to Protestants; but he opposed the See also:bill introduced by Lord See also:Danby (see See also:LEEDS, 1ST DUKE OF) in 1675, which imposed a test See also: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 See also:man would ever See also:sleep with open doors . . . should all the See also:town be sworn not to rob." He was now on See also:bad terms with Danby, and a witty sally at that See also:minister's expense caused his dismissal from the See also:council in January 1676 . In 1678 he took an active part in the investigation of the "Popish See also:Plot," to which he appears to have given excessive See also:credence, but opposed the bill which was passed on the 3oth of See also: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 See also:Charles, who had at first " kicked at his See also:appointment," he quickly became a favourite, his lively and " libertine " (i.e. See also:free or sceptical) conversation being named by See also:Bishop See also:Burnet as his See also: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 See also:attempt of Lord Shaftesbury to substitute the illegitimate duke of See also:Monmouth for James in the See also:succession . He feared Shaftesbury's ascendancy in the See also:national See also:councils and foresaw nothing but civil war and confusion as a result of his See also: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 . See also:Temple he showed great severity in putting into force the See also:laws against the Roman Catholics, but this statement is considered a misrepresentation) .

In 168o he voted against the See also:

execution of Lord See also:Stafford . Meanwhile (1679) his whole policy had been successfully directed towards uniting all parties with the See also:object of frustrating Shaftesbury's plans . Communications were opened with the See also:prince of See also:Orange, and the illness of the king was made the occasion for summoning James from See also:Brussels . Monmouth was compelled to retire to See also:Holland, and Shaftesbury was dismissed . On the other See also:hand, while Halifax was so far successful, James was given an opportunity of establishing a new See also:influence at the court . It was with great difficulty that his retirement to See also:Scotland was at last effected; the ministers lost the confidence and support of the " See also:country party," and Halifax, fatigued and ill, at the See also:close of this See also:year, retired to Rufford See also:Abbey, the country See also:home of the Saviles since the destruction of Thornhill See also:Hall in 1648, and for some time took little part in affairs . He returned in See also:September 168o 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 See also:annals of parliament, became a See also:duel of See also:oratory between Halifax and his See also:uncle Shaftesbury, the finest two speakers of the See also:day, watched by the Lords, the See also:Commons at the See also:bar, and the king, who was See also:present . It lasted seven See also:hours . Halifax spoke sixteen times, and at last, regardless of the menaces of the more violent supporters of the bill, who closed See also:round him, vanquished his opponent . The rejection of the bill by a See also:majority of 33 was attributed by all parties entirely to the eloquence of Halifax . His conduct transformed the See also:allegiance to him of the Whigs into bitter hostility, the Ccmmons 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 See also:

Oxford parliament, and in May returned suddenly to public life and held for a year the chief See also:control of affairs . The See also:arrest of Shaftesbury on the 2nd of See also:July was attributed to his influence, but in See also:general, during the See also: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 (See also:Sept.), made a characteristic but futile attempt 1 Foxcroft i . 16o, where See also:Hallam is quoted to this effect.to persuade the duke to attend the services of the See also:Church of See also: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 See also:Luxemburg . The influence of Halifax procured for the Dutch a formal assurance from Charles of his support; but the king informed the French See also:ambassador that he had no intention of fulfilling his engagements, and made another secret treaty with Louis . Halifax opposed in 1682 James's vindictive See also:prosecution of the earl of See also: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 See also:tenure of See also: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 See also:office of lord privy See also:seal (Oct . 25) . Being still a member of the See also:administration he must share responsibility for the attack now made upon the municipal franchises, a violation of the whole See also:system of representative See also:government, especially as the new charters passed his office .

In January 1684 he was one of the commissioners " who supervise all things concerning the See also:

city and have turned out those persons who are whiggishly inclined " (N . See also:Luttrell's See also:Diary, i . 295) . He made See also:honourable but vain endeavours to See also:save Algernon See also:Sidney and Lord See also:Russell . " My Lord Halifax," declared See also:Tillotson in his See also: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." 2 The See also:Rye-House Plot, in which it was sought to implicate them, was a disastrous See also:blow to his policy, and in See also: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 See also:February 1684, he procured the See also:release of his old antagonist, Lord Danby . Shortly afterwards his influence at the court revived . Charles was no longer in See also:receipt of his French See also:pension and was beginning to See also:tire of James and See also:Rochester . The latter, instead of becoming lord treasurer, was, according to the See also:epigram of Halifax which has become proverbial, " kicked upstairs," to the office of lord See also:president of the council . Halifax now worked to establish intimate relations between Charles and the prince of Orange and opposed the See also:abrogation of the recusancy laws . In a debate in the See also:cabinet of See also:November 1684, on the question of the See also: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 See also:absolute government is neither so happy nor so safe as that which is tempered by laws and which sets See also: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 See also:money he has in his See also:pocket." The opinions thus expressed were opposed by all the other ministers and highly censured by Louis XIV., James and See also:Judge See also:Jeffreys . At the See also:accession of James he was immediately deprived of all power and relegated to the See also:presidency of the council .

He showed no compliance, like other Lords, with James's Roman Catholic preferences . He was opposed to the See also:

parliamentary grant to the king of a See also:revenue for life; he promoted the treaty of alliance with the Dutch in See also:August 1685; he expostulated with the king on the subject of the illegal commissions in the See also:army given to Roman Catholics; and finally, on his See also:firm refusal to support the See also:repeal of the Test and Habeas Corpus Acts, he was dismissed, and his name was struck out of the See also: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 See also:personal interference in English affairs . In 1687 he published the famous See also:Letter to a See also:Dissenter, in which he warns the Nonconformists against being beguiled by the " See also:Indulgence " into joining the court party, sets in a clear See also:light the fatal results of such a step, and reminds them that under their next See also:sovereign their grievances would in 2 Hist . See also:MSS . See also:Comm . House of Lords MSS . 1689-169o, p . 287 . all See also:probability be satisfied by the law . The See also: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 See also:history .

Copies to the number of 20,000 were circulated through the See also:

kingdom, and a great party was convinced of the See also:wisdom of remaining faithful to the national traditions and liberties . He took the popular See also:side on the occasion of the trial of the bishops in See also:June 1688, visited them in the See also:Tower, and led the cheers with which the See also:verdict of " not guilty " was received in court; but the same See also:month he refrained from See also: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 See also:report that the prince See also: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 See also:tender and obliging . . . that ever was heard." He accepted the mission with See also:Nottingham and See also:Godolphin to treat with William at See also:Hungerford, and succeeded in obtaining moderate terms from the prince . The negotiations, however, were abortive, for James had from the first resolved on See also:flight . In the crisis which ensued, when the country was See also:left without a government, Halifax took the See also:lead . He presided over the council of Lords which assembled and took immediate See also:measures to maintain public order . On the return of James to See also:London on the 16th of November, after his See also:capture at See also:Faversham, Halifax repaired to William's See also:camp and hence-forth attached himself unremittingly to his cause . On the 17th he carried with Lords See also:Delamere and See also:Shrewsbury a See also: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 See also:meeting of the convention on the 22nd of January 1689, he was formally elected See also:speaker of the House of Lords .

He voted against the motion for a regency (See also:

Jan . 20), which was only defeated by two votes . The moderate and comprehensive character of the See also: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 See also:compromise whereby William and See also:Mary were declared See also:joint sovereigns . On the 13th of February in the Banqueting House at See also:Whitehall, he tendered the See also:crown to them in the name of the nation, and conducted the See also: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 See also:rival was obliged to content himself with the presidency of the council, and See also:con-trolled the appointments to the new cabinet which were made on a " trimming " or comprehensive basis . His views on religious See also: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 See also:miscarriage of the Comprehension Bill . He thoroughly approved also at first of William's See also:foreign policy; but, having excited the hostility of both the Whig and Tory parties, he now became exposed to a See also:series of attacks in parliament which finally drove him from power . He was severely censured, as it seems quite unjustly, for the disorder in See also: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, 169o) quitted his See also:place in the cabinet .

Phoenix-squares

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 See also:

Black See also:Marquess) with Danby, now marquess of See also:Carmarthen (the See also:White Marquess) threw the former at this time into determined opposition . He disapproved of William's See also:total absorption in See also:European politics, and his open partiality for his countrymen . In January 1691 Halifax had an interview with See also:Henry Bulkeley, the Jacobite See also:agent, and is said to have promised " to do everything that layin his power to serve the. king." This was probably merely a measure of precaution, for he had. no serious Jacobite leanings . He entered See also:bail for Lord See also:Marlborough, accused wrongfully of complicity in a Jacobite plot in May 1692, and in June, during the See also: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 See also:anonymous See also:works, approved the Place Bill (1694), but opposed, probably on See also:account of the large sums he had engaged in the See also:traffic of annuities, the See also:establishment of the See also:bank of England in 1694 . See also: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 See also:April at the See also:age of sixty-one . He was buried in Henry VII.'s See also:chapel in See also:Westminster Abbey . The influence of Halifax, both as orator and as writer, on the public See also:opinion of his day was probably unrivalled . His intellectual See also:powers, his high character, his urbanity, vivacity and satirical See also: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 See also: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 See also:

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 See also:action, that of compromise, differed essentially from those of both parties, and his attitude with regard to the Whigs or Tories was thus by See also:necessity continually changing . Measures, too, which in certain circumstances appeared to him advisable, when the political See also: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 See also: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 See also:climate is a Trimmer between that part of the See also: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 See also:ignorance of Popish dreams; that our laws are Trimmers between the excesses of unbounded power and the extravagance of See also:liberty not enough restrained; that true virtue See also:bath ever been thought a Trimmer, and to have its dwelling in the See also:middle between two extremes; that even See also:God Almighty Himself is divided between His two great attributes, His See also:Mercy and His See also:Justice . In such See also:company, our Trimmer is not ashamed of his name . ..."1 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 conside