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FREIHERR VON HUGH HALKETT (1783-1863) , See also: British soldier and general of See also: 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 See also: foreign services
.
With the " Scotch Brigade " which his See also: father had been largely instrumental in raising, Hugh Halkett served in See also: India from 1798 to 18o1
.
In 1803 his elder See also: brother See also: Colin was appointed to command a See also: battalion of the newly formed See also: King's
See also: German See also: Legion, and in this he became See also: senior captain and then major
.
Under his brother's command he served with Cathcart's expeditions to See also: Hanover, See also: Rugen and See also: Copenhagen, where his bold initiative on outpost duty won See also: commendation
.
He was in the Peninsula in 1808-1809, and at Walcheren
.
At See also: Albuera, Salamanca, &c., he commanded the 2nd See also: Light Infantry Battalion, K.G.L., in succession to his brother, and at Venta del Pozo in the See also: Burgos retreat he greatly distinguished himself
.
In 1813 he See also: 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 See also: bore a marked See also: part in the See also: battle of Gohrde and the See also: action of Schestedt, where he took with his own See also: hand a Danish See also: standard
.
In the See also: Waterloo See also: 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 See also: Napoleon he elected to stay in the Hanoverian service, though he retained his See also: half-pay See also: lieutenant-colonelcy in the See also: English army
.
He See also: 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 See also: order of the Black Eagle and pour le Merite and the See also: Russian St See also: Anne
.
See Knesebeck
.
Leben See also: des Freiherrn Hugh von Halkett (See also: Stuttgart, 1865)
.
His brother, See also: SIR COLIN HALKETT (1774-1856), British soldier, began his military career in the Dutch See also: Guards and served in various " companies " for three years, leaving as a captain in 1795
.
From 1800 to the See also: peace of See also: Amiens he served with the Dutch troops in English pay in See also: Guernsey
.
In See also: August 1803 Halkett was one of the first See also: 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 See also: 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
See also: Alien'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 See also: time of his See also: death he was governor of See also: Chelsea
dansk " by conviction
.
He saw in the closest possible ' union between theSee also: kingdom and a See also: Schleswig freed from all See also: risk of German interference the essential condition for See also: Denmark's independence; but he did not think that Denmark was strong enough to carry such a policy through unsupported, and he was therefore inclined to promote it by See also: diplomatic means and See also: international combinations, and strongly opposed to the Conventions of 1851–1852 (See DENMARK: See also: History), though he was among the first, subsequently, to accept them as an established fact and the future basis for Denmark's policy
.
See also: Hall first took office in the
See also: Bang administration (12th of See also: December 1854) as See also: minister of public worship
.
In May 1857 he became president of the council after Andrae, Bang's successor, had retired, and in See also: July 1858 he exchanged the See also: ministry of public worship for the ministry of foreign affairs, while still retaining the premiership
.
Hall's See also: programme, " den Konstitutionelle Helstat," i.e. a single See also: state with a See also: common constitution, was difficult enough in a See also: monarchy which included two nationalities, one of which, to a See also: great extent, belonged to a foreign and hostile jurisdiction
.
But as this See also: political monstrosity had already been guaranteed by the Conventions of 1851–1852, Hall could not rid himself of it, and the attempt to establish this
.
" Helstat " was made accordingly by the Constitution of the 13th of See also: November 1863
.
The failure of the attempt and its disastrous consequences for Denmark are described elsewhere
.
Here it need only be said that Hall himself soon became aware of the impossibility of the " Helstat," and his whole policy aimed at making its absurdity patent to See also: Europe, and substituting for it a constitutional Den-mark to the See also: Eider which would be in a position to come to terms with an See also: independent Holstein
.
That this was the best thing possible for Denmark is absolutely indisputable, and " the diplomatic Seven Years' War " which Hall in the meantime conducted with all the See also: powers interested in the question is the most striking proof of his See also: superior statesmanship
.
Hall knew that in the last resort the question must be decided not by the See also: pen but by the sword
.
But he relied, ultimately, on the See also: protection of the powers which had guaranteed the integrity of Denmark by the treaty of See also: London, and if words have any meaning at all he had the right to expect at the very least the armed support of Great Britain.' But the great German powers and the force of circumstances proved too strong for him
.
On the accession of the new king, Christian IN.., Hall resigned rather than repeal the November Constitution, which gave Denmark something to negotiate upon in See also: case of need
.
But he made matters as easy as he could for his successors in the Monrad administration, and the ultimate catastrophe need not have been as serious as it was had his advice, frankly given, been intelligently followed . After 1864 Hall bore more than hisSee also: fair share of the odium and condemnation which weighed so heavily upon the See also: national Liberal party, making no attempt to repudiate responsibility and refraining altogether from attacking patently unscrupulous opponents
.
But his See also: personal popularity suffered not the slightest diminution, while his clear, almost intuitive, outlook and his unconquerable faith in the future of his country made him, during those difficult years, a factor of incalculable importance in the public See also: life of Denmark
.
In 187o he joined the Holstein-Holsteinborg ministry as minister of public worship, and in that capacity passed many useful educational reforms, but on the fall of the administration, in 1873, he retired altogether from public life
.
In the summer of 1879 Hall was struck down by apoplexy, and for the remaining nine years, of his life he was practically bedridden
.
He died on the 14th of August 1888
.
In politics Hall was a See also: practical, sagacious " opportunist," in the best sense of that much abused word, with an See also: eye rather for things than for persons
.
Moreover, he had no very pronounced political ambition, and was an utter stranger to that longing for power, which drives so many men of talent to adopt extreme expedients
.
His urbanity and perfect
On this See also: head see the 3rd See also: marquess of See also: Salisbury's Political Essays, reprinted from the Quarterly Review
.
hospital
.
He had honorary general's See also: 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)
.
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