George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, (11 November 1633 – 5 April 1695) was an English statesman and writer. He sat in the House of Commons of England in 1660 before being elevated to the House of Lords in 1668.
Background and early life, 1633–1667
Savile was born in Thornhill, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was the eldest son of Sir William Savile, 3rd Baronet, and his wife, Anne Coventry. Anne was the eldest daughter of Lord Keeper Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry. His father distinguished himself as a Royalist in the English Civil War and would die in 1644. Savile was also the 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. He was the great-grandson of Sir George Savile of Lupset and Thornhill (created baronet in 1611).
Savile was educated at Shrewsbury School in 1643 while his mother was staying with her sister in Shropshire. He later travelled in France, where he attended a Huguenot academy in Paris; stayed in Angers and Orléans; and visited Italy and the Netherlands; and is believed to have studied in Geneva. He returned to England by 1652.
In 1660, Savile was elected Member of Parliament for Pontefract in the Convention Parliament, marking his only appearance in the Lower House. In the same year, he was made Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Yorkshire and Colonel of a foot regiment in the Yorkshire Militia.
In 1665, the Duke of York sought a peerage for Savile, but his request was successfully opposed by Clarendon, on the grounds of Savile's "ill-reputation amongst men of piety and religion." Clarendon's true motives may have stemmed from Savile's connections with Buckingham and Coventry. However, the honours were only deferred for a short time and were granted after Clarendon's fall on 31 December 1667, when Savile was created Baron Savile of Elland and Viscount Halifax.
In 1667, he commanded a troop of the North Riding Militia Horse during the Dutch raids, and was commissioned to raise a troop in Yorkshire for Prince Rupert's Regiment of Horse.
Halifax supported the anti-French policy formulated in the Triple Alliance of January 1668. He was created a privy councillor in 1672, and, while it is believed that he was ignorant of the secret clauses in the Treaty of Dover, was chosen as envoy to negotiate terms of peace with Louis XIV and the Dutch at Utrecht. His mission was further deprived of importance by Arlington and Buckingham (who were in the king's counsels), who anticipated his arrival and took the negotiations out of his hands. Though he signed the compact, Halifax denied involvement in the harsh terms imposed on the Dutch, and henceforth became a bitter opponent to the policy of subservience to French interests and of the Roman Catholic claims.
Test Act and the Catholic Question, 1673–1678
Halifax took an active part in Parliament's passage of the Test Act of 1673, and thereby forfeited 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 in 1675, that 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.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in November 1675.
In 1678, he took an active part in the investigation into the "Popish Plot," to which he appears to have given excessive credence, but opposed the bill that was passed on 30 October 1678, to exclude Roman Catholics from the House of Lords.
In 1679, after Danby's fall from grace, Halifax 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" conversation being named by Bishop Gilbert Burnet as his chief attraction for the king. His dislike of the Duke of York and of the crypto-Catholic tendencies of the court did not induce him to support the rash attempt by 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 Act. According to Sir William Temple, he showed great severity in putting the laws against the Roman Catholics into force, although in 1680 he voted against the execution of Lord Stafford.
Halifax's policy had been wholly and successfully directed towards uniting all parties with the object of frustrating Shaftesbury's plans. He opened communications with the Prince of Orange, and the king's illness called 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 his family home at Rufford Abbey.
He returned in September 1680, on the occasion of the introduction of the Exclusion Bill in the Lords. The debate that followed, one of the most famous in the 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. 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 forever, while any favour which he might have regained with James was forfeited by his subsequent approval of the regency scheme.
Halifax retired to Rufford again in January 1681, but was present at the Oxford Parliament, and in May he returned to public life, holding chief control of affairs for a year. Shaftesbury's arrest on 2 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 to the king. He opposed James's return from Scotland and, about this time (September), 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 Luxembourg. 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. In 1682, Halifax opposed James's 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.
Withdrawal from politics, 1682–1689