In the end of the following year, on the acquisition of the complete ascendancy by the Tories, ho was removed from the House of Com mons by being created Baron Halifax (with remainder, failing his own issue male, to George Montagu, son and heir of his eldest brother, Edward Montagu). This, it seems, was insisted upon by Harley, the new manager of the House of Commons. The title of Marquis of Halifax had just become extinct by the death of the son of the first marquis (Same, Oxonax); and, according to Lord Dartmouth, in a note on Burnet ('Own Times,' ii. 103), 3fontagu took his title in grateful remembrance, as he pretended, of the old marquis, who, Dartmouth says, had first brought him into businesi by recommending him to be a clerk of the council : "hut," be adds, "generally thought more out of vanity (of which he had a sufficient share), in hopes of raising it to as high a degree as his benefactor had done." Lord Halifax was impeached by the new House of Commons in April 1701, along with Lord Somers and the earls of Portland and Orford. The question was carried in the House by a vote of 186 against 163; but the impeachment was not prosecuted, and on the 24th of June the charges were dismissed by the Lords. (See the proceedings in the 5th volume of the ' Parliamentary History, and in the 14th volume of Howell's 'State Trials.') The articles exhibited against Halifax were six in number—I, That he had directed a grant to the value of 13,0001. to pass to Thomas Railton, in trust for himself, out of the forfeited estates in Ireland; 2, That he had received to his own use 10001. a year out of the said grant ; 3, That, while chancellor of the Exchequer, he had obtained and accepted of several other beneficial grants to or in trust for himself; 4, That in 1697 he had procured a grant to henry Segur, gentleman, in trust for himself, of wood from the Forest of Doan, to the value of 14,000/. ; 5, That while he was chancellor of the Exchequer he had obtained for his brother Christopher the office of auditor, in trust, es to the profits thereof, for himself; 6, That he had advised his Majesty to enter into the two Partition treaties. In his answer Halifax maintained that the grants from the Irish estates and the Forest of Dean were legal, and were also not of the value charged ; and there was nothing wrong in procuring the auditorship of the Exchequer for his brother, to he held by him till he should himself be ready to step into the office; and that, as to the Partition treaties, he was rather opposed to than in favour of them.
In 1703, after the accession of Queen Anne, Halifax was again attacked by the Commons on the charge of having been guilty of breach of trust in tho management of the public accounts while he was chancellor of the Exchequer; and an addrees was voted to the queen requesting that she would be pleased to give directions to the attorney-general to prosecute him. But be was again protected by the Lords; and after some altercation between the two houses the matter was dropped. The proceedings ere given in the 'Parliamentary
History,' vi. 127, &c. Though out of office during this reign, he con tinued to take an active part in the debates of the House of Lords, especially distinguishing himself in 1707 in the defence of the union with Scotland. Lord Dartmouth however complains (note ou Burnet, 'Own Times,' ii. 481) that he and Lord Wharton brought up a familiar style with them from the House of Commons, "that has," says his lordship, "been too much practised in the House of Lords ever since, where everything formerly was managed with great decency and good manners." To Halifax also belongs the credit of having first moved, and taken the most active part, in the project for the purchase of the Cotton manuscripts and the establishment of a public library, out of which eventually came the British Museum. (Burnet,' Own Times,' ii. 440.) lianng always kept up a connection with tho Hanoverian family, Lord Halifax was found, on the death of Queen Anne, to be one of the nineteen persons appointed by the new king to hold the government along with the seven great officers of state till his majesty should como over. On the 14th of October 1714 he was raised to the dignities of Earl of Halifax end Viscount Sunbury, and was restored at the same time to his former post of first lord of the Treasury, his office of auditor of the Exchequer being given to his nephew. But he died of an inflammation of the lungs on the 19th of May in the following year. He left no issue, so that his earldom and viscounty became extinct; but he was succeeded in his barony according to the limitation by hie nephew George Montagu, who a few weeks after was made Earl of Halifax and Viscount Sunbury by a new creation. The eon A the second Earl of Halifax died without issue in 1772, when all the honours became extinct.
Halifax was one of the most consistent of the Whig party to whom we aro indebted for the Revolution, the Hanoverian Succession, and the Union with Scotland. It is evident also, from the detail that has been given, that he was a person of great general ability. But his ability was marred by his excessive vanity and ambition : and Marl borough hardly spoke too strongly when he raid, " I agree with you, Lord Halifax has no other principle but his ambition ; so that he would put all in distraction rather than not gain his point." (Letter to the Duchess of Marlborough, February 7, 1709.) With regard to his literary standing, it is evident he was much more a man of action than of any remarkable powers of thought ; and what ho has written, whether in verse or prose, is of very little value. A list of his pieces is given by Walpole in hie' Royal and Noble Authors.' His character as a patron of literature has been drawn with some severe satiric touohes, under the name of ' Full-Blown Bute, by Pope, in his ' Prologue to the Satires.'