Hence Halbertsma expected to be appointed professor of Dutch language and literature, and several times such an appointment seemed almost within his grasp, but each time it slipped away. His sharp pen probably played a role in this, but there were other reasons, too. In 1830, he lost out from the surplus of applicants washing over the Netherlands from the universities of Belgium, which at that time had just seceded from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and after 1840 a different type of scientist was called for, with a more specialised knowledge than Halbertsma commanded. That in 1837 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature by the University of Leiden, was scant consolation to him. In part because of these disappointments, Halbertsma balanced on the edge of a burn-out for a long time, and especially in 1839, when he was passed over yet again, he went through a deep crisis. It was only in the 1860s, when he was in his seventies, that he seems to have achieved a state of mental composure.