| Description | Letter written by Gold from 13, Barrow Road Cambridge.
'I now take it that the position with regard to acceptance of candidature of a nominee for the Chancellor-ship is as follows;
1. That the nomination and election are domestic university issues, to enable the University to decide to whom to make the offer of the position
2. That no official request can hence be handed to a candidate before the University has made up its mind; but that the candidates should be informed in good time of the intended nomination so that they can, if they wish, make an official declaration that they would not accept the office, if they were offered it. (Such information, has, of course been sent to Pandit Nehru.)
3. That in the event of more than one candidate being nominated, the issue must come to a vote, Such a vote would presumably asssume a purely formal character, should one candidate declare that, in the event of his being elected, he would not accept the position.
The most relevant references supporting this point of view are given and partly quoted in Winstanley, 'Early Victorian Cambridge.'
pp113-4
"The Prince had certainly refused his consent to be nominated, but had not said that if, nevertheless, he was nominated, he would interpose and stop the proceedings by declaring that he would not, if elected, accept office. ...He had decided not to consent to stand for election if another candidate was in the field, but what he was to do if nominated without his consent was a question upon which he intended to take advice, if and when it arose...He turned for advice to Sir Robert Peel. 'I want your advice on the following questions' he wrote on Monday 22 February. 'Am I to abide by the declaration made in my answer, and to remain indifferent to what may be done at Cambridge, or ought I to take a further step in order to stay the possibility of my name appearing in a contest?....if I remain quiet, and my election is carried out by a majority, am I to accept or refuse the honour that is proposed to me." Peel had no difficulty answering these questions. 'My opinion; he replied on the following day, 'is strongly in favour of permitting the election to take its course, and of accepting the office of Chancellor...'"
page 119
In the Prince's answer to the deputation for announcing his election "Stress was laid upon the fact that the Prince's supporters had acted without his 'sanction or privity', and that he could only have suspended their operations 'by a peremptory declaration that under no circumstances would I consent, if elected, to accept the office of Chancellor, and such a declaration I did not deem it respectful to the University to make.'"
If you should decide that this interpretation is incorrect, I should be very glad to be informed. It is obviously quite a difficult matter to sort out such conventions, when they have not been used for such a long time."
2 copies of this letter |