Oxford's Chancellorship

Last week, Convocation met to elect a Chancellor. The Chancellorship, an honorary position of great dignity, became vacant on the death of Lord Curzon (TIME, Mar. 30). It was offered to Lord Milner, but he died before he could be installed (TIME, May 25). It was then decided to hold an election; and it appeared likely that the Earl of Oxford and Asquith--Premier H. H. Asquith, possibly the most distinguished of living Oxonians--would be chosen.

At the eleventh hour, another candidate appeared in the person of Lord Cave, the Lord High Chancellor of the Realm. Still, this did not appear to diminish Lord Oxford's chances of election. By comparison he dwarfed Lord Cave intellectually and from the point of view of achievement. But Oxford is traditionally the home of lost causes and the treasury of Conservative thought. It was, therefore, not surprising that Lord Cave, a Conservative, was preferred as Chancellor to Lord Oxford, a Liberal, by 987 votes to 441.

The duties of the Chancellor are carried out entirely, or almost so, by the Vice Chancellor; but the principal function left to the former is to see that the general interests of the University are looked after, especially regarding its relations with the Government. Political considerations are therefore bound to weigh in the election of candidates for the exalted post; although, in the case of Lord Oxford, political discrimination reflected no credit on the methods of the University.

Lord Cave is now 69 years of age, was a scholar of St. John's College. As plain George Cave he entered the world from secluded Oxford to qualify in the legal profession. He attained a success which, if not brilliant, was solid and remunerative. He entered politics late in his legal career, being elected as Conservative member for Kingston in 1906, the year of the great Liberal victory.

He made no mark in Parliament for ten years, but outside he had an excellent reputation as a capable lawyer. He was appointed permanent counsel for Oxford University and Attorney General to the Prince of Wales. In Asquith's short-lived coalition Government, he became Solicitor General, and, the year following, Premier George made him Home Secretary, in which capacity he remained for two years and distinguished himself in the House by his able speeches. The year 1919 saw him a Lord of Appeal and in the Bonar Law and Baldwin Governments he was Lord High Chancellor, a position to which he was again appointed in Mr. Baldwin's second and present Cabinet.

Lord Cave undoubtedly lacks the brilliance of his opponent, Lord Oxford, and he has not served his country so greatly, so well, nor so long; but, despite this, he has a polish which is proof against the vicissitudes of fortune by which genius is sometimes defeated. He is a solid man, physically and mentally, a capable man and a practical man. The English often fear brilliance and almost always are suspicious of it. In Lord Cave, Oxford has found a man who has fewer enemies than most public men, a man who can be trusted for the rest of his days to uphold the office of Chancellor without any sparkling oratory, but with the dignity of a plain man great in his plainness.