[Lord Robert Cecil.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Robert Cecil'), while a student at University College, Oxford, giving his reasons for opposing the setting up of a 'Vigilance Committee' of the Oxford Union Club.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly aged and worn paper. Addressing the recipient as 'Sir', he thanks him for his 'many very valuable suggestions', but fears that 'there seems some danger that a Vigilance Committee such as you describe, wd be regarded as & wd. be very likely to become, a Caucus - the very thing we protest against so strongly'. In addition, it would 'embitter party rivalry in the Union & would greatly increase the difficulty of destroying all cliques & getting the best men as officers of the Union no matter to what section of what party they may belong'. He concludes with a reference to 'canvassing'. According to his entry in the Oxford DNB, Cecil 'flourished' at Oxford, 'becoming friendly with Edward Grey (the future Liberal foreign secretary), being elected to the Canning Club, speaking at the Oxford Union Society, playing real tennis against Cambridge, and taking a second in jurisprudence in 1886'.