it at Catharine Hall where Philpott was Master, for others to sign. The address read: Withdrawals and acceptances both declined On learning that Powis had accepted, the Master of St John's immediately wrote back to tell him that the Prince Consort might be a candidate. However, news of Powis' acceptance of nomination had already been published in the London evening newspapers of Monday. While Powis knew it would be unseemly to fight an election against the Prince, he felt he could not go back on his word and disappoint his supporters. The Vice-Chancellor apparently appealed to Powis directly to urge him to withdraw, but it was in vain. Powis confirmed that he would stand; committees were already being formed to support him which were pleased to hear of his determination, and the committees resolved to "use the utmost efforts" to campaign. He quickly gathered support in London; the members of the Oxford and Cambridge Club were said to be almost universally in favour of Powis, although after the election was over, a pamphleteer generally sympathetic to him regretted that his supporters had resorted to "degrading" public advertisement to drum up support. Most of the press were also opposed to the Prince, with Punch being particularly energetic in the campaign: it printed a spoof begging-letter from the University to the Prince which ran: The Prince's supporters could not send their address until Powis' intentions were known, so it waited at Catharine Hall until Friday 19 February when they met at Trinity College. Whewell presided and those present included most Heads of Colleges, Professors and resident Fellows. This meeting unanimously approved the Prince Consort as a candidate and appointed a Committee to run his election campaign which contained Fellows from every college except St John's. It was agreed that the Vice-Chancellor should go to meet the Prince to present the address and hear his reply about whether, in the circumstances of a contested election, the Prince would accept nomination. Because the issue was critical, the Vice-Chancellor was to telegraph the Prince's decision: "A" for acceptance, "C" for conditional acceptance, and "R" for refusal. On Saturday 20 February the Vice-Chancellor went by train to London and had an audience with the Prince Consort at Buckingham Palace, handing him the address with its many distinguished signatures. The Prince had prepared a written answer which stated that "from the proceedings entered into by others in