| AdminHistory | This election effected no change in the representation of the boroughs; frederick Paget was again returned. Still, his success was not as easy as he might have wished it to have been. Doubts as to Williams-Bulkeley's good faith and the possibility that the Peel ministry (former in November 1834) might go all out to secure the return of Tory supporters, caused Sanderson and Frederick Paget some concern at the outset (143,144)
A frank statement of his political sentiments (support of the Government as long as it implemented the terms of the Reform Bill; active sympathy with the claims of various dissenting bodies) sent by the latter to Bulkeley (145) brought a reply which, although not exactly a "plumper" could be interpreted to mean active support (148). By December 13, 1834, Sanderson was satisfied that there would be no opposition in the boroughs (150); but on Christmas Day came the rather startling news that Williams Bulkeley Hughes of Plas Coch, a barrister on the Oxford and Chester Circuits, who was later to defeat two Paget candidates twice running at Caernarvon, intended to come out as Tory opponent to frederick Paget (155, 156). although inclined to dismiss Hughes' venture as futile and frivolous (158) it is evident that Sanderson's confidence in the durability of the Pagets' stock both in Anglesey and Caernarvon is somewhat shaken. "The state of political parties in this county and Caernarfonshire with reference to teh influence of your Lordship's family will require when the present contests have terminater very serious consideration" - so does he put it to Lord Uxbridge in January 1835 (164). He is even more outspoken in a letter to Frederick Paget in Aprill, where he emphasises the obviously declining popularity of the family on account of non-residence at Plasnewydd - a theme which Sanderson again and again reiterates.
This time, however, Bulkeley Hughes' campaign proved to be nothing more than a damp ssquib; this "feeble and contemptible opponent", as Sanderson describes him, after taking it into his head that Paget lacked the necessary qualification as a burgess and bringing a solicitor all the way from London to put him to his oath, withdrew on the very eve of the poll, leaving Paget a clear field. |