| Disgrifiad | In this election (occasioned by the death of George IV) the Pagets, for the first time in 40 years, were forced to abandon the seat to a newcomer, William Ormsby Gore of Porkington, Salop, who by marriage had acquired the old Clenennau interests in the borough of Cricieth. Signs of a growing revolt against the Paget monopoly in the Caernarfon boroughs had been apparent four years earlier when Charles Paget had voted for Catholic Emancipation contrary to the wishes of the majority of his constituents. Conscious of the unpopularity which he had thereby incurred, he had decided to resign in 1826 in favous of his nephew, Lord William Paget.
It was during the latter's term of office that matters really came to a head; in the first place he was accused of meglecting the interest of Caernarvon by his half-hearted opposition to a private Act of Parliament for improving tha public amenities of the borough - an Act which the corporation regardeds as an unwarranted interference with tis righ to manage its own affairs. Even more unpardonable was Lord Williams' action in voting for the Catholic Emancipation Bill in spite, it was alleged of a pledge made after his election to respect the wishes of his constituents. It was the Paget's misfortune to have pitted against them, as the acknowledged leader of the opposition party, one of the ablest of all the 19th century Welsh Radicals - Dr OWen OWen Roberts. By profession a surgeon and vitriolic attackes on aristocratic rule in both the county and borough soon brough him to the notice of the radical burgess element, who in 1827 to the unconcealed chagrin of Sanderson and his set, manoeveed him into the office of bailiff. In May 1830 with a new election in the offing, Sanderson was putting it rather mildly in intimating to Pool that "opposition to the Pagets is getting up in Caernarvon". The revolt was well under weigh by the middle of next month, with the "pertinacious medico-politico" feverishly soliciting Assheton-Smith of Vaenol to come forward as a candidate. By contrast, Sir Charles Paget, dragged very reluctantly ot of his coluntary retirement, was just timidly skirting the arena and, disguised with the disaffection he saw around him, hinting at another withdrawal. Yet it was not until the beginning of July that the opposition party could joyfully announce that they ahd at last found a champion - in the parson of Ormsby Gore. Rumours of Gore's apparent aspirations had reached the ears of Sanderson and Paget early in Jun (382); they also knew of his wholesale creation of burgesses in Cricieth (383), but the assurance that Assheton Smith ahd definitely refused him support (388) had set their minds at rest once more. By July 6, however, Gore was well in the fray (461) with his manifesto in the press, and the radical party busily canvassing for him. This was enough for Sir Charles Paget, who on July 7 palinly announced his intention to withdraw. Efforts to find a substitute proved abortive and on the second of August Ormsby Gore went in unopposed. "Caernarvon" wrote Sanderson a few weeks earlier "can henceforth be considered a Radical Borough within the reach of every adventurer for a seat in Parliament." |